While many Greater Toronto Area (GTA) residents are aware of the Scarborough Bluffs – a picturesque escarpment east of the city – housed within the surrounding lake is a relatively unknown and hidden village of houseboats.
Located a short drive away from the downtown core, this vibrant community comes as a surprise to those who stumble upon it either in person or online, through social media accounts like My Little Houseboat – and account that documents the life of a single thirty-something resident.
Featuring rows of unique houseboats that range from design-forward to dated and basic, it’s the type of place that gets the wheels turning, as the imagination runs wild envisioning what it must be like to live such a lifestyle – especially in the dead of winter.
Ontario YouTube user named Mike from My Little Hobby shares the sentiment in a recent video. He shares recent drone footage – impressively and crisply shot on a DJI Mini 2 drone – that captures both the stunning, snow-covered landscape and the houseboat community in Bluffer’s Park Marina.
Mike’s filter-free and dry witted commentary offers as much of a reason to watch the video as the beautiful aerial footage does. But, if you’re simply curious about what houseboat living looks like just outside the downtown core, skip to the four-minute mark.
To be more accurate, the two-dozen or so boats within this community are actually designated “floating homes.” Unlike houseboats, the pricier floating homes have cement bases and lack motors to propel them around the water.
While not for everyone – and definitely more appealing in the balmy summer months – floating home living offers a chance for home ownership without paying a premium for land or being priced out of an area. A floating home may be an enticing option for water-lovers who don’t quite have the cash for a single-family home in the GTA, but who don’t want to live in dense condo buildings.
The floating homes in Bluffer’s Park Marina are generally valued between $650,000 and $1 million. Some have been gutted and remodelled completely, with some even comparable in size to some of Toronto’s semi-detached homes.
If floating home-living piques your interest or fuels your snowy afternoon daydreams, you'll find more inspiration on Toronto houseboats here.
