Best Places to find Lakefront Property

.. Or as I like to call it, lacreage. Whether you’re interested in boating, fishing, water sports, or just plain old relaxing, these are some of the best places to look for lakefront acreage in the United States.

Texas

Endless rolling hills and clear blue skies await your arrival at a number of great potential home sites in the Lone Star state. As with many of the other places on this list, there is currently an opportunity to pick up land on a number of Texas lakes for prices that are beyond reasonable. Texas is a great place to look for large, heavily wooded fishing and duck hunting properties as well as smaller fully purchasable lakes. A good place to start looking would be near Austin. Always on lists of best big cities to live in, and recently listed as the “Greenest City in America” by MSN, the capitol of Texas contains a chain of seven lakes called the Texas Highland Lakes. In addition to this 85-mile region of man-made reservoirs, Austin also borders the Colorado River and is home to Mount Bonnell, a towering natural limestone formation with views of Austin, Lake Austin, and the Colorado River.

Benton County/ Carroll County, Arkansas

Benton County is home to Beaver Lake, a 28,000+ acre gem with over 480 miles of natural shoreline located in the Ozark Mountains. A manmade lake created by the formation of a dam in the 1960’s, Beaver Lake showcases limestone bluffs and spectacular natural caves. Here you can find 12 developed parks, more trails than you can hike, and enough quality fishing to host 8 national tournaments each year. If you are looking to buy lakefront property, Beaver Lake should be near the top of your list.

The Great Lakes

The Great Lakes region of the country contains more than just the 5 main lakes. In fact, around 35,000 islands are in the area, including the two largest islands on inland lakes in the world (which are big enough to contain numerous inland lakes themselves). The lakes contain over 20% of the world’s fresh surface water, over 90,000 square miles worth, which would be nearly enough to bathe the entire continental U.S. in a foot of h2o... Ten times over. The Great Lakes coastline is well over 10,000 miles of lakefront acreage. Be prepared, though, as it gets cold enough in the area to freeze large sections of the Great Lakes during the winter.

Oconee County, South Carolina

Breathtaking scenery highlights the region surrounding three large man-made lakes at the edge of the Appalacian Mountains, creating an ideal sanctuary for sailing, fishing, and watersports. Oconee County also contains part of Sumter National Forest, which is popular for just about any recreational activity you can think of, from backpacking and canoeing to mountain biking and target shooting. Lakefront property runs abundant in Oconee County, a province with 48 square miles of water that, according to wikipedia, takes its name from the Cherokee word "Ae-quo-nee" meaning "land beside the water."

Alaska

Pop quiz: what U.S. state contains the most lakes? Minnesota? Not even close. Michigan? In your dreams. Alaska contains over 3,000,000 lakes (yeah, that’s 6 zero’s). The state contains more shoreline than all other U.S. States combined, but with more than half of the population in Alaska residing in the Anchorage metropolitan area, much of it remains uninhabited. Only about 10% of the state is privately available and most of the shoreline consists of marshlands and wetland permafrost, but there is still plenty of room for a scenic lakefront estate. This means peace and quiet will be included with your Alaskan lakefront property, and old growth wilderness coupled with the awe of the Northern Lights make Alaska one of the most beautiful regions of the world. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the largest wildlife refuge in the world and the Aleutian Islands contain smoldering volcanoes. If warmth is what you’re worried about when it comes to Alaska’s lakefront land, Juneau’s temperatures are above freezing even during the winter months.

King County/ Snohomish County, Washington

With its never ending supply of beautiful rolling hills, flowing rivers and luscious forests, Washington state is one of the most amazing states in the astonishing Pacific Northwest. Choose a lakefront property here, and you’ll find yourself swimming in rainforests and mountain ranges. with 93 Lakes in King County and 62 in Snohomish, there are so many lakes to choose from near Seattle and the Admirality Inlet you won’t know where to start looking. And if you can't decide what to build, might I suggest something like this: http://www.cedarcreektreehouse.com/

Otter Tail County, Minnesota

There are 1,048 lakes in Otter Tail County, more than any other county in the contiguous U.S. Water makes up a little over 10% of the county, which also houses 2 beautiful state parks. Some of the oldest Native American remains ever found were discovered here, a testament to the region’s sustainable hunting, fishing and farming activities. If you’re just searching for a piece of lakefront property, or have aspirations of owning your own lake altogether, the “land of 10,000 lakes” might not be a bad place to start.

Flathead County, Montana

If a fertile farming area what you're searching for, look no further. Located 80 miles from Glacier National Park, this luscious valley is home to 3 sparkling lakes and mile after mile of prime growing land. Head down the street to the National Bison Range and say hi to your favorite buffalo, then on to a wildlife refuge if you don't mind seeing black bear and elk. Go whitewater rafting into the sunset, or should I say into Flathead lake and ultimately your backyard. Flathead Lake is the largest natural fresh water lake west of the Mississippi, and much of rest of Montana littered with lakes of all sizes as well. It won't be hard to find a piece of lakefront land that suits your needs out west, whatever they may be.

Off Grid Living Gets Better

If you look closely at the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, you may notice that the United States Federal Government has set up incentive programs to subsidize the installation of renewable or "green" energy systems on residences and recreational land beginning in 2009. The program functions as a tax credit that reduces the amount of federal income tax you owe during the year in which the energy systems are installed. What many people do not realize is that the laws are now changing, and according to the U.S. Department of Energy, the deal has gotten sweeter.

Energy Efficiency Tax Credits

The original tax credit program was intended to span from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010. This credit reduced the consumer's federal income tax by 30% of the cost of the green energy systems purchased and implemented during that year. Not only did this start to take pressure off the crowded grid system, but also gave important business to companies in the renewable energy sector to help spur innovation and create more American jobs. The major downside of this bill was that the maximum tax credit any consumer could receive was only $1,500 per year (requiring a $5,000 renewable energy purchase). This program was geared towards smaller investments in "energy efficiency improvements" made to existing buildings, such as energy-efficient windows, sealed doors, better insulation and roofing, and cooling and heating installations that would save energy. The success of this program garnered the issuance of a new tax credit system, which was recently set in place.

Renewable Energy Tax Credits

This new Residential Renewable Energy tax credit is similar to its predecessor, in that it shares a federal income tax reduction based on 30% of the cost of the energy system installed during the year, with one important difference: there is no maximum tax credit! This means that if you are willing to spend enough money on renewable energy systems next year, you could end up paying nothing in federal income taxes. This policy is geared towards larger investments in renewable energy such as solar energy systems (including electric systems as well as water heating systems), fuel cells, small wind energy systems, micro-turbines and geothermal heat pumps. Combine this new federal tax credit with the state and private subsidies available in many areas throughout the country, and in most cases you can harvest your own renewable energy for less than half of the un-subsidized price. This further decreases the time it takes to break even on your investment, which pays you back for every penny you save on grid electricity. This program is currently set to run until December 31, 2016, giving consumers plenty of time to take advantage of these great savings.

Looking Forward

The combination of government incentives and the rapidly expanding "green market” has created an environment that will foster the exponential growth of new and innovative renewable energy technologies now and in the future. This is an exciting time if you are tired of living on-the-grid, or are looking forward to spending more quality time on your land. We are in an age where living anywhere you want to, off-the-grid, independently, is becoming easier and easier to do, and at least until 2017, it's cheaper too!