The search
Ruth McGuirl has fond memories of visiting her grandmother’s cottage on Three Mile Lake, Ont., in Muskoka as a child. “It was a tiny cabin with two bedrooms,” McGuirl recalls. “We were sleeping three kids to a bed.” Ruth and her four siblings would go fishing off the dock, climb the pine trees on the property, and roast marshmallows at the firepit.
In the 1990s, Ruth’s grandmother sold the property to Ruth’s aunt (her parents were not in a position to purchase it). Meanwhile, Ruth—who owned a house—toyed with the idea of getting a cottage of her own. In the mid-2010s, Ruth envisioned buying a cottage where her parents could enjoy their retirement. She was determined to find a property on Three Mile to stay close to relatives.
The compromise
Knowing that affordable properties on the lake would be few and far between, around 2015, Ruth slowly began to research and view properties that came up for sale. “People that have cottages here have them for generations,” she says. “They sell them once every 80 years.”
Ruth wanted a property with at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and with flat land that provided easy access to the lake—a must for her aging parents. “I also love sunsets, so I wanted it to be west-facing,” she says.
She continued to watch. It took more than six years for the right property to come on the market. In September 2021, a southwest-facing cottage with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, flat grounds, and shallow entry into the water with plenty of trees on the lot for privacy came up for sale. The place was about 1,500 sq. ft. and was built in the 1990s but had been recently renovated. Ruth loved the open-concept living and dining room which had panoramic views over the lake.
In the midst of the pandemic cottage-buying frenzy, Ruth’s realtor found out there were already more than 10 offers on the property. She suggested that Ruth write a letter to the sellers describing her connection to the area. Ruth shared memories of her childhood and explained that she still has relatives on Three Mile Lake. “It was sentimental to me,” she says. “It wasn’t just another cottage. I already had a respect for the lake, the neighbours, and the land.” Ruth’s offer came in second price-wise, but the letter helped convince the sellers to accept her bid of just over $1 million. They were particularly moved by her descriptions of visiting her grandmother and waking up early to go fishing. To help her afford the property, Ruth decided to rent it out when her family wasn’t using it.
The silver lining
Ruth is excited to finally have a place on Three Mile Lake where her family can gather. “My parents, my brother, Allan, my sister, Loralee, and my nephews come up often,” she says. They spend their time canoeing, exploring nearby trails through the forest, and walking or boating over to her aunts’ cottages. And that view from the dock never gets old. “Sometimes, in the morning, you see this misty fog over the lake. It’s beautiful and picturesque.”
Buy, sell, rent, dream
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