Wednesday, December 18, 2019

The price of property in Fort Vermillion, Alberta

I had a long phone conversation with one of my friends who I used to work with.

He took a hard left turn after lost both his job and his pension when the economy globalized.

He and his wife took a eco-tour this summer. They cruised Antarctica.

The staff scientist insisted that it is all over, that the chance to save the environment passed us by. Complete non-carbon based economy by 2030 is too late.

They contended that we should be in an ice age based on solar output but the temperatures keep going up.

Multiple models of solar output over the last 400 years. I don't see the crash in solar incidence that supposedly SHOULD have us in a mini-ice age. Source
One of the reality checks I made was to price out property in Fort Vermillion, Alberta.
From the ever-helpful Wikipedia. Record low of -78F (-61C)

With our current climate, Fort Vermillion is one of the most challenging places in the Western Hemisphere to survive. Not impossible; challenging.

If the climate was to warm significantly, Fort Vermillion might one of the few places where humans can survive.

A hospital and an assortment of churches.

They already have agricultural fields, unlike the north slope of the Brooks Range. Rivers are good for food, travel and energy.


Based on the current climate, one would expect housing prices to be...soft.


The prices are MUCH higher than I expected
Maybe some people are voting with their wallet.

4 comments:

  1. The prices are not surprising to most Western Canadians, there are jobs there. Fort Vermilion, like many other northern communities are challenging exhilarating places to live. Ask why they like it there, and you will find the true spirit of hardy peoples. Ain't no city like it. Come to Portage la Prairie Manitoba. about 50 degrees north, Ft. Vermilion is 58 degrees north and you can experience some of what I am saying easier, a touch warmer on average, but easier to get to.
    However, if the "greens" get their way, most of western Canada, all of our north and much of the northern USA will have to be abandoned, no cheap heat, no cheap transportation. Can you imagine heating with wood on bald assed prairie? How can they be so stupid.

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  2. That is a BUNCH of money for a single wide, even with land...

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  3. I expect it reflects the overall higher cost of living for everything there. Like Alaska, anything you buy costs a lot more than in the lower 48, mostly because of transportation costs.

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  4. The other part of the pricing issue, at least in Alaska, is simply "scarcity". Outside of Fairbanks and Anchorage there are simply things that don't exist in parts of Alaska. For example, the capital city was served for years by a urologist that would visit the town (population 30,000) 3 days per month. Scarcity drives prices up. I was shocked yesterday to walk into a department store here in Montana and find that they actually sell cookie tins! I remember looking in Juneau for cookie tins one year and finding that they could not be bought in town. Supply and demand - controlling prices no matter what the socialists want to believe.

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