Pros vs Cons ownig a Cabin

laszlo

laszlo

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It's always been a dream of mine to own a cabin along a fine trout stream. Step out the back door and you're right on the stream. Sit on the deck with a cold one and watch the trout rise. Something about an hour or two from home, some where to get away but not too far. I'd like to hear from some cabinowners to hear what it's REALLY like. I could only imagine the up keep and work weekends, plus the expense. Is it worth it in the end?
 
There is maintenance, complying with DCNR regs for cabins, if your's is on SF land, Worrying about break ins mowing, keep the trees and under cover away from the building. Liability, this is 2 sided, if our land is open to fishing you should be good, but carry it anyway, if you land s not open then you definately need liability Isn. and probably more than you would if your land is open. Check on it though.
One other thing, trees come down and if the roof is damaged, you'll need to fix it asap or everything rots.
I don't own a cabin now, but belong to a club that owns one on SF land and that's some of what I've learned.
 
How much time will you spend there each year? 60 days? You can rent o motel room for about $50/night, costing you $3,000 for the year. Add another grand for food, or cook out with a portable grill and camping equipment and save a few bucks. Never wash the sheets. Then again, there is the convenience of not lugging equipment around and the ability to have guests.

I would say it all depends upon what you are after.

However, if you are going to make it to camp less the 10 weekends a year, you are probably better off not buying something permanent, or at least going in with a couple others and time-sharing it.
 
Regarding the stream-side part. Make sure your cabin is not in the floodplain.

Many cabins are in the floodplains. Which means that they get flooded. Cleaning up after a flood, and paying for the damages, is no fun.

Be really sure about being above flood level. It can be much higher than you might expect.

During some of the floods, the waters have been 6 feet above the level of the floodplain.


 
Would never sell my cabin, which is located on top of a mountain about 1 mile from Kettle Creek. DON'T buy one with other members, unless you want to clean up after your nephew, etc. Loved my brother dearly, but after he passed away a few years ago I have a lot of crap to deal with, like doing all the work while it's treated like a frat house.

Another down side: your paradise may be lost down the road. The stream may degrade and/or the fishing pressure may increase. Both of these things happened in the Kettle Creek basin. The plus side is it acts as a home base for a lot of NC streams.

All that being said, I still love cabin life, a lot more to it than just the fishing. Campfires, hiking, weeks away from phones and traffic; bears, ravens, turkeys, barred owls, etc.
 
I've never had any desire to buy a fishing camp. And mainly because I like to fish so many different areas of the state. There are just so many nice trout streams out there, and I like going to certain ones for different seasons and hatches. Plus, I really would get kinda bored going to one place over and over again.
Throw in the expense and upkeep - no thanks.
 
Well, it depends how much work you want to put into it. If you want a modest place, you can set it up so there isn't all that much work. Put in the right grass types and it's about 3 or 4 trips per summer to mow, which you were probably going to make anyway to fish.

Overall, every couple of years there's a true work weekend at our camp. And that's typically when something big goes wrong that needs fixed. That's about it. We all clean up after ourselves each trip (sweep the floor, etc). If something needs fixed, you fix it. Furniture, TV's, etc. are hand-me downs from homes. Anytime anything useful would be sold at a yard sale or thrown out, you simply ask whether camp could use it.

The worst thing is costs. Most bills have a minimum fee. For instance, we have electricity, but pay way more than we use. Minimum monthly fee even if we use zero! We have oil heat, but figure we might as well run electric heaters since they don't add to costs.

Regarding the "on a trout stream" though. I'd say forget about that. For one, that same section of trout stream gets VERY boring after a little while, IMO. I'm the type that loves to fish a lot of different waters. Second, it's a heck of a lot more expensive. And third, you got flood plain issues, more concerns about people on your property, etc. Just pick a good general region of the state, and find a good cabin in that area. It doesn't have to be RIGHT on the stream.
 
I've thought about wanting this as well. Those paintings of cabins right next to the meandering stream really make it worse. After a lot of thought like said above I feel it's better to find a place located in an area of good fishing and have many streams within an hours drive to fish. Might even find one with a little brook and you can have the gurgling water sounds.
 
Be cautious of future development. Our family camp is currently condemmed. Local development has required us to tap in to sewage. Our cabin is dry and it would require a pump station and a great distance of sewage lines. The cost of doing this would be astronomical, so we declined to hook up (We did pay the hook up fee though). Because of this, the township made us fill in the privy and we are forbidden from using the cabin structure for anything other than storage. Additionally, the small lake it sits on will be drained in 2015, if we, and the other cabin/home owners cannot come up with the $250k in dam repairs required by the EPA. Think about the future carefully before pulling the trigger on a cabin.
 
I find it is much cheaper to have a little brother who lives on a trout stream.

I've thought about owning one and even looked into it, but with all the bills and the worries that go along with cabin ownership including break-ins, and the fact that I wouldn't be able to use it more than maybe 10 weekends a year and maybe one or two weeks, we decided against it. Hotels and cabin rentals are cheaper.


Then when my little brother bought a place on a trout stream...I bought a farm that has everything I need cept for a trout stream.;-)
 
If you can afford the costs, it's pretty nice. I view mine as a retirement fund as I am self employed and have no pension, so the monthly costs I consider my IRA. The memories my family have shared in the cabin are priceless.
 
laszlo wrote:
It's always been a dream of mine to own a cabin along a fine trout stream. Step out the back door and you're right on the stream. Sit on the deck with a cold one and watch the trout rise. Something about an hour or two from home, some where to get away but not too far. I'd like to hear from some cabinowners to hear what it's REALLY like. I could only imagine the up keep and work weekends, plus the expense. Is it worth it in the end?

Are you kidding me? Yes, it's worth it.
 
I'm fortunate enough to come into a cabin. Our family purchased the land in Potter in the 40s, finished building it in the 50s, is chartered w/ the state as a hunting club (only family members can be members), and we all pay about $100 a year. That, plus donations from guests and stuff, usually covers our expenses. Plus, our family is pretty big and we have a lot of fix-it guys, so if stuff breaks, repairs aren't as bad as it would be if you had to pay someone to do it. We have two work weekends a year, and every now and again we have to all pay a little extra to do a big repair (replaced the oil furnace w/ gas this year, I think each member had to come up w/ an extra $30 or something. Last year we had to have a tree guy come and take down a tree that could have fallen on the cabin, stuff like that).

We aren't along a trout stream....but there are about a dozen w/in 20 minutes!
 
The_Sasquatch wrote:

Plus, our family is pretty big and we have a lot of fix-it guys, so if stuff breaks, repairs aren't as bad as it would be if you had to pay someone to do it.

I'm trying to picture multiple Sasquatches all working on the same ceiling fan. :p

Newer people won't understand that one.;-)
 
Breakins...My parents neighbor's cabin has been broken into several times up Kettle Creek. Its in a very well traveled open area which I would think would deter burglers but not the case. They even have to chain the furniture down on the porch. I'd be paranoid that its being broken into while I'm not there. I'd rather have a camper I think.
 
For an old guy, FD, your memory is remarkable! I even forgot about the ceiling fan debacle. I'm getting another one for my dining room soon...let the fun continue!

We don't have ceiling fans in the cabin though.

As per breaking in, our cabin was broken into once over the past 55+ years. Unfortunately, the crook stole some valuable records (we have an old Victrola). I think being near the state popo helps our situation.
 
Our cabin had a minor rash of break-ins. No theft, just looked like they were using it as a cabin. But they broke a window and climbed through to get in, and didn't know how to prime the water system so the toilet was, umm, full.

After it happened the 2nd time, we lined broadheads along the inside of the window they were using. Sure enough, on the next trip up, blood on the broadheads. And that's when we found out who it was.

My uncle's brother, essentially a black sheep in the family at that time, had to get stitches in his hand. All he had to do was ask!

We of course have now given him a key and taught him to prime the water system. Haven't had an issue since.
 
Pat that sounds like the method used by folks whos cabins are being jacked by sasquatches! DNA evidence pending...

I lied about not having a trout stream on the property. At the head of our lane, there's a little trickle. I mean, in the summer its dried up 50% of the time, it only really flows if there's been some rain in the area. My brother and I would often times go down there to catch crawfish. When I was 7 and my brother was 5, we came up to the cabin w/ a small fish in a cup that we scooped up in the stream. My dad looked at the fish and said, "That's a native brook trout!" First native I ever caught haha!
 
I bought a camp when I was 22, had no running water, and no electricity. The wife and daughter would not go there very often maybe once a year. Upgraded a couple of years later. The problem was that I was so busy at that age I rarely used it. Now that I am 34 I see my family and I using it more and more. As a matter of fact we were there the last two weekends, and my wife and I were talking about how glad we were that we bought it when we did.

I am also lucky enough to be the sole owner of the camp and thus don't have some of the problems that I see other multiple owner have. Argument about weekends, their kids having parties and trashing it, people not paying dues, who will get the camp when members die, ect.

My camp is only 15 minutes from my house but is in the middle of nowhere. If it were an hour or two away, it would never get used enough. That's the way people around here do it. Everyone has camps that are within 15-20 minutes, but we have the luxury of living right next to the wilderness.

There are pros and cons to being a camp owner but I'd do it again.

 
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