We who live in the Portage Lakes have become very much aware of the increase in the size of the local Double Crested ...

Just because it is cold outside does not mean that the fun stops on the waterfront in the Portage Lakes. Boat traffic has slowed or stopped. The leaves are down, giving us a larger unobstructed view. When the frost or snow is on the ground the whole area sparkles. It can be very quiet.

Once the ice forms and is found to be thick enough, the activity begins to increase. We start to see snowmobiles, all ...

You have all heard the acronym K.I.S.S., with the various definitions of what it means. My definition for real estate is Keep It Super Simple.

The KISS approach ensures that my clients will find that buying a home is as easy as it can be.

I promise to do the research, to keep you informed of any changes, and to walk you through the educational and buying process.

This is especially true for my lakefront prospects because finding the perfect lakefront home involves a greater degree of familiarization and education than what is needed for many other home buying situations.

For lakefront buyers I start my KISS program by having my clients read my blog entries on lakefront criteria and waterfront ecology. This gives them the hyper condensed and accelerated version of what I have learned over many years of lakefront living, buying, and selling.

The KISS process doesn’t end with the closing. My lakefront buyers receive my booklet jam packed with information about the area, the amenities, and the local services.

To learn more, go to my website at 

www.TomMcCombs.com or my blogsite at blog.PortageLakesLakefront.com 

   Goldfinch & sunflowers

For most lakefront property owners, entertaining in the summertime means taking guests on a cruise of the lakes. This summer we seem to be entertaining more than the usual number of people who are not familiar with the Portage Lakes.  

As usual, most of them were interested in the prices of the houses they liked, and almost everyone was amazed at the range of prices and how high the sold prices have been on what they felt were lower end properties. Well, such is real estate on the Portage Lakes – you pay a steep price for the privilege of waterfront living bordering a state park. 

The reasons are varied for why lakefront homes cost so much more than comparable non-lakefront houses in neighboring areas. The most obvious one being that it is one of the few areas where you can walk out your door onto your own boat dock on a lake that is part of a state park that is only minutes away from several major metropolitan areas. 

The most desirable properties are located on three major interconnecting lakes, West Reservoir, East Reservoir, and Turkeyfoot Lake. Directly attached to these three lakes are four inlets that are large enough to be referred to as  Rex Lake, Mud Lake, Miller Lake, and Cottage Groove Lake. All of these interconnected lakes are commonly referred to as the “main chain” of boating lakes.  

There are 5 other lakes in the Portage Lakes State Park system and they are connected in various non-navigable ways because of the different elevations of each lake. The properties around these lakes vary in price but generally are not nearly as expensive as those on the “main chain” and are generally referred to as “fishing lakes”.  These are Summit Lake, Nesmith Lake, Long Lake, North Reservoir, and the largest of all of the lakes, Nimisila Lake. Nimisila is a favorite of many sailboaters.

All combined there is a total of 2043 acres of water in the Portage Lakes State Park system.

Another factor in the high property values is the many recreational opportunities including, excellent fishing, and swimming, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, and camping. On the ice In the winter time there is ice fishing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling and “four- wheeling”.

For nature lovers there is the joy of watching the great variety of birds, including ducks, geese, herons, hawks, kingfishers, ospreys, and even the occasional eagle. Since the lakes are on a migration route for waterfowl, for a few short days each year you will see a variety of migratory ducks, geese, and even loons on their way north or south.

Another factor in the higher property value is that most lakefront property owners are in a secure enough financial position that they do not need to sell, so they can hold out for their price. Many are only willing to sell so that they can upgrade to an even more expensive lakefront property. In few situations will you find a sense of urgency to sell.

All of this added to the limited number of lakefront homes on the market at any one time ensures that there has not been the same kind of drastic fluctuation in price evident in most other area markets.

My previous entry in this series I discussed the possibility that your pet might drown. Now let’s talk about the dangers associated with waterfowl. Ducks, swans, and Canada geese are probably not something that you would have thought of adding to your “Dangerous to Pets” list. But when you live next to a body of water, the danger is real and persistent.

The water birds are fun to watch while they remain in the water, but are not so much fun when they foul your yard, seawall, and dock. A single Canada goose can produce a pound or more of goose poo per day, so imagine what a flock of 10 geese can make your yard look like. It can make it difficult to walk in your yard or on your dock. The poo can get tracked onto your boat and into your house.

Some dogs seem to love the stuff. As unappetizing as that sounds, dogs are not known for their discretion when it comes to snacking on found “delicacies”. I tell my wife that our Welsh Corgi, Maxie gobbles up anything that looks or smells like it just might be food, knowing that if it turns out that it is not food he can always throw it later up on our carpet.

Since the waterfowl poo can carry Salmonella, E-coli, and Listeria it may cause gastrointestinal problems if ingested. Eating the poo can make your pets very sick and in the case of very small dogs like our neighbor’s Maltese mix, it could even kill them.

Another unrecognized danger comes from the graceful and beautiful swans everyone loves to see. These are huge birds that may try to protect what they consider to be their territory. They often drive off ducks and geese and have even been known to attack boaters and swimmers. Luckily the swans seem to stay out of yards that have dogs.  

The danger comes from how they float just off shore in what appears to me to be an attempt to get the dogs to jump into the water after them. Since they are very powerful birds they can easily drown a dog that is foolish enough to be so provoked.

 Waterfront owners go to great lengths to try to keep the ducks, geese and swans off of their property. You will see ropes with dangling mylar strips, low fences stretched across waterfronts, and strategically placed whirlygigs. Some owners shoot off air guns, or spray the birds with garden hoses. None of these methods are very effective.



    (I am waiting to see how the fake coyote is going to work out.)

We feel that we have the best solution in our Corgi, Maxie. Before Maxie was a year old I taught him that the words “Duck, Duck, Goose” meant that he was to chase the ducks and geese out of the yard and into the water. Since Corgis are herding dogs it really didn’t take much effort on my part. Maxie take his job very seriously and sits on our second story deck watching for any potential waterfowl trespassers. Thanks to Maxie our yard, seawall and dock stay almost entirely poo free.

To read more about Maxie check out my previous blog entry “Duck, Duck, Goose”. For more information on controlling geese go to link below for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources at http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Portals/9/pdf/pub408.pdf Take note that in the list of hints it specifically advises that you stop fertilizing your yard and that you do not feed the geese.

In my two previous postings in this series, I wrote about how we should minimize our own personal “footprints” on this earth.I discussed the impact of defective septic systems leaching into adjacent bodies of water, which in our case is the Portage Lakes system.

Now we will look at another source of lake water pollution.

Many people work hard ...

This is part two in the series on the ecological concerns related to living near a body of water.

As I wrote previously, we hear a lot about our own personal “footprints” on this earth, and how we should minimize our negative impact.Living near water it is crucial that your septic system be in good working condition and in compliance with governmental health standards.

Everyone knows that kids and water can lead to disaster, but many do not consider the danger it presents for pets.

Unlike young children, dogs and even cats are born knowing how to swim. But it is not the swimming itself that's the concern. Those of us who live in waterfront properties know that very often the lake frontage has a seawall keeping the land and the water separate. Often these seawalls are more than thirty inches high.

If your pet falls or jumps in the water there may be a real issue with getting back out. A large dog with long legs may have no problem – but a short legged dog could be in serious trouble.

Twenty five years ago my wife had two older Chinese Chow Chows that refused to even go near the lakefront, and they didn’t even enjoy riding in the boat so we never had to think about the danger to them.  After the chows died Mary got two Standard Poodles who also disliked the water even though they were supposed to be water dogs -- they were even equipped with webbed feet. But while they detested the water they loved to ride in the boat. They made very regal figures sitting on the two front seats of our pontoon boat and never made any attempt to jump out of the boat after the ducks.  

When we moved into our present house, the dogs had their own lower level room with a doggie door that opened into our fenced yard. Since the poodles disliked water, we did not fence across the lakefront because we did not worry about their jumping into the water.

When the poodles died from old age, we got two Pembroke Welsh Corgis. These are dwarf-type dogs with lots of enthusiasm. They get excited and react before they think it through, sort of like how kids do.

Maxie’s first swim came when he got very excited about the invasive aquatic weeds that Mary was raking in from the lake. He lunged for the dangling weeds and landed in the water. Corgis can swim, but these are not the Michael Phelps of dogs. Maxie dog paddled furiously and finally made it to the seawall. At that point we discovered that there was no way he could climb out. So Mary had to haul him out by his collar.

You would have thought that he would have learned from this, but no, his enthusiasm sent him right back in the lake at the very next rake full of sea weeds. But this time, he started swimming parallel to the wall looking for a place to get out. Unbeknownst to him, he would have been swimming for a very long time before he would have found a way out in the direction he had headed.

Had Maxie started swimming in the opposite direction he might have discovered the steps that reach down into the lake.  Since we do not want to fence the lakefront in the summer, we figured that we needed to teach Maxie where the steps were. So Mary picked Maxie up and gently tossed him into the water in front of the steps. Maxie came up mad as a “wet dog.”  Mary kept calling him until he came to her and discovered that he could climb up the steps.  Mary tossed him into the lake again, and he headed for the steps on his own.

Later that summer, he slid off the end of the dock in a frenzied attempt to heard some geese back in to the water. Maxie remembered his lesson and then headed right for the steps.

If a waterfront home is in your future, keep in mind that you will need to protect not only little kids, but also your pets. Watch for the second section in this series of blog posts which will take a look at the danger presented by waterfowl such as ducks, geese, and swans.

To read more about Maxie, check out his website at www.MaxieTheWonderDog.com ; also read some of his amusing blog postings at http://blog.MaxieTheWonderDog.com.

In previous entries I have discussed my criteria for selecting a particular waterfront property. In this series I will take a look at the ecological concerns related to living near a body of water.

We hear a lot about our own personal “footprints” on this earth, and how we should minimize our negative impact.Living near water, we can make a huge difference in the quality of that water by what we do.

In my previous postings I wrote about the location of the sun, parking, lot characteristics, and construction quality. My final criterion for finding the perfect Portage Lakes waterfront home is the lake zone in front of your home.

The whole portage lakes system is designated as a "no wake" zone in all areas outside of the two designated speed zones. Although the limit goes up to 400 horsepower for your boat motor, the speed at which you may go is restricted to driving slowly enough so that you do not leave a wake.

In a "no wake" zone docking is easier and less complicated. You can easily see who is boating by, and you do not have to put up with the roar and wash from speeding boats. However you will have boaters slowly floating by who are checking out your property and looking in your windows at night. Fisherman will be casting their lines under your dock and boat.

In an area where properties face one of the speed zones life is different. You will have noise to contend with during the hours when speeding and skiing are allowed. You will need to have more secure means of stabilizing your docked boat to protect it from the wake. The advantages are that you are on a wider area of the lake with a more expansive view, and you do not need to boat for fifteen or twenty minutes to travel to the speed zone.

Myself, I like the quieter more intimate no-wake zone way of life.

Watch for further postings on waterfront living. For more information on the Portage Lakes area, email me at

Tom@TomMcCombs.com or call at 330-644-2413.