ABSOLUTE BEST VALUE on the Portage Chain

11851 Portage Lake Ave

Pinckney, MI 48169

$224,900 OBO

WAY BELOW APPRAISAL
WITH HOME WARRANTY
CLOSE IN JUNE 2009

FOR FREE BOATLIFT
Phone Denise: 866-340-9010

FOR SHOWING TODAY

Listed with Greater Michigan Realty LLC, Denise Moody, Agent, 734-558-6336
Realcomp 28126002, Ann Arbor Board 2808950

Pack your cooler and hop in the boat. Now is your time to enjoy the 9-lake Portage Chain. There’s absolutely nothing left to do in this totally updated, spotless, smoke-free home. Park 9 cars (2½ car garage & driveway). Nicely landscaped yard with large deck right on the water. Be in this impressive home to enjoy this summer and many more to come.

See more photos and photo descriptions on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boating-and-fishing/sets/72157594323231800/
(FLICKR PHOTOS HAVE DESCRIPTIVE CAPTIONS)




VIRTUAL TOUR (CLICK BELOW)
http://www.flyinside.com/tour.php?id=3735

Virtual Tour also is available on Realtor.com

WELCOME to our affordable, SMOKE-FREE waterfront home.

This will mark the seventh year that we have lived here. We remodeled this house extensively during the first 18 months. During remodeling, we kept two major goals before us.

Since we are senior citizens, we wanted to be sure that the remodeling and the materials chosen would be the best quality and last us, perhaps for the rest of our lives.

Price & Value - BELOW APPRAISAL
Since the 2007 housing market was slow, we hired an independent certified appraiser just to be sure that we were pricing it right. That May 2007 appraisal came in at $290,000.

Today's selling price was adjusted lower accordingly, to reflect existing market conditions. You can examine the appraisal when you visit our property. We also can provide a copy for your bank to review.

Our house appraised in 2004 for $295,000. We ordered that appraisal, because our insurance company needed proof to justify an increase in the insurance that would reflect the many thousands that we had spent on remodeling.

Property Dimensions & Features
More O-P-E-N S-P-A-C-E surrounds our house than almost any other affordable waterfront property on the Portage Chain of Lakes.
● Property Size: 100-ft (on Portage Lake Ave) by 97-ft waterfront (on canal to Portage Lake)
● Parking on pavement for 8-9 cars (2 in garage and 6-7 on asphalt driveway)
● Motorhome parking space on asphalt driveway between garage and canal (motorhome dump-drain also in driveway)
● NOT SQUEEZED IN – by other surrounding properties Note the large amounts of open space around us on the aerial photo in this brochure.
● 150-ft open space on the canal front side (width of canal, plus the neighbor’s canal lot (too narrow to build on), plus the width of Cardinal St.)
● Front of our house faces a treed, steep hillside that has not been developed. Most likely, nobody will ever build on that lot.
● 98-ft open, treed lot behind our house (Adjoining lakefront owner uses that lot for parking and storage of boats and docks.)
● 42-ft to cedar-sided house on other side

The House – Room Dimensions
3 bedroom 1-story ranch w/ one bath and 2-car detached garage
Total Square Feet: 1396, Property ID: 15-31-302-013
Lot size: 100 x 97 (waterfront) or .22 acres
Living Room: 15.5 x 14, Kitchen: 12 x 8
DINING: 12 x 8, Family Room: 12 x 21.5
Master Bedroom: 14 x 11.5, Bedroom 2: 14 x 10
Bedroom 3: 11 x 10
Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen come together as Great Room. First floor laundry.
Built on crawl space, as are nearly all surrounding waterfront homes.

Taxes & Fees Property I.D. 15-31-302-013
Association Dues $90 (for road maintenance)
Hamburg Twp. taxes will be based at 2008 homestead level until May, 2009.

Canalfront - 97 feet waterfront
● Wood Patio Deck 20-ft x 14-ft
● Boat load/unload dock 10-ft x 56-in (both decks run 30 feet along the water)
● Covered (Sunbrella) Boat Lift (RG Marine brand) is cable style, so boat can be raised high until it is tucked up under the canopy for protection.
● New cables & pulleys, 2005 and Lift Mate motor, July, 2003
● Hard-packed gravel boat ramp for loading and unloading trailer boats anytime 24/7 from your own yard

House Interior
We gave the house a “modern facelift” by creating a cathedral ceiling Great Room concept by integrating the living room, dining and kitchen areas. Color themes carried over the transition to the Florida Room, which also has a vaulted ceiling.

● ALL interior drywall and doors were painted white
● Window sills: White marble sills throughout, varnished cedar sills in Florida Room
● Wall-to-wall Mohawk carpeting in living room, hallway, all bedrooms and closets.

Florida Room/Family Room
● Natural knotty cedar tongue-n-groove wood walls and natural cedar shoe moldings and door trim (no paneling)
● Armstrong Nature's Gallery Laminate Flooring (L6505 Bronzine) w/ 25-yr warranty
● National Gypsum Gridstone Suspended Ceiling Panels (odorless, mold free, drywall squares)
● Johns Manville, formaldehyde-free, fiberglass insulation batts above ceiling panels
● Williams direct vent wall furnace. (We stay warm if electric power goes out in cold weather,. The rest of the house has forced air heat and central airconditioning.)

Kitchen/Dining Area
● Birch Cabinets - We kept the birch kitchen cabinets that already were in the house, because we liked the real wood-grain doors.

● Armstrong Laminate Flooring (L6510 – Nature’s Gallery Fredericksburg Cherry Natural) w/ 25-yr warranty

● Amana refrigerator, July 2004
● Moen faucet & sprayer, lifetime warranty
● Whirlpool built-in dishwasher, 1996
● Whirlpool electric freestanding range, self-cleaning oven, Aug. 1995.
● Sharp Microwave, built-in over stove, 2002

Utility/Laundry Room
● Armstrong Marmorette natural linoleum, Bamboo Tan

● Fiberglass laundry tub & floor drain for potential laundry room mishaps
● Ceiling light also has powerful exhaust fan.
● Floor hatch access into crawl space
● Furnace, water heater, washer and dryer are here in this utility room.

Bathroom
● Price Pfister faucets, lifetime warranty
● Two ceiling vent fans, never had mold anywhere
● Armstrong Marmorette natural linoleum, Beige Parchment,

● Water softener, owned, in linen closet. Softener works great. No rust stains. Look at the sinks, tub and toilet for proof.
● We use K-life in the softener brine tank (potassium – not sodium)
● All faucets, toilet, drains, shower head and shower door were replaced during remodeling.

Bedrooms
● Master Bedroom overlooks the canal and deck.
● Second Bedroom has ceiling fan, household electric panel and an access hatch inside the closet to the rear area of the crawl space.
● Guest Bedroom has ceiling fan
● Mirrored sliding closet doors in all bedrooms

● All bedroom meet the legal description requirement with built-in closets and exterior egress windows.

Whole House
● All floors were refastened during remodeling with screw gun before any flooring was installed.
● The perimeter seams of all floors were caulked with long-life outdoor caulk to prevent any stuff (like spiders) from entering the house through the perimeter floor seams that remain as open gaps in most other houses.
● Gaps at thru-floor pipes and hoses were sealed to prevent anything (like spiders) from entering house.

Mechanicals
● New furnace, July, 2003
● Whole house humidifier on furnace
● New central air, July 2003
● Amana refrigerator, July 2004
● Maytag Washer, Dec. 2004
● Maytag Dryer, April 1996
● Whirlpool Electric Water Heater, 2002
● Sears remote garage door opener
● 5-in private well
● Honeywell programmable thermostat for furnace and air conditioner
● Community sewer, all assessments paid
● Natural gas from Consumers Energy
● Electric from DTE
● Telephone from AT&T
● Cable (TV and Internet) from Charter Communications
● Refuse pickup from Superior Sanitation, $33 for 3 months
● Private road grading, chloride treatment and snow removal by homeowner’s association for $90 dues
● Hamburg Twp. Police and Fire with Livingston County Sheriff backup

Exterior
● Windows – all are double-insulated
● Gutters and downspouts, August 2003
● Garage roof, October 2002
● House roof, May 2007
● Garage door, 1993
● Asphalt driveway and sidewalk, Oct. 2002. Black sidewalk helps keep snow melted off.
● Paving stone patio at rear door for barbeque grill 11.5-ft x 9.5-ft
● Storage shed 10-ft x 12.5-ft
● Exterior painted, July 2003, with Sherwin Williams Duration, LIFETIME GUARANTEE (better than any other siding guarantees we could find)

Location & Driving Directions
We are in the southwest corner of Hamburg Township, approximately 3 miles south of M-36 off of McGregor Rd, between Fox Pointe St. and Second St.

Turn onto Fox Pointe off McGregor, go two blocks and turn left immediately at the bottom of the hill onto Portage Lake Ave. (Some truck knocked the street sign down. Look for a yellow sign on a tree.)

Then, go to the second block on your right. Our house is the gray house on the short canal that is perpendicular to Portage Lake Ave. The house is located between Rabbit Track and Cardinal Streets. Putnam Twp. begins at Rabbit Track. If you drive along McGregor toward Dexter-Pinckney Road, within a couple minutes you are in Washtenaw County.

Portage Chain of Lakes
The Portage Chain offers nine lakes that are connected by Huron River canals.
● Big Portage Lake, the largest lake in the Chain, is where we live.
● Little Portage Lake, one of the smallest lakes in the Chain, is accessible thru a canal that goes under Dexter-Pinckney Road.
● From Portage Lake, boats can go under either of two bridges to the Huron River and go north to Baseline Lake. Following the Huron River canals, you can get to Tamarack Lake, Whitewood Lake, Gallagher Lake, Strawberry Lake, and Zukey Lake.

Smaller boats can continue cautiously up the river to Ore Lake. Another option with a canoe or kayak is to portage over the dam just downstream from Portage Lake and float down the Huron River, which can go all the way to Ann Arbor.

There is a DNR launch on Big Portage Lake (open 8 am to 10 pm) that accommodates approximately 30 boat trailers, so the amount of boats entering from the public launch is minimal.

Aerial Lake Photos: http://www.mlswa.org/PBWOA-105/new_page_2.htm

GREAT FISHING!!!
All of the lakes and river channels offer fishing for a variety of fish, including bluegill, rock bass, crappie, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. Some perch and walleye are caught occasionally. http://huronriver.pinckneymich.net/

People Enjoy the Portage Lake Chain
If you had to characterize the Portage Chain, it is best known as a mecca for pontoon boats.

Many residents enjoy leisurely touring the lakes and river canals, which can take up to two hours from one end of the Chain to the other. Combine that four hour round trip ride with some swimming, rafting with friends on sandbars, and you can enjoy a relaxing day on the water.

Others may prefer to enjoy water sports like sailing, water skiing and jet skiing. On the Portage Chain, you’ll find it all.

But fortunately, with all the lakes and river canals available on the Portage Chain, there seems to be enough space available for everybody to enjoy their leisure time on the water, unlike solitary lakes where all you can do is go round-and-round the same lake all day, every day.

The 4th of July fireworks celebration on Portage Lake is a feature attraction during every summer. We prefer to avoid the crowd near the marina and go straight across the lake from our canal and anchor near the opposite shoreline to view the fireworks.

The Portage Chain is patrolled by Livingston County, Washtenaw County and the Michigan DNR, so safer boating is assured.

AERIAL PHOTOS

This is an aerial photo of the Livingston County portion of Portage Lake. The lake is approximately one mile long, so this photo is extremely reduced. The red dot marks where our house is located.














Our house and garage (lighter gray roofs) are in the lower left of the photo. Note how much open space exists around the house. Most other waterfront properties do not have this much open space.

The dark triangle at the top left of the photo is Portage Lake, so you can get out on the lake from our canal in a little more than 200 feet. This is a very private, quiet canal. Look at all the other crowded canals in the other aerial photo of the lake.

What does this mean to you? Long canals mean slow put-put, no-wake speeds, until you get out onto the lake. Also, more noises and exhaust fumes will pass by your house every time all of the boaters in those long canals start up their engines to motor past your house.

(The large diagonal white shape at the back corner of our house is our motorhome.)

There are several Portage Lakes in Michigan. To be clear, this Portage Lake is located in Hamburg Township, Livingston County, Pinckney, Michigan.


Correction: The "red" line including the Portage Chain
came out purple on Google blog somehow. (Sorry)


DISCLAIMER: Any final sales transaction will be supervised by a licensed realtor or real estate attorney, retained by the Sellers, to assure that everything from purchase agreement to closing will be done correctly, even if the buyer does not have their own realtor. The Sellers of this house have described the materials, methods, equipment, dates, and measurements as accurately as they could. In no way should the Buyer of this property accept any of this information as being anything other than the Sellers’ communication of information that the Sellers believe true about this property, to the best of the Sellers’ recollection. The Sellers advise the Buyer to investigate and check out any information and verify it before accepting anything as fact. Note that product warranties are issued by the manufacturer of those products, and not the responsibility of the Seller. Also note that most warranties are issued for the house and to the original purchaser. Therefore, when the Sellers have sold the property, a few of the warranties will not be valid. In some cases, the warranty might be transferable, and it is the Buyer’s responsibility to make those arrangements. The Sellers chose all of the remodeling products to be healthier and long-lasting, so under normal household use, the materials should last hrough the warranty period.

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