Messages

1

Announcements / Re: Now looking for properties 10+ acres ...

« on: November 11, 2014, 11:26:33 PM »

How far north of the Arctic Circle are you willing to go?    

My geography of Ontario is a bit fuzzy north of Cochrane, but I'm pretty sure ON doesn't quite stretch that far. 

2

Property Information / Re: ryerson

« on: September 16, 2009, 02:46:17 AM »

I doubt the barrels are anything sinister.  You'd be kidding yourself if you thought most farms didn't have similar piles in their back 40 -and people seem to be buying them still. The drums were probably lubricant, maybe fuel oil, from the 50s or previous by their state (i.e. back when the property was actually used for farming).  I'd bet they were used to the last drop before being tossed, if farmers back then were anything like as cheap as they are now.  If I was planning to live there I'd have the water tested, but I wouldn't worry about minute traces of contaminants sixty years after the fact.  Your driveway is probably way more contaminated than any comparable area on the property.  Probably  .

Thanx for the great pics.Please feel free to e mail me anything else that looks like it might come up for sale.

Just trying to stay ahead of the competition....

-H

3

Property Information / Re: ryerson

« on: September 15, 2009, 12:49:13 AM »

This lot looked like it might come up for tax sale, so I grabbed some pictures over the summer:









If you really knew what you were doing you could maybe salvage the house, depending on how well the foundation is holding up, but it's likely that all buildings are a lost cause.  The biggest liability for this property is the crap: it looks like its been a private dump for several decades.  There are derelict cars, farm equipment, appliances, beds, dozens of giant metal drums, all with giant weeds and small trees growing up through them.  It's a nice bit of land, mostly cleared and in a nice area, but I reckoned it would take my brother and I a solid month to haul all the junk out of there and reclaim it.  If Speedfreeksteve is right that this will go for the same ballpark figure as a market lot then it's not worth it.  If it goes for the minimum and you've got the time and the capital (chainsaw, truck/quad, trailer, jenny and demo tools), you could probably spend a nice summer cleaning it up and flip it for the cost of your labour, but I don't see how you could make any real money here.  Just my opinion, though.

-H

4

Property Information / Re: Niagara Falls

« on: May 06, 2008, 08:10:30 PM »

Topographic information throughout most of Canada -at least the more hospitable zones - can be found at the government's site:

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/topo/map

I find it slow, and it only gets down to a small visible window at a meaningful scale, but it's all there if you're patient and know what you want to look at.  I think it zooms to 1:20000, with topographic lines, spot heights, significant wetlands and forested areas, gravel pits, individual buildings (not necessarily houses), roads, trails, transmission lines, pipelines, etc.   

5

General / Re: Muskoka Lakes tax sale - what's going on?

« on: March 17, 2008, 04:40:42 AM »

If the property truly does front on the lake then you would always have water access -many seasonal properties in Muskoka only have water access, but it might be complicated to get a building permit for such a property in this day and age.

It is doubtful that you would secure a right of way through that much crown land, and the expense of cutting and maintaining a 500m road over Muskoka rock would be prohibitive.  The right of way is probably your best bet.  According to the transportation map of the Official Plan on the Muskoka District Webpage:



There was nothing in the legend on the map to indicate the status of "grey roads", so they would probably be legally either private or in limbo.  Nonetheless, it does look like there is something resembling a road there, and the linear cut through the trees on your satellite photo does seem to confirm this.  Will you be legally entitled to use it?  Well...  Not to sound the pessimist, but I've just disentangled myself from this exact kind of situation.  There was a right of way heading right onto my bush property, but no legal record of it existing or of us having any right to use it.  Of course we did use the right of way for six years and nobody ever said anything about it.  There's a good possibility that if you are friendly to the neighbours they won't give you any hassle.  And since the property does have waterfront residential zoning and (probably) legal water access, the "legality" of the road access might not matter in terms of building or reselling.  That's all just speculation, however. 

6

General / Re: Muskoka Lakes tax sale - what's going on?

« on: March 11, 2008, 12:59:21 AM »

Just Googling it I found this link (on another site -gasp!):

    ontariotaxsales.ca/cart/ListingSearch.php?municipalityID=1836&municipality=Muskoka+Lakes ontariotaxsales.ca/cart/ListingSearch.php?municipalityID=1836&municipality=Muskoka+Lakes[/url]

I guess somebody who administers this site wants a head start on this one...