Buy Discounted Properties

Steve Peroff has seen a lot of people drive up from Toronto to the southeast shore of Lake Simcoe with a million dollars in their pocket, expecting to find their waterfront dream home, only to be disappointed to discover how expensive that house can be.

Peroff has been selling houses in the waterfront communities of Keswick, Roches Point, Sutton and Jackson’s Point for 23 years, places where there are plenty of beautiful houses with lawns that slope softly down to the lake. While many sell for far more than $1-million, he says there are plenty of more affordable houses close to the water, those categorized as indirect lakefront, water-view, riverfront and canal lots.

Some are separated from the water by a road but still enjoy the view and could even include a boathouse. Some are situated on a hill within sight of the water. They might not be right on the water, but they share that “waterfront community” feel, he says, for a lot less money.

Keswick, Roches Point, Sutton and Jackson’s Point are part of the Town of Georgina, population 46,000. Here, in the heart of one of Canada’s most treasured waterfront locations, small compromises can save you plenty and put that dream home or cottage within reach, Peroff says.

The area holds a special place in the saga of summer vacationing. Jackson’s Point is known as Ontario’s original cottage country, with vacationers fleeing the sooty city to its cool breezes as early as the 1870s. In the early 1900s, Torontonians “rode the radials” – branch rail lines – all the way to the lake. Wealthy city families built estates and gated communities in Roches Point and Balfour Beach.

More recently, cottages began to give way to permanent homes and today, while everyone would like a piece of the waterfront, limited inventory pushes prices above most people’s reach.

“It comes down to budget,” says Peroff, who himself owns an “indirect lakefront” home — the house is separated from the water by a road. “If I have a house that’s indirect lakefront that’s worth $900,000, I’d pay $1.2 million if it was right on the lake. The land value is the difference. On the lake, the land’s worth $600,000 while across the road it’s worth $350,000.”

Morag and Grant Wilkins chose a lot across the street from the lake for safety reasons when they moved from Toronto two decades ago. At the time, their children were young and they worried about the kids and the water. They’ve moved again since, but they’re still not right on the water.

Today, if they had all the money in the world, says Morag, “sure, I’d switch to one of those old Roches Point estates on the water. But we’re across a street and a park, up on a hill, and we have a wonderful view of the water for a lot less money.

“We have the beautiful lake view from our window. We don’t need to put our toes in the water. We watch the lake change, the leaves change, the boats and the sunsets. Being able to touch the lake isn’t a big issue. We have the same cottage community atmosphere where we are.”

The Wilkinses figure their 2,200-square-foot house, on a 90-by-150-foot lot, is worth $400,000 where it is. If the same house were directly on the waterfront, the land value could be $150,000 more.

Saving money by opting for an indirect lakefront or water-view property is happening in Ontario’s other premier waterfront communities, too. In Wasaga Beach on Georgian Bay, George Watson of In Touch Realty says, “If someone can’t afford the beach, they can move across the street where a lot would sell for less than half the price.”

Watson says many buyers arrive from the city, intent on “getting as close to the water as they can.” When they discover the limited supply and the price of direct waterfront, many opt for something more affordable, perhaps on a street where they share water access with other homeowners.

Royal LePage, in its recently released annual report on recreational property sales, explains the phenomenon on the Lake Huron shoreline. Broker/owner Fred Lobb of Royal LePage’s Heartland Realty says while waterfront is tremendously popular, high prices are pushing some buyers off the shoreline in search of “water-view” properties.

Standard waterfront cottages with road access start at about $250,000 around Goderich and Bayfield, and well over $300,000 in Grand Bend, Lobb says, and can easily rise to the $1-million mark. Just off the waterfront, similar cottages sell for anywhere from $180,000 to $790,000.

Peroff says in Georgina there’s another more affordable option for those who still dream of that direct lake access. You can have a recreational property on Snake or Georgina islands for a lot less money. Some are reluctant to buy there because they pay to lease the property from the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation rather than own it outright.

“But it’s another world,” he says. “You can get a property on Georgina Island for under $200,000 that compares to a $700,000-$900,000 place on the mainland.”