Selling a lake property, step by step

On the water, frontage, the dock and where the property sits on the lake move value more than square footage does. A useful valuation compares your property with lake sales that genuinely resemble it, and explains the range it arrives at.

Request a lake valuation — a person prepares it, not a model.

Many lake buyers want to see a property in the season they will use it — on the dock, with the water warm and the trees in leaf. That does not make the rest of the year a poor time to sell; it means the presentation should show the lake at its best whatever the month.

Buyers and their lenders will ask, and an answer in hand keeps a sale moving. The usual list:

• The dock’s Ameren Missouri permit, and any permits for seawall or shoreline work
• Dock details: number and size of wells, lift capacities, age and flotation
• Septic, well or community water and sewer records, where the property has them
• Association documents, dues and any assessments, for a condominium or community
• Utility costs through the year, and any service contracts

Lake properties often sell with more than the house: furniture, a boat or personal watercraft, lifts, dock furniture and lake gear. Decide early what is included and what is not, so it can be described clearly and priced fairly.

Buyers walk to the dock before they open the kitchen cupboards. Repair what is loose, check the lights and power on the dock, tidy the shoreline and the path down, and make sure lifts work. Inside, the usual preparation applies — but at the lake, the view from each window is part of the staging.

Most buyers will meet your property online first, often from another city. Photography of the house and the water, the view from the dock and from the lake, and a clear account of the frontage, dock and setting all count. Selected properties are presented as a Signature Portfolio.

We arrange showings around your own use of the property, and walk serious out-of-town buyers through it on live video so that distance does not cost you a buyer.

Expect buyers financing a second home or using a jumbo loan, and some paying cash. Inspections at the lake often include the dock and shoreline as well as the house, and an appraisal of a waterfront property depends on comparable lake sales. We negotiate the offer, work through the inspection and appraisal with you, and plan the closing — which can often be signed remotely, depending on the title company.