Oseetah Lake Family Home

While we are not what would be considered “motivated sellers,” we would be happy to entertain serious offers to purchase our property.   While we have no immediate plans to put the home on the market, we no longer use the house as much as we have in the past.  We still enjoy it, though, and are happy to retain ownership while renting it out.

We are not yet formally listing it, either on Adirondack by Owner or with any real estate agent.  However, if you are interested, please contact us via this web site.

Our current asking price is $1,673,300.  This is the “we don’t really have to think about it” price.   We will, however, entertain any offer greater than $1,442,500.

This is higher than the appraised value for taxes.  It reflects, however, many of the intangible and hard to quantify benefits of the property, and is in line with the going prices.   Among these reasons is the property’s prime location halfway between Saranac and Lake Placid.   Waterfront land is easy to find around here, but Oseetah Lake remains one of the relatively undiscoverd and incredibly well-placed lakes around.  Ray Brook is only 5 miles or  so from downtown Lake Placid, but is a world away in terms of the kind of features it offers.  The Saranac Chain of lakes is much longer and better for most kinds of boating and fishing than Lake Placid or Mirror Lake.   Oseetah is also much more peaceful and connected with the wild Adirondacks.  Just look at the nesting eagles that have been present for so many years directly across our bay.  And get in a boat to paddle or motor to one of the trial heads, such as to Pine Pond or Ampersand Mountain, that are accessible from the lakes.

Here you can enjoy the accessibility of Lake Placid’s sports and ships as well as the shipping and arts community of Saranac Lake.  If you stay home, however, you can remain at arm’s length from the bustle of the towns.

In other words, while similarly sized waterfront parcels may sell for less, this property has unique features that make it valuable for reasons that cannot be reflected in any direct comparison.

The property too, is unique, in that it is in a community at the end of a well maintained dirt road.   Unlike many homes here, though, we own the adjacent lot which provides a very nice buffer, adding to the privacy we enjoy.   The adjacent lot will not have a house built on it.  It currently contains a separate, wood fired sauna, which has room to seat six to eight people.  The sauna, which is not unlocked when the property is rented because of insurance, has its own large deck and overlooks the lake where you can run to cool off after a session in the steam.  Of course, if it iw winter the deck is also covered with snow which offer a somewhat more exhilarating of cooling down.

The house itself has a very nice interior, with built-in bookshelves, redwood paneling and thermally efficient brick walls throughout the main floor.   A two-car garage offers access to the recreation room on the lower level, where there are also three bedrooms.  The upper floor is the main floor, built on an open plan with picture windows looking out over the lake.  There is a screened-in eating porch as well as a covered rear deck for grilling and separate access to the kitchen.

The house was designed at the tail end of the Carter-era energy crises.  Thus it is equipped with both passive and active solar features, and energy saving architecture such as being built into the hill and having a very efficient wood-fired Russian Fireplace made of brick.

The view, the southern exposure, the energy efficient house, the miles and miles of interconnected lakes, the location between two of the nicest towns in the Adirondacks.  Try as you might it will be very hard to find a similar property in the area.

Serious inquiries only, please.  We would be happy to make an appointment to discuss your interest.

The purchase price includes both lots with the property, which together total approximately 1.67 acres and just under 400 feet of waterfront with southern views of the lake and mountains.  We can arrange to leave many of the furnishings in place if that would be preferable.

The lot that is currently empty has covenants which prevent building a house, so it is best viewed as a privacy buffer and supplemental use lot.  It also has a drainage which would make building difficult in any case, which was why we were able to purchase it and add it to our property.   There are first refusal rights associated with this lot, but these will likely not be exercised if sold jointly.   Currently, there is a wood fired sauna with a deck overlooking the lake on this lot.   As long as we have not combined the lots we would reluctantly consider selling only the lot with the house, but we would strongly prefer the lots remain together.  In such a case the empty lot would be offered to the neighbors first, then on the open market.

If you are interested in expanding the house, however, there is plenty of opportunity to add space given the design of the house and the layout on the lot.

Because of other deed and ownership details we would be looking at a closing date of early February 2010 at the earliest. We would consider an arrangement to allow a buyer to move in earlier (Fall 2009) as long as the buyer was willing to work within our constraints.

NOTE:  Buyer’s Brokers are welcome.  Please contact us for details.