Sarah Cameron’s fondest childhood memories happened at her family’s cottage on Cordova Lake, near Havelock, Ont. “My parents bought it before I was born,” she says. “We would go up there and I would play in the woods.” Her cottage upbringing led Sarah to a love of camping and the outdoors—a trait she shares with her partner, Frankie Tarascio. So, after her parents sold the cottage in 2014, Sarah and Frankie began thinking about buying their own. “I really missed having a place that we could go,” she says.
She envisioned buying on Cordova Lake, since she had an emotional attachment to that location. But it wasn’t until 2019 that the couple was financially secure enough to begin the search. By then, they’d owned their Toronto condo long enough (Frankie had it in 2016) to build equity and leverage it for the purchase of another property.
In May 2019, the duo began their cottage hunt with a budget of $200,000. Aside from having a weed-free waterfront and a private lot, they didn’t have any other requirements. “We had no list,” says Sarah. “We were totally fine with an outhouse. The cottage just needed to be functional. We viewed this as a property that we’ll have forever and something we could fix up and add to over time.”
The first place they saw—a three-bedroom property neighbouring Sarah’s childhood cottage—was found by asking their old Cordova Lake friends. The couple offered $175,000, based on comparable cottages in the surrounding area, but lost out to another second-generation Cordova Lake cottager. “It was sad,” says Sarah. “But it went to someone that we knew, so we were still happy for him.”
After that first bid, “My parents started to get FOMO,” says Sarah. So they agreed to go in on the cottage with Sarah and Frankie, doubling their total budget to $400,000.
That fall, a three-bed, one-bath cottage on its own island came up for sale. “It was west-facing, for beautiful sunsets, and it had a really nice view, a wraparound deck, and big windows in the front,” says Sarah. The property was listed for $420,000, but their realtor said it was over-priced, so they offered $370,000, setting money aside to purchase a boat. Unfortunately, they lost out again.
A few weeks later, in early November, their realtor reached out with some news. The offer that the sellers had accepted had fallen through. The sellers asked if Sarah and her family could up their offer, so they offered $380,000, which the sellers accepted. “I was very excited and kind of overwhelmed,” says Sarah. “I had just bought a cottage!”
Because the property was boat access-only, she wasn’t able to make her first cottage visit until January 2020, when the ice was thick enough to walk across. The place was everything she and Frankie had hoped for. That spring, right as Covid hit, the couple found themselves spending weekends and sometimes full weeks there. It even became the venue for the couple’s wedding in the summer of 2020.
“It’s great to be back around people that you grew up with,” says Sarah. “I know my parents love hanging out with their friends again too. It’s nice seeing them happy.”
Buying a cottage with family?
Consider setting up a formal sharing agreement between co-owners. To learn how, and for the answers to all your cottage succession questions, sign up for our free newsletter, Family Matters: cottagelife.com/newsletter
This article was originally published in the August 2025 issue of Cottage Life.
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