Boat Lifts at Ohio Lake Homes: What You Need to Know
One of the many perks of owning a lakefront home in Ohio is that you have an area where you can store your boat and launch your boat on your time so you can avoid congestion at the marina or various launching sites around the lake. However, boat lifts at Ohio lake homes can be complicated things, and a lot of these things a buyer must know before purchasing a lake home that revolve around that specific boat lift.
Check the Condition of a Boat Lift Before You Buy
Anytime you’re looking at a lake house make sure to talk to your lakefront specialist about what kind of condition the boat lift is in. Obviously you would want a qualified inspector to examine it once you were in contract, but your lakefront specialist can easily shine a light on whether or not you are going to be looking at extensive repairs or replacing the boat lift at that specific home. If so, the cost of that should be weighed when deciding if that lake home is the right choice for you and your family.
Decide if that Boat Lift Will Fit Your Needs
When most people decide to buy a lake home they should really spend some time considering how many and what kinds of boats they are going to own and use when they do purchase their dream lake home (maybe they already own them). Once they do they can do a better job of deciding if the boat lift at a specific lake home will fit their needs. Do you own, or will you own two boats? If so does this boat lift have, or can you add on to it in order to hold two boats? Can the boat lift hold the size and weight of your boat? If not can it be modified to handle it? These are all questions to go over with you lakefront specialist, make sure he or she understand your boating situation so that they can advise you on if that boat lift will work for your families needs. Sometimes the boat lift in place will already be enough, other times it can be modified or renovated, other times it cannot be changed and you would have essentially bought a boat lift that you cannot use.
Check the Building Code at that Specific Lake
The state of Ohio has dozens of lakes inside of it ready for potential buyers to make their new home at, but each individual buyer needs to check with a lakefront specialist about what the rules are at each lake about what kind of boat lift, if any, is allowed. Some lakes such as Apple Valley Lake allow permanent covered structures with electric boat lifts (see below)
others such as Lake Mohawk only allow non-permanent lifts, (see below)
Others don’t allow any lifts and are tie-ups only. This can be a major item when discussing which possible lake to buy at. Do you really need or want a covered boat lift at your lake house? Are you OK with the potential inconvenience of not having an electric lift? Make sure to understand what the rules are at that lake about boat lifts and check them against what your family wants before you purchase.
Check Cost vs Resale Value Before Renovating or Building New Lifts
If you and your family decide on a specific lake home but the boat lift needs repairs or additions to fit your needs, talk to your lakefront specialist and your builder about what the cost of the work will be and compare it against the potential resale value of the home once it is completed. It is very easy to end up in a situation where the renovation costs more than you estimated on your own and you don’t want to buy a house unaware of how much it could actually cost to bring up to you and your families expectations. Also check what the potential resale of the home will be once the work is complete, you don’t want to buy a home and then over invest in the boat lift only to find that you will not recoup the money you expected to if you re-sell.
All these things should be discussed with your lakefront specialist before you buy a lake home because boat lifts at Ohio lakes can be tricky and complex.
Written By – Justin Shelton lakefront Consultant – The Lake Team