StackHaus Realty Inc. : STACKHAUS BLOG : Latest Blog Posts

SOLD! 9319 East Saanich Rd.

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 06:47:58 GMT

OF COURSE I sold it. Acting as listing agent, property manager and conveyancer, she does it all. We also helped the executor prep this home ready for sale, hosted multiple back to back open houses and used targeted ads on Instagram and Facebook to get the people in to view this home, ultimately resulting in a quick sale!

Congratulations!

Just Listed! 2924 Pickford Rd!

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:29:28 GMT

Check out our Open House Schedule at Realtor.ca!

Beautifully updated & well maintained, this home is not to be missed! Workshop! Suite! Fantastic location! This 4BR/2BA family home in the popular Colwood Lake neighbourhood checks all the boxes. Fantastic bright, large, flat lot on a quiet street close to shopping, schools, parks & amenities, bike trails & bus routes.

Single detached garage is perfect for handyman, storage or car enthusiast! Tasteful cosmetic updates, thermal windows, recently done roof, kitchen and bathroom fixtures and lighting. This well maintained home is move-in ready! Skookum septic tank, siding and systems!

Versatile floor plan includes your choice of a 1 OR 2 BR Mortgage Helper with separate entrance! Shared laundry access downstairs. Awesome deck off the kitchen upstairs leads to a fantastic private porch overlooking your sunny west facing yard. This neighbourhood is known for its family and pet friendly pathways and trails, do not miss this one!

We have sold multiple properties recently in the gorgeous Colwood Lake area and LOVE this location for it’s idyllic location with the Galloping Goose trail close by, protected pathways to David Cameron School - great dog park also! Royal Roads is close by and Westshore Mall offers any shopping you could need for the day-to-day. When we spent months renovating and selling the house down the street we got to meet many of the neighbours and can confirm this is a street where all the kids in the area play hockey in the street, super friendly people.

Large Living Area

Bright picture window, laminate flooring and feature fireplace! We virtually staged this room to show that furniture layout potential in this room can accomodate many different layouts and also large furniture (corner couch? No problem!)

Dining Room

Glass doors open from the living room to dining room off kitchen, virtually staged to accomodate medium sized table. Cuckoo clock not included ;)

Large Primary Bedroom!

Some more virtual staging to showcase the large, expansive floorplan Primary is large enough to have a king bed with head to left wall as well.

Seperate Garage or Workshop!

Plenty of parking - 4 spots PLUS garage! Could accomodate RV or boat parking on this big lot!

Floor Plan

Note error on floorplan - 2924 Pickford Rd. is in the municipality of Colwood, not Langford. Note Rec room downstairs could be 3rd bedroom for upstairs or 2nd bedroom for suite.

If you’re one of the neighbours that we met during our many open houses pls come visit us at our next Open House we can’t wait to see you! Below are some of the houses we sold in the area recently:

Check out our online 3D Tour and dedicated website with additional photos in the links below!

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=MG4GUr6ntFV&mls=1

https://tours.snaphouss.com/2924pickfordroadcolwoodbc?b=0#external_1773152432146

See you at the open houses or book a showing with your realtor TODAY!

Your favourite Realtor, Christina Stack

Just Listed! 21 - 3633 Cedar Hill Rd.

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 04:32:14 GMT

This HUGE Townhouse checks all the boxes - garage, extra storage, well run strata, location location location!

Over 2,150sf of living space on 2 levels with 3 spacious bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms PLUS GARAGE! This awesome floor plan has plenty of bonus storage and expansive rooms that make it feel more like a house. The largest unit in this well run complex, situated in a quiet setting while being ideally located close to great schools, UVic, shopping and transit! PRIMARY BEDROOM SUITE ON MAIN FLOOR is spacious and has large walk-in closet and ensuite. Downstairs features 9' ceilings, 2 pc powder room, laundry room w/ garage access.

Attractive living room with bay window, spacious dining room & large kitchen. Family room off kitchen has feature gas fireplace and glass sliders to a pretty patio area with charming hedges and established perennial landscaping. Upstairs has 2 Bedrooms, large landing/office area, vaulted ceilings, storage room and bathroom with skylight. Floor Plans, 3D Tour, Videos all online. Buyer to verify measurements/floor plan if important.

Large Living Room!

We virtually staged this room to showcase the expansive layout of this townhouse that very much feels like a house. Huge rooms that can accomodate many different furniture layouts, and oversized peices.

Virtually Staged Family Room

This room could be used as a breakfast nook as featured here OR set it up with couches facing the awesome gas fireplace. Young familes could turn this into an awesome play area as well, or maybe a super home office off the patio?

Virtually Staged Primary Bedroom

Large Primary Bedroom on main floor! Gorgeous flooring throughout all common areas and a primary suite with huge walk-in closet and ensuite bathroom!

Massive Upstairs Landing Area

The largest unit in the complex this landing area pictured could be another flex area (there’s already plenty of storage in this home with bonus storage room, crawl space, garage and dedicated laundry room. Turn this landing area into an office, play area, reading nook, so many possibilities!

For more info head to this listing’s dedicated website for floorpans, videos, photos and 3D tours!

https://tours.snaphouss.com/3633cedarhillroadunit21victoriabc?b=0

Just Listed! 9319 East Saanich Rd.

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 07:12:00 GMT

Presenting this stunning home with all the extras, situated in the North Saanich neighbourhood near the airport (calling all jet-setters!) this 2006 custom built home is set back from the road on a 1/2 acre lot! Spanning over 4,000 sf, this 5 bedroom 4 bath home features a 1 bedroom suite over the giant 3 car garage PLUS an upper area that could be transformed into another in-law/guest area or easily made into a large rec/games room area with bedroom.

Main floor living area is extremely open, BRIGHT and inviting with large granite island, 3 sided fireplace, vaulted and 9ft ceilings with gleaming hardwood floors. Primary suite looks out to your private garden, views straight from the pages of your favourite author. Level, sunny, private, fully fenced, irrigated and completely landscaped with multiple fruit and palm trees, established perennials, greenhouse, even a koi pond! RV parking, new heatpump, wired for a hot tub and meticulously maintained.

We virtually staged a couple of photos and will host Open Houses to help buyers size up this fantastic floor plan. Not gonna lie, I’m a BIG HAUS fan (obviously) and the versatility of this floor plan really has forever home written all over it with main level living, a MASSIVE Primary suite overlooking multiple palm and fruit trees and a koi pond? I suddenly have zero loyalty to Esquimalt I love this house!

9319 East Saanich really has everything. As someone who was born and raised in Victoria I need to leave the rock often (Sagittarius, we love travel), and this home appeals to us jet setters that travel a lot, might have a boat or RV, a home in the desert we need to get to in the cold winter months :) There’s a Juliet balcony off the recreation/games room with views of the Victoria International Airport and I LOVE watching the planes on the runway.

I’m completely head over heels in love with this house. Here’s those virtually staged photos to give you an idea of furniture placement. Or just show up to one of our open houses I’m sure to have a measuring tape on me at all times and used to own/operate a furniture store so if anyone can help you with furniture placement I’m happy to help :)

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We’ve done a matterport 3D Virtual tour of the house, check out that floorplan! I love how unassuming the house is from the front of the street with fully fenced, hedged and gated privacy - I LOVE a secure perimeter.

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=K3e5Q3HjvHS&mls=1

Here are some pics of the ½ acre of manicured landscaping, koi pond, fruit and decorative trees (multiple palms!), low maintenance cement patios, fully fenced with irrigation, totally private. You’ll see the suite has its own entrance and patio and is situated above the garage providing lots of privacy between suite and main living area.

Triple Car Garage!

As someone who parks a brand new Mercedes on the street in the rain….a garage. You will never regret buying a home with a GIANT garage in Victoria BC. I would instantly buy an El Camino or some manual transmission mid-life chrisis muscle car to put in here beside the wagon. Imagine coming home with a trunk full of groceries and you don’t have to haul them through the rain because….GARAGE.

A few more pics of the interior, here are some of the main living area. Be sure to contact your Realtor for a private viewing or inquire to see if we have an Open House coming up…

The primary suite is INCREDIBLE, walk in closet, 4 piece ensuite with walk-in shower and soaker tub, picture windows with private views of this luxuriously lush and verdant garden. The multiple palm trees and private exterior door to the rear patio make this primary suite feel like a tropical resort.

2 more bedrooms downstairs with a laundry area (plumbed for a sink or dog washing station!)

The recreation room that could be an additional suite area has its own bathroom and bedroom and that sweet Juliet balcony with views of Victoria International Airport.

And here we have the suite above the garage (which could be combined with the rec room area but is currently a one bedroom suite), complete with in-suite laundry, private entrance and patio.

This North Saanich neighbourhood is super close to beautiful Sidney By the Sea, Roost Bakery, parks, fantastic schools and amazing amenities.

SOLD 206-562 Yates St!

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:01:07 GMT

I have been BLESSED with working with wonderful people this entire year! In my 16 years of Real Estate, 2025 has been a banner year.

I’ve won awards, (Silver, Bronze MLS awards, Douglas Top Ten to Watch, huge volumes, luxury estates, you name it), but it wasn’t until I started my own firm that I began to attract like minded folks. Clients that trust me to broker and convey complex deals, symbiotic relationships with respectful sweethearts ALL YEAR LONG. It’s everything.

This NYC-Style loft is a unique property that required lots of marketing and exposure to attract our buyer. Digital marketing is great but with Real Estate you need people to actually physically visit the space so I held dozens of open houses.

I got a bit crafty and hung a sign in the iconic bay window of the condo, ultimately a beacon that attracted the new owner! The buyer bought the condo unrepresented and I was able to convey and assist them while representing the buyer. It doesn’t happen that often.

As the Realtor writing both ends AND doing the conveyancing of both ends I was able to close super fast for both happy buyer and seller. Even better, the lovely buyer is having me help them redesign the place after closing so I couldn’t be happier, I love the space and am so excited to sell, broker and help breathe new life into this historic piece of Victoria Real Estate.

Congratulations to both seller and buyer! :)

Have You Seen This Woman?

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 23:49:10 GMT

This pic cracks me up, wet hair, in coveralls with a bit of Barbarian bewilderment in those eyes. I had to get a passport photo for my Strata Management exam at UBC Sauder Business, and this is how I showed up to the Esquimalt Shoppers Drug Mart, you’re welcome.

November has proven to be another busy month, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to get another dog to add to my already hectic life and to celebrate my birthday on Dec 15th! Yikes! 45 and still alive, might as well get another short dog to celebrate followed by 6 months of puppy hell.

We have a couple of accepted offers to convey this November as well as co-ordinating prepping a couple of gorgeous houses ready for the market. People often think that December is a slow month for Real Estate and it’s never been for me, I am usually eating dinner alone in a parking lot on my birthday or Christmas Eve. And us Germans celebrate Christmas Eve, but that doesn’t stop offers and the holidays are that time of year that families get together and make big decisions - Real Estate being one of them.

As a General Contractor by trade I’ve spent most of my life lifting heavy things and loving it, but recently my weightlifting years have caught up with me and I’m no longer allowed to lift heavy. My neck has had it, no more Olympic Weightlifting and no more kettlebells. So that also means I can’t lift a toilet, I can’t lift boxes or lumber, or a 5gal pail, no lifting a machine rental, just no lifting.

And all I want to do is lift things. It’s my literal NAMESAKE.

It has been extremely hard to ask for help in these situations. How can I even drive around with the licence plate Stack if I can’t stack things? I mean C’mon.

As a child and teenager I was really into competitive swimming (butterfly) and I stopped going in favour of rowing and weightlifting, but now in my middle age I’m excited to bring the traps back to the pool. I just got a peloton and have been getting back into road biking but I’d rather be at CrossFit, not gonna lie. You might see me at the pool sporting some dorky underwater headphones or an even dorkier triathlon suit in the almost fast lane ;)

The whole point of life is to continue to adapt or drown so here I am swimming laps and spinning like a hamster rather than throwing down building supplies. Life goes on, even if a Stack can’t Stack like she used to :)

Fresh Paint for New Homeowners

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 02:14:44 GMT

After I survived my first Financial Audit from the lovely folks at BCFSA (I sincerely mean that, thank you for your patience!) I decided to uncouple the renovations from the Real Estate sales and management for a few reasons, mainly running all the expenses of General Contracting through a Real Estate Brokerage is a nightmare, but also my calling is being a Realtor and Broker, and being fastidious means I can manage a client’s renovation but I don’t have to put on overalls to do it :)

So if you haven’t asked me directly we do NOT do renovations any longer. We have people we refer to and every trade and handyman (wonderful vetted trades people I might add) and are now co-ordinating renovations for our clients, but not performing them. We have evolved folks!

That doesn’t mean I don’t like to still get involved, as a Realtor if that means I get to keep showing up to job sites and pointing out touch-ups with my fussy Realtor eye then so be it. There is nothing like a new coat of paint to freshen up the space for new home owners to move in. In my experience if you don’t do renovations in the first 6 months they never get done.

My closing gift to these clients was you guessed it, a trunk full of paint (trim paint not pictured ;) enough to paint out an entire upper floor, about 1300sf including 3 bedrooms, closets, ceilings, cove and trim. I also acted as GC co-ordinating the painters who did a fantastic job. This home hadn’t been painted in over 40 years, dusty rose be GONE!

We used Cloverdale paint, they spackled 10 million holes, removed wallpaper, removed many many hooks, shelves and brackets. The kids moving in picked out awesome colours for their rooms and ripped out the carpet to reveal gorgeous oak hardwood floors! Very happy for this wonderful family to move right on in, and I love being involved in the flip, even if it is just managing people now.

Click though to check it out!

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StackHaus Realty Inc. has a couple more deals to convey and close for early December, and are busy helping clients get their homes ready to move into and to list. Being a part of many aspects of a closing, co-ordinating renovations, it’s just my favourite thing.

Enjoy this passport photo of me taken for the UBC Sauder Business Strata Management exam. Wet hair and coveralls in the middle of a Shopper’s Drug Mart in Esquimalt. It’s that luxurious Real Estate lifestyle :)

Feelin 10/10 In Our 10×10!

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 17:35:18 GMT

When I called the municipality and they told me I wasn’t allowed to build a garage fronting onto Wordsley, I remembered that I can build as many 10×10s as I want in my back yard with NO PERMIT, so here we go!

My never ending paperwork as a Broker and Realtor was made better this week knowing Nicky was in the backyard building away like busy beaver. I’ve been chained to the desk but can hear a faint hammer or saw going in the distance, motivating me to power through forms forms and more forms.

Our backyard just happens to front onto Esquimalt Road, so I refuse to pay a commercial landlord a lease just like I refuse to pay a franchise to operate our brokerage. With hundreds of condos going in all around us here at the #artdecoesquimalt it makes perfect sense for us to erect our offices facing Esquimalt Road.

We’ll have street access to Esquimalt Rd. near Lampson St. and once the offices are done we’ll be removing the big laurel hedges to reveal Nicky’s handy work. We don’t need to hook it up to power as we’ll be running our offices from a solar generator.

I had a meeting at ERC (Esquimalt Roasting Company) and used our Esquimalt Rd. entrance, snapping a before pic that makes me so happy. Always rather invest in my own property than someone else’s but it wouldn’t happen without Nicky Valinoti - appreciate you.

SOLD - 3245 Albion Rd!

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 03:02:25 GMT

What a great deal we got for our buyers for this house in the Tillicum/Burnside area of Saanich!

First time on the market in nearly 40 years this house was well maintained and un-messed with! Ready for some cosmetic updates but sporting some skookum bones and systems. Rare!

We negotiated a fantastic closing price for this HUGE house with 5 bedrooms, giant double garage!, separate suite area downstairs and full height 7’4” lower level!

Bonus? My buyers are serious gardeners and this giant lot is basically already an orchard with multiple fruit trees and lush perennial borders.

Who’s going to be helping rip up these carpets and paint out these walls?

Finding a home for this family was a treat, friends and clients for decades it’s been a true joy touring with two tradies and their 5 kids! I will miss them helping me opening the lockbox or catching lizards in the backyards. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Course I also brokered the deal - off to go cut some excess funds bank drafts so we can close this one quick!

#realtor® #womenintrades #educateyourself #renovationexperts #stackhausrealty #yyj #yyjrealestate #houseflipping #saanich #womeninbusiness #generalcontractor #victoriarealtor #realestatelife #realestatebroker #brokerstack #propertymanagement #propertydevelopment #victoriabc #movetovictoria #victoriabc
#esquimaltrealestate #womenwhohustle #hgtv #renovationcouple #esquimalt #esquimaltrealtor #stackattack #brokerstack

The Managing Broker is IN!

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 23:46:20 GMT

We’re removing subjects today and about to start another flip on a house in Saanich for our Buyers!

Being a managing broker is a real treat, closing fast on this one because our conveyancer is beyond fastidious with her reports. Drafting up excess deposit bank drafts, a few reports being typed up and BAM! SOLD! That’s $2,950,000 in closings SO FAR this month of October! Yeeayyyah!

Trading in my demo boiler suits for some boss broker suits and it feels GOOD. Germans have NO CHILL and casual dress in Germany is just being nude, so the transition to pant suits has been an easy one. Why wear heels that make me 6’ tall? Because it feels powerful. Because sometimes I work 7 weeks without a day off.

Being a contract and conveyance expert also makes me feel powerful. Passport renewal? Green card? Immigration documents? EASY. I just survived my first 6 month long financial audit as the Managing Broker of my own Real Estate firm, NOTHING can phase me now.

May I forever be on a financial calculator or in a suit with an extra tall inseam, filling out FORMS FORMS FORMS, closing deals, moving people.

Broker Stack

Of the 44,000+ Realtors in the province, there are only around (apx) 1600 Managing Brokers. Sure it took years of experience and a huge 3hr written exam to become a broker but it was WORTH IT.

No franchise, no other company, not one other person took a peice of my hard earned commissions.

I’m about to write my Strata Management licence next month and will be rolling my UVic BA credits into a BBRE from UBC. Turns out I love self improvement as much as I love home improvements :)

Just Listed! NYC Style Loft in downtown Victoria!

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 05:26:00 GMT

We just re-listed this incredible downtown heritage conversion condo at a fantastic price!

This Stunning BRIGHT NYC Style loft is situated in the famed Oriental building. Unit 206 is among the largest in the building, offering an impressive corner floorpan and unique features including an iconic heritage bay window, oversize double-height ceilings bathed in natural light from multiple SW facing windows and exposed brick walls adding an urban chic aesthetic. Modern kitchen impresses with an open concept kitchen/living area. Originally crafted in the late 1880s, this sought after 2011 conversion with in-suite laundry seamlessly blends historic charm with contemporary comforts. Enjoy building amenities like a bike room, dedicated storage, a charming courtyard, and a shared rooftop patio with a BBQ area. Pet and family friendly! Charming secure courtyard and common rooftop patio.

‘Twas The Tale of 2 Sales!

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:04:35 GMT

Congratulations to both my sellers and buyers!

When my buyers called me about the house on Pickford that we just flipped and sold, I knew we could help find them another house in the beautiful Colwood Lake area. Hosting these lovely buyers in my furnished rental while they were looking for their new home created a seamless transition for this wonderful family.

We negotiated a great deal for them and are SO excited for them to take possession. Fantastic open concept layout, bright sunny yard with awesome landscaping, high end appliances and a rental income suite of their very own! This amazing house at 2429 Marlene Dr. really shows off what Pickford could look like with some elbow grease.

Congratulations to the happy sellers of Pickford where I was the General Contractor AND the buyers of Marlene where I helped place them as tenants for a short period. By also brokering this deal I was able to be involved in every aspect of helping my clients in these deals.

Feeling very proud of my clients and so happy to have ushered in new folks into this amazing neighbourhood. Welcome and Congratulations!

Ol’ Gold River!

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 19:47:41 GMT

Growing up between Metchosin and Jordan River BC, I’m no stranger to rural British Columbia. So when we decided to look for land to build a cabin you didn’t have to twist my arm to make the trek to check out land near beautiful Strathcona Park.

Weather you’re in the market for some remote land or cabin, or you’re looking for your next island getaway, consider Gold River and Tahsis! The legendary MV Ukchuk was down for maintenance, an adventure cruise that services the even more remote communities of Friendly Cove and Nootka Sound. There was too much to see anyways so we’ll save that for another trip.

It’s worth noting that every single person we met on our trip was beyond friendly, welcoming and inviting. There wasn’t a single overly hip establishment (think Tofino, 30 years ago), we hit up the local FIELDS (my favourite rural BC store, where else can you get a Def Leppard T-Shirt, fishing tackle and $10 gum boots? The BEST.)

The local Realtors, our AirBnb host, every local we bumped into - friendly as prairie folk. ❤️

We fished with loons serenading us and no other humans in sight at Antler Lake, ate salmon berries and were able to fish from our backyard that backed onto beautiful Peppercorn Park in Gold River.

Tahsis did not disappoint. It felt exactly like I was back in Jordan River in the 90s. I felt immediately at home. The locals cleaning their catch of the day, dogs lazing about the marina, turquoise waters with an absolutely verdant and stunning mountain backdrop.

We traversed the Upana Caves along the Tree to Sea Highway joining Gold River to Tahsis, and hoped to catch a Sasquatch sighting along the way (Winnie wishes ;)

From the smooth river rocks of Gold River to the jagged mountain tops that peaked out like some kind of Lord of the Rings homage, we are just smitten with this area.

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What is a trip up island without a stop in Coombs?

It was pretty apparrant I haven’t been up island for years, I was shocked to see the independantly owned shacks of Coombs had been torn down (told it was a fire hazard, of course) to make way for some 2010’s tuscan inspired buildings. Sob.

The goats on the roof were still there, and it’s really the best stop to break up a 5hr road trip up island.

#beautifulbc #bcre #tahsisorbust #goldriver #goldriverbc #tahsisbc #vancouverisland #vanisle #yyj #victoriabc #bcrealtor #stackhausrealty #victoriarealestate #managingbroker #friendlycove #treetoseadrive #strathconapark #antlerlake #FIELDS #victoriarealestate #lowermyrafalls #buttlelake #campbellriverbc #goldriverbc🐟🎣 #vancouverislandlife #ruralbc #bc

Find Us In The Garden

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 07:22:22 GMT

There is no place I’d rather be.

Having grown up in rural Metchosin with overly industrious German parents, we cultivated our acreage with acres of vegetation and ornamental perennials laid out neatly in defined rock-walled gardens built by my father and tended to by my mother. Germans don’t do anything half measure, we raised chickens and even had a large aviary filled with pheasants, owls, geese and if you can imagine - a pet Canadian goose named ‘Lucky’ that slept in my bedroom.

I picked up some of my parent’s German accented words and still refer to a garden bed as a garden ‘bade’ :)

It was the the 80s and they were immigrants living their best life. My wonderful uncle Gordie Stach (my late father’s brother, John Stack was an anglicized version of his German name Johannes Stach) was the ‘Dahlia Champion’, his house filled with ribbons, his legacy hundreds of dahlia hybrids, my memory of his garden in Surrey packed with literally thousands of dahlias.

https://www.timescolonist.com/archive/dahlias-dazzle-and-delight-4599376

The houses I’ve lived in have always had a fussy garden reminiscent of the English Gardens I visited during my time living in the UK, elaborate perennial borders and fastidiously weeded lawns. Vegetable gardens with potatoes (obligatory for Germans) and truck loads of compost layering every year…I just love every season of it. I do NOT love the protected Garry Oak that hangs over my property (rooted in my neighbours yard). I remove over 60 bags of leaves a year. Bel-ief it.

People are often shocked that I chose Victoria over Manhattan when I married my husband Nicky, leaving our apartment in the Upper West Side for Esquimalt. They must have never lived in New York, and they must not have ever seen my garden ;) The heat radiating off of the cement during the summer months in Manhattan made me long for the cool sea breezes of Victoria, especially my home in Esquimalt, all near 9,000 sf of this manicured lot, south facing, verdant, my pride and joy.

The summer in my garden smells like the ocean (only a couple blocks away), sweet peas, and yes, sometimes it smells like Ribfest ha!

Some folks prefer maintenance free gardens and strata properties. Not me. Give me weekends of pruning and fussiness. Let me pour hundreds of hours into digging and weeding. Let my wrists ache and my knees have dirt embedded in them, I have zero shame running errands with soil all over my face, in my nose, in my ear. I choose to spend hours, days, weeks in the garden, but that time is never lost. It’s where I belong.

Our #ArtDecoEsquimalt is always filled with flowers, and the literal fruits of my labour have been giving back, we’re eating from the garden every night here and we’re growing : Apples, Figs, apricots, lettuce, spinach, kale, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, kiwis, lavender, tomatoes, peppers, squash squash, squash, beans, peas, potatoes, peppers!, onions, garlic, eggplant, currents, pumpkins, and every single perennial that I’ve proudly grown from seed, cottage biennials like mighty hollyhocks and snapdragons, lilies, daisies, anemones, ferns ferns ferns. There’s a hosta garden, a rose garden, an herb garden. A berry patch and room for more raised beds!

The next project is a greenhouse and some chickens of course! Head on over to instagram to see more pics of the garden, or better yet, drop by for a visit to see it in person :)

#esquimalt #esquimaltgardens #yyj #yyjgardens #victoriagardens #bcgardens #vancouverislandgardens #gardencity #cityofgardens #germanslovetogarden #gordonstach

JUST LISTED! 2878 Pickford Rd.

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 02:56:32 GMT

We’re so excited to be listing this amazing family home in the Colwood Lake neighbourhood!

https://tours.snaphouss.com/2878pickfordroadvictoriabc?b=0

Check out StackHaus' latest renovation, we're proud to present 2878 Pickford Rd., listed at $869,900 in the beautiful Colwood Lake area. It's not uncommon to see kids playing hockey in the middle of the street in this quiet family oriented neighbourhood. We've fully cosmetically updated the entire upstairs and downstairs fourth bedroom, check out the retro rec room and incredible unfinished lower level space - roughed in plumbing and sep entrance make this a perfect space to suite out or add extra finished square footage. Buyer to verify measurements, zoning, permits.

We replaced the deck railing and stairs to the huge level flat yard. Access to David Cameron School is right across the street - perfect for soccer or walking the dog. OPEN HOUSES SAT & SUN JULY 12&13th 2-4PM

JUST RENTED!

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:56:32 GMT

Not a day goes by that I’m not happy to have our suite set up as a furnished rental. We’re booked with 30 day min rentals all summer long, and the revenue that we get from our income property is 90% written off against the mortgage. It’s a win-win-win.

Plus, I’m able to house clients while looking for a home to buy in Victoria, like the folks we just gave the keys to today! We’ll miss them as tenants but so happy they will be our neighbours here in Esquimalt.

We often get people that say things like “That house is so much work, you should sell!” and “You need a smaller house”… why? Even when I was single I was perfectly happy with a 3500sf house on an 8,000 sf lot. It keeps me busy, and I’m GERMAN. We LOVE gardening, home improvement and are always HAUS PROUD. So again, NO, I’m NOT SELLING :)

The other part of the puzzle is that I used to be a Duty Manager at a 4Star hotel in the UK for years and years, and grew up in our family restaurant in Jordan River. Hospitality runs deep. I just love hosting folks from other parts of the world, and I absolutely ADORE sharing this house with guests.

Do you have a suite and would like to turn it into a furnished rental? Call us! We are licensed in Property Management and have a long list of repeat rental clients that are looking to rent in Victoria!

Putting Your $$$ Where Your Mouth Is

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:21:00 GMT

We’re celebrating our client’s new home with some dollar rolls from the Dutch Bakery today! The best part of the day was offering to carry my clients over the threshold, classic Real Estate humour :)

A big shout out to all the entrepreneurs that put themselves out there and REALLY put their $$$ where their mouth is. We’re out here doing things by the book, bootstrapping our way through. And it takes GUTS and strength to be so bold to put yourselves out on a limb and start a legitimate business.

Because we LOVE to be our own bosses, and we’re just so damn good at all things Real Estate!

If we had a dollar for every wannabe that’s come into our sphere over the past year in Real Estate, trying to glean free information and advice, I wouldn’t have to work, I swear to god. People will try to use you in Real Estate, that’s a hard fact.

StackHaus Realty Inc. is LEGIT. We spent the time and money to incorporate. Christina spent 15 years as a Realtor, sat through the 3 hour written exam to become a Managing Broker, went through every hurdle imaginable to be a BCFSA approved Real Estate Brokerage, studied and paid to become a Property Manager. We pay insurance, worker’s compensation, the bookkeeper, the accountant, thousands of dollars in education, licensing, advertising, incorporation filing, advertising, you name it.

So if you’ve come to us looking for free advice, wanting to see a house without a contract, want a CMA so you can turn around and represent yourself, we are not your people. Fortunately we have a long list of faithful, genuine clients (like the ones we gave the keys to today!) that respect us and our time. And we’re so so grateful for that!! Thank you!!!

xoxo Celebrating the sale of a beautiful house AND one year of StackHaus Realty Inc!!

Bathroom Tub & Tile Refresh

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 20:12:31 GMT

Most of the time when we’re flipping a home for sale, we’re not looking to reinvent the wheel or end up with editorial worthy cutting edge design, we’re updating to get the home ready for a family to move in, and if the new owner wants to splurge on a larger renovation that involves moving plumbing or framing, that’s up to them. In the meantime, they can proudly move into a home that has fresh finishes and working modern fixtures.

In my personal residence I’m all about going big, going luxe, going BOLD. Not as bold as the bathroom above (ha!) but BOLD, and that’s because I have no plans of selling my house. Ever. I refuse to sell, so I’ll do whatever I want when it comes to renovations and design in my own home, and you can too!

But what about renovating homes for sale? We’re taking these walls and colour schemes from the 1970s to the 2020s, and we want the home to appeal to as many buyers as possible so we want neutral, bright, fresh, clean, repaired and ready to go. Blank Canvases for the new owner.

The never ending Honey-Do List

Nicky comes from a long line of NYC Real Estate experts, his family owning and operating multiple multi-family buildings in Brooklyn long before he became the infamous Building Superintendent that he is today.

Having successfully completed decades of renovations and tenant turnovers in the UWS of Manhattan, including large scale commercial, pre-war rental and luxury apartments, buildings in Brooklyn and Long Island.

Through watching his NYC flips and tenant prep-for-sale turnovers, I learned a lot from NYCRE that we apply to our work here in Victoria every day.

Having a Superintendent that is the real Stack of all Trades is truly the StackHaus Ace. I have yet to find something he can’t repair or build.

What we both love to do (Dad Stack was a flipper and taught me well!) is flip homes for sale for our clients. The joy we get from improving homes is like nothing else. And how does one flip a home for sale on a budget? Lots and lots of elbow grease!

I just love working within the confines of refresh renovation, especially a time capsule like this one. As an abstract sequential learner/thinker I get immense satisfaction in repairing and making homes work for the new occupants, and knowing all the little ways to cosmetically update a room.

We applied the same winning formula that we flipped the kitchen with to the bathrooms - paint, epoxy, new fixtures, et voila! We removed SO MUCH wallpaper from this house, scrubbed the walls with TSP and perfected smooth walls with multiple layers of spackle & sanding. Painting is 75% prep work.

Using Cloverdale Paint’s fantastic cabinet paint we sanded and refinished all the bathroom cabinets, moving and replacing the hinges. After that we sprayed the inside of the boxes, applied new modern contact paper and shiny chrome hardware with new plumbing fixtures.

We recycled the cabinets as well as the tub & tile, Nicky installed a new sink, toilet, faucet, mirror, shower head and towels bar. He does it all :)

You like that black General Contractor nail? SEXY!

For the blue tub, we were quoted nearly $2,000 to have it reglazed or refitted. No thanks!

Instead we got our PPE on (Personal Protection Equipment), gas mask and goggles for protection, and carefully painted out 3 coats of enamel. You’ll have to stay tuned to see the finished product, but we are SO PLEASED with the results!

If you’re going to refinish a bathtub or tile with Tub & Tile epoxy, please remember the fumes are NASTY and no one should be in the house for at least 3 days after. Not even for a minute.

Second Coat - Almost Done!

After all of that was done we attacked the bathtub that needed an upgrade.

You’ll have to stay tuned for the listing pics and promo videos to see the end result, but here we have two coats of Tub & Tile epoxy on the tub and surround.

We added some marble tile and added some more 1×1 tile to extend the tiled area to a more modern height.

Looks so awesome! Can’t wait to show you the end result :)

Representing Buyers in Esquimalt

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 07:14:51 GMT

Pending : A-489 Foster St.

Congratulations to these wonderful buyers! They had a wish list and got exactly what they were looking for, in the BEAUTIFUL Municipality of Esquimalt! This zebra built home is located on a sweet street with an ocean cove at the end of the street and walking distance to shopping, restaurants and parks. Esquimalt is the BEST! Way to go buds, So proud of you, so, so proud.

Esquimalt is lucky to get two wonderful new neighbours to Saxe Point! This newer home is the Victoria dream, being able to smell the ocean from your house, walk to a pub or farmer’s market, enjoy excellent amenities, mild winters, sunny gorgeous summers. Congratulations :) :)

Nanaimo Referral - Well Done!

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 07:05:03 GMT

Have we been busy? Why YES WE HAVE.

Congrats to our referral up in Nanaimo this week - what amazing value Nanaimo offers, thank you Feron Walker at 460 Realty Inc. for such great work and congrats to the buyers - welcome to Vancouver Island! So excited for you! Nanaimo offers incredible value, and is just booming right now. Get in, act fast, and hold that property!

Before & After Kitchen Refresh

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 06:47:32 GMT

So we’re nearly ready to have professional photos taken of our latest flip but I couldn’t help but get some images of the kitchen up on here, I’m beaming with satisfaction after completing this little mini-renovation.

This 1970’s kitchen was in its original untouched state, and needed to be refreshed. The cabinets next to the windows were taken down to allow more light to come into the space. We then scrubbed and rinsed every surface with TSP, spackled and caulked, sanded and prepped the cabinets.

We sprayed out the ceilings, rolled out the walls, applied 3 coats of a fantastic product from Cloverdale Paint, their ‘Cabinet and Furniture’ comes in 5gal pails - what an excellent candy coat finish it gives! We replaced the hardware and hinges, sprayed the insides of the cabinets and applied new contact paper.

Nicky is the StackHaus Realty secret weapon, the sauce, the gravy. He added a marble tile backsplash, hood fan, cleaned up the sink, added a new faucet and worked magic on the countertops, applying a stone finish epoxy then layers of buffed resin for a gorgeous stone look!

The cherry on top is the new stainless slide in range and larger fridge. We found the perfect off-cut vinyl flooring at End of the Roll. Flipping houses is my favourite thing in the whole world, thank you Nicky none of this would be possible without you and your incredible skills.

Just Rented!

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 06:28:19 GMT

Having been my own landlord for over a decade, I was inspired when I met my husband, Nicky, a Building Superintendent from Manhattan, to get my Property Management licence and start our own Real Estate Brokerage - and guess what? We did just that.

Nicky was a Building ‘Super’ in the UWS of Manhattan for a large mix-use 1890’s building at 99th & Broadway, and when I would visit him there I learned a lot about Property Management. New York City doesn’t mess around, and being privy to a NYC Building Superintendent’s day to day was anything but boring.

Between tenant turnovers, commercial tenants, leasing, constant repairs, renovations, upgrades! New York Building Superintendent work is not for the faint of heart, there was constant hassling and haggling, a non-stop barrage of defensive negotiations and dodging scams. Every second of the day. So! I trust us at StackHaus Realty Inc. to handle any situation Victoria Real Estate has to hand us. After NYC, Victoria is absolute paradise.

We met our lovely home owners at 1215 Lockley at an open house at one of our listings for sale, we got along great and I was so pleased when they asked me to represent their Rockheights, Esquimalt home as a Property Manager. With patience and diligence we all worked together to achieve short-term rental registration status with the Township of Esquimalt, who allow 30 day minimum rentals.

There is SUCH a demand for these mid-term rentals, not quite short enough to really be a week long holiday short term rental, and not a long term unfurnished rental, the mid-term furnished rental is key for folks looking for a home away from home in Greater Victoria.

Who needs mid-term or monthly furnished rentals? Family coming to visit! People visiting for medical reasons, to visit our hospitals and also travelling nurses. Locals need to be housed in mid-term rentals when their home is being remediated or renovated, and every winter our Victoria rentals are filled with renters from the rest of Canada enjoying our mild weather and lack of snow :)

Students, snowbirds, evacuees, locals, travelling nomads. They are all looking at Victoria for their temporary home away from home. The amount of people that want to rent while they purchase a home in Victoria is HUGE, also folks between their sale and next purchase. It can take months to find the perfect home.

Are you looking for some extra cash from your primary residence while you’re away? Do you have a suite you’d like to turn into a furnished rental? We are your people!

We love to market and manage rentals, and will take care of your home with the same care that we take of our own properties. Call us at Stackhaus Realty today for any questions about making some rental income with your Real Estate! And while we don’t have property managers that represent residential tenants I’m happy point you in the right direction.

AirBnb is still the number one place for finding monthly furnished rentals, there’s also Kijiji, Craigslist, UsedVictoria, Rentals.ca, Facebook Marketplace and so many rental groups on Facebook as well that you may want to join. Most of those websites apply to unfurnished websites, but I would also suggest looking at the big rental companies in town, they will have the larger buildings posted online as well.

The RTB recognizes anything less than 90 days as a ‘short term rental’ and anything more is subject to the RTA (Residential Tenancy Act). Check out the BC Gov website for more info on legislation, registration, provincial requirements (and check with your municipality as well)…

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/short-term-rentals

Reach out if you have any questions, and I’ll try my best to help, or will point you in the right direction.

Stacking Up Skills & Licences

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 03:54:47 GMT

Between selling homes and renovating homes, I have to get some weightlifting in. I love the physicality of renovating and selling homes. Renovating is back breaking work. I lift heavy so I can wield a sledgehammer to put in signs or to take down walls. Yesterday to the horror of everyone at the building supply store, I hefted two toilets out to the parking lot, lifted them into my van, then carried them into the house we’re renovating. I can say I did that with no problem, and wouldn’t have been able to if I didn’t lift at the gym multiple times a week.

People ask me all the time how to get into flipping houses, Real Estate or Renovations. The truth is most successful folks in any profession didn’t get there just from work experience alone. Education, be it through UBC Sauder School of Business for Real Estate Licences, or Trades from Camosun or BCIT is the foundation for success.

Employers don’t want to teach you how to use excel, market properties or hold your hand teaching you a skill or trade. Employers and clients want YOU to be educated and bring skills TO them. Make yourself so skilled and educated that no one can refuse your talents. And that starts with educating yourself.

When I started in Real Estate there was no mentoring program at my brokerage. I had to beg a Realtor at each point of the transaction how to market, write offers, broker-load properties into MLS. My renovation skills happened over decades being surrounded by skilled tradesmen and tradeswoman in my family. All of these skills learned are the result of wanting to learn!

So to anyone interested in Renovations or Real Estate - don’t expect an employer to arm you with skills. Go out and learn them for yourself, bring something to the table.

Get a licence, get a trade. Don’t expect to learn everything from work experience, and keep learning. Did you know the supplemental Property Management and Strata Management exams, Broker’s exam all count as credits towards our manditory PDP credits needed to reinstate our Realtor licences? Well they do! :)

As a General Contractor and Realtor I’m not just stacking up my licences I’m stacking up my skills. Drywalling, minor plumbing and electrical, basic framing, painting, roofing, welding, you name it I’m always picking up new skills and trades from Camosun, YouTube, DIY books. If you’re a woman who’s curious to pick up a trade check out this BCCWITT offering - recruiting for a ‘Try a Trade’ program - awesome!

After renovations and showings with buyers I’m sitting down to study at night, recording audio files of condensed chapter notes to pass the UBC Sauder Strata Management exam. I’ll be forever upping my game, and encourage those wanting to break into Real Estate to do the same.

Big thanks to Dad Stack who raised me like a son. Women can do anything. 💪

StackHaus Realty : Face to Face Real Estate

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 04:01:30 GMT

We found some cool Vintage FSBO House For Sale Signs at our latest project and decided to clean them up for the StackHaus office!

Stackhaus Realty is excited to have our office in action for clients to drop by and talk shop. Real Estate is done mostly over the phone, on location of the listing or via authentisign, but sometimes my clients do need to meet in person, and we at StackHaus Realty encourage it!

We’re talking confidential information and that’s sometimes easier face to face. Plus we can go over documents, options and inventory together, in person. It’s the in-person interactions that convey a lot in Real Estate. I love to present offers in person and of course do listing presentations face to face. It’s a dialogue, and you’re hiring us to negotiate in your best interest.

In the next month we’re bringing 3 new houses to the market! Tomorrow we’re getting media ready, pics and videos for our new furnished house rental in Esquimalt. StackHaus is busy!

Our construction and renovation side of the business has also taken off and we’re going to have to start an entirely new company to keep up. Again, what better than to have a physical office to go over finishes and plans? We’ve got plenty of coffee and a vary misbehaved corgi on retainer here on Wordsley St. in Esquimalt :)

Meetings are by appointment only and we’d love to have you over - contact us anytime for any of your Real Estate needs!

Reels, but Real Estate.

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 05:16:34 GMT

Big meeting in the big city calls for a round trip on Harbour Air & as someone who used to commute between Vic & Van for work, I know what a treat it is! I used to spend $$$$ a month on ferries, they knew me in the buffet! Ha. RIP Pacific Buffet, you are gone but not forgotten.

✈️⛴️🏝️ Victoria to Vancouver is at least 4 hours via BC Ferries which would have been an 8-9hr commute, cut down to 2 x 35 minute flights - just the best.

Living in Esquimalt I’m only a $12 cab ride away from the Inner Harbour Seaplane Terminal, so nice to be home so fast! We truly do live in paradise, and so awesome to see those gorgeous North Shore mountains and gulf island farms sprinkled in snow.

Check out my trip over our snowy wonderland via my personal reels via instagram below.

A few weeks back it was halloween and I was about to purchase 2 wigs to do a Milli Vanilli short video for some funny social media content, one of my listings had sold and in the video I was going to be singing “Girl I’m gonna miss you” as a goodbye to my listing…..

Welp, my husband reminded me that I’m a Managing Broker, Award winning 15+ year Realtor, Property Manager, Broker Owner, And Entrepreneur for 20 years. He basically told me I was selling myself short and far too professional to be making a video for cheap laughs with a wig.

At first I was mad that he stopped me from humiliating myself (lol) but after a couple of months I get it. I AM a boss and I don’t need to be making shorts for cheap likes. People hire me for my expertise, and I don’t need to make videos begging for likes based on my hotness or beauty. I prefer to be hired for my brain, my years and years of proven success, professional marketing expertise and general contracting knowledge.

It’s a fine line between being engaging and entertaining, and unless I’m marketing a listing I’m not dancing for my dinner. If you want to see my Milli Vanilla dance you’ll have to hire me as a Realtor, Property Manager or General Contractor :)

Back to work - Christina

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Canada First, Always.

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 22:45:24 GMT

When I wrote my Broker’s exam and became an Associate Broker, my clients were confused. I still get people asking me if I can help them with their mortgage. Let me explain, I’m a Real Estate Broker, NOT a mortgage broker.

What’s a managing broker?

A managing broker's responsibilities apply to all activities of the brokerage that require licensing under RESA. The managing broker must be in active charge of the business of the brokerage and must ensure that there is an adequate level of supervision of the professionals engaged by the brokerage.

In short, I am a Realtor, who operates and owns my own Brokerage as Managing Broker. I am also a Licenced Property Manager. Because I hold both Real Estate Trading Services AND Property Management, as a Broker I am able to employ agents with either licence under my own brokerage. And will!

Being a Broker means being held to a higher standard of responsibility. Period. I am invested in the future of Real Estate in Greater Victoria, celebrating 15 years of award winning service in Real Estate. I have been renovating and self-employed in a General Contractor capacity for over 20 years.

Having been a member of the Victoria Real Estate board for 15 years I have experienced first hand the ups and downs of the Real Estate market, I’ve found dozens of buried oil tanks, lived through hundreds of shocking building inspections, and mitigated and negotiated hundreds of stressful offers and transactions.

As managing broker of my own independent Real Estate firm I don’t send a single dollar to any non-Canadian franchise. All of my hard earned commission and renovation profits stay right here on Vancouver Island.

We purchase Canadian materials, bank at local credit unions and have been fiercely supporting the local economy for the entire time I’ve been self-employed here in Victoria. I don’t buy fast fashion or shop on Amazon, it’s hyper local all the time - very Vancouver Island. I wouldn’t be celebrating 20 YEARS of entrepreneurship if I wasn’t so conscious to support my fellow island entrepreneurs. I appreciate them so much, and owe a great deal of my success to my fellow local self-employed businesses.

8 years ago I was living in downtown Washington D.C., a foreign correspondent covering the Women’s march, Inauguration, and administration turnover. My German passport is still valid offering me EU Residency, and my US Green Card arrived in the mail last week. I’ve lived in England, New York, Melbourne for a total of 5 years outside of Canada, and travelled over 45+ countries. I speak English, broken German and Manhattan slang.

The only place I want to be? Home. Home is Canada, and home is Vancouver Island.

To be self employed in Canada vs. USA is a big difference. Universal healthcare in Canada fosters entrepreneurship. I am not tied to a job or company because of the ‘Golden Handcuffs’ of Health Insurance provided by employment like so many in the USA. I am free to work for myself and still have coverage. It’s something I don’t take for granted.

Canada has been good to me, and I can say that as a First-Generation Canadian. I have no extended family here, have earned everything I have through sheer hard work and determination. There was no Mommy-Daddy start up fund given to me, no financial support from any family member or spouse, just me and my work ethic.

If you’re thinking of starting a business or are interested in becoming a Realtor or Property Manager, please reach out! I’m always happy to help - collaborations, marketing advice, incorporating support, pep talks :)

StackHaus Realty Inc.

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 06:21:00 GMT

Let me introduce myself again! I’m Christina Stack, Owner/Operator of StackHaus Realty Inc., full time Realtor and member of the Victoria Real Estate Board since 2010, Multiple Silver and Bronze MLS Award Winner, Property Manager and General Contractor.

Today I dropped off 8,000 more postcards to be delivered to our hometown of Esquimalt! So if you’ve come here as a result of our trusted Canada Post Service - welcome! We are StackHaus Realty Inc., a female-owned, female run independent Real Estate Brokerage that is Victoria’s TRIPLE THREAT firm! We are Real Estate specialists that represent Buyers, Sellers, Property Management AND Manage Renovations.

Our value added construction knowledge offer a one-stop shop to maximize your Real Estate investment and transaction process. We can spruce your listing up to get top dollar and sell FAST. Check out our recent renovations here on the blog, Lampson St. or our new Colwood listing - flipping to sell.

We are also able to offer buyers the same benefits - check out our recent work on Albina St. here on the blog where we helped a new buyer (and great young family) paint out their house as well as swap out some easy fixtures before they moved in. StackHaus has got your back!

Mind for Real Estate, Heart for Construction

I love the physicality of renovating a space. As General Contractor I’m mostly the boss lady behind the scenes — drafting floor plans, applying for permits, ordering supplies and fixtures, scheduling, calling folks.

I owe my hands on skills to great folks like my late step-father Norm who taught me how to paint like an professional, and my former partner Chris who taught me everything about furniture and high end finishing.

Interior painting and landscaping are my true trades and I always make sure to be involved in both aspects when our team is flipping or renovating a property.

Colwood Opportunity!

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 05:54:18 GMT

We’ve had multiple people chipping away at this large estate in Colwood! We’re sorting things for an estate sale and will have some amazing opportunities for folks to purchase vintage diesel Mercedes’ (plural!), beautiful mid-century German furniture, German books and records, basically everything is made in Germany :)

Turns out there’s a house behind these shrubs! As a Realtor, my ultimate pet peeve is overgrown trees, trees and bushes that are not pruned can take over your entire property! Check out the after results below…we’re getting there! Working hard to get this house ready for the spring market….

Before/After : 3061 Albina St.

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 05:04:17 GMT

After our Buyers took possession of their new home we got to work the next day! Spackling, caulking and prepping the entire house with the help of the buyer’s and their family.

Ceilings were painted with Cloverdale Paint’s ‘Ceiling White’ of course, walls were the Cloverdale dupe of Benjamin Moore’s Oxford White, named ‘Marshmallow’ and we all loved the colour! Trim was done by the buyers later in a crisp no tint white in a satin finish. With the help of their family and friends (which was many! A testament to how great these new home owners are :) we went through 17 gallons of paint and finished in 4 days.

The buyers, helpers and us painted out 4 other rooms not shown, and Nicky and the buyers switched out some electrical fixtures in the living room and kitchen as shown, the buyers even painted out the trim before they moved in! Most buyers will not fix anything after the 6 month date after moving in. Do it right away when the furniture isn’t in the way and enjoy your new home. So proud of these new home owners!

Being able to broker the deal was a real treat. It took me 2 hours of work to convey this deal, and I encourage more Realtors to get their Broker’s licence. Of the apx 30,000 Realtors in BC, only apx 2600 have their broker’s licence (apx 1300 are managing brokers). How many of those are independent non-franchise owners? The are the minority. How many of the non-franchise brokerages are owned by a woman? Not many! It is a privilege.

We were invited by the buyers (who are old friends) together with their family that helped get their home ready to celebrate Solstice over a fire roasting marshmallows and hot dogs :) The family knew all the words to an Italian Christmas Song, “Dominick the Donkey” which of course Nicky Valinoti knew the words to as well!

Congratulations to the new home owners! xo

Just SOLD! 3061 Albina St.

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 05:23:35 GMT

Congratulations to my wonderful buyers on the purchase of their first home, a 1940’s character house in the Gorge area of Saanich. Legendary listing agent Jerry Bola was wonderful to work with, friendly and knowledgable! So proud of my buyers for working so hard and sacrificing so much to make home ownership in Victoria a reality.

I’ll be there on closing day in my overalls, with painting supplies and champagne! We’re also starting our next huge flip, a house in Colwood that needs another gut renovation - our favourite!

Call StackHaus Realty for all your Real Estate needs - Buying, Selling, Property Management.

Freshly Updated by StackHaus Realty!

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 04:36:27 GMT

When the owner of this townhouse called me and said they needed a local company to transform their rental into a freshly updated home they called the right folks! StackHaus Realty of course!

Nicky and I got to work removing the old carpets and garbage left by the previous occupant, and gave this home a beautiful turnover in just a matter of weeks. No renovations needed! This property was updated as a tenant turnover, which involves fixing things that have broken over time like shower curtain rods, toilet lids, replacing fixtures like door knobs and updating appliances. Then cleaning and painting every surface!

As a former NYC Building Superintendent Nicky has turned over plenty of co-ops and apartments (or condos as we say here:) We’ve implemented the NYC co-op paint scheme (UWS Manhattan, you’ll see the same colours used in many listings there). Ceiling white for the ceiling, two coats, walls got Linen White with built in primer, and trim and cabinets are painted in crisp white no tint semi gloss, doors as well.

There’s a great Rustoleum product that gives countertops a fresh update - buy it on Amazon. We went with plain white but you could bring it to a paint store to tint it any colour you like.

We donated the plants to friends and used Atlas Junk Removal for the bin rental, they were great with their timing and dispatch. They took the old fridge and stove and were extremely good with timing the removals (we filled 4).

The garbage removal took a week, including removing the upstairs carpets. The deep cleaning and paint prep another week. Each wall was scrubbed, literally, with a big scrubbing sponge and a TSP solution, then rinsed. Your reminder that when washing walls with TSP you want to be extremely careful to wear goggles and long rubber gloves, it’s nasty, but the best way to get a perfect paint finish.

After the entire place is washed up we started on the other step to paint prep. Replacing some baseboards and damaged trim, caulking everything everywhere, filling ten million holes, waiting for them to dry, sanding and repeating :) It’s a lot of work and very time consuming but necessary. Taping the flooring downstairs, covering windows and baseboards, the prep is WERK.

Painting the walls seems to take no time at all, but I would argue painting trim takes years off my life. Door frames, doors and doorknob removal, trim, window trim, trim on trim. The kitchen cabinets got a fresh coat of paint and so did the countertops.

Outside we pressure washed, gave the outside landscaping a hard pruning and clean up. Usually carpets take forever to coordinate installation in Victoria with a month lead time, but the folks at End of the Roll got us an awesome deal on high traffic berber and coordinated with us on a speedy installation.

One of the toughest things about scheduling a cosmetic makeover like this is timing the flooring and appliances. Appliances (and furniture I would add) take forever to order when not in stock. We didn’t replace any cabinets so the oven and fridge were replaced where they were before, just now in shiny stainless steel. They came after the listing went live so we did some virtual staging to show potential buyers what the kitchen would look like with the fridge.

We’ve put the listing live on the market and have had a lot of interest! Leads have been coming in from Realtor.ca, buyer’s agents and open houses. Thanks to our Seller for the opportunity and very excited for the new owners to take over this space and call it their own.

We had the nice folks at Real Foto do our photos and floor plans (including the virtual staging) and got to work marketing the property with online marketing and open houses. The open houses were super busy and we SOLD QUICKLY thanks to all the attractive fresh updates.

Here’s our video again showcasing our before & after process. StackHaus Realty is YOUR Greater Victoria FULL SERVICE Real Estate Brokerage.

StackHaus Realty Property Management

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 07:28:07 GMT

StackHaus Realty Inc. is fully licensed in Property Management! Let our team of Property Managers and In-house Maintenance and Renovation experts help you manage and grow your Real Estate Portfolio! Serving all of Greater Victoria.

1203 Lockley SOLD! Before & After

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 01:21:00 GMT

When my clients called me up and needed some help getting their house ready to list I could only think of one person for the job, Nicky who has turned over plenty of apartments and houses in New York. We worked with the client’s budget and spruced up the 1945 Character home in a matter of 3 weeks, and had an unconditional sale 2 weeks after that. Done and done!

Here’s what we did: Christina got to work on leaf and weed removal, she loves to be in the garden and is a control freak, so tidying someone’s yard is a pleasure for her. We removed about 30 bags of leaves from the property and that included the large hedges that Nicky had pruned, providing privacy for this corner lot. Scroll down to see some before and afters…

And some “After” shots that we used for the listings pics - we also maintained the grounds during the sales process to make sure the yards looked sharp for potential buyers. This included watering the plants, mowing and trimming the grounds.

After looks great! Tidy and ready for a buyer to see this house as their new home. After we’d tackled the yards and gardens we got to work on the pressure washing of the sunny patio. We brought in the big guns for this part, my German mother showed up with her German (of course) pressure washer and we cleaned it right up!

This was my Mom’s face after she’d finished (haha put that Mom to work!) And my face covered in dirt after a fun day of pressure washing the new listing. Real Estate isn’t all glamorous! :)

Check out the exteriors! Turned out so clean and tidy for the listing photos and showings with potential buyers.

After we were done outside we got to work on the interior, Nicky removed some shelving and repaired all the walls in the entire house. This adorable house was just over 850 square feet but we still needed to give it a ‘New York turnover’ where all the walls are painted back to white or cream in every single room, ready for the new owners to move right on in. Nicky painted every room but the small hallway and the garage, so it was a fair job. He also caulked all of the baseboards and trim for a crisp and tidy paint job. After he was done Nicky went around to the doors and trim and painted them in a semi-gloss white. The results are awesome!

Check out the after! We took these pastels and bright colours back to fresh white, a blank canvas where the next homeowner can envision their furniture in the space, and if they want to add a feature wall or another colour the walls have been freshly repaired and painted white, ready for their next life.

The space felt larger, brighter, newer, fresher! We brought back Mom Stack to finish up the rooms with us, we cleaned the windows and blinds, made sure the kitchen was move in ready - Nicky rebalanced the stove, and my Mom finished up the floors with some industrial German floor wax (really) and those original Fir floors have never looked better!

All this sprucing up getting 1203 Lockley Rd. for sale was all in vain if our marketing wasn’t on point! So we got our friends from Real Foto over to take photos, floor plans and video so we could showcase this awesome listing to potential buyers in it’s best light. Making my listings look good and showcasing their potential is my calling.

I love to host open houses, it’s always so great to meet the neighbours and get their take on the listing and the market. Most homes (98%) in Greater Victoria are sold through a buyer’s agent, and that means gone are the days that someone walks off the street and into an open house and just buys one with no agent, but buyers do come through to check out the house and they do tell their friends and families, including the neighbours. It’s also a great time for the listing agent to get feedback from the buyers, a lot of agents don’t give feedback after a showing, but host a busy open house and ask people what they think and they’ll tell you!

Being a homeowner in Esquimalt myself it was great to tell potential buyers not only about the features of the home but also the neighbourhood. When recording the video for the property I asked Real Foto to get some pictures of the iconic mid-century homes in the Rockheights area as well as the E&R Bike path and the many local amenities of Esquimalt. This listing backed onto a laneway with lots of garages and the potential to build a DADU (Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit). The bonus building was perfect for someone looking to have a home office or home based business.

We found our buyer and are pending to close. We promoted this listing with targeted Social Media marketing including sharing a shortened version of this video on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The open houses I hosted had a large portion of people coming from seeing the listing on MLS and through targeted ads. We really enjoyed this project and are happy for our sellers and the buyers of their new home! Welcome to Esquimalt!

If you have a listing that you need someone to help spruce up, or you just need a fantastic Realtor to sell your home, drop me a line or call me anytime! As a licensed Property Manager I can also help get your rental turned over between tenants as well as find the best tenant and help manage your rental.

Buy, Sell, Rent, Fix. We are your Victoria Real Estate experts.

Fireplaces: Time to Upgrade!

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 19:04:53 GMT

Every time I tell someone I have an original wood burning fireplace in my upstairs they exclaim “Never change that!” but they don’t have to live with a wood burning fireplace. The soot, the smoke. It’s just so medieval to have an open fire in the home! Not to mention inefficient and impossible to ever build one of these again with today’s code.

I do love the retro lights on either side of the fireplace - those orange and yellow bulbs are original from the 1940s! They really don’t make them like they used to. The fireplace is located in the corner of the living room to make way for the big picture windows that sit on either side of the fireplace. I also love the original copper hood.

In my downstairs area I had a non-functioning fireplace that I upgraded to gas. This fireplace can heat up to 600sf and is the main heat source for this downstairs guest/office area. I love having alternate sources of heat for emergencies. When I waited for a new boiler to come in I was very happy to have a gas fireplace to warm up to, and one day (ask me this winter) I’ll be happy to replace the one upstairs to gas as well.

I chose a marble look ceramic tile for the fireplace surround, something to work with the tile in the open kitchenette area as well as bathroom located downstairs. All these rooms used a grey and white colour theme - very neutral - as you can see my art and furniture do not lack colour :)

Stack of All Trades

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 18:34:21 GMT

Growing up in Metchosin, my parents were Real Estate flippers and immigrants from Germany who were obsessed with fixing up and building houses. They would purchase small homes, renovate them and sell them for a profit. They’d even do this while they built a house at the same time. Sometimes they would hold them and rent them, and I learned a lot from them as builders and landlords.

I find such pleasure restoring an older house, breathing new life and energy into the walls of a home, making right the structure, systems and aesthetics. It’s these hands on experiences that make me an excellent Realtor, Associate Broker and Property Manager.

I love to paint and landscape. A fresh coat of paint is always necessary when buying or selling a new home, and I’m happy to help Nicky with his renovations when it comes to the last step because he is not a fan of watching paint dry, where as I’m the 3 coat stickler, and the person that always looks forward to touchups and cutting in.

Do I regularly go to the hardware store covered in paint? Yes. Do I show up to showings like this? No, unless it’s your 2nd or 3rd deal with me, ha!

Below I’m sharing some of my favourite painting jobs starting with my guest bedroom which I painted a moody dark blue-green, saturating the baseboards with the same colour as well as matching the velvet curtains to give this room a super cozy feeling.

In the main living and dining area I painted the ceiling a soft flat light blue to open up the space even further, and highlighted the gorgeous original cove ceilings in a satin cream (most of the walls are the same colour - ‘Bavarian Cream’ but in eggshell. The main feature wall was painted ‘Jonestown Blue’.

Doesn’t the blue ceiling look great?! I love it! I also love how the light plays off the satin finish on the coved ceilings. They just don’t make them like they used to. This room was previously brown, it took a serious primer and 3 coats to finish.

In the main bedroom (this was also painted a very dark yellow, almost brown) I painted the entire room in Bavarian Cream but applied a bottom level of ‘Aruba Blue’ by using a laser level to get a perfect line around the entire room. This is one of my favourite paint projects, the blue is so cheery (and echoed in the turquoise accent colour outside).

The rest of the house is mostly painted in a neutral cream. Downstairs was painted in Oxford White because the Bavarian Cream colour from upstairs reads too yellow with less natural light.

So now you know I love to paint! I believe most of the work is done in the prep - it takes precision to spackle and sand all the imperfections of a wall, caulk the baseboards, and TSP the walls. I really believe in washing the walls before a paint job, especially in a room like the kitchen or bathroom that can have handprints or grease that will show through the paint.

Aside from swearing by a TSP rinse to prep the walls, I also love using a 1.5 inch brush to cut in, and am very loyal to Cloverdale paint which I think is the best paint product in town! Show them a BCAA membership card for a great discount on paint.

Painting this entire house took years in between my deals at work but I’m very happy with the results, other than the hallway I painted in a flat cream, complete with all the trim, no trim should ever be painted in a flat finish, it drives me nuts, but what is homeownership if not another weekend project.

Art Deco Esquimalt

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 17:45:43 GMT

Welcome to our restored 1940’s original Art Deco in Esquimalt! Built in 1943 for the Navy Lieutenant Geoff Longstaff and his wife Lillian. What a house this must have been when it was first built! In what world does a family need over 3600sf of living space, but this Deco Diva is just that - and I’m proud to have owned this house as one woman on title for over 16 years. Before I met Nicky I was painting the days away in this house by myself, and I’m so happy to finally have someone to share this home with (including all the responsibilities :)

This photo was taken just after the house was built, when I purchased the home it’s civic address was Esquimalt Rd. with the parking and main access on the street behind it (Wordsley St.)

The front yard that you can see in this picture has been completely enclosed by privacy hedges and now is my favourite place in the world - my front garden….

We are fortunate and grateful to have such a beautiful place to come home to, and I appreciate all the quirks and special things about this Art Deco.

Restoring the Art Deco has been a real labour of love. The first place I started was the kitchen. There was no exhaust fan, just a sun bleached pink countertop, some old drawers that didn’t close properly, and peeling stick-on tile. It needed to go. I kept the original upper cabinets because they are actually built into the framework of the house and they curve with the curved wall of the front of the house, the very distinct Art Deco lines, or more specifically, the Art Moderne lines.

We installed the most affordable glass tile that Home Depot had, an IKEA farmhouse sink and plain white base cabinets. The gas cooktop was also from IKEA and I kinda wish I had put an induction in as I can’t stand cleaning the burner surrounds. The wall oven is a dream for tall people like me, and I love the light in this eat-in kitchen.

Bathroom Updates

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 01:32:01 GMT

Update your kitchen with glass and tile work! After installing two new bathrooms in my house I had to update my upstairs bathroom, and a simple glass door (Wayfair) with curved edge to match the bathroom mirror did just the trick. Now I can see my beautiful diamond shaped tiles and never have to deal with the shower curtain falling on my head again! See below for a better view of those tiles and (shudder) curtain rod…

In our downstairs bathroom we went crazy on tile work (a friend gave me some left over tile!) so this bathroom got a strip of marble accent tile and the other walls were covered in this beautiful cream beveled tile.

This dual head shower is big enough for two and we put a built in bench for toiletries and leg shaving :) Classic chrome fixtures and hardware complete the look.

Heated floors with a light grey shade and grout compliment the marble accent tiles. A simple grey Ikea floating vanity with a beveled mirror that highlights the bevelled subway tile detail.

In the suite we also went big on the tilework with a larger tile on the walls and heated tile flooring. I think the suite could use a glass door upgrade in here too!

You can tell we love the classic look of chrome fixtures. While black and brass bathroom fixtures are trendy and we love the edgy look, we felt the timeless appeal of Chrome looked best in this 1940’s Art Deco house.

Complete Suite Kitchen Renovation!

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 01:06:32 GMT

There are no ‘before’ pictures of this kitchen because it was that terrifying, the only thing we salvaged were the newish vinyl windows. Everything else had to be taken back to the studs and rebuilt! Because the ceilings are lower in this downstairs suite area we didn’t add any uppers or shelves, just beautiful counter to ceiling tile in a light green shade to help bring the garden views inside.

There was no exhaust fan in this kitchen so we cut one in! For a more modern look we chose a slide-in range and a square edge laminate in faux-ash to give the room some warmth. Ikea basic white cabinets include hidden interior drawers for more storage. The entire suite was fitted with many pot lights to add light to this already bright and south facing eat-in kitchen.

A simple farmhouse sink (IKEA) and boxed-in fridge completes the kitchen. New laminate flooring and baseboards give this kitchen a brand-new look and feel.

Because the suite has no upper cabinets we decided to attach a freestanding open cupboard to use for glassware and dishes. I found this dining table on craigslist for $40 and it matches the countertop laminate! Love it :)

Inspired by the garden views, Christina painted the art work that hangs in the kitchen.

Front Yard Makeover!

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 00:03:00 GMT

This original 1940’s Art Deco has a backyard for a front yard and was quite the eye sore before (see below) with it’s overgrown driveway and lack of patio for the suite area below.

It all started when I rented a jackhammer….

The slanted, narrow 1940s driveway was already blocked off by the front yard’s fence, and getting down to the suite was a shuffle, dangerous and annoying. Goodbye driveway!

It was all fun and games removing the piles of rock, clay and soil until I hit Vancouver Island granite. Now I know why there was never a patio down there before! Behold the rock that I had broken up by an excavator…

We dug this front yard up and installed new perimeter drains, built a new split’nstack with poured concrete patio for the suite. It took forever and cost a small fortune. Here’s the jackhammer that started it all (shown here below removing the backyard patio, couldn’t help myself…)

As a Realtor I sure don’t mess around with Perimeter drains - they are the most system of a home like this with a finished basement.

Fast forward to today and I’ve never been happier with this front yard! A fresh coat of paint makes the back of this Art Deco look spectacular. I also updated the exterior accent colour from the classic Red to a bright Turquoise and I’m so happy with the results! Curb appeal is a real thing, and it doesn’t matter how renovated my interior was, coming home to the outdated exterior was a downer.

Our new patio! I called in an arborist to cut the neighbour’s tree and they cut “fence to sky” allowing for even more light to come into the patio area. It may have taken me a decade to do it but I believe the Art Deco finally got the (front/back) yard it deserved :)

Before And After : Kitchenette for Office/Guest Area

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 22:52:16 GMT

We built out a kitchenette in our office/guest area downstairs and installed a washer/dryer combo with a multi-use large sink. This huge sink was needed as emergency drainage for this kind of combo washing machine but it also had a neat built-in dish rack and cutting board - perfect for a micro kitchenette!

3 pot lights highlight the recessed kitchenette area painted Dove Grey to pick up the shades in the marble-look laminate countertop. We applied super easy and affordable stick-on tile for this low-traffic area and I love the arabesque lines of the backsplash tile! We then cut a board of inexpensive pine to custom fit the shelf space and finished it with a white stain.

To save on space we added extra long cabinet handles that double as dish towel racks and snuck some more drawers under the stairs. I love how the pot lights light up the glassware and highlight ceramics in this space :)

Nick Valinoti & Christina Stack

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 20:33:37 GMT

If you’re looking for help with your listing that needs to get ready for the market to sell or you’re looking for an excellent Property Management team we are your people!

Nick Valinoti (Nicky) brings decades of experience as a retired NYC Building Superintendent. Nicky has been a reliable, essential worker as Building Superintendent for a large 1890’s mixed residential and commercial building in the Upper West Side of Manhatta where he navigated many different safety, maintenance and management protocols while maintaining effective relationships with tenants. Nick’s construction background brings advanced renovation and repair skills to the table and being a ‘Super’ in New York City demands compassion as well as Property Management & Maintenance expertise.

Christina Stack has been a MLS award winning Realtor since 2010 in the Greater Victoria Real Estate Market, now a licensed Associate Broker, Christina is also a licensed Property Manager. Christina spent over 10 years renovating and restoring their Art Deco house in Esquimalt and is passionate about all things Real Estate. Christina’s real talents include contracts, negotiations and marketing, but she is never afraid to get hands on in a renovation. She enjoys the responsibility of general contracting, landscaping and yard maintenance as well as interior design and painting.

Both Christina and Nicky were improving homes from a young age. Christina helping her parents renovate and build homes (her parents were German immigrants, she was renovating from birth), and Nicky was the same! We love this photo of mini Nick when he first learned how to use a hammer with his Grandpa at their cottage in upstate New York. He’s also been fixing and building ever since.