Some Portapique homes and properties that belonged to victims of April’s mass shooting have sold and at least one other sale is pending.
The land where the killer’s cottage and warehouse stood before he torched it at the outset of his murderous spree has also sold.
“It’s very difficult,” said Michael Levy, of ViewPoint Realty, who has been involved with half a dozen sales in the small rural hamlet.
“The biggest thing for me is explaining it to a potential buyer.”
They need to have clear understanding of what transpired in Portapique, Levy said. “Because obviously it’s very traumatic and the properties will forever have a stigma attached to them.”
The Dartmouth denturist’s killing spree started April 18 in Portapique when he shot multiple people and set homes on fire. Dressed in a police uniform and driving a fake police car, the killer – whom SaltWire is not naming — evaded RCMP and murdered four more people in Wentworth before heading toward Halifax, killing several more along the way. By the time Mounties shot him dead April 19 at the Enfield Big Stop, he had killed 22 people.
A home sold that belonged to a couple whose son and daughter-in-law were murdered in Portapique, Levy said.
“In order for them to get to their house they had to drive by his place every day, right. So that was very difficult and hence the reason that they sold.”
A lot of the buyers are from within two hours’ drive, he said.
“I’m thinking of a waterfront property I sold there — I had, I think, five showings on that on one day,” Levy said. “Then the listing agent had two on it. And there was, like, four offers that came to the table.”
Levy, who is based in Parrsboro, said for him “this is fairly close to home because Lisa (McCully), the schoolteacher who was murdered, my wife played violin at her wedding.”
Potential buyers aren’t asking a lot of questions about the mass shooting, Levy said. “If people want to know, they can find out whatever they want just by looking in the news.”
He noted the home of Peter and Joy Bond, the elderly couple the killer murdered in their pyjamas, is up for sale.
“That’s another sad situation. There’s, I think, $126,000 owing on the mortgage. They didn’t have a lot of money,” Levy said. “ViewPoint has listed a few of those properties in there and basically not charged any commissions for both listing and selling.”
Levy did get a commission for a waterfront property he sold after the killings that did not belong to one of the victims. “Other than they probably knew people in the area, there was no ties to the victims.”
At this point in the interview, Levy broke down into tears. “I got a text message from my broker the Sunday morning (of the shootings) asking if I was safe? If I was OK? Because on Feb. 1 of this year, the shooter had reached out to me via email wanting to look at (a small commercial plaza) on the Truro side of Bass River. He was interested. And I was not available to show it to him on that day.”
The property the killer was interested in buying is “in the middle of nowhere,” Levy said.
“There was a doctor’s office in it and I just got back to him and said there’s no way we could see that today.”
It was a weekend and Levy told him a viewing would have to happen on a weekday. The two exchanged emails “and that was the last I ever heard from him,” Levy said.
The killer didn’t tell him what he wanted to do with the plaza. “Maybe more storage – he had quite a storage unit that he burnt to the ground. Those properties have been for sale. I think some of those have actually sold, too. Or certainly are pending.”
Peter Vissers, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker out of Truro, has an offer pending on the seaside property where the killer murdered Jolene Oliver, her husband Aaron Tuck and their 17-year-old daughter, Emily Tuck.
“We do have an accepted offer on it,” said Vissers, noting it had been on the market for almost a month.
“This particular property that you’re asking about is basically going to be a tear-down.”
The would-be buyers like the location, he said. “They’ll tear the house down and rebuild a house or a cottage.”
The Tuck property at 41 Cobequid Court in Portapique, which has a view of the ocean, is listed for $49,900.
“This property was the home of victims of the Nova Scotia mass murders and will be considered stigmatized,” says the listing. “Being sold on an as is basis.”
Letting potential buyers know about the killings is important to Vissers. “Legally I’m told we don’t have to disclose it, but we absolutely always disclose it out of our office.”
His company has sold seven properties with links to the shootings. Only one of them still had a building on it.
“They were either property of the shooter or victims of the shooter,” Vissers said.
The killer, as mentioned, burned his own cottage and outbuilding in Portapique. “They were just all vacant lots.”
Some people are leery of buying in the area while others are interested in the beautiful scenery Portapique offers, he said.
“It’s a little bit of both,” Vissers said. “Some people wouldn’t touch it with a nine-foot pole and other folks are saying, ‘Life goes on.’ What do you do? There are still other people living there … And it is an absolute gorgeous place.”
He’s not surprised properties are moving in Portapique after the killings.
“There’s always been properties in that area sell,” Vissers said.
“If it’s got any kind of waterfrontage or water view it sells that much quicker.”
He admits selling properties that belonged to the killer’s victims has been tough emotionally.
“It’s all difficult,” Vissers said. “But you’ve got to look at it as kind of business – it has to be done, right? So you try and do the best you can for them.”
