It began as an attempt to find a worthwhile investment. In 1979 I had started to work again after taking 15 years off to raise our children. We had always lived on one income and we didn't want to start depending on two incomes; I didn't know how long my new-found desire to be back in the working world would last. I was investing in CD's (Certificates of Deposit) and in August of 1981, I had a CD earning 15.15% interest although most of the others I had that year were around 12%. It was the year of the "All Savers" certificates. By the end of 1982, interest rates on CD's were down below 9%. Perhaps I'd been spoiled by the extremely high rate I'd once had, but I thought I could do better.
This explanation doesn't satisfy my husband, Dave. He calls it my "empty nest" project. I'd had a hysterectomy in January of 1982 and he teases me about wanting a project to baby. Anyway, on to my investment.
In what should I invest? Real estate sounded promising, especially lake property; no one is making any more of it. It should become more valuable every year. It seemed especially appealing because my parents had some lake property in New York State while I was growing up and I had always enjoyed the days we spent there.
Where? We had spent two months in Fort Walton Beach, Florida for IBM in 1969 when our children were small. Dave had dreamed of owning property there. Those beaches on the Gulf of Mexico were wide-open, unspoiled, fine white sand beaches (I still have some of that sand sitting on my desk). Dave still talked about how he wished we had bought property then and how much it would be worth now. We both love the ocean and have spent many of our vacations on the beaches off the east coast. But it was so far away. I decided that I wanted to be able to use my investment on weekends - for camping if nothing else. I drew a circle on my map with Owego, New York (where we live) at the center and a radius of 40 miles.
I had a lot to learn about the lakes and about myself. I pictured them all as being like Skaneateles Lake where my parents' cottage had been - a passable dirt road, cottages nicely spaced in the woods, motor boats circling with their skiers. My circle included many of the little lakes in Pennsylvania and New York, the reservoir in Whitney Point, and several of the finger lakes - well, maybe my circle had expanded to a 50 mile radius by this time.
I started talking to realtors. I'd decided I wanted to spend $5000. Most of the realtors gave me directions and sent me off by myself. That arrangement worked fine for me. It gave me a chance to explore more than just the property that was available at the time. I was able to see the general environment. I usually visited every body of water I had time for in the same vicinity when I went to see a property. I found roads that were nearly impassable (it almost seemed to be the rule rather than the exception). Some of the properties were on what I would have called a pond rather than a lake. I often saw signs limiting the horsepower of the boat that could be used on the lake. At $5000, the properties were not widely spaced or wooded. I found mud flats for beaches, metal shacks with sloping floors and outhouses backed up against the cliff. I saw several that were just foundations after the cottages had been leveled by fire. I also saw properties where there had been landslides - cottages, septic tanks and all had slid into the lake. I found that some lakes, like Whitney Point Reservoir, have no private cottages on them.
I decided that, for $5000, I'd better look at property only - forget about a cottage. I now thought about what I would need to know if I ever wanted to build - or if whoever I eventually sold my "investment" to wanted to build. Was electric power available? Water? What kind of septic system would be allowed? What were the building codes? Would I want to be able to use it year-around or summer only? Would I be allowed to camp on the property?
I was beginning to feel more intelligent about my projected investment. I decided that I wanted to be able to use a boat powerful enough to pull water skiers (all of our children enjoy water skiing). I upped the amount I was willing to pay. My decisions were pointing me toward the finger lakes where there were other problems. Most of the properties were high up on cliffs or squeezed between the water and a cliff. Cayuga was the closest, but I also looked on Seneca, Owasco, and Skaneateles.
The first property I had looked at on Cayuga was beginning to look more interesting after what I'd seen since. It was only 50 feet wide, almost treeless, but grassy, not too far above the water, on a county road - and had already been sold! I had started to look through books of vacation home plans also. For every property I saw, I envisioned a different cottage. I was beginning to see more acceptable properties - or perhaps I had lowered my sites. One of the burned-out cottages was on a beautiful piece of land with a pretty garden, a dock, and black-topped driveway; I thought I could build on the existing foundation, but it was further away than I wanted to be and costly. There was a quarter-mile-long, steep, shallow property with its own little waterfall, but only a small flat area on which to build - and filled with poison ivy. There were two adjoining properties, one with two existing concrete-block cottages, one with one concrete-block cottage and an empty area. I thought I could use the existing cottage while building on the empty area, then sell the first one. But there was a shared septic system on both of these lots so they couldn't be divided. There was a fairly flat, wooded property of good size, but with only a shared 25 foot access to the lake.
By this time, I'd been looking for about 1 1/2 years and had settled with one realtor who was very patient, calling me when a new property became available. I'd learned that lake property generally cost $500 per foot frontage near the ends of Cayuga Lake down to about $200 per foot frontage toward the middle. There was a property toward the middle near Interlaken on Cayuga which the owner was dividing into three parts, one with a cottage. The lot with the cottage and another one had been sold. I looked and it had possibilities. There was a passable dirt road running between a corn field and a ravine. A year-around house stood at the end of the road. There was a power line running through the property. I had learned that most people get their water from the lake and carry in drinking water. I asked about septic and picked up information on building permits. The major portion of the property was about 30-40 feet above the lake, but there was a small ravine where I was able to climb down to the beach if I used both hands. The beach was about 40 feet deep, the property was wooded and about 135 feet square. It was New Year's Eve 1983 when I showed this lot to Dave. I had yet to learn that the beach would shrink to about 10 feet with the high water that Spring, then widen to about 20 feet for most of the summer. I closed on the $27,000 property at Holton Beach 50 miles from home on February 9, 1984. It was interesting to read the abstract for the property. The measurements were originally made in "chains" and "links": "running south one degree west seventy links along the shore of Cayuga Lake, thence south eighty and three fourths degrees west four chains and fifty three links, thence north twenty five and 3/4 degrees west one chain and thirty eight links, ..."