With the average home price in B.C.'s Lower Mainland hovering around the $1 million mark, British Columbian homebuyers looking for a good deal and sunshine are flocking south of the border to Arizona.

With the sub-prime mortgage crisis causing bank-owned home auctions and a glut of cheap and available property, Canadian realtor Diane Olsen said there's never been a better time to buy in the state that gets 300 days of sunshine a year.

"You can't even build these houses for what we're buying them for nowadays," she said.

The former Winnipeg cop, now a realtor selling exclusively to Canadians in Phoenix, said sales momentum is building more and more every year.

"We sell hundreds of homes," she said.

And they're buying them dirt cheap.

On real estate listings you can find a small rancher for $50,000. For $75,000, a two-level gem. And for $100,000 you can relax with a corner lot and three-car garage.

If you're willing to spend a bit more, $150,000 can get you a 3,700-square-foot home with marble tile and nine foot ceilings.

"$150, $200,000 will get you a decent home. If you go on the outskirts it will be less. Condos in other areas are much, much less," Olsen said.

Bal Gill bought a two bedroom investment condo at a Phoenix development for $92,000 US. He says the rent covers his mortgage costs and condo fees.

"It's cash flow positive," Gill said.

Olsen said she's seeing lots of British Columbians buying multiple properties and investment homes after having their first success.

"I have people on their eighth home plus, and they're all positive cash flow," she said.

But buying in Phoenix is like other markets, meaning that you get what you pay for. Olsen recommends homebuyers do their due diligence and don't jump into something just because it's cheap.

"Having been a police officer in Canada for years I always tell people to go on crime reports check those out," she said.

Buyers should also learn how foreclosures and short sales work. They'll also need a cross-border tax accountant.

Watch CTV News at Six for a full report from Shannon Paterson