Back in May, we discussed a five-star, four season resort called Touchstone on Lake Muskoka. The resort piqued our interest for two reasons: 1) The fractional ownership program. 2) The online auction process employed to sell the units. Well, bidding has ended, and just over the summer, 80 of the 83 suites sold!

Online bidding for Touchstone on Lake Muskoka

First, we’ll explain fractional ownership again. Each suite was divided into eighths, and bidding for 1/8 fractions started at prices between $4,500 to $62,000. The more fractions of a cottage you own, the more access you have to the cottage throughout the year. The program gives people the chance to own their own vacation spot at a lower cost. Why pay for an entire cottage on your own when you only use it a few weeks out of the year?

McOuat Partnership, the team behind the sales and marketing of Touchstone, selected Canada’s leading real estate auction broker, Gordon’s Estate Services, to manage the online auction.

The point of the online auction was to give people the opportunity to purchase from the comfort of their own home, and it also eliminated the pressures of an in-person auction.

The remaining three suites at Touchstone are available at a first come, first served basis, with inventory fractions priced at $68,750 for four-bedroom Treetop Villa cottages.

The future of buying homes

Just over a summer, 96% of the suites at Touchstone sold. What does this mean for the future of homebuying? We understand that fractional ownership in a cottage is different than owning your own primary home, but could the same process apply?

Imagine, registering, making your appointment to check out the sales centre and model home, and then instead of a Grand Opening or Preview Event where you’re throwing elbows to get the home you want, you wake up on auction day, turn on your computer and start bidding. If you have a laptop or tablet, you don’t even have to get out of bed!

It sounds interesting. We’re anxious to see if any condo developers or home builders adopt the sales model, and tweak it to their purposes.

Would you purchase a home in an online auction setting?