There are five types of homes in Kelowna that can look great during a showing, sit in the right neighbourhood, and even be priced well — and I'd still have a hard time buying them. Sometimes the reason a home looks like a good deal is the exact reason I'd be cautious about it.
None of these are bad homes. They all just come with something I'd want to understand before deciding whether the price actually makes sense. Here's what I look at, and why.
If you've lived in the Okanagan Valley for any length of time, you already know why this matters. I'm not saying I'd avoid neighbourhoods like Wilden, Upper Mission, Black Mountain or McKinley Landing — there are incredible homes in those areas, and if I ruled out every property near trees or grassland I'd be eliminating a big portion of Kelowna.
What I care about is the individual property. How much vegetation is tight to the house? What does the slope look like? Has the property been maintained with wildfire prevention in mind? What building materials were used? And something that gets overlooked constantly: how easy is it to get in and out of that neighbourhood if there's ever an evacuation order?
We've had enough experience with this locally to know it isn't something to ignore. The 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire forced thousands of people out of their homes in West Kelowna, and the fire even jumped the lake and burned homes on the Kelowna side. In 2026, just a few weeks before I recorded this, Summerland was hit hard — the entire city was evacuated and hundreds of structures were lost.
Personally, if a property had heavy vegetation tight to the house, an unkempt yard, difficult access in and out, and very little done to reduce the risk, that would probably be enough for me to walk away. For a buyer, though, it usually comes down to price: does the price reflect the work the property needs? I'd also want to understand the insurance situation before removing my conditions, because even if I'm comfortable with the property and the mortgage payment, I still need to know what it will actually cost to insure it.
This one is becoming more important as the city grows. If you stand in the backyard today and can already clearly hear traffic from Gordon Drive, Springfield Road, Glenmore Road, Lakeshore Road or Highway 97, I wouldn't go into that purchase expecting the situation to improve over the next five or ten years. Kelowna keeps adding homes and residents, and even with investment in roads and transit, there are going to be more vehicles on those roads.
Homes backing onto busy roads also usually sell for less than a very similar home a few streets away, which is exactly what makes them tempting. Maybe you get another bedroom, a renovated kitchen or a bigger yard for the same budget because you're willing to accept the road behind you. Depending on your priorities that trade-off might be completely fine. For me, if I could clearly hear traffic from the backyard and I knew I wanted to spend time outside — and in Kelowna you want to be outside most of the year — the price would have to be pretty compelling.
Keep resale in the back of your mind too. Eventually someone else is going to stand in that same backyard, hear the same traffic or more, and decide how much of a discount they need before they're comfortable buying your home.
If you're seriously considering one of these, don't judge it from a single showing. Go back during morning or afternoon rush hour and spend some time outside. Ten in the morning on a Sunday feels completely different from five in the afternoon on a Tuesday. The same goes for viewing in summer — traffic in some of these areas changes completely once September hits and school is back in.
Being in a strata doesn't bother me at all. There are plenty of well-run strata properties in Kelowna. What I'm cautious about is the one where the monthly fees look very attractive, but once you read the documents you realize big expenses are coming and there isn't much money set aside to pay for them.
Maybe the roof is near the end of its life. Maybe the parkade needs concrete work. Maybe there have been ongoing water issues, and the same exterior repairs keep showing up in the meeting minutes year after year without much being done. We've seen extreme versions of this locally — in 2025, owners at Birch Estates in Kelowna made the news after each paying a $66,000 special levy toward a major exterior and balcony restoration, and years later some of that work was still unfinished.
That's an extreme example, and most strata expenses are nowhere near that dramatic. I recently had a client buying into a smaller condo complex in Glenmore where we found an upcoming levy in the minutes for three windows and a sliding glass door — about $8,000 per unit. She still really liked the condo, so instead of walking away we worked it into the negotiation. The seller came down $4,000 and my client took on the other half. Win-win.
That's why a special levy on its own doesn't scare me. The expense is known, you understand what you're getting for the money, and you can account for it when you negotiate. What concerns me far more is when a major expense is coming, there isn't enough in the contingency reserve fund, and the same problem has been discussed for years with no real plan to pay for it.
So when I'm helping you look at one of these, I spend serious time in the meeting minutes, the depreciation report, the financial statements and the Form B. You should too. The unit itself might be beautifully renovated and look great — but I want to understand what owning my share of that building could cost over the next few years.
This is the one where it's easy to look at the price first and ask questions about the lease second. We have quite a few leasehold communities around West Kelowna, particularly on Westbank First Nation land, and in some cases you get a lot more home for your money than comparable freehold. You might get a single-family home for what would buy you a townhouse on the Kelowna side.
I'm not saying I'd never buy leasehold. But I wouldn't treat a $700,000 leasehold home the same way I'd treat a $700,000 freehold home, because the ownership structure is fundamentally different. Different communities have different expiry dates, prepaid leases versus ongoing payments, and other terms that change what you're actually buying. Some of these leases still have many decades left — older ones were often 99 years, and some newer ones run up to 149 years — which is why the word leasehold by itself doesn't scare me. I care about how many years are actually left.
There's a community in Penticton right now still deciding how or whether the lease will be extended, with roughly 30-odd years remaining. That isn't a lot, especially when you think about resale. That's my biggest concern with leasehold: when I eventually go to sell, will there be enough time left on the lease that a buyer still wants it?
Financing is the other thing I'd sort out very early, because lender options vary depending on the property and the lease itself. You don't want to fall in love with a home and then discover your financing options are far more limited than you expected.
There are real advantages. GST on First Nations land is often waived or doesn't apply, and property transfer tax usually doesn't either, which can save you thousands. If the lease had plenty of time left, financing was straightforward, and the price reflected the difference versus freehold, I could absolutely see myself buying leasehold. I'd just want to know exactly why I'm paying less and what I'm giving up in exchange.
This one is broader, but it's probably what I pay the most attention to. In Kelowna that could be a very steep driveway you'll fight with every winter. It could be a hillside lot where almost none of the backyard is usable — you buy ten acres and the only usable part is the half-acre the house sits on. It could be a home beside a commercial or industrial property, awkward access where you have to back onto a busy road, or a lake view you're paying a big premium for without knowing what could eventually be built in front of you.
The reason I'm cautious here is that it's easy to get distracted by everything you love inside the home. The kitchen is renovated, the layout is perfect, you've got the view — so the steep driveway doesn't seem like a big deal during the showing. Six months after you move in, the kitchen isn't new anymore, and you're still dealing with that driveway.
Hillside properties are a good example. A number of years ago, homeowners in Kelowna were dealing with an unstable slope where the estimated cost to fix it was reported somewhere between $750,000 and $1 million. Again, an extreme case — but it's why I wouldn't look at a steep lot, a large retaining wall or a difficult hillside and just assume it's part of owning a home with a view.
I'd also be careful paying a large premium for a lake view without understanding the land around you. If there's a vacant property below the home, I want to know how it's zoned and what could be developed there before paying extra for a view I'm assuming is permanent.
Resale factors in here too, because whatever compromise you accept today is something the next buyer will notice. If the problem is something I can fix or pay someone to fix, I'm usually willing to look past it. If it comes with the property or the location and I already know I don't like it, that's where I keep looking.
That's what these five have in common. None of them are necessarily bad homes, but they all come with something I'd want to understand before deciding whether the price makes sense.
Sometimes the trade-off is worth it. Maybe the leasehold gets you a bigger home. Maybe the busy road saves you enough money. Maybe the strata expense is already known and can be worked into the deal. But if I'm buying, I'd rather know exactly what I'm accepting before I own the property than figure it out six months down the road.
If you're thinking about making a move to Kelowna or anywhere else in the Okanagan, I'm happy to chat about your home search and what might make the most sense for you.
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