We've been in and out of the house-hunting game on and off over the last at least ten years.
Right about the time I memorized the way to the upstairs bathroom in the dark at the then new house, we started eyeballing other properties, often enough with a measure of envy.
Every so often the urge rumbles within that you need to have a new place to live, a better or bigger place. Could be all you really need is a change of scenery, or a different route to travel to work each day. Could be you're bored or want to spend some money, which is almost always money you don't have. That's what we all know as the mortgage.
The mortgage is money you don't have that you use to buy what someday ( you hope) will really belong to you. In the interim, and even though you call it "my house," you know it belongs to whoever holds the paper.
Whatever motivation there might be, most of us do the dance on occasion and start looking for those greener pastures whether near or far. Not only greener, some of us want bigger pastures, while a growing number of us want smaller (witness the growth of townhouses and condos). Admittedly, a big, big backyard was once very important to me. Today, not so much so.
Somewhere, and somehow, in between those brief binges of wanting a new house, things happen. Prices take major jumps. Interest rates fall. Taxes soar. The latter we all know about here in Luzerne County. And unless something major happens, which I am not ready to concede will not, the new assessment will stand.
So Sunday we do some looking on-line, putting a list together. (I still don't have a GPS - Sunday, by golly, I wished for one bad.)
Off we go.
We did a "rolling inspection" of likely seven or eight properties, all of which we pretty much rejected, that's when we headed for "the lake." In Luzerne County there is but one "the lake" and that is Harveys Lake. Lovely place, although I will confess to never having any great lust for living there.
By chance, literally, we came across two open houses. We stopped at both, we did the stroll-around-and-through at both. Nodding, smiling, saying meaningless things. Quickly, we came to realize that we really did like House #1.House #1 was lovely, interesting, eclectic, fascinating, and pretty darned cool with a great view of the lake. Not lakefront, now, not on the lake, near the lake, close enough and on a rise high enough to afford a great view.
Price? In this economy, and adjusting for my own personal evaluation system (non-certifiable) and weighing our willingness to move money around and get deeper in the doo-doo of debt, the asking on the house is too high.
In fairness, let me say that, while I understand the owners asking what they are, I also feel they won't get it. If this house was over assessed, as our own was last year, some quick ciphering tells me what it's really worth. Then, of course, you need to haul in the many rules of real estate, especially the one that says, "A property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it."
Before going on and on even more, let's get you squared on what lakefront is at Harveys Lake, since it's not what it is at most other lakes with which you might be familiar. If you've never been to Harveys Lake, homes there that are "lakeside" are really roadside, since there is a two-laner between you and the lake. On one side is your house, on the other side is a little sliver of land along the lake upon which you can begin a dock or boathouse or perhaps both. In short, the lake isn't at your door, you need to be old enough to cross the street to get to it.
It's an arrangement I've never before come across. Apparently, it hasn't had any impact on "lakefront/roadside" property at Harveys Lake.
We can now move on to House #2. Again, this was an open house we simply happened upon while looking for some place else altogether. House #2 is a nice house and it is "lakeside." Small, very well kept and furnished, with a nice chunk of land out back, the asking on this place rocked me back on my
heels.Knowing that lake property had leapt from pricey to "Sweet Mother of GOD!" since the reassessment, I still wasn't prepared for the number that jumped off the page and poked us both in the eye sockets. We looked at one another. We looked at the agent. She shrugged. It is what it is, and real estate at the lake, if it's on the lake, is extraordinarily expensive, even more so since the county told them it was about ten months ago.
Move away from the lake a short eighth of a mile tops, and prices just about drop in half.
Is being able to walk across the road to the lake worth a quarter of a million dollars more than a great view of the lake? To some, the answer is an obvious yes. To me, and I assume many others, the answer is no.
We're looking and we'll keep on looking. And the lake will still be on the other side of that road.
Can I borrow your boathouse?
