Visited the Fern Lake property with Tom Whittaker, seen trying to figure out just where the property line runs... much more on that later. The property consists of 2.83 undeveloped acres (approximately 600 feet deep by 230 feet wide), with the east end abutting Vermont Route 53 (paved, State-maintained road) and the west end fronting on the lake. Fern Lake was a long-ago glacial cirque and now is fed totally by springs and direct rainfall... there are no inlet or outlet streams. Consequently, it is one of very few Vermont lakes that has clear water... most are very brown / murky due to runoff from inlet streams. On the property there is a wooden stairway that goes from the Glassner's house down to a lakefront dock and dock storage shed. Quite obviously, most of the stairway is on the property up for sale... but the O'Connor's property deed gave the Glassners the right to use the stairway and dock for two years, then the Glassners would have to remove the stairway. That right of access would transfer with a new sale. After consulting with Chree, submitted an offer to purchase the property. Offer was verbally accepted, but then the owners reneged and allowed a bidding war to ensue, rapidly and substantially driving up the price. Obviously we prevailed, or this narrative would not be any longer than this one paragraph.
27 June 2008
Visited the Fern Lake property with Tom Whittaker, seen trying to figure out just where the property line runs... much more on that later. The property consists of 2.83 undeveloped acres (approximately 600 feet deep by 230 feet wide), with the east end abutting Vermont Route 53 (paved, State-maintained road) and the west end fronting on the lake. Fern Lake was a long-ago glacial cirque and now is fed totally by springs and direct rainfall... there are no inlet or outlet streams. Consequently, it is one of very few Vermont lakes that has clear water... most are very brown / murky due to runoff from inlet streams. On the property there is a wooden stairway that goes from the Glassner's house down to a lakefront dock and dock storage shed. Quite obviously, most of the stairway is on the property up for sale... but the O'Connor's property deed gave the Glassners the right to use the stairway and dock for two years, then the Glassners would have to remove the stairway. That right of access would transfer with a new sale. After consulting with Chree, submitted an offer to purchase the property. Offer was verbally accepted, but then the owners reneged and allowed a bidding war to ensue, rapidly and substantially driving up the price. Obviously we prevailed, or this narrative would not be any longer than this one paragraph.
Prologue
Back in 1974 Chree (wife) and I bought a 39 acre piece of undeveloped land on a (sometimes) sunny dirt road up in the hills of East Calais, Vermont. Our thought, way back then, was that, when the time came, we would retire to that property. That land is across the road from the rustic log cabin my father built, where he lived in for many years, and where my brother now lives.
As retirement got nearer in the mid-2000's, Chree and I began thinking about the living situation we each desired in our golden years. For Chree, the fierce summertime flying insect situation (deer flies, mosquitoes, and no-see-ums) in Calais was NOT what she had in mind... Much as I love that property (especially in the fall and winter), I could see her point... and an unwelcome divorce if I persisted with Calais retirement plans. So, during our vacations for three years in a row, Chree and I looked all over Vermont for the right piece of property on which to build our retirement dream home. We saw some properties we liked (not loved), but ultimately decided to wait until we were sure we'd found the right spot. Along the way we met Tom Whittaker, a real estate agent in Brandon, Vermont. He showed us several properties in the Lake Dunmore / Fern Lake area - located about 12 miles south of Middlebury, Vermont (home of the prestigious college by the same name). One place in particular, an A-frame chalet on Fern Lake, Chree absolutely loved. Unfortunately, that property wasn't available just then... but was expected to go sale in the near future. (Note: never happened.)
Fast forward to January 2008. Tom called one day to say that a property had just come on the market on Fern Lake that he thought was just what we wanted. The piece for sale was half of a double lot owned by Sid and Shelley Glassner (who had their home on the other half). By the next day, as I was scrambling to pack up and head north to take a gander, the owners already had three offers... and Tom was told by their real estate agent that I shouldn't waste my time coming up to Vermont. For obvious reasons, we weren't going to put in a bid sight unseen. Alas, the property sold, two days later, to Tom & Lisa O'Connor, a couple of Middlebury teachers.
Then, on 25 June Tom called again. Seems that the O'Connors had decided that they didn't want the Fern Lake property after all. First thing the next morning I was speeding north (but OF COURSE never, ever, going faster than the posted speed limit...).
As retirement got nearer in the mid-2000's, Chree and I began thinking about the living situation we each desired in our golden years. For Chree, the fierce summertime flying insect situation (deer flies, mosquitoes, and no-see-ums) in Calais was NOT what she had in mind... Much as I love that property (especially in the fall and winter), I could see her point... and an unwelcome divorce if I persisted with Calais retirement plans. So, during our vacations for three years in a row, Chree and I looked all over Vermont for the right piece of property on which to build our retirement dream home. We saw some properties we liked (not loved), but ultimately decided to wait until we were sure we'd found the right spot. Along the way we met Tom Whittaker, a real estate agent in Brandon, Vermont. He showed us several properties in the Lake Dunmore / Fern Lake area - located about 12 miles south of Middlebury, Vermont (home of the prestigious college by the same name). One place in particular, an A-frame chalet on Fern Lake, Chree absolutely loved. Unfortunately, that property wasn't available just then... but was expected to go sale in the near future. (Note: never happened.)
Fast forward to January 2008. Tom called one day to say that a property had just come on the market on Fern Lake that he thought was just what we wanted. The piece for sale was half of a double lot owned by Sid and Shelley Glassner (who had their home on the other half). By the next day, as I was scrambling to pack up and head north to take a gander, the owners already had three offers... and Tom was told by their real estate agent that I shouldn't waste my time coming up to Vermont. For obvious reasons, we weren't going to put in a bid sight unseen. Alas, the property sold, two days later, to Tom & Lisa O'Connor, a couple of Middlebury teachers.
Then, on 25 June Tom called again. Seems that the O'Connors had decided that they didn't want the Fern Lake property after all. First thing the next morning I was speeding north (but OF COURSE never, ever, going faster than the posted speed limit...).
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