Courtesy of Melanie Peake

Mobile: 250.954.0100 Toll Free: 1-877-661-4040 melanie@melaniepeake.com www.melaniepeake.com

Parksville - Qualicum Beach Realty (PBO) 173 West Island HWY Parksville, BC V9P 2H1 Melanie Peake, Personal Real Estate Corporation

2025 | ISSUE 6

BRINGING YOUR HOME TO LIFE WITH ART BY APRIL LACHEUR

A home isn’t just a place to live—it’s a space that tells a story, reflects personality, and makes you feel truly relaxed. One of the easiest ways to bring warmth, style, and character into any space is through art. Artwork has the ability to transform a room, making it feel more inviting, elegant, or vibrant. Whether you’re settling into a new home or preparing a property for sale, adding the right piece of art can enhance your space in ways you might not expect. The perfect painting can tie a room together and even set the mood. As a Central Vancouver Island artist, I create original paintings and prints that bring the beauty, serenity and joy of West Coast nature into a home. With flowing line work and expressive colour, my art complements a variety of spaces and budgets—offered as originals, canvas prints, and paper prints. I’m always happy to help homeowners find the perfect piece with examples and mock-ups. If your home feels like it’s missing something, maybe it’s art! When a home has the right artwork, it doesn’t just look good—it feels good too! I invite you to view my art at www.AprilLacheurArt.com .

Easy Bulgogi (KOREAN BBQ BEEF)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil • ¼ teaspoon Korean red pepper flakes • ¼ teaspoon minced fresh ginger • ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper • 1½ pounds beef sirloin steak, cut

• ⅓ cup soy sauce • 2 green onions, chopped, separate dark green parts from white/light green parts • ¼ yellow onion, thinly sliced • 3 tablespoons white sugar • 3 cloves garlic, minced • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

very thin using kitchen shears • 1 teaspoon honey, or to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Whisk soy sauce, white and light green parts of green onions, yellow onion, sugar, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, ginger, and black pepper together in a large glass or ceramic bowl. 2. Add steak slices and toss to evenly coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or up to 1 day. 3. Heat a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, cook and stir steak and marinade together in the hot skillet, adding honey to caramelize the steak. Cook steak about 5 minutes. 4. Garnish bulgogi with dark green parts of green onions.

THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN BEING BLIND IS HAVING SIGHT BUT NO VISION.” Sudoku

HELEN KELLER (1880 – 1968)

Summer laughs What’s gray and has four legs and a trunk? A mouse on vacation. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Lettuce. Lettuce who? Lettuce go to the beach! When do you go at red and stop at green? When you’re eating a watermelon. Why is ice cream always invited to all the parties? It’s cool.

To complete this Sudoku, fill in the blanks so each row, column and each of the nine 3x3 grids contain one instance of each of the numbers 1 through 9.

SOLUTION

PREPARING YOUR AIR CONDITIONER FOR SUMMER

In preparation of the warm days ahead, now is the time to ensure your air conditioning units are clean and in working condition. For central air conditioning units, a professional maintenance can be booked now or there is upkeep you can do yourself. Start by ensuring the power to the unit is off. Then head outside and remove any covers or tarps you may have used over the winter. Clear away debris, dirt and dust from the exterior of the unit - you can use a low-pressure hose or a wet cloth. When the outside of the unit is clean, tackle the inside. Remove the protective panels to access the coils and fan elements. Clean them with a soft cloth or vacuum. If you’re using water, be sure not to spray any electrical elements such as the motor. Once everything inside the unit is clean and the unit reassembled, head inside your home to change the air filter which is typically the same filter as the furnace. When everything is clean and dry, turn the power to the unit on and give it a test run. Once you start using the unit, confirm there are no refrigerant leaks or issues by monitoring things like the temperature of the air (is it warmer than it should be?), frost or ice build-up on the copper lines, or hissing or bubbling sounds from the unit itself or the evaporator coil installed inside the house. An HVAC technician should be called to evaluate the system if any of these are present. For window or portable AC units, the process is essentially the same. You want to unplug the unit, clean the exterior and interior and any filters, fans and grates you can access.

HOST A SUCCESSFUL YARD SALE You’ve gone through your home and gathered all the items you want to include in your yard or garage sale, but what are the next steps? First, check with your municipality and find out what is required to host a yard or garage sale and what guidelines, if any, you need to follow regarding signage on the day. Once that’s taken care of, determine the date to host your sale. Choose a weekend that is “low key” in your area meaning it isn’t a long weekend and there aren’t any big festivals, sporting events, major concerts, etc. scheduled that would draw potential shoppers away. Having the sale over two days is ideal to maximize your selling efforts. Think about inviting family or friends to participate to make it more fun and spread the work around. They can sell some of the items they’re looking to get out of their houses and you can keep each other company during the sale or plan to split up the shifts to get a few breaks over the weekend. With the date planned, start promoting. Local buy and sell groups often allow garage/yard sale postings to be made on their online sites which can be useful. Furthermore, spread the word with friends, family, neighbours and colleagues. Signs around the neighbourhood, in local businesses and at nearby intersections also draw in a lot of drive-by traffic. Once people arrive at your sale, be sure your items are grouped together appropriately so anyone looking for kitchen gadgets, for example, can head to one area. A rule of thumb is to have your big items that will draw people in front and center with other goods placed around them because the more people walk by and see, the more they’re likely to purchase. Finally, have everything pre-priced which makes it easier for you as well as shoppers. Most people will negotiate so if your prices are a tad high, be willing to haggle. If your goal is to just clear everything out, price items lower.

Parksville / Qualicum Beach

Nanaimo

AVERAGE SELL PRICE / UNIT 12 Months to Date

AVERAGE SELL PRICE / UNIT 12 Months to Date

$499,435 apartment UP 10.2% year-to-year $952,995 detached DOWN 1.52% year-to-year

$451,906 apartment UP 3.70% year-to-year $847,526 detached UP 0.48% year-to-year

3.3 MONTHS OF INVENTORY

3.78 MONTHS OF INVENTORY

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Sellers Market

Balanced Market

Buyers Market

Sellers Market

Balanced Market

Buyers Market

40.21% SALES TO LISTING RATIO

35 DAYS ON MARKET

35 DAYS ON MARKET

49.19% SALES TO LISTING RATIO

124

281

units listed

units listed

61

113

sold

sold

LISTINGS

427

203

active

active

Stats are reflective for May 2025. | Source: Vancouver Island Real Estate Board | Market values stated are for homes in Zone 5 and Zone 4 respectively. Individual home market values will vary and are affected by factors such as location, size, interior and exterior condition. Please call to get an up-to-date evaluation of your home.

Mobile: 250.954.0100 Toll Free: 1-877-661-4040 melanie@melaniepeake.com www.melaniepeake.com

The greatest compliment my clients can give me is the referral of family and friends!

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