The dead of winter is not normally a robust time for people to be looking for lake front property, however I am fielding a few inquires, and I was out with a couple last weekend looking at a few properties. We looked at one on Hunter Lake. Some pictures and info are below.
I've always liked Hunter Lake. It has a different feel to it then a lot of other lakes here in Sullivan County. It has a nice mixture of Adirondack and blue collar. There is a really nice campground at one end of the lake, and a few beach areas where non lakefront owners can access the water. They do allow motorboats and jet skis, so during the day the lake is pretty livley, but they have wake restrictions in the evening.
It is the kind of lake where families have been going for generations, and an August weekend evening in 2012 is really not that different than one in 1973. Park Lane on the back side of the lake is a dirt road with smaller homes and cabins that dot either side of it. There are some newer houses there, but most are of the cabin variety. Cabins with screened in porches and picnic tables. On a summer weekend those porches host a variety of activites–from a quiet evening with a good book to a spirited game of Scrabble with the kids. Kids with summer tans and mosquito bites. I'm sure as evening falls over the lake, an observer would have a difficult time determining which decade it is. Timeless. And how apropos–because when you are there that is the one thing that you stop paying attention to. Time.
There are a few homes for sale on Hunter, but this one is a new favorite of mine. Now it is a seasonal. The plumbing under the house is exposed, making it unusable in the winter, but more importantly making it MUCH more difficult to finance. Banks are leary of seasonal homes. I know a few that will lend on them, but with more money down, and higher interest rates. However it is lakefront for under 150K. Even with the downturn this is rare. 
Hi ,
I had seen this house but did not know that it was 3 season. Do you know what it would cost to winterize it?
Are there other major functional or cosmetic issues. Is there a road between the house and the lake?
Thanks for your response,
Janet
Janet,
There is a road between the cabin and the house, but it is dirt road that dead ends just a few more houses down, so throught traffic would be quite sparse. Its tough to guess on what it would cost to fully winterize. Some cabins like this it just isn't worth it, because you are dealing with older pipes and a house that has been built on blocks. I would ball park it in the 20K range to do it right.