Maine Lakefront Property – Year Round or Seasonal?

HGTV’s “House Hunters” Features Maine’s Mr. Lakefront Real Estate
December 19, 2008
Buying Maine Lakefront Real Estate – Two More Considerations
December 30, 2008

Maine Lakefront Property – Year Round or Seasonal?


When it comes to buying lakefront property answering fundamental questions will greatly affect affordability. For instance: Are you looking for a summer place or a year round vacation home?
Nine out of ten people when posed this question will answer ” year round vacation home”.
However, consider the ramifications. A year round lakefront home will cost one 20% more than a similar seasonal “summer place”.  No big deal? Well, it’s the difference between paying $400k for a seasonal or $480k for year round. If you’re only going to be using the place May through September a seasonal place might be for you. Why pay the extra $80,000??
Heating oil is relatively cheap right now, but when heating oil was $4.79 a gallon few lakefront homeowners liked the idea of keeping their year round vacation home heated all winter. With a camp, you close it down in October and reopen it in May. No heat bills!
Seasonal lakefront summer places are what “Mainers” call “camps”. These seasonal structures may look like houses but are missing a number of things that would qualify them as year round homes such as central heat, insulation and full foundations. However, many camps are easy converts to year round use.
So, think long and hard about the “seasonal vs. year round” question. If you know that you’ll be swimming and fishing in the summer and skiing and snowmobiling in the winter it’s a no-brainer. Year round is for you. But if you’re unsure about useage in the winter, being realistic and more practical could save you money both in the short and the long term.

Stay Informed

Get the latest lake news delivered direct from Maine’s lake expert, Tom Ferent