Scugog homes priced $700,000, topping out at $1,000,000

In Port Perry the range lands on the fifties and sixties bungalows near the downtown, semis and townhouses on the newer west side, and the older two-storeys off Reach Street. Most will want a kitchen or a bathroom, and some carry original windows, but they sit on municipal water and sewer, near schools and the hospital, and hold their value on that basis. In the hamlets, the same money reaches a detached village house with a deeper lot, on municipal water in Blackstock and Greenbank reportedly and on a well elsewhere. On the concessions it reaches the seventies raised bungalow on an acre with a detached garage, where the finishes are dated and the septic is of the same age. Cottages in this band are the wild card: some are sound year-round homes, others are seasonal buildings with a furnace added.

The buyers who do best in this band decide early what they will not compromise on. If it is municipal services and walkability, stay inside Port Perry and accept a smaller, older house. If it is land, accept a well, a septic and a longer drive, and put the inspection money into the water test and the septic camera rather than the cosmetic report. If it is the lake, understand that this budget usually buys a view or a shared access rather than frontage, and that a shoreline lot's road allowance may not be yours. Financing is standard across the band, though a lender may treat a seasonal cottage or a farm parcel differently, and a property with a second kitchen raises the questions covered on the basement apartment page. Insurance quotes on rural houses with oil tanks or wood stoves are worth getting before you firm up.