Valley View Properties from the Fraser Valley to the North Shore

Valley View listings describe homes whose windows or yards look out across a valley or toward the mountains, so confirm what you actually see from inside the home and what could change it before you pay a premium for the outlook.

Check the Valley View from Inside the Home

A listing photograph can be taken from the one corner of a deck where the view opens up. Stand in the rooms you will use most, the living room, kitchen and main bedroom, and look out. Note whether the outlook is across the Fraser Valley farmland, down a river valley, or toward the North Shore mountains and Mount Baker, and whether it is framed by trees, rooftops or power lines.

Visit at different times of day. Morning light across a valley is very different from late afternoon, and a view facing north stays in shade while a south-facing one brings sun and heat into the rooms that look out on it.

Ask What Could Block the View

A view you do not own can disappear. Look at the neighbouring lots and ask your real estate agent to check the zoning on them, since a vacant parcel, an older house on a large lot or a site near a SkyTrain station can be redeveloped. Trees on a neighbour's property grow, and a municipality may protect them from cutting. Some subdivisions registered view covenants limiting building height or tree growth, so ask whether one applies and who benefits from it.

In a condo or townhouse, the direction the home faces and the floor it sits on decide how secure the outlook is. Higher floors over a low-rise neighbourhood keep their view longer than lower floors beside a lot zoned for towers.

Compare Valley View Listings Across the Region

The phrase covers a wide range of homes. In Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Langley and Maple Ridge, a detached home on a hillside can look across the Fraser Valley for a fraction of what a similar outlook costs closer to Vancouver. In Burnaby, Coquitlam and North Vancouver, condos and townhouses on the slopes look toward the mountains or across the Fraser. In West Vancouver the outlook often reaches the water.

Compare the list price and the sold prices of similar homes with and without a view in the same neighbourhood. The difference tells you what the market pays for the outlook there, which varies widely from one part of Metro Vancouver to another.

Weigh the View Against the Rest of the Home

Hillside homes with a view often come with trade-offs: steep driveways, stairs, more exposure to wind and weather, and drainage and retaining walls that need attention. Book an inspection that looks at the slope and the foundation as well as the house. Then compare the bedrooms, the property type, the floor plan and the condition as you would for any home, so the view adds to a good purchase rather than disguising a weak one. Ask too about the cost of heating a home with large windows facing an open outlook, since glass that frames a view also loses heat, and check the age and rating of those windows.

Browse Valley View Homes Across Greater Vancouver

Supply runs from townhomes and condos in Burnaby and North Vancouver to houses for sale across Surrey, Richmond, Chilliwack and the Fraser Valley. Browse and compare current real estate listings on the MLS® through Strawhomes, filter by neighbourhood and property type, and shortlist only the homes whose outlook you have seen in person. Compare them against a view lot if you plan to build, or a panoramic view home with a wider outlook.