Big Fat Deal: $4.5 million for a beach bungalow with bike lanes

Inside a four-bedroom, three-bathroom, 2,500-square-foot house on a 3,960-square-foot lot on Kits Point.

Each week, BCBusiness takes you inside one of the most outrageously upmarket real estate offerings in the province

Address: 2006 Whyte Avenue, Kitsilano

Price: $4,456,000

MLS: R2240293

The skinny: Four-bedroom, three-bathroom, 2,500-square-foot house on a 3,960-square-foot lot on Kits Point.

The bling: Beach house alert! It’s all very well having those stunning views from your $20-million mansion, but when summer comes, you know the kids will want more than the infinity pool, hot tub, games room, mini hockey rink and home movie theatre to entertain them. Yes, you can bring them up in a pristine palace with every gadget known to man, but they do so yearn to get their feet dirty and make some real noise from time to time. And here’s the answer, a cute little beach house, close enough to sea and sand and—dare we say it?—bike lanes (but thankfully not that bike lane, right?) to get them and their friends off your hands for a few hours. And, though it may be smaller than you’re used to, it’s really not so bad—retail therapy is only a short drive over the bridge, and when you return, you can take a much-needed lie down before heading back to the serenity of your high-end home and leaving the maid to sweep up all that hideous sand and muck the kids dragged in. We know it’s not really a vacation, but at least it’ll give the kids a change of scenery while you wait for the yacht to be readied in Monaco, right? 

The hidden extras: Oak floors, wood-burning fireplace, front porch, coffered ceilings—all the things the less-rich people think make a house look grand, but you’ll be fine, we promise.