Rita Retreat

Living in Toronto can be confining, and the desire to have more space is one that exists for many people.

But it was a bit unique for me.  In a past life, I had acquired a lot of stuff. A lot of AV equipment specifically.  From DJ’ing school dances, to supplying gear to others, to doing community theatre plays, and special events – a lot of equipment had been accumulated over the years.

And it was filling up 3 large and expensive Toronto storage lockers.

Sitting down, going over the monthly budget, the storage locker rental was expense 2 on our monthly list. It was painful seeing that much money going out every month, just to store stuff.

So Stéphane was tasked with finding a garage we could buy. It needed to be a big garage, and the entire monthly carrying costs needed to come in at equal or less to what was being spent now on the storage locker rental.

So a line was drawn, a 3 hour circle from our home base in Toronto.  Any places that had garages were considered.  From commercial properties, to shops, to country homes with big garages.

And he found one… in Roblin Ontario… and it came with a house and some land too.

Our lives were forever changed.

The timing was poetic.  We had submitted our offer, and had just heard back that it had been accepted, moments before heading out the door to hang out with our friends at an arcade bar.

While at the bar, the phone notifications hit… the NBA had cancelled their first game because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the next few days, everything started shutting down in a hurry.

We were among the first to sign our closing documents virtually.  The early few to navigate signing mortgage documents virtually. 

But we got it.  We got our first property!

What was supposed to be a garage to store Ian’s stuff, and turn an expense into equity, quickly became so much more special.  It became our place.  Our home.  

The next couple of years of no travel and Covid lockdowns were spent enjoying our property, doing projects, and making our home our own.