Waterfront chunk of land and/or cabin

[nick5446]

Can't hurt to post this here, right?

We sold our little Penobscot River retreat a few years ago and have been passively searching for its replacement since. Prices have been nuts, but I'm trying to get more serious the search, as I'd like to have something for this spring or summer. Criteria is pretty flexible, but basically...

- Waterfront (big pond, lake, river or possibly ocean; enough to hang on a small pontoon boat - no streams, brooks, etc)
- Maine (ideally south of ~Augusta), or VT (probably south of Montpelier-ish). Not currently considering NH. Haven't been considering the Berkshires, but I think I probably should. Don't want to go as far as the Adirondacks, though I do love it there.
- Flexible on acreage, but we want privacy, so that could be ~1 acre with no neighbors and surrounded by conservation land, or 50-100 acres. I realize that waterfront and privacy don't often go hand in hand.
- Small cabin would be nice, on or off grid, otherwise need the land to be buildable
- Budget? All over the map. We're looking at places between $30-250k. Cheaper the better, but you get what you pay for and we're happy to pay a premium for a great location

This is all an elaborate attempt to be able to ride my dirt bike/dual sport more often, so premium riding nearby is a huge plus.

I'm currently checking Land Watch, Lloyd's Land (this guy is great btw), Lifestyle Properties, CL, FB, Uncle Henry's, Zillow, Big Bear VT, Farm and Forest, and whatever other mom & pop real estate signs I see while we're out searching.

Know someone selling something cool??

[jimmycapp]

Also interested.

[nick5446]

Hey now!

[RandyO]

island ?

[nick5446]

island ?

They exist, and not for the crazy money I expected. I can't even imagine what a pain in the ass Home Depot runs would be for building materials. That said, I wouldn't turn down the chance to own an island.

[tls25rs]

Dirt bikes proper, i.e. not street registered, are pretty much considered to be the devil in NY, MA and VT as far as legally riding them anywhere but your own property. Public riding trails for the most part are nonexistent in NY and VT and few and far between in MA. If it is a street registered "Dual sport" then maybe things are slightly less restricted but a proper dirt bike no bueno. That might enter into your location choices.

[nick5446]

Dirt bikes proper, i.e. not street registered, are pretty much considered to be the devil in NY, MA and VT as far as legally riding them anywhere but your own property. Public riding trails for the most part are nonexistent in NY and VT and few and far between in MA. If it is a street registered "Dual sport" then maybe things are slightly less restricted but a proper dirt bike no bueno. That might enter into your location choices.

While there's not as much riding as I'd like in MA, if you consider how small and densely populated it is, we're doing ok. I've actually found that trail riding in Maine, while it exists, is worse. The trails suck, everyone is on a SxS and piss drunk, and F&G will hassle you if you're on two wheels. Plus, you usually have to ride lots of paved trail connections. I don't think I've ever ridden an un-plated dirt bike in VT, but I wouldn't be surprised if you're correct.

Anyway....yeah I've got a plated dirt bike so I'm not worried. If I could be in VT and ride the BDR out of my back door I'd be content. The original plan was serious acreage so I could do whatever I wanted, but I'm less attached to that now and more concerned with location and agua.

[Kurlon]

There are so many opportunities to ride in Maine, singletrack, MASSIVE ATV trail system, closed courses, ice in winter, I just, I just can't take serious anyone saying it's worse than in Mass. I've also never been harassed by F&G on two wheels. The one interaction I had was when I was a kid, riding in a sand pit with friends. His only complaint was that we didn't have our registrations on us, so asked us to carry them in the future. That was it, no parents present, we're clearly not on our property and it was just a polite 'remember this, be safe' and went on his way.

Meanwhile, there are TONS of dirtbikes running around where I am, on the street, not even attempting to look legal and neither F&G or the cops batt an eye, as long as you're not a tool.

[nick5446]

Not really trying to get into it man

[loudbeard]

Stop trying to make Maine happen, Kurlon

[Kurlon]

Stop trying to make Maine happen, Kurlon

Look, the three of us that live in Maine got together and two of us agree the state is pretty cool.

[RandyO]

They exist, and not for the crazy money I expected. I can't even imagine what a pain in the ass Home Depot runs would be for building materials. That said, I wouldn't turn down the chance to own an island.

islands can be a seemingly good deal, but access is non-existant during ice out, in spring, and freeze over in fall, otherwise you can be secluded on a small island, I have friends that own a 15 acre island on Winni, nearly a mile of undeveloped waterfront, except their small dock, and the house is not visible from the shore.

as well as limited access, they have no municipal fire protection. so taxes are cheeep for being waterfront, easiest time for construction, is winter, when you can drive across ice

[gixxer72]

Look, the three of us that live in Maine got together and two of us agree the state is pretty cool.

As a former resident, I can confirm the 207 riding is horrible. The only state with worse riding is AZ, nobody should move to either state!

[RandyO]

As a former resident, I can confirm the 207 riding is horrible. The only state with worse riding is AZ, nobody should move to either state!

207 would be better if they didn't have so damn many frost heaves

[gixxer72]

207 would be better if they didn't have so damn many frost heaves

The pavement can be truly terrible. Treat those frost heaves as whoops - upshift, sit back and pin it.

[boosten lebaron]

I have a place in esperance ny. It would be heaven for you. I'm not on a lake but I have a large pond and a creek that runs in front of the property. Every other box is ticked plus some. I suggest everyone look in this area. You can get 100 acres for a $100k and do whatever you want on it. I built a 5 acre small motocross track in my front yard and my neighbor turned one of his fields into a private landing strip so I can paramotor without having to worry about trees or anything. I see utv's driving on the road all the time. Dirt bikes are all over the place. I'm pretty sure you can build whatever you want in some towns. I personally have a small off grid log cabin and a 2 car garage and no one even blinked an eye at me.

Property tax can be a bit high but it's not crazy. I'm not kidding when I say I offset it by buying my meats from farmers up here and pack my freezer at my main house in mass. High quality rib eyes from cows alive yesterday @ $9 a pound? I will take 10lbs sir.

Before this I tried Maine, nh, mass and vt but nothing could match what this place offers. All my neighbors are Amish. You know who never complains about what you do? The Amish.

[boosten lebaron]

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...6_M49241-36977

A little rough but you get the idea. God's country up here.

[Stoneman]

islands can be a seemingly good deal, but access is non-existant during ice out, in spring, and freeze over in fall, otherwise you can be secluded on a small island, I have friends that own a 15 acre island on Winni, nearly a mile of undeveloped waterfront, except their small dock, and the house is not visible from the shore.

as well as limited access, they have no municipal fire protection. so taxes are cheeep for being waterfront, easiest time for construction, is winter, when you can drive across ice

From my limited LOCAL experience, property taxes are outrageous for a small island.

[Garandman]

They exist, and not for the crazy money I expected. I can't even imagine what a pain in the ass Home Depot runs would be for building materials. That said, I wouldn't turn down the chance to own an island.

Friend of mine owns land on one in Maine purchased mid ‘90’s. He had to build so bought a small barge and moved it with a 13’ Whaler. The biggest hassle was the tides.

[MUZ720]

From my limited LOCAL experience, property taxes are outrageous for a small island.

Depends on the town. Moultonborough and Tuftonboro have a lot cheaper waterfront rates then Laconia, Wolfeboro, Gilford or Meredith.

[xrocket21]

Stop trying to make Maine happen, Kurlon

U wot M8? fite me IRL

[Stoneman]

Depends on the town. Moultonborough and Tuftonboro have a lot cheaper waterfront rates then Laconia, Wolfeboro, Gilford or Meredith.

From my limited LOCAL experience, property taxes are outrageous for a small island.

[nick5446]

I have a place in esperance ny. It would be heaven for you. I'm not on a lake but I have a large pond and a creek that runs in front of the property. Every other box is ticked plus some. I suggest everyone look in this area. You can get 100 acres for a $100k and do whatever you want on it. I built a 5 acre small motocross track in my front yard and my neighbor turned one of his fields into a private landing strip so I can paramotor without having to worry about trees or anything. I see utv's driving on the road all the time. Dirt bikes are all over the place. I'm pretty sure you can build whatever you want in some towns. I personally have a small off grid log cabin and a 2 car garage and no one even blinked an eye at me.

Property tax can be a bit high but it's not crazy. I'm not kidding when I say I offset it by buying my meats from farmers up here and pack my freezer at my main house in mass. High quality rib eyes from cows alive yesterday @ $9 a pound? I will take 10lbs sir.

Before this I tried Maine, nh, mass and vt but nothing could match what this place offers. All my neighbors are Amish. You know who never complains about what you do? The Amish.

Yeah, your place sounds awesome. One of my best friends lives in Glens Falls and we spend a lot of time at his camp on Speculator as well as his friends camps all over the ADKs. It's great out there. My two biggest issues with NY are 1) it's a hair farther than I want to go. Esperance is 3.5 hours from my house and I'm really trying to keep it under 3 (because I know that'll be 5 on holiday weekends). 2) The people from NYC that flock upstate or to the Catskills on the weekends drive me crazy. This is honestly a hesitation we have about VT too.

I'll give it a more serious look though, thanks for the tip.

[nhbubba]

Great topic.

How do y'all go about evaluating raw land for purchase? How do you suss out weird rules, ordinances and such?

My in-laws are building on a lot they bought outside of Manchester NH. They are getting older and were looking to be close to "good" hospitals and such. So Manchester was a draw. I would have picked somewhere more rural were it me. A huge problem they ran into is most towns and/or developments had ordinances or deeded covenants requiring any home they built have a MINIMUM square footage. They were looking to build a small, empty-nester net-zero home. And we aren't even talking that small; ~1600 sqft! More than half the lots they looked at would not allow that.

I know some towns are very open to a wide variety of things where towns 1-2 away are not.
For example I hear Ossipee NH will allow a property owner to camp seasonally on their property where many surrounding towns will not.

Do you depend on an agent to do this? With my experience agents never seem to take any responsibility for this sort of thing.

Are there consultants you hire or something?

[Stoneman]

Great topic.

How do y'all go about evaluating raw land for purchase? How do you suss out weird rules, ordinances and such?

My in-laws are building on a lot they bought outside of Manchester NH. They are getting older and were looking to be close to "good" hospitals and such. So Manchester was a draw. I would have picked somewhere more rural were it me. A huge problem they ran into is most towns and/or developments had ordinances or deeded covenants requiring any home they built have a MINIMUM square footage. They were looking to build a small, empty-nester net-zero home. And we aren't even talking that small; ~1600 sqft! More than half the lots they looked at would not allow that.

I know some towns are very open to a wide variety of things where towns 1-2 away are not.
For example I hear Ossipee NH will allow a property owner to camp seasonally on their property where many surrounding towns will not.

Do you depend on an agent to do this? With my experience agents never seem to take any responsibility for this sort of thing.

Are there consultants you hire or something?

Look up the deed restrictions online.