Where would you buy? Kinda fishing related

[John]

I know that this topic has been floated around currently and historically, however I would like to put a different slant on it.

 

Barbara and I have been considering (for way too long) downsizing our house as the kids are long gone and using the equity to purchase a cottage. Ultimately we will find a way to leave it to the kids.... Although we have talked about this for a while now, we have never really have the gonads to actually do it. If we don't do it now, we will continue to get left behind as I believe waterfront properties in Ontario will outperform long term as they have over the past 10 years.

 

My question is this....If you had to choose anywhere within 3 hours of Toronto, where would you choose and why. More specifically, what would be your priorities and why? ie., fishing, recreational boating, quiet, close to conveniences, type of terrain, winter access, island or not, marina accessible...What negatives would you consider?

 

I understand that 75% of what is 3 hrs from Toronto is unaffordable (at least for me), but at least I will get others ideas to compliment our own.

 

John

[snackpack5150]

John,after renting cottages every year we decided to buy a cottage we did look in southern ont but way too much money. We did vacation in the Algoma area and loved it. We looked up there and bought one, 3/4 of a acre and a 2 bd cottage 105 ft water frontage it listed for 79K and I could not imaging having something like this but it is ours.

Mind you driving 7 hours north is the negitive but when your up around that area it is unbeliveable and depending on where you buy it could be in a unorginized township which means your taxes reflect what you get in way or services,No building permits needed in a unorignzied township either.

We pay a huge $32.40 a year for property taxes yes 32 bucks!!!

Anyway if that is your cup a tea travelling that far north check out the MLS listings and even goggle cottages for sale in ontario a ton of sites will pop up. I will see if I can attach a few photos of ours as a example.

 

Happy hunting

 

Ken

[irishfield]

John, if you want to "leave it to your kids" just "lend" them the money and put it in one of their names right off the bat and draw up an agreement that it's yours to use and that they are holding it in trust for the X # of other siblings. Once you are gone they can determine whether to use it, or sell it and split the proceeds. This way they won't have to worry about captial gains and inheritance tax when you go, hopefully before them. Just wish I hadn't picked the one with Crohns....

Edited May 1, 2007 by irishfield

[grt1]

Don't let a previous post lure you into thinking that if you buy in an unorganized area your taxes will be low forever. I have been dealing with this issue for the past several years as I am president of the unincorporated area ratepayers association for the Kenora District. Our area is huge and has over 2 billion, yes billion, dollars of assessed properties in the unorganized areas.

 

The province realized that time for a look at the tax structure for the unorganized areas was needed and they introduced and passed legislation that created the Provincial Land Tax Reform Act. In essence in 2007 and 2008 each and every property in the unorganized area of the province will be reassessed and the values will be based on the current market value. (in some areas, the province is currently using an assessment value based on 1941 values).

 

So for the fellow who paid 79K for his cabin, he should expect to see his assessment around that amount. depending on what the market price is now for the region he bought in.

 

The province will then in 2009 send out the Provincial Land Tax bill that will have a new tax rate and in some cases a new assessment value.

 

The increase in taxes is supposed to be used for "locally delivered provincial services".

 

In the north, we have District Social Service Administration Boards that provide the services of Child Care, Social Housing, Ontario Works and in some areas land ambulance services. These taxes help pay for those items . the province also stated that the money raised in the unorganized areas was to be used in the north, but you can bet your bottom dollar, they'll go into the general coffers and the north won't see much of the new money raised.

 

I guess I just wouldn't want to see you purchase something and think the taxes will be low forever, they won't.

 

They should however, be reasonable.

[tbayboy]

A buddy of mine who works for MPAC is up for the job this summer of checking out to a bunch of these style properties from Thunder Bay to Dryden(ish) for just what grt1 mentioned. Plus side is he gets a big truck, a boat and access to planes when needed and was told he wouldn't get the job if he couldn't produce fishing gear to go bring with him (yeah I'm jealous). Down side is that there's gonna be a lot of folks not very happy to see him, they have to do the assessments in pairs and check in at regular intervals - there's some crazy hermits on some of those lakes that will be damned if they're gonna pay for that new lodge they just built themselves and they won't take kindly to strangers trying to measure their land (especially the ones who decided crown land in the middle of nowhere was fine land to build a little shack on)

[John]

John, if you want to "leave it to your kids" just "lend" them the money and put it in one of their names right off the bat and draw up an agreement that it's yours to use and that they are holding it in trust for the X # of other siblings. Once you are gone they can determine whether to use it, or sell it and split the proceeds. This way they won't have to worry about captial gains and inheritance tax when you go, hopefully before them. Just wish I hadn't picked the one with Crohns....

 

Wayne, I have a few ways figured out. Yours is one of them...

 

 

I guess I just wouldn't want to see you purchase something and think the taxes will be low forever, they won't.

 

They should however, be reasonable.

 

grt1, I was (am) expecting to pay reasonable taxes. I wonder how many cottages there are up there that "don't exist"..

[lookinforwalleye]

I would look at the BoQ area for the great fishing also Rice Lake for the good fishing and they have land leased properties which are very affordable,lake Nipissing is a great place which also has land lease properties available a family member bought one of these 2 years ago on Nipissing for 100k and it is a great place 3 bedroom waterfront plus a nice bunkie.

[grt1]

A few years ago the province said they assessed ALL the properties in the unorganized areas, but that was a farce because they sent letters out to places they couldn't drive to. This would allow the owners of the unreachable properties to measure the buildings they had and send in the information.

 

We all know that many people lied, yes lied, is the only way to put it on their responses. What lodge owner in his/her right mind would send in a letter stating they had several cabins when they could get away with a small diagram of 1 cabin? There were also many who refused to submit their responses.

 

When the assessors went to the accessible areas for appraisal they found literally hundreds of homes that were not being assessed. Many of these were on farms or large tracts of family held lands that thanks to government refusal to subdivide were built anyway.

 

When the process was done, any property that was outside a school board's jurisdiction had the NEW assessment locked away in the asssessment office's cabinets since the provincial land tax reform hadn't taken place or for that fact had even been written and introduced into the legislature, so they couldn't tax them.

 

At least in 2009 the playing field will be level for everyone and we will be paying our fair share,nothing more, nothing less.

[John]

Thanks for the comments guys. Just bumpin' this up to the top again....

[Cast-Away]

John; If I was planning on buying waterfront tomorrow and didn't want to break the bank but got what I wanted in waterfront, I would be looking in the Point Au Baril area on Georgian Bay. The highway will soon be 4 lanes all of the way there, and you are a half hour from the hospital in Parry Sound, which becomes a very important consideration as you get older.

 

As for the area, the boating and fishing is unlimited with very clean water and you can't beat the scenery. On top of all of this, there is a liquor store in town. Does it get any better?

[pigeonfisher]

I would go north vs east. once you get to Parry Sound things start looking a little bit more reasonable. Being that I drive a lot, the long drives wouldn't bother me much; however, having done the cottage thing EVERY weekend for two summers when I had the place on pigeon I don't think I would put myself in that position again. I felt forced to be up there every weekend because of how much was invested in the place.

 

Doing it again, I would look at Manitoulin Island or just north of the Sault. I really like Algoma, the properties are beautiful with large river/lake front access. They are also very inexpensive. I could treat that like a holiday home and go for a few weeks and a few long weekends every year.

 

Also nice is Temiskaming Shores. Which is formerly New Liskeard, Dimond and another small town. Again, this is a 4-5 hour drive, but you will find true value that won't handcuff you to driving up EVERY FRIDAY in RUSH HOUR. Englehart is up there as well, ask TJ about that area.

[fatdaddy]

John, If you are looking for reasonably priced cottage properties, I would suggest looking in the Haliburton area. There are many landlocked lakes without marina's on them where you can still find nice waterfront cottages for under 200K. Send me a PM if you want some info on this area, or let me know your price range and I will tell you which areas make sense for you! I am a realtor working in the 705

 

Fishing would be the first priority for me, so a lake that has little traffic is better than one like Rice.

 

Mike L. Ansell

Flat Fee Realty Inc.

705-434-5050

Edited May 2, 2007 by fatdaddy

[OhioFisherman]

Just me the Parry Sound, pointe au baril area sounds fine even if the house-cottage isn`t right on the water you are close. Haven`t been there in years but both were nice.

[davew3]

Go to www.remax.ca and start looking around the different zones. I was quite suprised, especially in the Haliburton area.

My wife and I are planning the same just not for a few years yet. Also consider if it will a place to go and work every weekend or your retirement place.

Good luck.

[fatdaddy]

I would try mls.ca as opposed to any one brokerages website. That way you get access to all the listings in a particular area, not just Remax listings.

[Beans]

Five years ago my wife and I were in the situation of selling our home in Richmond Hill and looking in the Kawartha Lakes area for a place where I can be fishing in ten or fifteen minutes...not necessarily waterfront as that was too expensive...

 

We bought in Alpine Village community on the north shore of Pigeon Lake a half hour away from our friends Big Cliff one way and Nanook the other and couldn't be happier...Bobcaygeon is a ten minute drive away and Buckhorn maybe fifteen minutes...Hospitals in Lindsay or Peterborough are about a half hour away...doctors are scarce around here but we did find a good dentist

 

For a fee of $100 a year we have full use of the large private park at the lake along with a private beach, a shared dock and a good gated launch...

 

We found this place using MLS and doing drive-bys...If we saw a place that looked decent outside we requested our real estate agent make an appointment for a look see inside...

 

Good luck on your hunt...