I grew up with a cottage, so I knew exactly what we lost when my family sold ours.
It was not just a building on a lake. It was the morning swims, the smell of the dock, the long summer days that felt like they would never end. When it sold, I was devastated. I carried that quiet ache for years, the feeling that a whole way of life had closed behind me.
For a long time I told myself a second place was out of reach for us. Someday, maybe. The truth is I had decided the answer was no before I ever ran the numbers.
Then I actually looked at the whole picture. Not the rate, not the payment, all of it. We had built real equity in our home without even noticing, the way most people do, and it was just sitting there. So we put it to work, and that equity became our own cottage.
Now I watch my family up there, Aksel learning the lake, coffee on the dock before anyone else is awake, and I feel like I gave my kids the thing I grieved losing. That feeling is hard to put into words.
Here is why I tell this story. I sit with homeowners every week who have quietly decided they can’t have the thing they really want. More often than they think, the equity they already own can get them there. It does not work for everyone, and the right move is always the one that fits your life. That is the conversation I love having.
If something has been living in your someday pile, it might be worth a real look. Woohoo.
General education, not financial advice. Illustrative only, O.A.C. Lora Fenn, Mortgage Agent Level 1, Lic. #M25003153, Dominion Lending Centres YBM Group (FSRA #11129).
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