Often times, I find myself struggling against the market as I insist that certain attributes are the attributes that matter. It’s like this sometimes in the debate between level or elevated frontage. I love level frontage, but if I were force to choose I very well might choose elevated. I like the enhanced lake views and privacy that such a vantage point affords. I also often argue with the market about depth of lot being important even though the market has, time and time again, proven that this is my hill and I will indeed die on it, alone. Sometimes I get lucky and I list a property that doesn’t need to move the market one way or another. Sometimes, properties fit right into the market’s preferences, and that, makes my job considerably easier.
N1963 Birches Drive is a lakefront home in the Birches. That’s easy to understand. The property is well to the West of the Linn launch, a position that takes the launch entirely and completely out of play. The house reinforces this dismissal, as it faces to the west and toward the setting sun. If you’re a fan of late afternoon light, you’re in luck. We have ladles full of it. But the positioning on the lake isn’t the defining characteristic of this home. The depth is nice, 2 acres worth, but that isn’t what makes this property special. Consider I’ve sold gobs of lakefront homes in my life but there is one thing I’ve yet to close on: A lakefront with 299′ of frontage. With the introduction of 1963 Birches, I’m inching closer to checking that box.
It’s hard to fathom what 299′ of table frontage looks like. After all, the market is filled with lakefronts in the 50-100′ range. There are larger lakefronts, obviously, those with four and five hundred feet of frontage, and still there are others with even more. But properties take on a different feeling when they have 200+ feet of frontage, and that’s an understatement. This Birches property is wide and it’s deep and while the house is fine and not without charm we all know what the highest and best use of this property is. To pretend this home won’t soon be scraped in spite of its capable current status is to entertain pure ignorance, or at least folly.
There are some characteristics of this parcel that do factor in to the future use. There is a conservation restriction on the westerly 100′ lot, leaving 200′ worth of buildable frontage. The extra property can be incorporated as lawn and landscaping, but it cannot hold any structure. Consider it to be a mandatory buffer between you and your neighbor. The added benefit of this restriction is it functions to lower taxes on that section of the property, which is a good and meaningful perk. If you’ve been in the market for something extraordinary and have building on your mind, why would you entertain overpriced 100′ lots when you could find yourself at this well priced 299′ parcel? You wouldn’t, and that’s why we should speak, soon. $4.19MM.
You worked slowly and methodically to pull apart (literally) the beauty of what my father did to maintain 299’ of beautiful lake frontage and divide it for you to get the contract to sell it. Says a lot about you.
I’m sorry, what did I do? If your father was the person who put the conservation easement in place, the easement remains in place. The property has not been divided, so however the property was is how it is today, minus the structure, which the current owner had demolished. I was also not the owner, not now, not before, not ever, so my “methodical” efforts were solely related to selling a property I was hired to sell. I would appreciate an apology for the insult to my character and your intended light to my reputation, which I have indeed worked slowly and methodically to build.