Lake Martin Voice Realty
Archive for the 'New Construction' Category
A Typical StillWaters Neighbor at Lake Martin
I take Lake Martin wildlife pictures all over the lake, but I need to create a specific photo file for “Wildlife I Have Seen in StillWaters.” Lake Martin is a rural area, so animals coexist with lake lovers on all sides. StillWaters is a huge gated golf/lake community with on and off the water homes, townhouses and condos, and it seems that wildlife like the deer I spotted last week call it home, too.
This one was grazing on the side of the road as I drove to a new listing of mine in StillWaters, 100 Harbor Point Place Unit 613. If you look closely you can see the early formation of his antlers. It’s amazing how deer were created to blend in so well with their environment. You can barely see his back in the photo below:
If you like the idea of being in an established, gated golf and waterfront community, and enjoy neighbors of all kinds, StillWaters might be a good fit. If you’d like access to all StillWaters’ amenities, but prefer to leave the yard work and home maintenance to someone else, check out my listing, 100 Harbor Pointe Place Unit 613. It’s a 2 bed/2 bath off-the-water condo with a deeded boat slip, and it’s right across the street from Harbor Pointe Marina.
It’s currently listed for $131K – a great deal when you consider its location within StillWaters and all of the amenities owners can access.
Here’s one more parting shot of our friend and StillWaters neighbor. If you’re interested in homes or condos in StillWaters, or real estate anywhere on Lake Martin, give me a call at (334) 221-5862, or contact me by CLICKING HERE. I’d love to be your realtor.
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Extreme Sea Wall Failure Part 2: Rebuilding
In the first installment of this three part series (Extreme Seawall Failure at Lake Martin), we looked at a wooden sea wall in the Jacksons Gap area that had completely failed. Scott Henderson of Henderson & Coker Contractors in Alex City is rebuilding a new concrete seawall in its place, and he was nice enough to let me peek at the guts of this project. During the summer, when Lake Martin is at full, or nearly full pool, we only see the tops of these hugely important structures. There’s a lot going on beneath the surface, though, and winter is the time to check it out.
A lot of folks are surprised by the cost of a new seawall, and I think this video will give you an idea of why it’s so expensive, and what’s involved: a whole lot of work, and the kind of work that is best left to the experts. But if you do it right, like the homeowners of the wall under construction in this video, you won’t have to do it twice.
If you’re thinking about buying a waterfront home or lot on Lake Martin, it’s important to check out the condition of the existing sea wall, or get an estimate for a new sea wall. Home inspectors do not include sea walls in the scope of their inspections, so call a professional contractor and let him check it out for you. And, as always, you must contact Alabama Power for approval of ANY shoreline projects, including seawalls.
I’d love to help you find your Lake Martin home, so give me a call at (334) 221-5862, or click here to contact me, and let’s get to work!
Related Posts:
Extreme Sea Wall Failure on Lake Martin 2012
Lake Martin Concrete Sea Wall Construction 2011
Lake Martin Concrete Sea Wall Construction 2011 Part 2
Lake Martin Concrete Sea Wall Construction 2011 Part 3
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Extreme Sea Wall Failure on Lake Martin
This is a failed sea wall. No doubt about it. When the waters of Lake Martin are at full summer pool, structural problems like this may by hard to spot. But when the lake level is lowered in the winter, mayhem is revealed.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that winter is a great time to work on these issues. Henderson & Coker Contractors of Alex City have been hired to replace this failed wooden seawall with a concrete sea wall, and they’ve agreed to let me video the process. I followed a project of theirs in 2011 where they built a new seawall around a large peninsula that had never had a seawall. This time I thought it would be interesting to see how they deal with replacing an existing seawall.
Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of this series and I bet you’ll have a new appreciation for the importance of a seawall, and the importance of a professional sea wall installation. So much of the value of a Lake Martin waterfront property is tied to the dirt it sits on. It pays to get it right.
While I don’t build sea walls at Lake Martin, I do sell homes. I’d love to be your realtor, and I’d love to discuss Lake Martin real estate with you. Give me a call at (334) 221-5862, or CLICK HERE to contact me.
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Year Round, This Trillium Room Says, “Unwind”
Another favorite image from a LakeMartinVoice active listing . . . This time it’s 600 Trillium West Parkway on Lake Martin. This is the house I like to call the Garden and Gun home – a great mix of rustic and sophisticated on an awesome lot in Trillium.
We also just happened to have a huge price drop on this home. We just dropped the price $75,000 to $1,075,000. Someone will take advantage of this new price and get a great deal on this very cool home. If it sounds good to you, or anyone you know, please give me a call (334) 221-5862.
This image is the corner glass porch, lakeside, where the view of the sunset over Little Kowaliga is amazing. I cheated on the single image concept and added the actual sunset picture for you to admire as well. This unique room is as close as you can get to being outside while still comfortably indoors. Warm and cozy in the winter, air conditioned and humidity-free in warmer months.
CLICK HERE to see all the pictures and info for this listing, as well as the VIDEO TOUR of the property.
To learn more about Trillium, the Russel Lands gated development that this home is a part of, CLICK HERE.
If you’d like to know more about Lake Martin real estate, give me a call at (334) 221-5862, or click here to contact me anytime. I can help you with any property in the Lake Martin MLS, regardless of who has it listed. I’d love to help you find your sunset view, too.
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“Hey Honey! How Are You?”
Life is good in River Oaks. Lake Martin Voice clients, Liz and Glenn, bought a waterfront home in River Oaks about a year ago, and I went by to catch up and see the improvements they’ve made. Liz was kind enough to share why she loves River Oaks and the north lake area in general. She especially enjoys how kind folks around here can be . . .
If you’d like to know more about River Oaks, CLICK HERE to see my River Oaks Neighborhood page. Here you’ll find history on the development, maps, a video tour, and most importantly, a live feed from the MLS showing homes and lots currently for sale. I have Neighborhood pages for most of the neighborhoods and areas of Lake Martin, and they are great research tools. Look for the blue Neighborhoods button near the top of my website, right under the big picture.
If you have questions about River Oaks, or any area on Lake Martin, give me a call at (334) 221-5862, or click here to contact me. I’d love to talk Lake Martin with you, and I’d love to help you find your lake home!
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River Oaks Neighborhood Tour on Lake Martin
River Oaks is the northern-most Russell Lands waterfront development on Lake Martin. If you’re looking at a Lake Martin map, find the Highway 280 bridge (aka River Bridge), and go just south and east – that’s River Oaks.
Also, if you know where Lake Winds municipal golf course is in Jackson’s Gap, then you know where to find River Oaks. The entrance to River Oaks is across County Road 40 from Lake Winds, and both of these are less than a mile from Highway 280.
River Oaks is made up of several smaller neighborhoods: Columbine, Baywood, Mountain Laurel, and River Oaks.
On my River Oaks Neighborhood Page I generalize that people from the north or east of Lake Martin (Georgia, Tennessee, Birmingham) might like this development, but like everything at the lake, I can think of specific examples where this did not hold true. For instance, last year I sold a house in River Oaks to folks from Tampa, FL. They liked River Oaks because it is so close to Highway 280, and therefore a quick drive to Auburn.
There were a few foreclosed waterfront lots that sold over the past couple of years in River Oaks. I think this is because when the real estate slowdown hit, several local home builders owned several lots that were ultimately taken back by the bank. Most of the foreclosed lots have been sold and didn’t really have an overall effect on River Oaks or Lake Martin real estate in general.
If you’re interested in River Oaks, let me know! Just like any waterfront home, lot, or condo on Lake Martin, I can help you with it, regardless of who has it listed. I would love to be your real estate agent. CLICK HERE to contact me, or you can email me (info @ lakemartinvoice . com), or you can call me at (334) 221-5862.
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The Gates of Lake Martin
As a real estate agent here on Lake Martin, I get a lot of questions. Many of these questions are the basis for subjects on this blog. Recently, a buyer asked a really good one: She wanted to know which of the waterfront neighborhoods on Lake Martin are gated? I asked her, “What do you mean by gated? Like with a full time guard?” She said, “Well, that would be nice, if it’s not too expensive, but a gate with a coded entry would be nice too.”
That got me thinking. How many waterfront neighborhoods on Lake Martin are like this?
I can think of many neighborhoods that have a guard house, and a gate, but most of these have no person in the guard house and the gate is always open. In this buyer’s view, that doesn’t count. So I compiled a list, with links to the particular ones on my website’s Neighborhood Pages. If you would like to explore other neighborhoods, simply go to the “Neighborhoods” button that is below the big picture at the top, hover your cursor there, and a menu will pop up with different neighborhoods. Each page has a description, a video tour, and also a live link from the MLS with homes and lots for sale.
Here are the neighborhoods with full time guards. Click on each neighborhood’s name to go to the page:
Willow Point
or
or
Here are two neighborhoods with coded gates:
and
Pace’s Bluff is another ones that comes to mind, but I don’t have a Neighborhood page for it yet.
Do you know of any that I have omitted? Please comment below and let me know!
Just like any waterfront home, lot, or condo on Lake Martin, I can help you with it, regardless of who has it listed. I would love to be your real estate agent. CLICK HERE to contact me, or you can email me (info @ lakemartinvoice . com), or you can call me at (334) 221-5862
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Parker Creek “Neighborhood” on Lake Martin
When searching for waterfront homes in the Lake Martin MLS, you are bound to come across one of the areas on Lake Martin called Parker Creek. Parker Creek is not a formal neighborhood – it describes a very large area located on the northwest side of Lake Martin. It is in Coosa County, Alabama, and accessed by Coosa County roads. It gets its name from, you guessed it, Parker Creek, that once flowed into Big Kowaliga Creek before Martin Dam was constructed.
If you would like to see waterfront homes and lots for sale right now in the Parker Creek area, CLICK HERE to go to my Parker Creek Neighborhood page. I have a report that shows every waterfront home and lot for sale – by all agents, all brokerages, on Lake Martin. It pulls from the Lake Martin MLS so it will be current no matter when you visit the page.
Now, what you see in the map above includes a lot more than Parker Creek. When you use my website to search the MLS for current homes for sale in Parker Creek, you’ll notice I’ve also included Oakachoy Creek past the Narrows, The Needles Eye, and Pitchford Hollow. My fellow locals, especially, will call me crazy for including these micro-areas in a Parker Creek search. I agree, they are not technically on Parker Creek, but they are close enough. And I can’t break these searches into every tiny slough and hollow or I would have a million Neighborhood Pages for Lake Martin. Basically this search catches every waterfront home and lot that is north of Sand Island and not in Willow Point. If you are relatively new to Lake Martin, you won’t care about this trivia. Sticklers, please forgive me and see the above map.
As one of the older areas that were developed on Lake Martin, you’ll see large homes with character, and smaller homes built with fun on the lake in mind. This is because most of this land was once owned by Alabama Power who leased the land to homeowners who then built their own improvements. This program lasted from the 1950s to 1970s and resulted in a lot of little fish camp, rustic style homes. Then Alabama Power, over the course of many years, started selling each homeowner the lots underneath their waterfront homes. The Parker Creek area saw a renaissance of building as more people invested more heavily into their homes.
Parker Creek has slowly populated over time to include tiny cabins that are next to million dollar homes. There are no official neighborhoods here, but there are lots of small, winding county roads, both paved and dirt. Generally speaking, the lots in this area are a little bigger, more wooded, and less sloping, and the feel is more rural. (Of course I can always find the exception to that statement.)
Parker Creek Marina is located on the south side of the Parker Creek and has a gas dock, dry boat storage, ship’s store, and service facility. It’s independently owned, and is perfect for boat owners and their needs. Many people from the Little Kowaliga / Real Island area also use Parker Creek Marina since it’s so close to them by car.
Just like any waterfront home, lot, or condo on Lake Martin, I can help you with it, regardless of who has it listed. I would love to be your real estate agent. CLICK HERE to contact me, or you can email me (info @ lakemartinvoice . com), or you can call me at (334) 221-5862.
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Little Kowaliga “Neighborhood” on Lake Martin
Ok, so the Little Kowaliga area is not technically a neighborhood; rather it is a geographic area of waterfront homes on Lake Martin. It’s a way to talk about that branch of Lake Martin on the west side of the lake, north of Kowaliga Bridge, and around the corner west of Sinclair’s and Kowaliga Marina. Some people that grew up here or have had cabins on Lake Martin for 40 years may even argue with me for calling it Little Kowaliga. Lots of people refer to this area as the Real Island area, because Real Island Marina is the oldest marina in this area.
If you would like to see waterfront homes and lots for sale right now in the Little Kowaliga area, CLICK HERE to go to my Little Kowaliga Neighborhood page. I have a report that shows every waterfront home and lot for sale – by all agents, all brokerages, on Lake Martin. It pulls from the Lake Martin MLS so it will be current no matter when you visit the page.
The reason it’s called Little Kowaliga is because Little Kowaliga Creek once ran here before the lake was created by Martin Dam. It is close to Montgomery, and traditionally a lot of Montgomery families have had cabins in this area.
There aren’t really any formal neighborhoods in Little Kowaliga – no gated entrances with formal signs, no neighborhood pools, etc. Most waterfront homes in this area are located off of county roads. This is a section of Lake Martin where you can have a trailer next to a two million dollar home. It is similar to Parker Creek in that there are really no undeveloped lots left. When you see new construction on a waterfront lot in Little Kowaliga, odds are that person has torn down an old cabin or mobile home.
Driving directions and addresses can be wacky in this area. The county line separating Elmore and Coosa counties runs through Little Kowaliga, so you can have homes in the town of Equality that can be in either Elmore or Coosa County. As you drive the road on the north side of Little Kowaliga, road signs can switch from Elmore County to Coosa County, and then back again. Google Maps and GPS’s still haven’t figured out many of the streets, so it pays to combine them with a good physical map of Lake Martin, and good directions from a homeowner. Hancel Road, for example, is a road that runs in and out of both counties, and is spelled 3 or 4 different ways by street signs, Google, the MLS, and GPS’s.
If you’re looking for the “lake cabin at the end of the dirt road” experience, the Little Kowaliga area might be a good fit. To see homes currently for sale in the Little Kowaliga area, CLICK HERE. I’d love to help you find your Lake Martin home – in Little Kowaliga or anywhere on Lake Martin. Remember, I can help you with any property in the Lake Martin MLS, and it doesn’t cost the buyer a dime to have a realtor help you with your research and purchase. The sellers pay my commission.
If I can help, give me a call at (334) 221-5862, or email me by CLICKING HERE.
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The Harbor Neighborhood Tour on Lake Martin
The Harbor is a Lake Martin waterfront neighborhood tucked away on the south side of the lake, but very close to Chimney and Acapulco Rocks. It was developed around 2000, and is a short drive for folks from the Montgomery and Auburn sides of the lake. If you like being in the center of Lake Martin action, this neighborhood might be a good fit.
If you would like to see waterfront homes and lots for sale right now in The Harbor, CLICK HERE to go to my Harbor Neighborhood page. I have a report that shows every waterfront home and lot for sale – by all agents, all brokerages, on Lake Martin. It pulls from the Lake Martin MLS so it will be current no matter when you visit the page.
It’s basically one big slough with homes on both sides. Lots in The Harbor vary from gently sloping to steep as you can see in the video tour below:
The Harbor is across from The Ridge Marina by water, but if you’re looking to store your boat, you might try Anchor Bay Marina a little to the west of The Harbor. It would be a shorter drive by car, depending on the direction you’re coming from.
If you have more questions about The Harbor in general, or about a specific home for sale in The Harbor, give me a call at 334-221-5862, or CLICK HERE to contact me via email. I can talk about and show you any waterfront home in the Lake Martin MLS, regardless of who has it listed.
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