jppe

My in-laws are moving from their lake house to an assisted living center soon. They are in their 90’s and have greatly enjoyed living in their lakefront home for 37 years. It’s a great and rare wooded location as they live on a point with over 300’ of waterfront. Their house has a large wrap around deck which faces west for amazing sunset views. My father in law has balance issues and is falling more now. If a neighbor is not around when he falls they have to call 911 to get him back up. And the lake while large is definitely in a rural area. They have people coming in during the week to help them with basic daily chores but looking ahead they really need more and closer attention. There are several options but the best one is moving to a facility with various levels of support. It’s probably best to sell their little spot of paradise and let someone else enjoy their dream home. Being at the lake it really needs someone living there with all the ongoing maintenance. We’ve considered buying it but we’re actually building a new house at the coast in NC.

This past weekend we had our last big celebration at their house. All the kids and extended family were there and help to celebrate all the years of great memories. It’s been a very special place with lots of special memories for my kids, and now their kids, along with my nieces and nephews.

Their lake house is 50 miles from my house. I’ve used it as a ride destination for hundreds of rides over the years. I can easily get to their house within 3 hours. Typically my wife would drive up for a visit and I’d catch a ride back home. I have to cross the lake to get to their house and their are only two bridges which cross the river. One bridge is north of their house and the other is south. Both bridges are about 15 miles from their house. I’ve had fun exploring different ways to get their and have developed an infinite number of routes. The longest route I’ve taken was around 115 miles. The past few years I’ve planned my routes around lunch stops! They live in one of the prominent areas for NC pork BBQ (and BBQ chicken) so it’s been fun visiting different locations and planning new routes to get the restaurants.

The rides have included rides I’ve planned for several days and a lot where my wife made impromptu last minute visits and asked if I wanted to ride up to their house. It was an easy way to sneak in another 50-60 miles for the week.

The past few years I’ve gotten where I’ve enjoyed and even needed a reason to ride. I still enjoy being on the bike but I’ve gotten less interested and less motivated to just go for a ride. Some of it may be increased traffic around my house. I’m also walking 18 holes of golf 5 days a week which also occupies time and energy. But I still enjoy doing the week long and overnight rides so those require some training! I’ve also enjoyed exploring areas around Charlotte using trails and roads less traveled.

Anyway, it’s going to be interesting to see how my riding changes now that my in-laws are moving. I can see still riding up that way now and then but certainly not as often.

Ed Wiser

You could always buy the house.

John E

... and get caught in a time warp, as in the Sandra Bullock / Keanu Reeves movie about another lake house.

Iride01 

Tough choice! Lake house or on the coast. Hmmm...

I'd be on the coast if it were my choice.

qcpmsame 

Just make friends with the new occupants, then drop by when you are "out that way".

Knowing you Joe, you'll make up the mileage space in no time.

Bill

rumrunn6

sad evolution, but they aren't alone. meaning, we all go thru this. just helped my parents (in their 90s) celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. it was all we could do to get them to a restaurant for lunch. nice to hear about the property & that last big hurrah!

Rolla

That’s too bad that you’re losing the built-in incentive to take a long ride. But if you’re enjoying walking the golf course, there’s nothing wrong with taking shorter rides or just taking a break. Whenever I just don’t feel like riding, I don’t. After a couple of days, I’m usually rarin’ to go again.

writespeak

The last time we do things can be sad.

Maybe you'll find great rides in the area where your new house will be.

Vintage Schwinn

Yall obviously probably know several of your wife's parents' neighbors at the lake.
I am sure the neighbors know and like you.
Perhaps, ask one if during "riding season" if it wouldn't be asking too much, "if we could occasionally, leave the old Toyota pickup(Jeep, FORD whatever..) in the edge of the woods to the side of your driveway near where you park your boat trailers, the idea being to be able to make this scenic ride to --or-- from the lake when the weather permits........reason is to be able to either Finish the 50 mile ride from my home to your place at the lake....OR......to drive here, leave the vehicle....and ride the 50 mile ride from (here) your lake house back to my house....
If you know them well and if they think highly of you, and if they have space to leave a car parked that won't impact space requirements if they were to have a party with 15 or 20 guests or something like that......
It's not like you're Spicoli, the dead-head, 21 year old boyfriend of their grand-daughter that wants to park the 1983 Dodge Motorhome there and run an 110v extension cord for electrical power and live in the driveway with their grand-daughter Julie, at least until Bob Weir & friends, Phish, or Widespread Panic start their tours.

Be kind and considerate and bring them wine and a fruit basket every once in a while, and reciprocate by offering to let them to come down anytime to visit yall's beach house. Also be sure that you and your wife take them out to dinner three times a year to someplace that they enjoy.
Treat them at least as well a you'd like to be treated , if as a favor, you were to let someone, park a vehicle at your lake house.
Remember that nobody likes someone that overstays their welcome, but if you are cognizant of their needs for parking space for Labor Day, Memorial Day, 4th, Thanksgiving, and Birthdays, so you are ahead of the game and don't need to reminded over and over to please remove your vehicle for this upcoming weekend, or party etc. If you treat them respectfully, like you'd want to be treated, something like that might fly.

Cougrrcj

I'm not sure WHICH lake that'd be... Norman? High Rock?

Has the house been listed/sold yet?

Wife and I were looking at Western NC a few years ago, but we've since bought a lot outside of Huntsville AL, hoping to build our 'retirement home'.. BUT, with construction costs these days, we're also looking into other options...

-Milo

Vintage Schwinn

Cougrrcj:

LAKE MURRAY (COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA) offers possibly some of the nicest lakefront property in the country. The cost for the home size sq. footage and acreage is very very reasonable, and the property taxes are low.

.There is an area of Lake Murray waterfront that has a Columbia SC address and a 29212 zip code which has a super-nice cove of waterfront homes between "Lake World" bait & fishing supplies/fishing guide shack just in front of the dam --and-- the early 1970's constructed condo complex called "YACHT COVE". This area has some of the nicest fresh-water waterfront homes in the Southeastern United States. Property taxes are ridiculously low for the home values.
Prices for the homes are still reasonable for waterfront homes on Lake Murray.
The native Columbia folks, once considered the "Lake" to be way too far from town & downtown to ever consider living out that far away, even though the "Lake" is only ten to twelve miles away Tops. That was the mindset of the relaxed, slow-paced native locals at least until the turn of the century. Columbia being the Capitol of South Carolina has plenty of relaxed, slow-paced, slow thinking, but diligent hard working bureaucrat/paper pushers that are good govt employees that show up faithfully on time at work at 8 and clock out at 5 but aren't capable of much more. That was local Columbia SC for decades. The city really thrived from highly educated college graduates that came to Columbia to live and work for large corporate firms in engineering-technology & manufacturing and in the medical centers. You also had such highly educated college graduates transplanted to Columbia to work in corporate management, mktng, sales, and IT, as well as those that came to Columbia to teach or work in administrative support at the University Of SOUTH CAROLINA located there, or air-traffic controllers, commercial pilots for the airlines at the Airport. The seventies and eighties saw Columbia go from a backwards, backwoods, Southern small-town into a nice "small" city that anyone would be proud to live in. It took the locals about 25 years longer to realize what a gem the lakefront property of Lake Murray is. The locals would go to the lake every weekend, as they still do, when the weather is nice, but the locals considered 10 miles away, just too far to drive...........at least until everything commercial was built out there from the late seventies through the nineties and that the newer public schools out near there became the best in entire the state of SC by the mid-nineties. The Interstates and expressway connectors now make getting to and from what was once considered too far out, not much of ride, maybe 25 minutes in the worst traffic and 8 minutes normally. You must understand that the mind-set of Columbia residents is widely different from those that live in the Big City-Hotlanta (Atlanta GA 220 mi west on I-20) and have 1 hour commute each way, though they live within 35 miles of downtown metro Atlanta, Phillips Arena, GA TECH, Mercedes Stadium, etc. Columbia and Charlotte too are nothing like Atlanta, though Charlotte(1 hr 40 min drive north of Columbia) has gotten much bigger, it is now today about like what Atlanta was in about 1971 or 1972.
Again back on why Lake Murray (Columbia SC area)........you've got Hilton Head, Island SC (near Savannah GA) is not too far away..........Isle of Palms/Sullivans Island(CHARLESTON SC) is closer and those two areas are among the nicest Oceanfront areas in the entire United States........... Myrtle Beach is due east down I-20 and keep goin after Florence where I-20 ends..........Myrtle Beach is sorta nice but in the typical trashy New Jersey shore, New York beach area way in my opinion. There are so many other fine South Carolina beaches that are really sorta nice but are quiet and throwbacks to a simpler time where there is literally nothing else going on around there. SC does have some of the cleanest Oceanfront areas in the country with the exception of Myrtle Beach strip which is really trashy in peak Summertime. There is much to do in Myrtle Beach and certain areas there are better.

Lake Murray ---- Your money will go a long way and the quality of the area especially those with Columbia & Chapin mailing addresses, I think.
Now, the weather in the Summertime is HOT & HUMID from about May 9th through maybe Oct 2nd. Winter time ends by Feb 20th typically and the coldest block of winter days are typically between Jan 20th and Feb 1st..........they typically see on average one snowfall or sleet of maybe 1 inch of snowfall each year. Typical winter day high temp is probably 55F and winter lows rarely go below 26F but can go into the teens for a day or two during a winter cold wave.
The electric utility owns Lake Murray, and DOMINION bought SCANA so Dominion has been the current owner for a couple of years.
They do drop the lake level down about twice a year such that depending on that year's rainfall after they do drop the level, you might see the water not being as useable due to low lake levels when rainfall isn't significant enough to restore the level fast enough for full useage. Based on my observations of this during the past 30 to 35 years, well this has been a problem about every 7 years on average, but that perhaps isn't too accurate because there were periods in the late eighties and the nineties where this occurred seemingly about every 3 to 4 years, or the effects lasted longer and impacted recreational use somewhat because docks were either with little water or near dry mud and this made it difficult to launch boats and swim and to fish where you normally did. They (utility) has done a much better job of managing the water levels over the past 15 years but anytime that you have essentially one or two Yo-Yo's in charge without half a brain between them, they never fail to make the Three Stooges seem like Einstein. That is probably the only significant potential downside but there are more public and municipal pressure on them to keep water levels where they need to be since there is much more in the way of both national & regional events on Lake Murray now, thus, that the economic impact would be significant even if they lost or had something simple like a Bassmasters fishing tournament cancelled for that year because low water levels, etc.

There are several nice areas in Columbia that one can ride.
One great area that you can ride with no traffic other than cars entering/exiting the park at 15 to 18 mph is SALUDA SHOALS PARK.
SALUDA SHOALS park is just 5 miles from "THE DAM"----officially known as the Dreher Shoals Dam, I think it is, if I spelled it correctly.
Lots of folks go and ride the roads within SALUDA SHOALS PARK doing the approximately 5.5 miles lap of starting at the Saluda River boatramp(at the farthest point from the entrance gate & dog park where that road terminates at the river boatramp) There is a parking lot there near that Saluda River boatramp....and several others between there and the entrance gate...
Well here is what we do, Park the car there near that Saluda River boatramp ride on the park road and then make a right at the Dog Park and keep going until that road intersects with another road at the other end of the park where the playground area, and tennis courts and soccer fields are.
You go LEFT and pass the playground, tennis courts, gate shack building, and keep going until it ends at St. Andrews RD entrance and there is a business and its parking lot accross from the farthest soccer field and park entrance........TURN AROUND ON THE ROAD AND RIDE BACK THE ROAD THAT YOU CAME ON, BACK PAST THE SOCCER FIELDS, PARKING LOT, PAST THE GATE SHACK BUILDING, TENNIS COURTS, PLAY AREA, and THEN TURN RIGHT at Stop sign GOING BACK ON THE SAME ROAD THAT YOU CAME, WHEN YOU SEE THE DOG-PARK , YOU'LL SEE THAT YOU WILL TURN RIGHT AT the Stop Sign AND GO OUT THE ROAD PAST THE gate shack building UNTIL YOU GO OVER A WOODEN BRIDGE IN THE ROAD NEAREST THE EXIT(actually the entrance where you drove into the park)......okay we turn around with a left turn that allows us to ride over a five foot wide pedestrian bridge over the water and then back on the right Lane of that SAME PARK ROAD, GO BACK THROUGH PAST THE GATE SHACK BUILDING and RIGHT TURN AND THEN KEEP GOING UNTIL YOU 're BACK AT THE Saluda River Boatramp Parking lot where your car is parked, ride around the and out and do it all again.....(it is somewhere between 5.5 and 6 miles of a loop DEPENDING ON WHETHER YOU DECIDE TO RIDE THE SHORT UPWARD uphill DRIVE TO THE Conference Center --or/and whether the St Andrews automatic retractable gate is open or closed such that you make your turn around in the business' large parking lot, or infront of the gate near the fountains, etc.
(the Conference center is on very short park road, really a cul de sac.......that is opposite the dog park..)
Lot of folks ride the Saluda Shoals park roads in this way, especially those preparing for tri-athlons because you can go as fast as you want and you seldom ever need to stop or slow down.........yeah you have speed bumps to keep automobiles from going 30 mph or more, but you have twenty four inches of smooth perfect paved road on each side of the speed bumps, so that the speed bumps are never an issue for bike riders, as long as you aren't trying to overtake another rider at that exact point.

Saluda Shoals park is a wonderful place to ride. It does cost $55 for a DRIVE IN yearly pass card which has a bar code that raises the mechanical bar lever gate at the gate shack building. You need that if you want to DRIVE into the Park. THERE IS ZERO COST IF YOU SIMPLY WALK, RUN, or BICYCLE INTO THE PARK. You can visit the park anytime that it is open, but while DRIVING IN, there is a $5 fee for the day, unless you already are a $55 annual fee, pass card subscriber.
Most Folks that visit the park in their vehicles have their DOGS with them and are enroute to the Dog Park.
There are several multi-use paved paths called trails that go through the woods nearest the edge of the Saluda River. You get some casual riders or parents with kids riding bikes slowly, and maybe some idiot that wants to ride 25mph on that path, but I don't find their MUP trails very useful for riding since the PARK's roads are so much better suited for riding with very little vehicle traffic.

There is an annual tri-athlon in the Lake Murray - Columbia area called The Dam Tri, which is great and you get to ride through the DAM, out and back through. It is a basic simple sprint tri where the bike portion is a very simple and fun 22 miles and just 10K for the run.....the swim portion is relatively short too but the Lake can be easy or tough depending on the wind and chop of waves and prevailing current and water temp. The Dam Tri also has RELAY TEAM entrants in addition to regular tri competitors. The really cool part of that is THREE PEOPLE with each doing what they love best and not what they like the least. Yeah, the relay teams aren't real tri-athletes in the true sense but they are RELAY TEAM competitors in a triathlon competition, and the competition can be serious but mostly it isn't, because most serious minded tri people want to do it all, and not be just some bicycle jockey poser who is a one trick pony, or similarly, some Mark Spitz or Dave Waddle.
RELAY TEAM is still a helluva lot of fun even if not real tri-athletes.

Leisesturm

Yousa. Are those blackflies in the 3rd photo? I wouldn't miss those. Mixed emotions maybe? :-)

John E

I lost my best bike ride destination when Tuna Canyon Rd. in the Malibu hills was converted from two-way to one-way downhill only. This happened long after I left Los Angeles in 1981 for (literally) greener pastures in north coastal San Diego County, so at least I had the chance to get eight memorable climbs.

jppe

It's on High Rock Lake with a Lexington, NC address. The lot is extremely attractive. Over 300' of waterfront on a point, wooded lot with killer sunset views. If the right buyer has a decent vision they can make this place an epic home.

Construction costs are nuts as we are finding out with our new house at the beach. But we really need to get into a single story house for the long term and just have to jump on the train at some point in time. While costs for us are certainly a consideration we are fortunate to have substantial equity in our existing two story home and interest rates are still attractive. We're losing a ton of sq footage without any real cost advantages but that's just part of where things are. I continue to look at it as a long term investment where the kids can bring their family for years and years and enjoy our favorite beach area in NC/SC.

jppe

Those are Mayflies. Just a pest for a short period of time but they where the thickest we've every seen them. They don't bite or sting and don't live very long. They don't need to be there when we put the house up for sale!!! I've enjoyed putting 2-3 on a hook and tossing a line into the lake from the lake wall or dock. The crappie, perch, white bass and catfish love them and will hit them quickly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly

Cougrrcj

Two of my wife's Glidden co-workers transferred down to High Point when 'parent company' and British corporate raider ICI Paints sold off the Glidden wood finish group to Valspar based in High Point. Both built lakefront homes on High Rock Lake in the mid-late '90s. One only lived there two years before moving back to the Cleveland area - "too many 'Bubbas' racing up and down the lake at all hours of the night in un-muffled speedboats" was the excuse. The other live along a side inlet but have since retired, sold the lakefront home and built a new home up in the mountains around Boone.

Note that ICI Paints is no more... Too short-sighted, refusing to 'waste funding' in R&D... They also insisted on killing off the Glidden brand name here in the US...

jppe

Interesting. Those noisy un-muffled speedboats are bass boats! Lots of folks fish on High Rock.

My brother has worked with Sherwin Williams for over 30 years…….Valspar now owned by S-W.

We have property east of Boone purchased with the intentions of doing a summer house there. But my daughter now lives in Boone and they’ve recently finished out their 1500 sq ft basement and it’s really nice with a kitchen and man cave. There’s no need for us throw dollars towards a mountain house now with my daughters “estate” available anytime we get the urge. I’d much prefer Boone over High Rock but the winters aren’t as kind. So we’ll have everything covered with the beach house we’ll live in plus my daughter’s house in the mountains.

scott967

Just came across this thread now. I had to spend over a year on westbank New Orleans getting my 96 yo father out of his house and business property (after retiring he opened a small body/repair shop as sort of a glorified hobby as he liked old cars and wanted to restore them -- had to move out 25 old cars, mostly 60s vintage Ford Falcons and Fairlanes). The best option for us was to move him to Hawaii to live with us.

If your in laws don't need the money from the property (assisted living isn't cheap anywhere) if the carrying costs aren't too much I would consider keeping it in the estate. But it might be an important source of cash in which case I guess now is about as good of a market as you are going to see. My wife and I hang on to real estate -- bought my father-in laws place in Fla when it got too hard for him to manage and now we get cold-called a couple times a day to sell. So keeping it in the family if that works for you might be a good option all round.

scott s.
.

jppe

That’s certainly a great idea and one we pushed back and forth a bit. We could also make it work financially.

Probably the only reason we’d go that route would be if we felt like all the kids would use it enough to justify hanging on to it. With us building and moving to the beach we think that will become a much more desirable option for them. One of my daughters has already requested to house sit for us when we go on a trip to Europe late next year! Plus the real estate market is in a really, really good place right now.

The place really needs ongoing maintenance as well. I’d rather spend my time riding bikes and playing golf than spend extra time there helping to keep it up.

KPREN

Selling and moving while you still can is a wise idea. My neighborhood is a great example of the effects of not doing so. In the last 25 years, there have been no homes in my subdivision that have sold outside of an estate/auction sale. Most of them have been in a state of delayed repair by the time this took place and the prices have been lower. I am average age in this neighborhood at 66. My home has a lift to the second floor. I have lived here 33 years.

jppe

Exactly. While our neighborhood is 30 years old it’s still highly desirable and resale is at an all time high…….but offset by the cost of new construction!!

Litespud

I’d go for the coast every time. Problem with the NC coast is that it’s flat as a pancake. At least in the west part of the state there’s some climbing

Iride01 

Yeah, same for the Gulf Coast here too.

That's a good point, now I'm conflicted. My desire for the coast is based on my other pastime, sailing. Sailing around a lake to me is much like riding a trainer indoors. Gets boring quick to me. So when I had a sail boat, I kept in on the coast about 2 1/2 hours drive. So not something just for an afternoon jaunt.

Riding bike on the flats will be boring too, but probably not as bad as a trainer indoors.

But hey, could go to Maine, they have rugged coastline with lots of climbs right next to the coast and harbors. Lots of bike shops everywhere. Or there use to be.

Only issue then is winter. But then I could take the boat to the Caribbean and island hop during the winters. Hmmm.... sadly the wife does not like that idea.

JLDickmon

Buy it and turn it into a vacation rental.