Part 3 of Series..."What to Think About When Buying Lakeshore"

Part 3: To Beach, or Not to Beach

Most everyone loves the idea of a sugar sand beach on their lakehore property. It's hard to dislike the sand running between your toes, and those balmy days of friends and family competing in games of beach volleyball. But before this dream gets too carried away, make sure to remember this isn't the Carribean!

Sand beaches are great; there's no doubt about it. But most Minnesota and Wisconsin lakes are quite limited on their availability of large beaches, and many of the best beaches still belong to the old well-established resorts or community parks. There definitely are private residences with great beaches, but be prepared to pay top dollar for these...if you are even able to get your hands on them at all.

It seems that about 80% of the prospective buyers I talk with ask about having some type of sandy shoreline. Some of this sand does extend a few feet onto the land, but rarely comes up much more than about ten or twenty feet. More likely, you will see a somewhat eroded sod shoreline dropping off a few feet onto some sand under the water. Sometimes buyers see this as an opportunity to dig out even more of their yard for a place to dump more sand - but beware of doing that, as it could lead to even more erosion of your property.

If you are willing to live with a nice hard bottom around your dock, without having to have a lot of sand up on the shore, you will find a pretty good variety of properties to choose from. When house shopping after ice-out, it is not a bad idea to wear some shorts or waders to take a little walk into the water and get a feel for the firmness of the sand, as it can be somewhat deceiving at times. However, if you see a lot of ripples in the sand, it is usually pretty firm. During the winter months you can always drill a couple of holes in the ice and push a pole of some kind into the bottom, or you can talk to a couple of the neighbors to get their perspective on the type of shoreline on that property.

Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes sand only extends out to a depth of a few feet. From there, the bottom may turn rocky or mucky, so make sure you look a little bit past the edge of the dock if that is important to you. It is true that a lot of swimming, boating and recreational use around the dock will generally make for a more firm bottom, so if the other areas around there have not been used a lot there could still be some marginal soil.

Normally, the buyers who want some sand are concerned about kids and grandkids swimming pleasure. People sometimes believe that they can dump sand anywhere to create a "sand blanket," but it will usually not last a long time or have the same feel as a natural sand bottom. And remember that there are a lot of DNR restrictions these days on what you can and can't do past the high water mark.

If you can live without sand at all because your main concern is the beauty, serenity and access to the lake, you will be able to buy much property more for your money. This is where you need to sit down and really decide what is most important to you in your new lake property. If you keep seeing structures - or lakes - that don't meet your needs based on the price you want to spend, it is probably because you are also searching for the most expensive shoreline in the form of some type of sand. You will then most likely have to give up on either the sand beach, or the quality and size of the structure...or you may have to look at smaller, less expensive lakes.

One last thing to think about when purchasing homes and cabins with sand beaches is the quality of the lake. If the lake is clear, clean and for the most part weed free, there probably won't be a lot of maintenance involved in keeping your beach looking good. However, lakes that have a lot of weeds and debris floating around can be a constant source of work, and rotting weeds attract bugs and are sometimes littered with dead fish, so the smell can be an added problem.