Lakefront lots for $55k...thats darn cheap. I can definitely see some former-MB Albertans buying for recreation property - since everyone in AB is doing that now. $55k would get you about a 1/13 ownership at a condo in the Kootenays. Sask and MB are the cheaper alternatives to the ever-increasing East Kootenays, Van Island, Montana, Arizona, and even at home in Sylvan Lake (though, it's not a slough, and $1 million is a large house on the lake
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Also, from what I recall, Lake MB actually does have some nice beaches...I just can't recall where exactly.