Summer in September

Generally, by this time of year, we get a fairly substantial cool down in these early months of fall. But this year isn't like most. Our summer was kind of non-existent, and now each day feels like late July or early August.

In some ways we should be pleased that the snow isn't falling yet. But most of us - at least the ones who have to work or go to school each day - kind of feel like we got a little bit gypped. But this may be what the lakeshore real estate market needed!

Many of our agents at Lakehomes.com are as busy as they have been all year long...in fact, busier. And many of the lower priced sales we saw in the first half of the year have given way to higher priced transactions. It seems that quite a few of the buyers who got busy doing other things during the summer months - or maybe weren't real motivated because of the weather - now have a strong interest in finding a lake place before the winter winds head our way. Of course, with the way this has played out so far, we may still be boating in January this year!

This still isn't an easy market for a lot of sellers. To get much interest, you have to be priced extremely well in this current real estate climate. With a huge selection of lake properties available, most buyers have a vast amount of waterfront cabins, homes and lots to choose from. So unless your place is extemely unique - or priced very well - it will just blend in with the others.

Most likely, fall and winter will show up in time. But until then, there are some excellent opportunities for buyers - both in great values and a large amount of inventory to pick through. If you are even considering finding a lake place for a year-round home or seasonal getaway, you probably won't find a better time to make it happen.

The Stages of Life...On and Off the Water

Several weeks ago I got a call from one of my past buyers. His family had purchased an incredible, historic property from me near the Canadian border just a couple years back for a cabin, and he said they loved the area so much that now they were thinking about finding a permanent home in Northern Minnesota, also. Since they currently live several states away, it was obvious that the lure of the northwoods had taken hold, and they knew it would be a positive change in their lives.

During the past two years their kids had grown fond of all the brand-new things to explore in these foreign surroundings, and these recent experiences had given them a wealth of topics for family conversations and bonding. Things we all need, to keep our lives interesting!

Although I don't personally work with as many buyers as I used to because of my full time role running the company, it never takes long to bring back those feelings of accomplishment in finding just the right lake place for a waterfront buyer. There is something about these special properties that makes the hunt a little more exciting than just trying to sort between the various designs available in your typical subdivision. And in all the years I've done this, I don't ever remember any buyer who wasn't thrilled with their new purchase and the variety of life's changes it brought them...and the promise of new adventures to come.

So if lake properties bring that much enjoyment, why would anyone want to sell one of them? That is the question most every buyer asks as they view these listings, especially the ones that stand out from the rest, for any number of reasons.

As real estate professionals, we are trained to look at properties differently than buyers and sellers do. Buyers tend to see the surfacy things that stir their emotions, which is why staging a home is so important. Sellers tend to put a value on memories, conveniences and comforts, which have come together in a property to make it their own. Realtors can usually see a more general snapshot of how a particular property fits in with the needs and desires of the general audience who is in that market.

But when a real estate agent decides to sell his or her own waterfront property, do these same tendencies hold true? It is a good question, and one that all agents should experience now and then to go through the same emotional ups and downs as their clients. And we decided it was time for us to do exactly that.

During my real estate career, I've seen how various stages in life tend to affect peoples' needs and desires in waterfront properties. Typically, lakeshore buyers are either looking for places they can enjoy while their children are growing up, or after their kids are grown. Those in-between years during junior high and high school oftentimes get a little busy, and sports or hanging out with friends eats up quite a few hours each day. Getting the family to the cabin can become more of a chore than a exciting family outing, but generally all are happy once they are there.

Our cabin on Rainy Lake has been in our family for forty years: thirty-seven of them as my parents' home (and mine while I grew up there), and it has been my family's getaway for the past three years, after my parents decided it was time for them to move. It is a prime piece of property - with a hard sand bottom and sought after seclusion - on one of the most gorgeous lakes in the country, where you can boat from your dock to nearly a half million acres of pristine waters. And with it's massive and modern 1,600 square foot fully heated garage, all the boats and toys have the perfect place to reside.

The main portion of the home was constructed from logs in the late 1920s and has been thoughtfully added to over time. My passion for dock and deck building over the years led to an array of sitting areas, extending from the expansive lakeside deck to more than a thousand square feet of permanent docking and benches along the water's edge, and also encircling the waterfront firepit. It is a perfect blend of privacy, relaxation, and recreational activities on and off the water, and similar to having your own resort while hosting friends from distant areas.

During our ownership over the past few years, we have provided more than a thousand hours of labor, making changes that we felt would update the structure and convert the home to more of a cabin ambience, after its many decades as a full-time home. Much of the main living area still had its classic early surroundings, with wide tongue and groove pine walls, stone fireplace, and well preserved hardwood floors under the carpet. But design improvements such as moving the kitchen to the lake side of the home, and blending more woods instead of wallpapers, have all helped to create more of a cabin aura.

From what I've mentioned, it sounds like the perfect place! In fact, I might even want one of these for myself! So why would we ever consider selling such a quintessential lake property? Perhaps, it is "the stages of life."

We love being at our place on Rainy Lake, and while there...life is great. Boating for 40 or 50 miles into Canadian waters where you hardly see another human - and where walleys are generally thick - is a refreshing experience, and it washes many of the stresses away that build up each week. But reality is still waiting for us when we get back home, where kids are starting another year of school, college applications need to be taken care of, parents and family members are not visited enough, and employees have issues that they need help with. On top of that, it is no secret that the real estate market has been a bit slower for a few years, so those 1,000 plus hours we put into working on the cabin - and another bunch of hours enjoying it - might be better put to use in the office for awhile.

But an even larger factor might be that, I've been acquainted with Rainy Lake - and that particular piece of property - for forty years. After turning fifty this year, I started realizing that I probably don't have a lot of 40-year blocks of time left, and I'd hate to spend all my future ones in the same place - experiencing the same things.

Life is what you make it. Some of us choose to wander through life with no ties, and others stay put for most of their time on this planet. Most of us are probably somewhere in between, where we are more mobile during our younger years, but then settle down for awhile to provide some stability to our kids as they are growing up, or to gain some traction and a higher income in a particular profession. And many of us trade some of our wanderlust in doing that.

There are many beautiful places to explore across this country, and probably at least five million waterfront properties throughout our fifty states that can provide a limitless array of enjoyment to their owners...but time allows each of us to only use one at a time. Along with that, there are many new experiences to be had and people to meet everywhere, so any one of those 5,000,000 properties will send you on a different path in life. If you keep the same one forever, you may miss out on some of the best times of your life!

So next time you take a look at a lake property and wonder why the owners are selling, try to keep in mind that it could be for any number of reasons, but most likely it just relates to "the stages of life."

And if you are interested in our place on Rainy Lake, I'll sell it to you for about what I have into it, and I'll throw in all the labor for free! And if I can't find another lake I like better in Michigan or New York or North Carolina or somewhere else - some time in the future - I just might end up back at Rainy in years to come, but hopefully with a lot of new experiences to look back on.