LakePlace.com in the News

Lake property prices going up here too 
ELY ECHO - April 2005
Echo editorial

A study released last week showed it’s getting pricey to be able to purchase lakeshore in Minnesota. The rising prices are having several effects on the Ely area.

The survey by LakePlace.com was based on listing prices. While actual sale prices in real estate are often less, that is not always the case when it comes to lakeshore.

The survey revealed the average lake home is listed at $500,589, the average lake cabin is listed at $185,158 and the average lake lot lists for $222,080. 

That last number would lead one to believe bare land on a lake may be worth more than lakeshore with Grandpa Eddie’s old shack on it. 

We have seen the number of real estate companies and agents in the Ely area go through the roof in the last 10 years. Lakeshore has consistently led the way for that expansion. 

This has had a number of impacts on our area. For one, those who had been holding onto lakeshore waiting for the right time to sell have found it. There have been properties sold for many times what was originally paid for them. 

We are also seeing the face of our lakes change as well. Empty lots now hold large homes and elaborate landscaping. This has led to lake associations being formed and in the case of Burntside Lake, changes in zoning as well.

Lake property owners in the Town of Morse should be paying attention to zoning changes being considered by the township. Restrictions on lot size and setbacks will have a definite impact on future property values. 

This is the classic battle between those who live there not wanting change and those who want change or at least the ability to have what others have already enjoyed and/or profited from. 

Another impact will hit our tourism industry smack in the nose. A number of resorts are finding out it’s much more profitable to subdivide their land and sell it than it is to make a living renting cabins. 

So far at least two resorts have recently closed to make way for private cabin owners. That influx of tourists week in and week out is now lost and will be felt up and down Sheridan and Chapman streets. 

That is not to say we fault those resort owners who decide to sell. For one, their property taxes continue to go up as the state of Minnesota’s goofy property tax valuation system penalizes those who have yet to profit from increased land values. 

When Joe Shmoe pays an exorbitant amount for a lake property it affects the valuation of other properties so everybody’s taxes go up. That needs to change.

And that word, change, really defines what we are going through up here in relation to lake property. Ely continues to be discovered as a great place to live or have a lake place. This drives up real estate values not just on the lakes but on rural land, in town and even commercial property. 

Yet, as a township official mused recently, we may be heading down a road none of us intended to travel on. Getting to a point where people can’t afford to live in town, similar to what Aspen, Col. has had to deal with, may be a fate that awaits us. 

While the free market system is not something we advocate changing, we would encourage people and especially business owners to be cognizant of those changes. Losing resorts is something we have already endured after the federal government’s purchases around the Boundary Waters area. 

But this time government is only partially to blame.