Waterfront Rentals...for the Entire Summer!

In past years, finding a lake place to rent for the summer season in Minnesota or Wisconsin was somewhat challenging. There were plenty of lakefront homes at affordable rental rates during the off months, but most everyone up north buys on the water to enjoy it in its liquid form. So unless the property was purchased with the intent of it being a rental in the first place -- and generally at higher weekly or nightly rates -- finding one of these for the best three months of the year was quite difficult!

Recently, however, things may have changed somewhat. The real estate downturn made it difficult for some potential sellers to move on with their lives during the last few years, and some of them have turned to renting until the lakeshore market picks up again. However, most are not interested in only renting for a few months, since it is quite a bit more difficult to find good renters in the off-season. And obviously, the going price is quite a bit lower. But if you are willing to sign a year-long lease, you may be able to find some reasonable deals on the northern waters. At least for a while!

One thing they say about real estate is that the market softens slowly (think of the steady downward trend over the last few years), but it comes back quickly. Most real estate gurus are now predicting that it is now ready for its accent back up...and that may happen fairly fast! Most indicators are now showing widespread signs of this taking place, from vastly increased web traffic on real estate sites, to greater activity at open houses. And when buyers start seeing others jumping back in, it tends to start a feeding frenzy for fear of missing out.

At this point in time, you may still find some of these lakeshore homes and cabins available to rent until the sellers get a good sense that a rebound is taking place. After that, many of them are going to want to move those properties as soon as possible. But you should also remember that if you are caught in a lease for the next year, and your real intent is to buy a lake place, you may miss out on getting in before the prices head back up.

By the way, we do get a lot of requests from lake buyers who ask about possible rentals. Right now we have people looking on Rainy Lake and Mille Lacs for these types of long term rentals. If you have a lake property you are considering renting out, please let us know and we will pass it on to these prospects.