Purchasing shoreline allowance can shrink lakefront property's advertised width, lowering its value.
Did you know that purchasing the shoreline allowance on a lakefront property you already own may decrease the value of your lakefront property? When a shoreline allowance is not owned, the property's lake frontage is measured 66 feet from the high-water mark of the shoreline, which is the width of a shoreline allowance.
Let's assume you buy a lakefront property that has a pie shape where the width of the property narrows as it gets closer to the lake, and the shoreline is not owned. Let's further assume that your property frontage on the lake side is 150 feet wide measured at the beginning of the shoreline allowance. Let's further assume that if you measure the width of the frontage at the high watermark, the property would be 75 feet wide. If you were to sell your property prior to purchasing the shoreline allowance, it would be advertised as having 150 feet of frontage on the lake.
If you purchase the shoreline, your property line will be moved to the high-water mark, which is only 75 feet, and if you were to sell your property, your frontage would now be advertised at 75 feet, potentially reducing the value of your property. When buying or selling lakefront property, it is always a good idea to use a real estate agent who knows the intricacies of lakefront properties.
