Before there could be a house, there had to be somewhere to put it. And honestly, finding the right property was one of the hardest parts of this entire process.
We weren't simply looking for a piece of land. We were trying to replace a home we were leaving behind that was actually the right home for us — it was just in the wrong province.
We needed to keep our daughter in the province where she already had an established team of expert medical professionals who knew her history and were already involved in her care. Moving her to another province wasn't something we were prepared to do just because finding land would have been easier.
We weren't looking for just any property.
We were trying to recreate what already worked — in the right province.
Finding the right piece of land
We started looking. And looking. And then we looked some more.
We walked properties that had no buildings at all. Some had beautiful views and plenty of potential. They were nice properties, but nothing really compared to what we were trying to replace.
Then we finally found one that looked promising.
And then we found out it was in a flood plain. That could create serious problems when it came time to build, so we let that one go and went back to looking.
After walking a lot of properties, we finally found the one we ended up buying.
It was very remote. There wasn't some spectacular waterfront view or sweeping vista waiting for us. The view from the back was basically trees. But it had something more important: it looked like it could work.
We did our due diligence... as best we could
We asked questions. We investigated what we knew to investigate. We contacted the city and the conservation authority and asked the very straightforward question that seemed to matter most:
Can we build on this property?
The answer was yes.
That was the answer we needed. We had found the property, we had asked the people we thought we needed to ask, and we had been told we could build. So we signed off on the purchase.
At the time, we genuinely believed we had done our due diligence.
And this is where I have learned one of the biggest lessons of this entire adventure:
You don't know what you don't know... until you know.
Then we found out about the conservation property
We knew the property had conservation restrictions, but we also learned that only the last approximately 100 feet was a true do not touch area. At the time, that sounded manageable.
Okay. We can deal with that.
What we didn't understand was how many other restrictions and timing issues could come along with that designation.
Here is what we weren't told — and didn't know to ask
1. The 30 cm Reserve
The city had placed a 30 cm reserve along the front of the property. Until that reserve is lifted, it restricts our ability to use the property the way we need to.
2. The Conservation Timeline
Because the property is conservation land, we cannot simply clear trees and brush whenever we are ready. Work like that is restricted between April and October to protect wildlife.
3. And Then...
We were still learning what we didn't know. There was more to come, and this property was about to teach us a very expensive lesson in asking questions we didn't even know existed.
What we learned before we even built a house
Getting an answer to "Can we build here?" is not necessarily the same thing as understanding everything that has to happen before you can actually build there.
- Ask who owns or controls every restriction affecting the property.
- Ask exactly what you can and cannot do on the land — not just whether you can build.
- Ask about seasonal restrictions and environmental rules.
- Find out whether there are reserves, easements, setbacks or other restrictions attached to the property.
- And most importantly: don't assume that a "yes" means "yes, without a whole bunch of other conditions."