“We’d never actually been inside it together until the day we moved in”
Before COVID-19 hit, Peter and Chelsey Wylie were very happy in their Barrhaven townhome. But once lockdown began last spring, they started to take the occasional drive out of Ottawa on weekends, poking around the small towns that surround this city. With a young son and a baby on the way, they had plans to move out to a more rural community in three years or so. Unsure whether to buy land and build or to look for an existing house, as they drove they mused on the future.
Then COVID-19 changed everything. After months of confinement in their townhome, with restricted outdoor space and a two-year-old, the couple decided to take the plunge. However, by that time, Chelsey was down to the final weeks of her pregnancy.
The couple found a Kemptville house online that they liked, but it sold immediately. However, Sotheby’s Realty agent Suzanne Lang had another listing close by in Kettle Creek, and the couple was among the first to visit. They bought the house, to close on July 8, but with the condition that they sell their Barrhaven home.
“It was the strangest thing,” recalls Chelsey. “Due to COVID, when we bought our new house, we’d never actually been inside it together until the day we moved in.”
Once the couple knew where they were going, they listed their home in Barrhaven. On July 4, just one day after the listing went up, there were 40 showings.
They received 10 offers, every single one of them over asking. Some people even included letters and photographs to set themselves apart. “People included personal details,” says Chelsey. “I really wasn’t expecting that.” In the end, they sold their townhome for nearly $80,000 over the asking price.
Chelsea gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Olivia, just six days after closing, on July 14.
“It was a very stressful thing,” remembers Chelsey. “I was asking myself if this was the right thing to be doing, as it was scary.”
“It wasn’t really a plan, just an idea,” says Peter.
“But we hit all milestones on time.”
Just six weeks later, Peter, Chelsey, Sullivan, and Olivia moved to a contemporary bungalow set on
1.2 acres in Kemptville. They soon discovered that they had a family connection with the previous owner of their house and that their new neighbours on either side had also moved from Barrhaven. It seemed like destiny.
“We love it here. It has that small-town feel, with lots of little stores and amenities nice and close. We noticed that everyone waves to you. It’s quiet and there’s lots of young families, parks, good schools. There’s a new generation moving in here,” says Chelsey.
This move included months of searching, cohabitating with relatives, an unconditional offer, and plenty of mouse poop
When animators Annie, 34, and Brandon, 33,* got engaged and started thinking about moving out of their 700-square-foot condo in Toronto, they realized their chances of finding an affordable house in the GTA — especially one with a yard — were slim. The couple had been in Ottawa many times to visit Annie’s cousin and liked the city’s vibe. Then they started comparing real estate prices, and the capital became even more appealing. “We thought, wow, Ottawa is a really good market, compared to
Toronto,” says Annie.
Once Annie and Brandon applied for jobs here, things started falling into place quickly. Annie received two job offers, so they listed their Toronto condo in June. It sold in one day. Then they began the process of finding a place to live in Ottawa. They weren’t terribly picky. For instance, they were open to just about any area of the city. “Being from Toronto, we’re used to driving 45 minutes into work, so being further away from downtown Ottawa wasn’t a big deal for us,” explains Brandon, who landed a job soon after Annie did. Mainly, they wanted a single-family house with a yard in a quiet neighbourhood — ideally with a traditional (rather than open-plan) layout.
They stayed with Annie’s cousin in the city’s west end for a month over the summer to scour the city, sometimes going to as many as five house showings a day. Bid after bid was rejected. “I felt really discouraged,’” Annie recalls. They needed to be out of their Toronto condo in September.
In August, after roughly 70 viewings and eight offers, they found a three-bedroom, 2,600-squarefoot, 2½-bathroom house in Kanata’s Bridlewood neighbourhood listed at $475,000. To land the deal, they made a pre-emptive bully offer of $550,000. And despite their reservations, they agreed to waive all conditions.
“I was completely against [waiving conditions],” Brandon says. He wanted to make the offer conditional on inspection. “But if we had thrown that in, we wouldn’t have got the house.”
They closed the deal in October, which meant moving to Brampton to live with Annie’s parents for a month until they took possession of their Kanata home.
Many features of their new home appealed to them, such as the vaulted family-room ceiling and separate dining area. After fixing some electrical problems, redoing all three bathrooms, and updating the floors, they decided to drywall the basement. When they removed the existing wainscotting, however, they found huge piles of mouse droppings. The rodents — which were no longer in residence — had also left extensive tunnels through the insulation. “Even the pest-control people were like, ‘This is the worst,’ ” says Annie with a rueful laugh. The resulting tab was roughly $10,000. One small consolation: even if they’d had an inspection, the mouse issue wouldn’t have come to light, as inspectors don’t generally open up walls.
Despite all the stress of moving during a pandemic, the couple is glad they did. “We love it here,” says Annie. “It’s like a cleaner version of Toronto.”
Oakville couple Gaetan Dazé and Michelin Henri-Dazé started thinking about moving out of Toronto about three years ago. With a cottage in the Outaouais and a hesitancy to change provinces, they started looking east. Gaetan was born in Embrun, while Michelin is from Plessisville, Quebec, so Ottawa seemed like a good choice. Gaetan retired in 2017, Michelin a few years later, and their 25-year-old son, Sam, would soon be graduating from teachers’ college. They were careful researchers, even reaching out to French school boards in the area to ensure there would be a need for French teachers so that the three francophones could all relocate to the capital.
“We had been in our home for 30 years and invested a lot of time and money in it,” says Gaetan. “We knew our neighbours. There was a lot of nervousness.” Plus, the thought of moving during COVID-19 was overwhelming. The couple came to Ottawa twice — once to visit and again for a serious house-viewing tour.
They worked with Zak Green of Engel & Völkers, who used virtual meetings to guide the house hunt. “I use a wellness wheel to get to know my clients. It’s like a deep dive into what they want,” says Green, whose competence with virtual meetings really impressed the couple. Over a Sunday conference call, the three set out a plan to sell their Mississauga property and buy a bigger place with more room to roam near Ottawa.
“I was very impressed,” says Gaetan, “with Zak’s sincerity, his caring for our needs, and his intelligence about the market. I don’t go overboard in giving credit, but he was good.”
Green referred them to the Engel & Völkers office in Toronto to list their Toronto home for $1.35 million. Gaetan notes that other agents were reluctant to take on the listing. “We were aggressive on price and stubborn. We put a lot of money into that house.” It sold in a day for the full asking price of $1.35 million with no conditions.
Then they were faced with the hunt. They wanted a large lot with a pool, a house that didn’t require renovations, and high-speed internet, of course. Cumberland Heights offered all these things and a view of the Ottawa River. After weeks of combing listings, they got a call from Green about a new listing. When the photos came through, they fell in love. They took possession on October 20.
“He found the perfect home, the house of our dreams,” swoons Michelin. Adds Gaetan, “The only regret I have is that we should have done this years ago.” Since moving in, the couple has learned that many of their neighbours are from Toronto and have found all the conveniences of Toronto within a 10-minute drive. Most of all, they have discovered a new, slower quality of life.
“We’re not in a fishbowl here like we were in Toronto,” says Gaetan. “My favourite time of day is having my morning coffee with the blue jays.”