Do you know which question we get asked the most?
How did you buy an island?
And we find this funny..
Because although “how” is an important question.. We know “why” provides much more colour and depth into the psyche of the person taking said action.
So, why did we buy an island in the middle of the largest freshwater lake in the world?
We could give you practical answers; freedom, peace, a place to hide when the zombie apocalypse starts…
All of these have truth to them. But there’s a bigger reason.
On May 13th 2024, Kyle and I’s father passed away at 63 years old.
After a two and a half year battle with cancer the man who taught us everything we know left this world.
This was a devastating moment for our family, as it would be for most families.
It was because of this event that I made the decision to move home, to be with my family, to seek healing and strength in their presence. A life line altering decision.. and the best thing I’ve ever done.
Upon my return home, Kyle, Davin and I went to spend the day at our camp (cottage/cabin) on Lake Superior. A property Kyle and I’s father–Terry–bought in 2006.
A place where our best childhood memories lived..
While there I reflected on the idea of one day hosting a yoga retreat on the property. A retreat in honour of my dad and meant to serve others as a place of healing. Healing we needed too…
That was of course until we went for a boat ride outside of the bay and into the big lake.
Here, we saw for the first time in years the small archipelago of islands that belong to this magnificent and dangerous lake.
And then I had this thought that I voiced aloud;
“Yeah a yoga retreat at camp would be cool… but imagine if we had an island”
Not even 10 days later.. what is now our island, came up for sale.
It really didn’t feel real at the time.. But after Davin briefly checked his Realtor.ca app for lakefront property he stumbled upon our gem and sent it to our group chat immediately.
Like any property, we called the realtor. “Yes the island is real and yes it is for sale..” he said.
But here’s the thing, the realtor didn’t have a boat and no one had even–potentially ever–stepped foot on the island. There was no dock, no trails, nothing..
There was no time to waste. Islands don’t come up for sale very often.
We had a quick group call between Kyle, Davin and I. We already thought it was too perfect of an opportunity to miss, but we still wanted to see what it would be like to step foot on it. So we gathered at our camp along with two other friends that didn’t know what the plan was.
Once everyone arrived, we packed into our 21-foot aluminum boat and headed outside of the bay towards that same archipelago we saw less than 10 days ago.
Immediately we spotted it and knew exactly which island we were heading to..
Landing the boat for the first time was a little sketchy.. but Kyle found us a calm cove on the north side away from the wind and waves. We moored the boat in the shallows at the edge of the island and stepped out of the boat and on to the island for the first time.
Then came the bushwhacking..
Again, there was nothing on this island other than thousands of trees and some birds who must have made it their home (they have great lifestyle taste).
That said, the tree growth is spectacular given the fact that they’ve all managed to grow directly on the slate rock surface. Another one of nature's miracles–life will always find a way. We still draw inspiration from those trees.
Not only was the island overgrown with all kinds of trees and plants but it also wasn’t flat… It was and remains to be a significant hike getting across this place.
Yet, we were in love.
The further we ventured inland the more we knew we had to do it.. We had to buy it.
After a brief swim in the frigid Superior waters for reassurance we loaded back up into the boat and headed towards camp to regroup.
Don’t talk about the rum…
Since you’re reading this, you likely know our island by the name “Superior Island”.
What you might not know is that the island has a different name..
Unfortunately, for the time being we will keep the name private (until a later letter).
But what I can tell you.. is the code name.
You read that correctly. You see, after our first visit to the island it was still for sale. For this reason we wanted to be discreet about our intention to purchase. At least around certain camp neighbors'..
Naturally, we were all ecstatic after our initial visit and it was all we wanted to talk about after returning to camp. We then decided we needed a code word for “island” throughout our conversation.
Haha well.. our code was “The Rum”..
It’s ironic because Kyle, Davin and I don’t drink (3 years at the time of writing for myself).. And truthfully, I don’t recall why we called it that. Maybe it was a slight tip of the cap to Pirates of the Caribbean.
More likely it was the one friend who was drinking during that initial trip who came up with the name.. But let’s go with Pirates of the Caribbean because it sounds cooler.
So the Rum.. I mean the island.. Officially had its code name. And for the next three weeks until we closed on the property it was known as such.
Sometimes we still call it the Rum for fun. But all of our neighbors' know about it. Especially since we were dropping off building materials all winter long on our front lawn of the camp..
The acquisition..
Can I tell you guys a little known fact?
I’ve worked in the real estate space since I was 20 years old. In many aspects; multifamily property management, private equity real estate, masterminds training others on real estate and most recently a company that helps fund managers compliantly set up their capital raising businesses..
In case you’re already yawning.. I share this because even though I worked in real estate for many years, I’ve never owned a property myself..
Which means that our island acquisition was my first time actually participating in a real estate transaction first hand.
The funny thing is lots of people tend to believe buying an island is such an elitist move and that laymen like ourselves never could. Or that it must be complicated and you have to find a broker on privateislandsonline.com..
Truth is–at least in Canada–it is no different than buying a single family home on main St.
In fact, all we did was submit our first offer through our realtor with an accompanying letter of intention to share our story. We left out the fact that we trespassed on the property..
And then.. our offer was rejected.
Turns out the older woman selling the now Superior Island inherited it at the price of $1 decades ago. And let’s just say she wasn’t looking to only break even..
Look, we weren’t lowballing. Actually we were only $15,000 off of the asking price.
Emergency meeting with Kyle and Davin takes place.
We asked ourselves, are we really going to let this go because of what would work out to be $5,000 each?
NOT A CHANCE.
So we accepted the counter and settled on the initial asking price.
Maybe this is an enlightening perspective for some; in 10 years from now, will the money in question even be a thought?
It wasn’t for us.. central banks continue to devalue the currency, your dollar buys less and less every year and we all act like it’s normal. But that’s a conversation for another time.
We hope you enjoyed learning more about our origin story that led to acquiring Superior Island.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
- Cam
