The search
When real estate agent Alexis Victor set out on a day trip from her Washago, Ont., home in February 2021 with her husband, Patrick Fay, and their young daughter, MacIntyre, the family didn’t intend to go cottage-hunting.
But, on the way to Huntsville, Ont., while Patrick was driving, Alexis was casually looking at listings online and spotted a three-bedroom, two-bathroom property on Henshaw Lake, listed for $1,200,000. “It was a ‘stop the car!’ moment,” she recalls.
The cottage, built in 1967, hadn’t been updated in decades. But Alexis loved its mid-century modern vibe. “It looked like the set of The Brady Bunch,” she says. The family already owned a three-bedroom, 700-sq.-ft. cottage on Lake Simcoe, which Patrick bought in 2008.
These parents downsized to be able to purchase a cottage
But the Henshaw Lake property was three times the size, at 2,126 sq. ft., and was on a smaller, more private lake. They figured they could rent their new cottage out in the future when they weren’t using it to help offset the carrying costs of buying the property. That helped convince the family to make the purchase.
“It had such an amazing vibe to it,” says Alexis. “We felt really comfortable inside.” The couple also loved that the previous owner was a piano and cello player. There was still sound baffling installed on the walls. “The cottage had a creative, arty feeling to it.”
The compromise
On their way to cottage ownership, the Fay-Victors would need to take a few leaps of faith—the property was covered in snow, so they couldn’t see the lake or the three-acre parcel of land was really like. They’d also have to sell their Lake Simcoe cottage to help afford their new spot, but Alexis figured it would go for at least $600,000. Plus, they had already been living mortgage-free in their main house (they still carried a small mortgage on the cottage) since April 2020 after selling their Toronto home and relocating further north to Washago.
So, two days after viewing the Henshaw Lake property, the couple submitted an offer of $1,175,000. The owners countered at $1,185,000, which Alexis and Patrick agreed to. After a five-day conditional period, during which the family firmed up their financing and got an inspection done on the cottage, which didn’t reveal any major issues, the property was theirs.
A family of three shares a tiny home they can bike to
Their next task was to sell the Lake Simcoe property. It ended up selling for slightly more than $800,000, exceeding the Fay-Victors’ expectations. After taking possession of their Henshaw Lake cottage in May 2021, the family spent about $200,000 to renovate the property, updating the kitchen and bathrooms, installing new windows, converting a detached garage into a bunkie, painting the exterior, and redoing the outdoor decks. The renovations would also help increase the property’s appeal as a rental.
The end result is a bright, modern cottage that pays homage to its mid- century roots. The family spends a few weeks there every summer, and, since it’s only 45 minutes from their home, Alexis drives over a couple of times a month to use it as an office space. “I come up here to work and be on my own,” she says. “It’s my getaway and my sanctuary.”
Buy, sell, rent, dream
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