1-Year Cottage Rental Question?

Me and the better half are looking at getting a year long cottage rental. Does anyone have experience with something like this? how have you made out? and what was the general cost incurred?

I have a pretty good sense of what a home on a lake/river/stream costs for a weekend or week in the summer. But the offseason is not something i know anything about, and i know nothing about getting a year rental on one.

anyways, i'm not even sure exactly what i'm asking, any general knowledge, experience or even cottages you know of for rent would be appreciated.

We would be working from home, so Internet/cell service is mandatory, no dogs/cats/kids/smoking... Nothing fancy, two bedrooms, wood fire, drinkable tap water, hydro... Seclusion is the general want/need here (IE not being able to see our neighbours would be a massive plus) and within 30mins of a town... nothing on the great lakes. Anything from Gravenhurst to Timmins is workable or even east of algonquin or even farther north or west if need be. We aren't terribly attached to any area... Looking to rent starting 1 year from today (so at the end of the summer season 2017 for a 1 year lease)

So i'm going to start with all the people that i know with cottages, and the word will spread from there(mostly timmins, haliburton and laurentians areas). Quebec is also in the cards as we are both french and i am from there (she's from sudbury)

waterfront is not mandatory either, though it would be given priority.

I did 3 long term rentals on cottages before I purchased the cottage I'm in now.
This all took place roughly 15 years ago.
First one was on a small lake south of Algonquin park, 3 bedroom lakefront, $6000.00 for 6 months.
Second one was on rice lake. Lucked out there and got a 3 bedroom lakefront for 9 months for $3500.00. We rented that one for 2 consecutive years.
I would say the key is legwork. The longer and harder you look the better deal you will find.
You want to find someone that isn't using there cottage for an extended period of time because of circumstances rather than someone that is renting a cottage as some sort of investment.
There is some good deals out there if you look.


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Originally Posted by stragglelake

I did 3 long term rentals on cottages before I purchased the cottage I'm in now.
This all took place roughly 15 years ago.
First one was on a small lake south of Algonquin park, 3 bedroom lakefront, $6000.00 for 6 months.
Second one was on rice lake. Lucked out there and got a 3 bedroom lakefront for 9 months for $3500.00. We rented that one for 2 consecutive years.
I would say the key is legwork. The longer and harder you look the better deal you will find.
You want to find someone that isn't using there cottage for an extended period of time because of circumstances rather than someone that is renting a cottage as some sort of investment.
There is some good deals out there if you look.


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Well that's very encouraging, and reasonable... i agree that finding the right place in this situation takes a lot of legwork, that's why we've given ourselves a year to figure it out (also my better halfs "work from home" option won't be available until then)
So did you end up with people you knew (friends, or friends of friends etc...) or was it a strangers home? any unforeseen issues come up from renting in a more 'remote' country setting?
I lived ten years between foleyet and timmins on a lake off the grid, i'm not concerned about wilderness living in any way, but there are concerns once "landlords" might be involved.

With the internet to help (you probably didn't have much of that kind of help 15 years ago) i'm confident a year is enough time to find exactly what we're chasing.

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Originally Posted by TrapJack

Well that's very encouraging, and reasonable... i agree that finding the right place in this situation takes a lot of legwork, that's why we've given ourselves a year to figure it out (also my better halfs "work from home" option won't be available until then)
So did you end up with people you knew (friends, or friends of friends etc...) or was it a strangers home? any unforeseen issues come up from renting in a more 'remote' country setting?
I lived ten years between foleyet and timmins on a lake off the grid, i'm not concerned about wilderness living in any way, but there are concerns once "landlords" might be involved.

With the internet to help (you probably didn't have much of that kind of help 15 years ago) i'm confident a year is enough time to find exactly what we're chasing.

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The rice lake cottage was out of a classified add in the newspaper... Lol times change.
The Algonquin cottage was through a real estate agent I was using for a possible purchase of another cottage in the area. The real estate agents can be a great resource if the cottage has been on the market for a while or the person isn't using the cottage but hasn't made the commitment to sell.
No unforeseen problems at all.
We made it clear to both landlords in the beginning while negotiating price that we were going to do our part to maintain the property and wouldn't be calling for every last little issue.
If your handy let them know you can fix some stuff or that you want to clean up over grown bush or debris. It goes a long way to seal the deal with a reluctant landlord that really doesn't want to be in the rental game.




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Well we still have classifieds, they're just called kijiji now haha. so that is something i will lean heavily on i think to start. I guess my last question would be, is now too soon to try and ink a deal for a lease/rental that wouldn't happen until NEXT september? would anyone even be receptive to that?
i suppose it can't hurt to go after it right? and i can only find out by trying.

Definetlly can't hurt to try now.
Cottages can be a strange beast. People will hang on to them and not use them for years and Some cottagers might even like the advance notice if they were planning on travelling in the future and wouldn't be at the cottage but wouldn't mind having someone take care of it and put some $$ in there pocket at the same time.
I'll keep my ears open for anything around my place.


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TrapJack check out Cottagelink.com might be some places on there or at least give you someplace to start.

Good Luck and something else for you to keep in mind is offering to put High-Speed Internet service in if the cottage you find doesn't have it.

Try advertising in Ottawa.
Higher chance of ad being seen by Canadian diplomat about to be sent overseas on a posting and who may not be able to access cottage for several years.