It's Cottage Time!

by Darrin DeRoches June 10 - 16, 2010

If you are looking to buy or sell a cottage, this is the time.  I recently listed a cottage in Selkirk, which is located on Lake Erie.  The place is a palace with three bedrooms, master ensuite, and it’s all open concept. It comes equipped with a plasma TV, fireplace, and hot tub, and the property is totally landscaped.  It has all the bells and whistles, but the biggest feature is that the cottage is located right on the water and the views are worth every penny.  The funny thing is the neighbor is now considering selling and their cottage, which has the same views but it is not even half the cottage.  Where is the value: the cottage or the view?    To value the properties, you have to consider the buildings themselves, but the breakwall, pylons, and septic systems are almost as valuable as the property and view.  A standard home in the city is pretty easy to value, but in cottage country you have right of way, water sources, septic, shore allowances, breakwalls, and more.  Are people willing to pay more for the view?  Definitely.  But how much is the view really worth?  Cottages are becoming more valuable since they are not allowing too much development, and most towns will not allow too many expansions.  In Selkirk they will not allow you to enlarge the size of the cottage’s footprint, so many owners are lifting the original cottage and building a new main floor with the original cottage on top.  You double the size, but not the footprint.  So these $200,000 cottages are now becoming $300,000 properties.    So to get back to the value of a cottage.  The value comes from every part.  The location, the view, the building, the outbuildings, the access, the services, the building, the well, the finishes and the list goes on. The big ticket items are the septic system, the well, whether or not its usable during all four season, the property, and the one that puts it over the top – the view!  A cottage on the water will be at least ten per cent more valuable than an identical one across the street.  20 per cent is probably more accurate.  The location and view are the top reasons people buy a cottage.  You can always improve the finishes and building, but you cannot recreate the view and location.  Cottages are usually an emotional decision and the view and feel of the property will make the property more valuable.    So if you are considering buying a cottage in the near future, think about the location: do you really want to spend hours on the highway to get to your vacation spot?  Once you arrive do you want your view to be the back of another building or the vast, tranquil, shimmering lake that you’ve been thinking of all week at work?  Invest in the view and property and over time you can always improve the cottage. God is not making any more views or shoreline! You will spend more time sitting with a cold beverage looking over the beauty of cottage country, so enjoy every minute of it! V Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca.