May 23, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
Welcome to 1017 Savage Settlement in beautiful Novar a community in the Almaguin Highlands. This charming log home features one floor living, with three bedrooms, bathroom and laundry. Enjoy open concept living with the great room opening into the kitchen, a traditional wood interior, pine cathedral ceilings and wonderful hardwood floors. An airtight wood burning stove in the great room provides ample warmth on chilly nights, with the added convenience of a forced air oil furnace.
Ideal for entertaining walk out to the large 50 x 10 deck overlooking the beautiful wooded property, teaming with wildlife. With just under an acre Savage Settlement provides privacy plus, an idyllic escape from the city, but only 15 minutes from town.
Close to trails, ski hills, golf and provincial parks there is plenty to do beyond relaxing and taking in the pristine Muskoka air.
May 17, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
We anxiously await the May long weekend with trepidation and excitement. While the grass in the city has been green for a while, and golfers are already on the course (gasp), this is the traditional weekend for opening the cottage.
Preparations should be exciting not daunting- so we prepared a list to help with your packing and planning:
- Sunscreen
- Bug Spray
- First Aid kit
- Chargers
- Matches
- Hats
- Paper towel
- Toilet paper
- Cleaners
- Pantry items, such as coffee, spices, non-perishables, baggies, tin foil & condiments
- Water
- Clothing for a wide range of weather- winter through summer.
- Propane for the BBQ?
Upon Arrival:
To begin, it’s important to set your priorities for your arrival and for the weekend to ensure a smooth flow for your precious & limited cottage time. Upon arrival, do you need to turn on the heat, get the water running, plug in the refrigerator, make the beds, charge your phone? Next take a quick look around the property for any trees or limbs that have come down, ice or snow damage or any maintenance item that will require immediate attention.
Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind this May Long Weekend, is that amid the cleaning, clearing, installing and unpacking, take time to enjoy, relax and take in the wonder we call Muskoka. After all, we come to the cottage to relax and escape so make sure you take time to do so.
May 7, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
Muskoka is home to many talented artists, many of whom are in our own backyard! On May 6th, ARTrail Muskoka launched its 2019 Purple Banner, Studio & Gallery Guide. When you see their purple banner flying, you know the studio/gallery is open. Individuals can plan their own self-guided, year round art experience through Muskoka’s 5 regions: Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Huntsville, Lake of Bays & Muskoka Lakes.
Right in our own backyard, the Lake of Bays Trail features several talented Studios and Galleries.
John Murden Art Gallery
Richard Robinson Art Studio
Stone Tree Studio
Elizabeth Johnson Painting
Loops Art & Craft Gallery
Catherine O’Mara Studio & Gallery
And don’t forget about the Artists of the 13th Annual Limberlost Gallery tour. It showcases more of Lake of Bays talent and is sure to impress! Running August 17-18 2019, visit their web page for more details.
Team Grainger is proud share and support the many talented artists, who add a great vibrant community to our beautiful and diverse area. This wonderful Art community creates many opportunities for events and shows throughout the year. We wish the Purple Banner ARTrial the best of luck this year and for many years to come. Whether you live or visit Lake of Bays Muskoka, take time to check out some of our local talent.
May 3, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
Support Hospice and Palliative Care in our community.
This Sunday May 5th is the annual Hike for Hospice hosted by hospice and palliative care. The Hike kicks off the national Palliative Care week, which is held to raise awareness and funds for compassionate end of life care. Funds raised by the hike itself go towards helping individuals and their families with end of life support at no charge. 100% of the funds raised stay in our community.
Registration takes place at 12:00 at the River Mill Park in Huntsville. A celebration of life, which provides an opportunity for participants to remember loved ones, will take place at 1:00pm, followed by the hikers leaving the park at 1:15pm. Participants can pick between the short (.081km) hike or the long (2.49km) hike.
For more information on the hike, and other fundraising opportunities to support Hospice, please visit the Hospice website.
Apr 26, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
Cool nights and warm days are the perfect combination to get the Maple sap flowing. The Maple harvest has become synonymous with our Canadian culture, and what better place to celebrate – surrounded by Canada’s natural beauty – than here in Muskoka.
This Saturday, April 27th, represents the culmination of the Maple Trail, as Muskoka celebrates the Maple harvest in Hunstville. A family friendly event, the celebration includes activities, vendors, live music, street performers and of course delicious food. The Maple Market Place will feature the regions Maple Syrup producers, who will have on hand goodies to try, or buy. Be sure to make time to check out this treasured Muskoka tradition.
Apr 8, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
“Over these past few years we heard from Canadians who talked about their concerns about being able to own their own home. We believe in investing in people and communities, which is why we are taking real, concrete steps to make sure home ownership remains an achievable dream, not a privilege afforded to only the richest few.”
—The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
In Trudeau’s new budget he announced a 2 prong approach to helping new buyers enter into home ownership.
The first approach would see first time home buyers receive an incentive of up to 10% of the price of a new home. Under this approach, administered by CMHC, buyers would still need to come up with a 5% down payment. To qualify, the buyers’ total income would need to be below $120,000/year with a maximum credit extended of up to 4 times the annual income, or up to 480,000.
This would mean that a purchase of a home of $400,000 with a 5% ($20,000) down payment, could receive an incentive of up to $40,000, bringing the mortgage from $380,000 to $340,000. In terms of monthly payments, assuming a 25 year amortization and a mortgage rate of 3.5% the monthly payment would go from $1970 to $1750.
Buyers hoping to purchase a resale home would be entitled to a 5% initiative. In either case, the incentive would need to be repaid, however, those details are not clear as of yet.
The second approach is an increase in the amount that buyers can borrow from their RSP, which has been increased from $25,000 to $35,000.
What will this mean for Muskoka? With millennial’s priced out of the bigger cities, the trend has increasingly been for millennial’s to invest in properties in Muskoka. Will there be an increase in millennial’s purchasing here? Will this new incentive drive Muskoka property costs up?
For more on Trudeau’s announcement see: https://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2019/03/20/new-program-help-100000-canadian-families-buy-their-first-home
Apr 5, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
Just last week Porter Airlines announced that it will be offering 20 minute flights from Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport to the Muskoka Airport for the summer season. Muskoka a premiere Ontario destination, consistently voted as a top place to visit in Canada, offers a pristine, natural setting which compels tourists and cottages alike to hop into the car and brave the Friday afternoon/evening traffic on our provincial highways.
Just imagine skipping the commute, and “the lines (a Porter bonus)” and arriving in Muskoka via direct flight. Porter will offer two flights on Fridays and two flights Monday’s, with long weekends leaving Tuesday. Upon arrival in Muskoka, taxi and car rental services are available at the airport. Further Explorers Edge, a local company dedicated to various wilderness destinations, will provide seasonal shuttle bus service to accommodations across the region.
With this in mind, combined with Muskoka’s iconic setting and traditions, there is little doubt this new luxury service connecting the city to Muskoka, will contribute to Muskoka’s economy, giving a boost to local business and resorts, making Muskoka even more luxurious and desirable.
Apr 5, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
Apr 1, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
Ever wonder about the origin of April fool’s Day? We did, so we did a little digging. As it turns out there is much speculation 
and no concrete answer. Disappointing we know. This wonderful little nugget, falling on the 1st of April has been popular since the beginning of the 19th century. It is customary on this day to play tricks on your friends, family & neighbors getting them to believe ridiculous things or sending them on a Fool’s errand looking for things that don’t exist. Newspapers, the mass media, and of course social media have also gotten in on the fun propagating “fake news’ sometimes with unpleasant consequences. For media pranks go wrong visit this site. And of course thank you to the Bigwin for a good laugh this morning.
Mar 29, 2019 | Featured Listing, Uncategorized
Help us Cheer on our Otters Midget AE team – Support our Huntsville Boys- Pack the Arena
Saturday March 30th -6:30pm
Sunday March 31st– 2:10pm
Recently we traveled to Pellham to cheer on our Huntsville Otters Midget AE team during two games 2 & 3 in the finals series. Having won all games in the playdown series, and having won the first game in the finals, hopes were high all around. Unfortunately the win was elusive in both games and the team returned to Huntsville defeated.
We have yet to sit in the stands of a sporting event and not hear the controversy of “bad calls, dirty players, or useless coaches.” It would seem that the spectators in the stands are always evaluating and coaching along with the team, however it is the players and the referees and linesmen that truly are the ones at that particular moment in time that really matters in a game. This is true at all levels competition from youth house league to professional.
It’s important that perspective not be lost here. Players, coaches, spectators could drop their heads and give up. BUT, there is so much more to competitive youth sport than winning and losing. In fact with only .02% of male hockey players in Ontario making an NHL career of the game, it perhaps more important that we recognize and emphasize the teachable moments in every victory and loss. This past weekend, as difficult as it was to watch, contained many important life lessons which will help the players in all aspects of their lives: how to rise above, life is not always fair, doing your best may not be enough, hold your head high, don’t give up, and how to lose, among a few.
All was not lost though, the team has up to 3 more opportunities to challenge Pellham and stand victorious. This weekend, Saturday March 30th at 6:30pm and Sunday March 31st at 2:10pm, the Otters will play two more games. To win both means the Otters will be the “All Ontario Champions.” Help us pack the Don Lough Arena with local supporters to cheer the team to a spectacular home victory, while showing them that the community is behind them win or lose.
