Hello!

How I Ended Up on a Floating Home

One day in 2011, my husband Tom’s cousin Robyn contacted me for help finding her a house. Robyn was very open to any options as she was looking for a place in the city with access to transit & highways. Robyn did a great deal of travelling for her job and wanted a place she could call home when she returned. 

While sifting through the available options with Tom, I printed out the various places for us to see the next night. Without looking at the printouts, Tom asked to see the list of options. After the first two, he said “this place looks neat; it’s a ‘floating home.’” I was perplexed, so I  snatched the paperwork from his hand and said “what are you talking about?” As I tried to wrap my head around the concept, I was excited at the idea of Robyn living close by and for her to own a place on the water. At the same time, I was skeptical. How could I not have known about this place? There must have been something we did not see. Tom was intrigued enough that he asked to come along to the showing. 

When we arrived and walked along the dock for the first time, I was in LOVE!!! When I say in LOVE, I mean that my whole being was so taken by this place, I could hardly wait to look inside the one that was for sale.  I opened the door to Slip#24 and was even more in love. How is this possible?  I felt like I was in a story and that this fairy tale would not be the true place that we were looking at. I was waiting for the shoe to drop. The red retro fridge was the eye-catching item, and as we stepped into the place, and when you looked across to the other side of the kitchen & living room, the view of the marina and moored boats was spectacular.  

We travelled up the stairs to the bedroom, and now the elevated view of the marina with the bluffs as the backdrop was even more amazing than the first floor. Robyn said “Hey look, there’s a ladder - let’s climb up.”  Well, just when you thought things couldn’t get better, bam! The top deck was a full deck with 360 degrees of the marina, the lake, the pier building, and all along the Scarborough & Cathedral Bluffs. 

We returned to the first floor, and Robyn said, “I’ll take it; let’s write up the paperwork.”  Now, I’ll be honest, I had no idea how this paperwork would need to be completed. It’s good that I have an amazing brokerage behind me, as I got all the help I needed to get this deal done for her.

When I went home, I could only imagine the floating home. Just a few months before, Tom and I had given up our cottage on Lake Couchiching and were deciding what to do next. The floating home checked a whole lot of boxes for me. As the days passed, I thought of different ways to help so I could visit with Robyn. I said to her, I’ll help you paint, do anything so I can spend time in the floating home.

A few weeks passed by, and Robyn asked to go to the floating home for a “buyer visit”; this way, she could take measurements, etc. 

Tom was not convinced that this was the right fit for us; I needed him to return to the floating homes to look at a 2 bedroom place for sale. However, it had an offer on it.  I begged the listing agent to let us in so we could better understand what a two-bedroom floating home was like. Robyn’s was a one-bedroom and would not work for Tom and me.

Tom was coming around to the idea. On my second visit, I measured the actual space Tom and I spent time in at our Victoria Village bungalow. The basement, which we paid a lot to have finished for our washer and dryer to enjoy, and the proverbial yearly visit to play pool in the billiards room were not counted in my calculation. When we arrived, I indicated the space was the exact amount we currently “lived” in and spent time in.  I saved the best line for last...I could tell he was softening a bit as we walked along the dock. I said, “You won’t have to cut the grass, which leaves more time for golf.” “SOLD” he said.

We’ve lived here for the past 14 years, and every day, I am grateful to live in such a magical place.