Buying lake property 101

[Ufatz]

Tom speaks truth. Let me tell you. Bare land small home project. First $7000 for surveying. Then shoreline management comes in and TELLS you where you will put house. Then perc test ($1500) followed by well $2500)

Next comes big septic tank, dig it in and fill it and run lines to drain field; $3000.

Want a full basement? figure $20,000. Power lines run in (?) and small road built (?) Then ya gotta have a $3000 dock, nice power mower and weed whacker. Gonna go with sod for the first yard....several thousand. Nice rock fireplace?...$2500.

Money left over to build dreamhouse?....$4500.

Have a ball daddy Warbucks. Oh....and then $4-5000 a year in taxes.

But HEY!......its a place at the lake!

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Lots of good advice in here, but the best post is the one "if you take all this advice you'll be 90 and wishing you'd done something". Here is some advice I can offer up being in the industry:

1) Financing-These days you are probably looking at 20-25% down on a 2nd/vacation home. Home equity lines are a really good option, and offer you the most flexibility (you are essentially paying cash). Get your financing figured out before you start anything.

2) Empty lots-There is probably a reason for this. Do your due diligence on all the things mentioned in this post already. The majority of the lots I've been seeing have FEMA, Bluff, or septic challenges.

3) Find a good Realtor-If I were buying property 3+ hours away, I'd pick a reputable agent in the area, look at 10 places with them in a day to communicate exactly what I want/don't want, and then let them go to work. Have them preview new listings for you, and send you their thoughts. This will save you and them a ton of time. As an agent I can go through a house in 10 minutes, upload 50 (un-Photoshopped!) pictures, get a good feel for it and communicate a good report on it to the client. No need for you to spend 6 hours on the road to find out it won't work for you within the first 30 seconds.

4) Inspections-Even if you think you are the worlds best DIY'er, get a professional inspection on the structure, as well as well and septic. When you walk in the door and the wife does the "honey...it's perfect..." you are probably going to overlook some things. The devil is in the details, and the $400 inspection could save you years of headaches. Like my neighbor who didn't catch the fact that his windows weren't flashed properly and had to tear out an entire wall.... Your bank will very likely require to you have the well & septic certified, but do this even if they don't.

5) Meet the neighbors-If you like to enjoy a book in complete silence while listening to loons at night, but the 10 neighbors around you gather for a fire and cocktails until 2am every night, it probably won't be a pleasant experience.

Good luck!

[MuskieJunkie]

On the topic of property taxes: MN charges a higher rate for seasonal rec property than a homestead property so don't go off what the current taxes are (unless it's already classified as seasonal rec), find out what they would be when it get's classified as seasonal rec. Your real estate agent should have a very good idea of what typical taxes are for a specific value, if they don't I'd question their merit.

Septic has come up a few times, I do not personally have any experience with this but I can say almost all the people I know that buy cabins have got burnt with expensive sewer/septic bills shortly after.

[NEANGLER]

We are looking at houses on lakes right now since we are moving and the septic would be the big one to look at. Regulations are changing and the type of septic you put in is more expensive or going to a community one IE Roberds. They are going to have to go to the new system in '14 so the cost is $20k, you can apply for the grant which is $10k but still out another $10k. And make sure to get it inspected, as amny will not pass and that screws up your purchase.

Taxes have seemed to vary for area to area or even to specific lakes but we are have since Neb is so high we are going to cut our taxes in half and live on the lake. I would also get a survey done since we are finding out many were downYEARS ago and are way off.

As for agents they are not all the same, we have found that out- we went to a new person now who specializes in lake properties in the area we are looking at and it is a big difference. More organized, knows regulations, set backs, which ones to stay off of, etc. As suggested you may want to look for already existing cabins since the hard and expensive work has been done, take it for someone who knows, unexpected costs come from everywhere which the affects your budget and building what you want. There are some deals out there especially if you are handy and don't mind the work.

[ClownColor]

CC,

What county are you looking in?

Cass County

[deerminator]

I second the Inspections suggestion by Lip Ripper. But make sure the inspector is a real hard butt. Meaning, they are looking for anything and everything. Our new neighbors just lost their entire roof to the storm this past weekend and have major water damage. I watched the previous neighbor roll out and nail gun down the cheapo roof right over the old set of shingles while he was getting ready to sell the place. Not sure if you need a permit in our county but I know for a fact he didn't obtain one. And now they're pretty much out of luck for the first summer they had planned to spend at the place, if they don't have to rebuild entirely, which is a real possibility.