Windham, ME

"We've been looking for our cabin on a Maine lake for years and can't seem to find something we like". If I've heard this once, I've heard it a hundred times. In most cases, their search lacked balance. What one needs is a system, or methodology, for finding just the right place.

Here's some advice from Mr Lakefront. Your lakefront buying decision should have a balanced approach. Think of your decision as one resting safely on a 3-legged stool. Each leg of that stool is important, but some legs are more important than others. The 3 legs of your decision in order of importance are LAKE, LOT, and HOUSE.

LAKE - is the most important leg of the stool. Why? Because size, depth and water quality matter - a lot. If you are a serious power boater, you will be miserable on too small a body of water. If your idea of bliss is kayaking and canoeing on a quiet body of water, you will hate being on a large lake. You'll be fed up being tossed about by the wake of power boats.

The water quality of Maine lakes and ponds is legendary. But water quality can and does vary from lake to lake. Be sure to check about invasive aquatic plants such as milfoil or high phosphorus levels which promote algae growth.Most folks are happy on a medium size lake of about 500 acres. But a small quiet body of water of 100 to 200 acres might be perfect for those who want to commune with nature, paddling about in a canoe. Serious power boaters who want to cruise all day need a lake over 1,000 acres. Once you decide what size lake you want, you can move on to the lot.

LOT- It's been about five years since I wrote about the Top Attributes of a Lakefront Property : 1) Sandy beach 2) View 3) Proximity to the water 4) Level lot and 5) Privacy . These five attributes are what everyone wants, but few realize. I'm afraid one will have to compromise a bit. Few lots score well on all five attributes. But remember these attributes, they'll aid your decision.

HOUSE- By house I mean the structure that's on the property. Whether it's a house, cottage, cabin or camp it's the least important of the 3 legs in importance. How come?

Because "You can change the house, but you can't change the lake or lot."

Before lakefront buyers contact us at Mr Lakefront, they've seen hundreds of homes online. Folks will see an attractive lakefront house online and will want to see it in person. Recently a nice couple drove three hours up from Boston to see one particular lakefront home. They had fallen in love with it online. Was the house a dissapointment when they finally viewed it? No! They still loved the house. But the lot was very steep and unacceptable. The lake? Too small for the activities they planned.

You say," It's too bad that searching on line couldn't give you information about the lake or the lot." But it does! When you obtain search results from Lakefront Locator click on the Lake Info button. You will find information about lake size and depth. If you click again on "More" you will go to the Pearl site from the University of Maine. Click on Water Quality Overview and it will tell you whether the quality is excellent, above average, average, below average or poor. Is this important? Mr Lakefront thinks so. We try to keep our clients focused on lakes with at least average water quality.

What about the lot? You will need to read listing remarks closely and you'll need to read between the lines. If all they talk about is the house, maybe the lot is less than ideal. If they don't mention sandy beach or sandy bottom swimming, there's a good chance there is none. When in doubt, drop us an email. We either know or will find out for you.

In closing, I wish selecting a lakefront home was as easy as picking a pair of hunting boots from the LL Bean catalog. But alas, it's not. Let us know how we can help with your search. We love Maine lakes and ponds and want to share them with you.

Most lakefront homes in Maine are sold to folks "from away". These types of buyers have their primary home back in the suburbs of major cities like Boston, Hartford, and New York. When purchasing one's primary home in the suburbs it's rare that the home one is purchasing will come furnished.

It's different when it comes to buying a second home here in the lakes regions of Maine. Most seasonal lakefront homes, when conveyed, come furnished or partially furnished. How come?

When folks with second homes on the lake decide to sell the question arises: "What do we do with all this stuff ? We can't bring it all home with us. We have no room for this stuff back home. I am often asked "Do you think the buyer would like to have the furnishings?" My answer, "You bet!"

Most lakefront buyers are happy to purchase a furnished or partially furnished second home. "We can use this stuff for now". Most plan to rid themselves, eventually, of an offending floral couch or uncomfortable chair at the first opportunity. However, they decide, most furnishings will work for the present.

Over the course of years a strange thing happens. The uncomfortable chair becomes less so and the horrible floral couch becomes "not so bad'. Ultimately, dawn breaks on Marblehead, with the sunny realization: "Who wants the kids with wet bathing suits and sandy pine tarred feet sitting on good furniture anyway?"

When a seller informs me "We want to sell the place furnished except for personal stuff " I hear a little voice in my head saying "What do they mean by personal stuff". "You know, pictures of the kids, clothing, that kind of thing." I say okay! No worries!

A few days later, after the listing is in the MLS I get a call from the seller. "Tom", they say, "we told the kids(now in their forties) that we are selling and each one wants to take a ‘little something" from our camp". "Something small?", I ask. "Oh yes". I say, "Okay! No worries!"

Sometimes the list of personal items being taken by the seller is small, however sometimes the list grows quite long . So..... Dear Lakefront Buyer, when you are told that the home is being sold furnished, or partially furnished except for personal items, make sure you know what that means.

Make sure your offer is contingent on knowing what's staying and what's remaining long before the closing. It's upsetting on the day of the closing to find most of the nice stuff gone and what remains is ready for a trip to the dump.

Lean on your buyer agent to get these answers. The day of the closing should be a time of celebration not one of dissapointment and or remorse.

Now that the leaves are off the trees and we've seen a few snowflakes dance in the air, lakefront property owners are probably thinking more about the upcoming holidays than they are their place on the lake. But the offseason is a great time for reflection and planning, and getting educated about the natural world around us is a responsibility we all share.

If you have even a passing interest in Maine lakes and ponds, by now you have probably heard about invasive aqauatic plants that are not native to Maine. Maine has over 6000 lakes and ponds and keeping an eye on them is a big job. There is an organized volunteer lakes monitoring program that does a great job keeping tabs on these bodies of water and one of the primary things they are on the lookout for is invasive aquatic plant species.

Maine has aquatic plants that are native to the state and pose no threat to either the eco-system or the enjoyment of lakes and ponds by the public and property owners. But these invasive non-native plants are another thing altogether. These invasive species can drive out the native ones, make shore areas unswimmable and foul boat propellers, rob oxygen from the water thereby impacting the fishery, and upset the natural eco-system that has been in balance for years and years.

Lake monitoring volunteers are making a huge effort to identify areas of invasion and work with professionals to inhibit non-native growth and work toward eradication. Everyone who lives on a lake or vacations on a lake can be a volunteer and help in this cause. But first you must educate yourself to know what you're looking for. And once you know what you're looking for you need to know what to do when you identify "an invasive".

The Maine Center For Invasive Aquatic Plants and the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program have published a most informative book that details not only Maine's eleven most unwanted invasive aquatic plants, but also gives information about the native species that are okay, but may look like the bad guys. There's also a section about non-native animal species like rusty crayfish and mitten crabs. You can be on the lookout for these badboys, too. They not only tell you how to identify these plants and animals, but also tell you how to collect them and who to call.

You can order this book for $20 through the MVLM website or you can download for free here. Take a look and see if you might want to be a volunteer lake monitor the next time summer rolls around and help in the effort to rid our good Maine waters of these undesirables.

While we wait for "ice out" to come to area lakes and ponds later this month, the snow is already melting around here at a rapid pace. Camp roads and shorelines are emerging and, much like our beloved Red Sox, lakefront property buyers should be moving out of "spring training" mode and into the "regular season".

Phones in the office are ringing and new lakefront property listings are coming onto the market. Early bird buyers are venturing out of hibernation to see what the new listings are - as well as what older, unsold listings have come down in price.

If you're in the market this season for a Maine lakefront property, there are distinct advantages to starting early.

The first is selection. There's a lot of lakefront inventory and it's growing by the day. That means a lot to look at and a lot to choose from. Start now and pare down your possibilities.

The second reason has to do with money - more specifically, price and financing. A seller may take an early season "fair" offer, rather than wait for a fuller price offer, finding the "bird in the hand..." scenario more appealing. In this strong buyer's market, it eliminates a huge amount of uncertainty for the seller and puts cash in his hand, now! And as far as financing goes, mortgage rates are still at historically low levels and there's no predicting where they'll be in six or eight months.

The third and, I feel, most important reason for buyers to look early and often, is because if you were to put something under contract now, you can get a full season's enjoyment of your purchase this year. If you delay looking and buying until mid-summer, it's very possible you could make a purchase this year, but not start to really enjoy the property until summer of 2009.

Don't miss a season's worth of enjoyment and memories - come now to see what the possibilities are and make your summer of 2008 truly memorable.

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Don't forget - our Lakefront Locator is here to serve you. If you're thinking about looking at Maine lakefront real estate, there's no better place to start than with our Lakefront Locator.

There's a battle being waged along many shorelines of two dozen or more lakes and ponds in southern Maine. The foe is a persistent, virulent aquatic plant known by most as milfoil.

Milfoil is a plant that grows under water, in shallower areas where it can get sufficient sunlight to grow and prosper. It clogs shoreline areas with its leafy growth, making those areas unusable for swimming and boating. It also robs the lake's ecosystem of necessary oxygen which affects all the other living things in the water. Milfoil is bad news.

The 9th annual Milfoil Summit was just concluded in Lewiston and news from that summit offers hope for all of us seeking relief from this nasty enemy.

Volunteers pulling plants by hand and using blanket barriers have stemmed the tide of milfoil growth in many areas, but eradication still seems unattainable. Reports from the summit recognized the value of the coordinated volunteer efforts, but were painfully aware of their limitations.

Two new thrusts seem to be coming into play, however, that may make a sizeable difference in this battle. One is in the area of biological controls and the other is an increase in funding for further research.

The possible introduction of certain types of nematodes into milfoil-infested waters is one method of eradication being looked into. For the uninitiated, a nematode is a microscopic worm that has an appetite for all kinds of things. The idea is to find the proper nematode whose one desire in life is to eat as much milfoil as it possibly can. Throw a bunch of these into an infested area and - presto - no more milfoil. While my rendition is not very scientific, I think you get my drift. If the right nematode can be found it could have a huge impact on eradication efforts.

As far as funding is concerned, there seems to be some significant monies available to fund research that may lead to a solution to the milfoil epedemic. Maybe the research can find the proper nematode. Who knows?

The point is, this scourge of local waters that can devalue waterfront real estate, spoil recreational activities, steal oxygen from all the good things in lakes, and create conditions for continuing lake degradation, could be put in recession and then eradication if some of this biological research can come to the fore.

Our local newspaper, The Bridgton News, had a full report of this Milfoil Summit and you can read that article right here in our Lake News.