By GLENN GARNETT
Every Friday night from Victoria Day weekend to Labour Day, over 250,000 cars crawl north from Toronto up the length of Highway 400, many bound for Ontario’s storied vacationland, the Muskokas.
These harried commuters follow the trail of millionaires and movie stars who for years have inhabited the exclusive corners of this lake-saturated district. Gable and Lombard honeymooned here; Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn shake their fists at curious boaters who dare invade their space. Plantation owners from the old South came here to fish and frolic, bringing their slaves with them. Old money and dot.com fortunes line up cheek-to-jowl along the coveted shorelines, while new generations of middle-class families inherit family camps and cottages in less trendy locations.
For well over a century, Muskoka has been the epitome of the Canadian cottaging experience and in spite of the reversals of fortune in the real estate game, remains the hottest market for vacation property in the country. And with a generation of boomers ready to leave the city behind for this golden idyll, shoreline here can only become more precious.
Anita Latner has been dealing in Muskoka's choice vacation properties for over a decade, for the past six years under her own company, Anita Latner Realty Inc.
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"I’ve been a cottager all my life and never wanted to go back after Labour Day," Latner says. As a kid she cottaged on Lake Muskoka , went to camp at Lake of Bays, and along the way spent times on lakes Rosseau and Joseph (known locally as "Joe"), developing a deep affection for the major four lakes in the region. She describes the lakes as Muskoka’s four precious diamonds, with none standing out as grander than the other three.
Cottage real estate, Latner says, has always been about "shoreline, shoreline, shoreline", and demand for prime turf in Muskoka has created a seller’s market. Her message is clear to anyone who wants a piece of this paradise: bring your chequebook.
"Historically, Muskoka has always been the playground of the rich," she says. "I don’t think there’s another location like it in. Scenery wise, it’s definitely the most spectacular in Ontario. B.C. and Alberta have their mountains, but that’s a whole different bag. Then there’s the accessibility to Toronto - it’s a two, two-and-a-half hour drive."
When asked about the Hollywood glitterati who’ve set up housekeeping here, she shrugs and claims she’s not impressed with the big names, pointing out that Bay Street tycoons and NHL stars have long located here. "It’s such a hot location that all the wannabes wanna be there too," she says. "Money attracts money."
Latner has seen prices take off in recent years, to the detriment of those who hesitate. And she very quickly disillusions people who hope she can find their dream cottage for chump change. "There are no deals or steals in this market, " she says.
"I used to go to camp in Haliburton and it’s very nice, but it’s not Muskoka," she says. "People will say to me, ‘I’ve got $150,000-$200,000’ and I tell them to look at Haliburton, the Kawarthas, to Parry Sound, further north. Then they say, ‘Yeah, but I love Muskoka’."
While the surge in popularity and the explosive growth of development in Muskoka may be good news for real estate agents, Latner is concerned about the long-term impact this will have on the environment of the region.
"I think we’re at that point," Latner says. "People have to take a step back and consider the wisdom of cutting down trees. It’s little things like that. If it’s a rocky shoreline, you can’t come in with a bulldozer and make a beach. I’m always telling my clients, if God wanted a beach there, he would have put one there. People look at the marshes there and think about tearing it out for development - I think that’s criminal."
She says smart cottagers have begun to appreciate the fact that marshes and rocky shorelines serve a higher purpose to the ecosystem that creates the Muskoka they enjoy and depend upon.
"I think it’s the responsibility of every cottager and broker to preserve the integrity of the environment there," she says. "Because if we ever blow the ecology and spoil the environment with too many golf courses, too many ugly boat houses, and if we overpower the land with development, we’ll all walk away from Muskoka and be left with nothing."
Besides the splendid vistas and interesting waterways, Latner points to the villages of Muskoka as attractions on their own.
"Port Carling is a great little ‘boutique’ town, at the hub of the lakes, like Bloor Street in the bush," she says. "The town of Rosseau at the top of Lake Rosseau is a fun, rugged town with that sort of Montana feel. Gravenhurst and Bracebridge have their cute little stores but unfortunately they’re little towns that didn’t capture the flavour of the Victorian era that predominates Ontario which they should have. But they have the opera house and good theatre in the summer. Dorset is another quaint little place - you hiccup and you miss it. All of them are refreshing after Toronto."
What should you know before you walk into Latner’s office?
"First and foremost - know how much money you have," she says matter-of-factly. "Know your money and know its buying power. And be open to the fact of what it will buy and don’t be stupid. You’re not going to get a million-dollar cottage for $250,000.
"I had clients one year who told me they had $350,000, then they told me they had $500,000 and later still, $800,000. Meanwhile, they’d lost the market totally, wasted their time and mine, and the year they were trying so hard to outsmart me and the market, they lost their opportunity to buy really good value. Now, for what they want, it doesn’t go for less than a million."
Latner says when checking out cottages, you’ve got to check the septic. All-season access is a less important concern these days - more roads are being plowed municipally or privately.
"You should walk the shoreline to get a sense of the land, then go and look at the cottage because the land you can’t change - the cottage you can," she adds.
As for property taxes: "My attitude about taxes is like when I look at a Jag - if I have to worry about maintenance, then I shouldn’t be buying it. If you let property taxes influence your decision to buy the cottage, you’re telling yourself you can’t afford this parcel of land."
But if you can afford it, Latner says Muskoka is the stuff of cottage dreams: "If your home is your castle, then your cottage is Camelot," she smiles.
For more information about cottages in Muskoka, call Anita Latner at 705-687-2879.
