Kelowna man giving house away for FREE

FREE FREE FREE -- the title of the Facebook Marketplace Kelowna listing says it all.

Kelowna's Jatinder Brar is giving away his house at 634 McClure Rd. in the Lower Mission to anyone who is willing to have it moved to another location.

"I'm getting so many messages, so many responses. It's overwhelming," said Brar.

"I might have to take the listing down because I'm getting so many requests to see the house."

Brar is willing to give the house away for free to save him the hassle and expense -- about $10,000 -- to have the 1,100-square-foot, three-bedroom, one-bathroom home demolished.

Besides saving himself money with the giveaway, Brar likes the idea of upcycling the house.

"I want it to go to someone who will live in it and appreciate it and benefit from it," he said.

"And it's good for the environment to recycle the house."

Brar, who owns the property with his cousin, plans to redevelop the large lot with two new homes.

To make way for that pair of new houses, Brar wants the old house gone in the next month or so.

Even though he's giving it away and the interest in the free home is intense, getting rid of it is easier said than done.

Even if you want the free house, you'll have to have it pried off its foundation and moved to another location by a specialized and professional moving company with a huge truck and huge expertise.

After all, the free house measures 26-by-40 feet and has to be secured to a bed of a specialized truck that can haul it as a wide-and-long load on streets and highways to get it to its new location.

Brar's heard that it could cost about $54,000 to have the house moved.

And then, once the house is at its new plot of land, the lot will have to be prepared with a foundation to put the house on.

The house does have a basement, but the basement will be partially sheered off the foundation in order to move it.

So, the new foundation will have be dug deep if the new owner wants create a new basement.

The house also needs a new roof and the carport -- which will have to be detached to move -- will have to be reattached or rebuilt.

In all, Brar estimates the person who takes the free house, will likely have to spend a total of $100,000 in moving, foundation, new roof and finishing touches in order to be able to move in.

He said he has two serious contenders to take the house, so far -- a mother who's helping her son who's looking for a plot of land in West Kelowna and a family from Armstrong who have an empty lot in Barriere.

Brar lists the house on the Facebook Marketplace Kelowna page and the People Helping People Okanagan Facebook page as "in great shape" with interior and exterior walls, floors, windows and kitchen in good shape.

However, photos of the exterior (especially the back of the house) and interior, show the house will need some TLC to make it more livable.

But, hey, whatta expect for free.

The house was solidly built about 50 years ago, according to Brar.

Brar and his cousin bought the vacant house in 2020 as an investment.

Most recently, Brar rented the house to a family that fled the war in Ukraine.

The family moved out at the end of March, prompting Brar to start the process of getting rid of the house and redeveloping the land.

The 2019 assessed value of the property was $600,000, which includes the value of the house and the land.

Generally, land value is more than half of the assessed value.

That means the house could be worth $300,000, or more, if market value is taken into consideration.

Brar works as a realtor with eXp Realty in Kelowna.

However, him giving away this house and redeveloping the property is separate from his job at eXp.

To handle the myriad of messages and requests he's getting about the house giveaway, Brar is only fielding queries through the message option of the Facebook Marketplace Kelowna and People Helping People Facebook Okanagan pages.