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Work in the City - Live on the Water


jslipher

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I used to drive 1 hour to work. Haven't worked in the last 10 years though. House is on an island with a couple dozen other homes in a lake/golf community. Boat is on my dock a few steps from the back door. The plan was to live here 5 years and move on. That was 12 years ago.

Ronnie,

I live in Fort Worth. I've never ventured down to Lake Grandbury or the Brazos. I'll have to check it out sometime now that I know another crew member is down there.

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In the end it was so worth it to move east. More lakes, less traffic, better real estate values, easier to get a place on the lake, & way better weather.

I grew up on near the 'Kan and agree on just about every count. Although with as dry the last few years have been over here, the weather "gap" is shrinking fast. Mostly we stay here for work and proximity to wife's family though.

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Definitely in our 10 year plan. Kid goes off to college in 8 and we plan to move shortly thereafter.

Oh and, Ronnie For President!!! That place is amazing.

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Ronnie,

I live in Fort Worth. I've never ventured down to Lake Grandbury or the Brazos. I'll have to check it out sometime now that I know another crew member is down there.

Give us a shout sometime, lots of Malibu's here and up or down the river. A couple of TMC members and their families will be here all weekend with us. Come on down.

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I don't own the lake place (it is my folks) but I live in Indianapolis and drive 2 hours and 15 minutes to the lake almost every weekend. I look at this as the best of both worlds. I have a lake place that I have access to in the summer and have plenty do to in the off season in the city (I am spolied)

My old man drives an hour and fifteen minutes (works in South Bend/Mishawaka) each way every day, just to live at the lake. My mom works locally so no complaints from her.

B4574384-02EC-4154-9FF0-CB69D2DF4B38_zps

Edited by BlknYlwT22
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I work in Charlotte and live in Denver NC which is about a 45 minute to one hour commute but worth it IMO. The wife and I had talked about it since before we got married and luckily found a short sale about 4 years ago that worked out. I may move if i win the lottery but other than that i have no plans. I don't have any good pics but here's a picture from the deck of where the boat lives.

20150525_184550.jpg

  • Like 3
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After reading this thread I've realized that I need one of the following

  • A second job
  • To win the lottery
  • Sugar momma

:(

Some really nice places though! Thanks for sharing!

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I'd never given much thought to living at a lake when I lived in central OH. Short season + limited oppurtunities to live at a nice, boatable lake within reasonable distance to big city. I never really did much boating until after college. I'd always had fun on friend's boats, but never had one of my own. When I moved to the Charlotte area 4 years ago, and lake living (with a long season) was a possibility, I gave it a strong consideration. When I started looking at houses, I really looked at the extra cost of living by the water to see if it was worth it. I wasn't able to find much info on the internet from people who lived waterfront, if they felt it was worth the extra cost once the novelty wore off.

I looked at some waterfront places, but I happened to find a house that was in a waterfront community, that had deeded slips. I'm across the street from the lake, but feel like saving 30+% on the house (vs waterfront), while still enjoying the water just as much, is a great compromise. But you have to find the right place. My neighborhood has a lot of open water views, so I get to see the lake as I'm driving, running, walking the dogs, etc. It really feels like I'm at the lake, vs. just knowing that "there's a lot of water behind those trees over there". My boat sits on a lift 150 yards away, so it's still pretty easy to get to, and I can be boating within 10 min of leaving the house. I'm in the water every time i get a chance. Paddle boarding, boating, swimming with my dogs, etc.

I absolutely love where I live, and really have no desire to move across the street to waterfront. I don't think the extra cost would be worth it in my situation. I've lived here 2.5 years and I can't imagine ever not living by a lake now. It's totally worth the extra cost. My house is a decent sized, but if I had to, I'd rather live in a small condo on the lake than a 5k sqft house on 10 acres in the middle of nowhere....(as long as the condo had a garage). Luckily, I don't have to commute far to work, but I can be to Charlotte in 30-60 min depending on traffic.

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One of the benefits of living on a lake in an area that has a legit winter is all the winter activities you can do, ie; skating, hockey, fat tire snow bikes, skiing, sledding, Atvs, extreme golf carts, etc. The lake is our playground, no matter what time of year.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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One of the benefits of living on a lake in an area that has a legit winter is all the winter activities you can do, ie; skating, hockey, fat tire snow bikes, skiing, sledding, etc. The lake is our playground, no matter what time of year.

Nothing better than ripping on a snowmobile on the ice.

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There are plenty of waterfront properties on our local river, and the commute to work wouldn't be terrible (aprox 45 mins). We are forever wishing we owned one. The issue for us is that we'd have to move school districts (major downgrade) and our oldest is sophomore, followed by three more each of them two years apart. So we are on the front end of a 10 year stretch.

By the time the kids are gone, not sure it makes sense anymore. It will just be the two of us. Sure, they'll come home and visit often (I hope), but it won't be the same.

I feel stuck... :cry:

You have my pity IXFE... In one hand is family. In other hand is waterfront living. I think the decision is as clear as the Willamette River.

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I'm a medical device rep and cover the entire state of MI and part of OH. You could say that I have a large commute. Here is a pic of my backyard. Nothing fancy like some of the other crew, but it sure beats having a neighbor in your backyard.

IMG_0468_zpsgwutw8oa.jpg

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Thanks Dark. This place is a gem my wife found. 4 acres, 350 feet water front and a 32 x 48 man cave with a loft

One rule though. You have to own a crappy pontoon

Party deck! hate to think of the taxes on that frontage!

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Sometimes work does get in the way of Lake life. In those times, you improvise. :)

Don't live on this lake (I think Braindamage does) but it's a real short drive away so I'm usually on dawn patrol. Will move to lakefront home soon. Currently looking.

https://instagram.com/p/6lq0RNrRO4e3SM8WhYQJtaNj4hE3zz6xNqbp80/

Lots of lake homes for sale down this direction. We walked through a few before deciding to redo our kitchen. Prices are a little high (expected), but the annual spend on the high property tax is what I had a hard time swallowing.

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Lots of lake homes for sale down this direction. We walked through a few before deciding to redo our kitchen. Prices are a little high (expected), but the annual spend on the high property tax is what I had a hard time swallowing.

Yeah, it's high, but before looking around here, I was looking in the Bay Area, so it doesn't seem THAT bad. :)

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Lots of lake homes for sale down this direction. We walked through a few before deciding to redo our kitchen. Prices are a little high (expected), but the annual spend on the high property tax is what I had a hard time swallowing.

Interesting. The taxes on our lake front house are no more than the taxes on the non-lake front house across the street. Is that not normal?

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Interesting. The taxes on our lake front house are no more than the taxes on the non-lake front house across the street. Is that not normal?

Not from my experience around here. It's driven by assessed value, which on lake front properties does not (for the most part) align to market value. You can fight the assessment after the purchase, but I've heard it's harder to win and get a reduction on lake front v non-lake front. We were really close to pulling a trigger on a beautiful lake home this past spring, but the current property taxes were $20,000 a year. We talked to a friend that helped us fight our assessment on our current home thinking we would do the same since the purchase price was going to well below (close to half) assessed value. His opinion was we had a low chance of winning, and if we did see any reduction it would just creep right back up over a few years.

Me personally, I don't like a high annual bill that can't be paid off, and runs the risk of increasing annually.

FWIW, I have a team in MI and a lot of the management team live on lake front propoerties. In conversations with them, it seems you have a much better situation there . . . Maybe I'm to close to Chicago.

Edited by DAI
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I've noticed the higher taxes in Ohio for waterfront, which was also a huge deterrent. In NC, the taxes are sooo much less on all houses, and there's no huge waterfront penalties.

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Tax rates are the same here for waterfront or not. The homes are valued the same for like homes off the water. The lot is valued higher so there is an increase there but usually not over $100k more than off water lots in like subdivisions. There is extra value in a dock to be added to the overall value. I've found that the Appraisals are set higher for water front possibly thinking that the majority of property owners will just absorb it. We disagree with the value almost yearly. I have a guy that fights our protested value every couple of years. He has kept our values more in line with what we could sell for. That is his business and he comes to the table well prepared to show the correct value with comps in the area to back him up. During the last few years of drought here in Texas, the waterfront property values went down, those that were protested went down more. Now that the water is back the values will rise. The annual cap is 10% so it will be a climb to get back to the appraised value they were before the drought. The selling price doesn't reflect the appraised value in this situation. The selling value is back to pre-drought prices. The taxes are based on the Appraised value. If you buy a home, it then is appraised at the selling price for the new owner and taxed accordingly.

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Around here waterfront lots are at least $100k - $150k more than a similar non-waterfront place. Tax rates are the same. But the bottom line ends up being quite a bit more.

Plus maintenance on the water is a lot more.

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Kinda funny but it's been gong on for12+ years. The only vacant lot on this street has changed hands probably 6 or more times. The first owner defaulted on it before building. The rest have paid way too much for it with big plans to build. Everyone has found it difficult on the platted lot with the shape of the home they would have to design. They have sold and jacked up the price to triple the value. This last guy says he wanted the lot since it was originally available and was always too late to get it bought. Now he has designed a home for the lot and put his home up for sale. It's been for sale for over 1.5 years. Now he's trying to sell the lot again. It's priced high enough that you could buy a nice home for the same price. These people finance the lot for most of the value and try to add their own cut to the price. With this many people adding their own cut, the price is so high I don't expect it to ever sell. It's priced 2-3 times of the appraised value. But...there's a sucker born every minute!

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I've noticed the higher taxes in Ohio for waterfront, which was also a huge deterrent. In NC, the taxes are sooo much less on all houses, and there's no huge waterfront penalties.

Don't compare the taxes in Cornelius to the Lincoln county side of the lake or you might not sleep tonight. :) We rented in that area for awhile and were looking there to begin with but the $ goes soooo much further on the other side. Not to mention 77, that's a problem with no end in sight, sounds like a non issue for you though.

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