Who owns a Lake Home ? Advice needed

[Big Block Power]

Good luck. It's out there.

[tgrace98]

Sorry to hear it didn’t work out. But good for you to hold your ground and sticking to what you thought is a fair deal. It’s a buyers market right now at LOTO. So I’m sure you will find something better for a better price!

[akorcovelos]

Tough to walk away, but always go with your gut.

[BIGGUSBLOCKUS]

Sorry to hear it didn’t work out. But good for you to hold your ground and sticking to what you thought is a fair deal. It’s a buyers market right now at LOTO. So I’m sure you will find something better for a better price!

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words. So many factors and variables to consider you start to question your own judgement and it's an emotional purchase as well. TGRACE - what makes you say it's a sellers market at LOTO...as a buyer it sure doesn't feel that way LOL- but I'm not doubting you just curious as to why you feel that way and if you have some insight on the market I'd love to hear it. We are looking in the $300 - $350k range and it seems like good homes with desirable features are getting snapped up quickly.

[tgrace98]

Sorry to hear it didn’t work out. But good for you to hold your ground and sticking to what you thought is a fair deal. It’s a buyers market right now at LOTO. So I’m sure you will find something better for a better price!

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words. So many factors and variables to consider you start to question your own judgement and it's an emotional purchase as well. TGRACE - what makes you say it's a sellers market at LOTO...as a buyer it sure doesn't feel that way LOL- but I'm not doubting you just curious as to why you feel that way and if you have some insight on the market I'd love to hear it. We are looking in the $300 - $350k range and it seems like good homes with desirable features are getting snapped up quickly.

Hmm I would assume with it being Fall/Winter that homes would start to sit on the market. at least that is how it was at table rock when I was looking. But I did buy mine the first day it went on the market. So what the hell do I know lol.

[LOTOHEAD]

I would say looking at a 3 or 4 year trend it's very much a sellers market right now at LOTO. We have been looking for about that long and although the seasonal decreases are happening the overall prices are very high right now. If I would have bought when we first got serious I would have been much better off. We have the camper and a slip 5 minutes away, so we are being patient to wait for the prices to decline some.

[cycleboater]

Lake property inventory drops in the off season, making it a sellers market because there is less to choose from. Inventory increases in the spring. At least that is the way it works around here.

My $0.02, unless you are purely an investor, don't let a few or several thousand dollars mess up a deal if the selling price is within market and you really like the house. You'll forget about that pricing gap in no time.

[Holy Smokes]

You'll find the "right" place soon enough! I feel it's best to go through at least one contract negotiation to get a better feel for the market.

Contract on our first prospect went on for weeks. During inspections it failed septic system test. Then they drug their feet trying to get around the issue. In the end, outside the realtors, I tracked him down and point-blank asked what his intentions were. He wanted me to foot the bill for a new $25k system. I offered to kick in a little (<10%) to make the deal move forward, but after that I told him we're out. Cancelled the contract the next day.

We stumbled into the home we ended up with and couldn't be happier! I'll never forget the feeling when our realtor saw the home we found and told us what an amazing deal we got.

[akorcovelos]

Around here (Fox Chain O Lakes) many of the lake homes are pulled off the market after summer. We're putting the hunt on hold until spring because any lake home we look at we want to navigate there by boat before we decide. We've found a couple houses that were awesome, but the channels leading to them were too small/shallow/had over passes that our boat was too big for...

[Stagdad]

To quote Ferris Bueller, "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up" We have a condo in a gated resort at the north end of Lake Cumberland KY. http://www.woodsonbendresort.com/. 2 1/2 hours driveway to driveway. A little far for some but boy my blood pressure sure does drop when I roll through the gates. I may grumble at the monthly fees sometimes but the peace of mind knowing we have armed security at the gate lets me know that I don't have to worry about the local folks knowing when I'm not there. I read on the LC forums all the time about houses and vehicles being broken into when the owners are away so that alone gives me peace of mind. No grass cutting or maintenance to speak of...relax get a cool one and drive the golf cart around and visit with folks. If i have too many cool ones, we have a seasonal restaurant on premises. Often times I don't leave the grounds all weekend. Boat launch and storage garage right there, hydro hoist when it's in the water. My better half likes to leave it on the lift but I keep telling her the worst thing for a boat is sun and water! Gotta keep it looking new! Well worth it to me.

[BIGGUSBLOCKUS]

And another door HAS opened, wife and I are just heading back from LOTO after a weekend of house hunting. We found a place on the 32mm that we love and have just submitted an offer to purchase. Fingers crossed!

[Tuscany]

Lake property inventory drops in the off season, making it a sellers market because there is less to choose from. Inventory increases in the spring. At least that is the way it works around here.

My $0.02, unless you are purely an investor, don't let a few or several thousand dollars mess up a deal if the selling price is within market and you really like the house. You'll forget about that pricing gap in no time.

This is SO true.

My .02
When shopping for a place in Florida, I didn’t want to cough up the extra money one seller was asking. I thought they would come around. They didn’t. Someone else closed shortly after.
When I got another shot at a place in the same community that was actually much better, we negotiated a fair deal between us and the seller within 10 minutes. I paid about 15k more than I wanted, but we just sucked it up. Now after 2 years, the same properties have appreciated well over 50K from what we paid.

Unless we see a major spike in interest, I expect prices to keep going up.

[Big Block Power]

And another door HAS opened, wife and I are just heading back from LOTO after a weekend of house hunting. We found a place on the 32mm that we love and have just submitted an offer to purchase. Fingers crossed!

Very cool. Fingers crossed.

[cmattj]

And another door HAS opened, wife and I are just heading back from LOTO after a weekend of house hunting. We found a place on the 32mm that we love and have just submitted an offer to purchase. Fingers crossed!

Very cool. Fingers crossed.

Exciting

[tgrace98]

Awesome! Good luck! Fingers crossed