Coastal Oasis Home Team building bringing cohesive communities to HRM
Building communities that serve everyone in Nova Scotia is one of Benjamin May’s top priorities.
The realtor, who has been building Coast Oasis Home Team from the ground up is an ambitious realtor for his age, with his sight set on growing communities in Nova Scotia that achieve a perfect blend for all that live there.
Originally from Kitchener, Ontario, May graduated from Wilford Laurier University with a Bachelor of Economics. It was at that time his interest was peaked in real estate. That started a love affair with growing his expertise in investments, development, and buying and selling property.
May started dabbling in the real estate market here in Nova Scotia almost five years ago and says he was overwhelmingly inspired by the landscape, the hospitality, and market potential here.
“Out here, I had some investors from Ontario that also had businesses in Nova Scotia and I came out to visit them and see how their businesses are doing,” he says. “I started seeing a lot of opportunity here. In those four years I flew here more than 80 times. I was averaging two flights a month to Nova Scotia before Covid hit.
“And while I was out here doing that, I was also networking and looking at properties, getting toured around by some people I’ve met and seeing what they have to sell, what opportunities they had as partnerships.”
With the pandemic, May made the decision to stay here in Nova Scotia and focus on building his real estate team, as well as develop more housing.
“With Covid, I didn’t have the flexibility to go back and forth, so I ended up moving out here full time,” he says. “What ended up happening is that a lot of my clients wanted to buy out here. And then they tell some of their friends, and then their friends actually wanted to move out here and not just buy investments.
“I became incredibly busy here.”
It’s during this time that May knew he needed to build a team around him with the same type of experience. The real estate market in Ontario has a remarkably different playing field than here on the East Coast. As the market here heats up more and more, May says his team’s experience in the Ontario market, full of multiple offer situations and more, means they can offer something to buyers here that others can’t.
“We have experience dealing with multiple bidder scenarios; I’ve been dealing with that for about five years. We know a lot of the tricks of the trade and have a lot of tips for dealing with the anxiety and that’s a good trait for people here that have started to experience that for the last year and a half,” he says. “We have a bit of an advantage because we have operated in the multiple bidding situation in pretty much every sale.”
With his connections to Ontario, May says he has been incredibly busy with referrals from people from out of province looking to relocate here. The team he has around him has been helping to bring new residents to the province, while also continuing to focus on their new build opportunities.
“I originally came out here to develop multi-family apartment buildings and I noticed there’s a lot of opportunities out here,” he says. “Opportunities like bringing in subdivisions that are more designed for the community.”
Honouring what he fell in love with is of utmost importance for May. The slower pace of life, the kindness of the people.
“I’m trying to keep that community feel that I love about it here in Halifax,” he says.
“I want a community-focused subdivision with more planning on parks, trails, walking trails, and just not going in and clear cutting the entire land, remove all the trees and start fresh.”
He is excited about a project he is working on in the Fall River area.
“I have a project in Fall River that I’m working on, and that’s about 192 acres and that’s going to be turned into a subdivision with a mixture of homes and have some single family, some triplexes, some apartment buildings. It will be close to Holland Road School,” he says. “The zoning allows for module homes.
“My vision there is maybe the modular homes for seniors to act as affordable housing for them.”
Keeping the nature, the tree growth, and making it accessible to the residents that will call the development home is also important to May.
“The area has such old tree growth and beautiful scenery,” he says. “I plan to make a nice community there for them. Paved, accessible walkways, to be able to still see the nature as well as gravel trails.”
May believes the mix of development keeps the balance alive, thriving, and representative of what a real community means.
“When you have a nice mix, that’s where you have a nice balance between renters and owners and families that are just getting started and mature families who are more established,” he says. “The wide range and aspect of income ranges and age ranges just continues to keep that balance.”
May knows with Coastal Oasis Home Team’s experience, expertise, and dedication they will create a brand for themselves in Nova Scotia in no time. They’re focused on a long-term vision to create an entire service from building and selling new homes, offering rentals for a range of incomes and affordability options, and selling homes for those looking to upsize, downsize, or whatever their real estate needs could be.
“We know how to walk through this process. Whatever it is, we can offer an entire service.”
To learn more about the Coastal Oasis Home Team, visit the website at www.coastaloasishomes.com. Email May and his team at hello@coastaloasis.ca, or by calling 902-453-5552.
