Tucked in the woods overlooking Burrard Inlet , high in the hills of Coquitlam, is a one-of-a-kind home its owners are hoping to sell.

Sharon Nagle and Craig McPherson own the 1959 PNE Prize Home, and have lovingly renovated it over the 20 years they have lived there.

"It's got great history to it," said Nagle.

"It's not a cookie cutter house in a subdivision, it's very distinctive," said McPherson. "It was a big project -- not a lot of people were willing to take on the project. The sink for example... we've kept in all its blemishes and nicks and what not. We tried to replace it with something modern and we couldn't do it."

But other rooms, including the rest of the kitchen and the bathroom, have been upgraded.

After all the DIY, the couple has decided to sell the home, and it won't be easy, but one expert thinks they are on the right track.

"Anything that separates your property from the rest of the properties for sale is probably a good thing," said Cameron Muir, a senior analyst with the BC Real Estate Association.

"A year ago, homebuyers were competing against each other to find homes for sale -- now the reverse is true -- home sellers need to compete against each other."

Sales of residential houses last month were almost double those of January 2009 -- usually the slowest month of the year -- but still lag behind last February's sales by about 44 per cent.

"We were obviously pleasantly surprised to see that some of the activity recovered in February relative to January," said Craig Munn of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

There were 1,480 sales in February 2009 compared to 762 in January 2009.

But the number of houses or condos for sale is falling for the fourth quarter in a row. February showed five per cent fewer homes for sale than January, and 25 per cent fewer than the same time last year.

This is typical of a buyer's market, said veteran Vancouver realtor Joe Fayner.

Fayner, with just over 20 years' experience in the field, says people who couldn't afford prime property are now able to afford it.

"Those who have been in the market, who couldn't touch those properties, and who wanted to be in a certain place, now they see the opportunity and they grab it," Fayner said.

But the buyer's market won't last forever.

"I personally feel this is going to be short-lived," Fayner said.

Sales in Vancouver this year have been the slowest in since the mid 1980s.

Check out this website for more information on the 1959 PNE house sale.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson.