BY Kelly Fallis, Sales Representative

I’ve spent more than a decade in this industry, and I still get asked why I do both. Why be a real estate agent and run a building company at the same time? The honest answer is that I can’t imagine doing one without the other. Muskoka is a complex market, and the properties here deserve more than someone who only understands the transaction. I want to understand the whole picture — the bones of the building, the lot, the potential, and the reality of what it takes to bring a vision to life.

Two Industries, One Perspective

My husband and I built our company from the ground up, and I mean that literally. We’ve been on job sites in every season, worked through permitting headaches, managed trades during the busiest summer months, and figured out how to get materials to properties that most people can’t find on a map. That experience has made me a completely different kind of agent. When I’m walking through a cottage with a buyer, I’m not just thinking about price per square foot. I’m looking at the roof line, the foundation, the age of the mechanicals, the potential to add a boathouse or expand toward the water. I’m doing a mental build in my head before we’ve even talked numbers.

What I Tell Every Buyer Who Walks Into This Market

Muskoka is not like buying a house in the city. That sounds obvious, but people are consistently surprised by how different it is in practice. The shoreline regulations, the setback rules, the boathouse restrictions, the septic systems, the seasonal road access — these aren’t small details. They are the story of the property. I’ve seen buyers fall in love with a lot that couldn’t support the build they had in mind or purchase a waterfront property without understanding the limitations on dock expansion. My job is to make sure that doesn’t happen to my clients.

I’m also honest about timing. Muskoka renovations don’t move at city speed. The trades up here are excellent, but they’re in demand from the moment the ice goes out in spring until Thanksgiving. If you close on a property in April thinking you’ll be renovated and settled in by July long weekend, I’m going to gently redirect that expectation. Not to discourage you — but because I want your first season in your new property to feel like a dream, not a construction zone.

The Properties I Get Most Excited About

I’ll be honest with you: I light up when I see an older cottage on a spectacular lot. Most buyers scroll past those listings. I see them as pure opportunity. Give me a solid lot with good water frontage, a well-positioned building envelope, and a structure that has good bones under the dated finishes, and I can see exactly what it could become. My husband and I have taken on projects exactly like this ourselves, and some of our most rewarding work has started with something that looked rough on the surface.

There’s also a strong case to be made right now for vacant waterfront lots if you’re open to building new. The inventory of truly turn-key, modern cottages on premium lakes in Muskoka is tight, and competition for those properties can be fierce. But a well-chosen lot — with the right zoning, services, and development potential — gives you the ability to build exactly what you want, without compromising. I can evaluate those lots in a way most agents simply can’t, because I know what they can support and what they’ll cost to develop.

Why Muskoka Never Gets Old For Me

I grew up on Lake Muskoka, and I understand what Muskoka means to the people who love it. These properties aren’t just investments — they’re where families gather, where kids learn to swim, where generations of memories get made. That weight is not lost on me. Every time I help someone find the right property or walk a buyer through what it would take to transform a rough diamond into their dream cottage, I feel the responsibility of that. I take it seriously. And having the building side of my work running alongside the real estate side means I can serve my clients at a level that I’m genuinely proud of.

Muskoka is a special place. I feel lucky to live and work here every day, and even luckier to bring the kind of knowledge to the table that helps my clients make the most of it.

Fun Fact

I have been documenting Muskoka’s flood conditions on social media since 2019, becoming a trusted local voice for up-to-date water level reports and seasonal lake conditions across the region.
After years of selling and building in cottage country, I’ve learned to see past the listing photos.

Kelly Fallis
@lakemuskokarealtor
Lakemuskokarealtor.co