This camp in St. Albans is for sale - what a GREAT Get-away

By now, cabin fever has hit me full force.  I wistfully look at my friend’s pictures of St. Maarten and desperately want to plunge my toes in the sand.  I even tried plunging my feet into the snow on my deck, but alas, the sensation just wasn’t the same.

So to keep me placated until the snow melts, I started remembering summer camp.  My folks rented a camp for a week on Lake Champlain and it was one of the best summers I’ve ever spent.  With the economy the way it is, many families are looking for ways to make their vacations pay for themselves and owning a great getaway is not only a treat for yourself, but an obvious equity builder.  Here are some tips when shopping for your summer retreat and how to rent it out to ensure a tidy profit at the end of the season.

1)  Location, location, location.  This is a no-brainer, but still, people will look at the “great deal” and neglect the essentials.  You want to make sure your retreat is close to entertainment, hiking, biking, kayaking. Is it easy to find?  Is it in a desirable spot?  Does it overlook the lake or a swamp?  Remember, you get what you pay for.
2) Accessible – Sometimes, summer camps aren’t plowed out in the winter.  Make certain you know who takes care of the plowing, road maintenance, and how often it’s done.  You don’t want to book a December get-away if your guests can’t access the driveway.
3) Year-Round or Seasonal Retreat – If it’s seasonal, what exactly does that mean?  What maintenance needs to be performed each winter to protect your investment?  Are there other vacation properties rented out close by and what’s their rate of fulfillment?
4) Show Me The Money – Check with the local town zoning laws to make sure you can even rent it out in the first place.  A top-notch real estate agent will go to the town clerk’s office to check over the deed, zoning, etc to make certain your intentions can be followed through on.  NEVER go blindly into the deal assuming you can just “do it under the table.” 
5) Right-of-Ways – If you’re getting a summer lakefront camp, make sure you know who has the right-of-way not only to the driveway, but to the dock, beach and lake access.
6) Water and Septic – Some summer camps may have a shared well or septic.  A good realtor will have already done their homework and can tell you what the story is with the property.
7) Get an Inspection – Especially with a 3 season property, you’ll want to make certain maintenance has been done to avoid headaches down the road.
8) Tax Impact – Make certain you know the state tax laws concerning second homes and see if it outweighs the equity you’ll be building over time.

So if you’re still suffering the throes of cabin fever, snap yourself out of it by checking out this beauty of a summer camp right on the lake.  If you’d like to view it, we’d love to show it to you (we get cabin fever too!)  Just contact us for a viewing.

In the spirit of jumping the gun on summer, I’d like to introduce a new listing right on the lake in Colchester, Vermont.  It’s actually not a summer house but it would be awfully fun to live here in the summer! Also, it’s not really a new listing. It was on the market last year and now we are putting it back out there.

This home has been recently updated with fresh carpet and paint. It has absolutely stunning views of mallets bay and sits on 130 feet of private sandy beach.  Below are a few pictures of the home. Click on any picture for additional information. Offered at $440,000

I will post more information and photos as it develops.

1) I have been wanting to introduce video tours into our marketing strategy for a while now. Not enough people offer it and I think it’s something that potential buyers really want and I think sellers deserve it. We are there taking pictures anyway, why not grab some video while we’re at it. The technology is there. There’s really no excuse.

2) I REALLY like this new Multi-Family listing in Downtown Burlington where I shot this trial video. If executed properly, I think this is the type of property that could really benefit from video. The reason being that there are 4 apartments in this building and it’s pretty hard to get the flow of the property (how rooms are connected, etc.) from still images. Of course you could just go see it in person. Another reason is that in a property like this there are a lot of small spaces that are extremely difficult to photograph without a wide angle lens.

Now for the disclaimer: This video wasn’t executed properly. It was more of a spur of the moment thing so don’t judge. I was walking around taking pictures, talking about how I wanted to start doing video tours. Then it occurred to me that the camera has a video function so I started shooting. As you can see from the video below, it was such an afterthought that I didn’t even think to shut the toilet seat! It’s only a couple of seconds long, it’s shaky and it’s just a small portion of one of the units in the 4-unit building.

With that said, Enjoy!

57 North Winooski Ave. Burlington, Vermont from Omega on Vimeo.

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