Buying Ski Lake Property... The questions to ask.

[BraceMaker]

Those of you who own property on private ski lakes.

 

What are the questions you would need answered before doing this again - I assume many of the same things you'd want to know in re: HOA/Condo Associations apply, but is it inappropriate to try to get budgets from the ski club, expenses from prior years.

 

What about the lake itself, do you care how it was constructed buying in? Or do you assume the lake is good?

 

Water quality - Seasonal issues like algae etc?

 

What questions do you WISH you would have asked?

 

Regards

[kfennell]

The main thing that I have seen between the two lakes that I've been on is

 

"Is there anyone living here who has been kicked out of multiple other lakes already"

 

If so I would be concerned...

[eleeski]

@kfennell That's why I have to have my own personal lake.

 

Real question is: "Are you sane to want to do this?" Answer: "No. Too bad, it will happen anyhow."

 

Eric

[Kelvin]

How is the water level maintained?

Is there a well or does the lake rely on run-off?

What is the capacity of the well?

Can the well fill the lake or just maintain the level?

If there is a well, are there any regulatory restrictions on pumping as much as you want?

 

How many active skiers/boaters are there on the lake? Too many and the lake gets crowded, too few and the motivation to improve/maintain the lakes diminishes.

 

If tournaments are your thing, how many of the other owners are also into the tournament scene? Do they actively help out or just show up to ski?

 

Are boats other than 3-event boats allowed on the lake?

 

 

[BraceMaker]

@eleeski - I would love my own lake. Geographically it is unrealistic to do so in the ~1 hour range in terms of cost of property/permitting. And if it is far enough away I have a boat on a lake so that is out too.

 

Are there any questions you'd want to know on soil composition? Water quality? Foilage abatement?

[J3]

Are the HOA rules followed?

How are violations enforced?

[RichardDoane]

who owns the water ?

and who owns the common area ?

[Chuck_Dickey]

I just bought a place in So. Cal and the owners were very open to share their average expenses with me prior to making the deal. Just ask for them.

 

So far, they were spot on.

[A_B]

Historical expenses are pretty easy to gauge. IF you have a lot, your taxes are easy to see, as well as the common property, then just figure out your share. Is there an insurance policy that all share in cost and benefit? Common areas of maintenance, who does it, how do they get paid or track hour credits? Do you have a home owners assoc that dictates what color your house can be, whether you can pop a shed up or not, etc.. Also, what is very important, is how you will share extraordinary expenses in the future, if they arise. Like stone repairs, bank repairs, clubhouse, water level, dams, boat ramps, community equipment like mowers, backhoes, etc.. Alsways good to have a plan beforehand, than to back people in a corner financially later.

[BraceMaker]

All good points.

 

Seems like most places want a house of X square foot with X improved material on the frontage etc... Which I want a deck, a kitchen, a crapper, and a garage.

 

Which is where I'll need to figure out priorities. Ideal lake would let me put up my garage and such before building the full house.

[Chuck_Dickey]

Most places have size requirements and you must complete within 18 months of breaking grounds. Many HOA's have an build plan approval process to avoid having someone build a "barn" next to a mansion. This protects everyone's investments.

[BraceMaker]

I agree. With limited ground I prefer large common areas and usable space to a mini-mansion, which is my objection to one property.

 

However, they usually let you not start breaking ground and join their ski club. With work the locations for lakes in the area unfortunately do not fall with in commute distance, so as a primary domicile unlikely. But I need to ski more!

 

MORE SKI!!!!

[XR6Hurricane]

Some things to consider, not specific to just a ski lake, but something we've run into in our subdivision that has neighborhood beach and lake rights to the 300 acre lake here. What is the protocol for neighborhood meetings, what constitutes a quorum, and what % of the home/property owners are needed to make changes to the by-laws? We went for three years without a quorum at the annual meetings, so nothing got done. A 100% vote of ALL property owners is required to make a change to the by-laws. This has gotten especially sticky, because association membership is NOT required and those who don't belong to the association but are in the neighborhood could care less about the meetings or the by-laws. Needless to say, the by-laws are virtually set in stone as a result. This is not the worst thing, since the rules therefore can't be changed at the drop of a hat. On the other hand, old rules that may need to be modified wind up remaining forever - especially since people have taken a lesser interest in neighborhood involvement over the years. It's not like years ago when everyone showed up to the neighborhood meeting.

 

Again, most ski lake communities are relatively small, but some of them have a fair number of lots and these might be things worth asking strictly from the governance standpoint. I've never lived in a ski lake community, but neighbors are neighbors and neighborhood associations all have their challenges. We've referred to our neighborhood meetings as "the annual fight" for a long time now. As kids we were entertained by the grown-ups yelling at each other.