Buy theshorelinenot just the house.
What you are actually buying
A shorelineis a system.
The house is the part you can inspect. The rest — bluff geology, dune designation, riparian rights, permit history, what the lake did in 1986 and what it will do next decade — sits outside a standard inspection entirely. That is the part that decides what your property is worth in twenty years, and it is the part we read first.
- Read before the offer
- Dune and erosion mapping, FEMA flood, county GIS parcel history.
- Read before closing
- Septic and well records, EGLE permits, riparian and access language in title.
What you can look for
6 searches · Waterfront
- 01
Lake Michigan homes
Bluff, dune and beach frontage
- 02
Inland lake homes
All-sports and no-wake water
- 03
Riverfront
Grand, Kalamazoo and beyond
- 04
Deep-water docks
Yacht and large-boat moorage
- 05
Waterfront condominiums
Harbor and channel living
- 06
Vacant waterfront land
Build sites with water rights
Diligence
Asked before
you commit.
The purchase is the easy part. These are the questions Rennie works through with every waterfront buyer — before the offer, not after the surprise.
- 01
Is the bluff stable, and is the home in a critical dune or high-risk erosion area?
- 02
Can the shoreline legally be protected — seawall, riprap, beach nourishment?
- 03
Are the water rights private, shared, deeded or merely assumed?
- 04
Is the water deep enough for your boat, and are docks even permitted?
- 05
What do NOAA's lake-level cycles mean for this beach in five years?