108
Escarpment Magazine Winter 2014
I have heard it called “amenity migration”, but it boils
down to the most quintessential real estate axiom. Lo-
cation, location, location. Where do I buy to give me
the maximum exposure to the amenities that are rele-
vant to my family for a financial investment that I am
comfortable with? It is where “market value” meets
“personal value”, and life meets lifestyle.
Demographics are at play in every aspect of the
broader real estate market, but nowhere is this more
true than in Ski Country. Have you heard the expres-
sion that 60 years old is the new 50 years old? Very
true. But by extension, 70 is the new 60 and so on.
The old school of thought that the retiree is sitting on
the porch with the newspaper before going to play a
few hands of bridge is long gone. The new retiree has
probably played a round of golf, skied for the morn-
ing, or biked to town before they have even accessed
the Globe andMail or National Post (online in all like-
lihood).
I would also submit to you that many retirees don’t fully
retire the way they used to. I can’t tell you how many
people “up north” are part-time consultants, investors,
philanthropists, and professional doers of good. Re-
tirement is a busy job these days, and don’t let anyone
tell you differently. The lifestyle of the retiree has
changed, and therefore so has the place they have
decided to retire. Again, this isn’t done because their
property will appreciate faster than the one they
owned in the city. They have made the move because
it is an investment in their lifestyle… an investment in
themselves.
In fact, this is a growing trend amongst the then Gen-
X demographic as well. No… not retirement. Lifestyle-
based decision making. In the modern era of
telecommuting, an awful lot of business does not have
to be transacted in an office, and there is a growing
cadre of people in their 30s and 40s who are switch-
ing it up— selling their big house in the city and small
chalet in Collingwood, and buying a pied-a-terre in
the city and moving here full time.
A friend from the ski club lamented tome recently, “I am
at the airport Mondaymorning, and get back Thursday.
I pack the kids up on Friday andwe head north. We ski
through Sunday afternoon, and head back to the city. I
amback at the airport Monday morning. What the hell
am I doing?” His solution may well be to switch it up.
For the kids, the schooling options are quite diverse in
the area. Big schools, small schools, private schools,
Catholic schools, Montessori, and French immersion.
There is even a college campus in Collingwood now!
Unlike the old days when the heaviest items of luggage in the trunk were the multitudes of
bags from Pusateri’s, the shopping here is great. Unbelievable steaks from Black Angus,
Cheese from the Cheese Gallery or Dags and Willow, fresh bread from the bakery, fresh
pies from any roadside stand. It is not uncommon now for people to bring their groceries
back to the city with them for the week.
That move is NOT for everyone. The city is fantastic, and I miss it at times.When I do, I head
down for the weekend and bathe in the urban splendour that I (temporarily) miss. But there
is one thing that I wouldn’t miss for the world.
Sunny Sunday afternoons at the ski club. I LOVE to sit on the deck with a beer and watch
my friends yelling at their kids to get in the car as the kids beg for 10 more minutes or one
more run. That is why we do it. That is why we invest up here. The return is the family. The
weekend spent on the ski hill together — watching your kid hit a golf ball, or learn to sail, or
throw the ball for the dog. Many are like my parents were. They “live” in the city, but they
really LIVE on the weekends. They invest in a home that facilitates this ideal. They don’t do
it for a return that can be expressed as a percentage. They do it for the return that can be
hung on the wall in the form of family pictures. Together. At play.
ESCARPMENT REAL ESTATE
|
marketwatch...
Georgian Triangle MLS®
Single Family Home Sales by Municipality
November Year-to-Date 2013 versus 2012
(Dollars)
Georgian Triangle MLS®
November Year-to-Date Sales
2011 versus 2012 versus 2013
(Dollars)
$800,000.00
$600,000.00
$400,000.00
$200,000.00
$0
$513,970,001
$549,744,369
$598,335,756
