South Boardman- A Great Place To Live

Are you thinking about buying land in the country? Then can I recommend a small little town called South Boardman.

South Boardman is a tiny town located in Kalkaska County off of US 131 between the Villages of Kalkaska and Fife Lake. The town was established in 1874 when a railroad depot and hotel were built there. The next year, in 1875, a post office was established. In the last 135 years not much has changed, except the depot is now gone. The major metropolitan area of the town is the intersection of US 131/Supply Road/& Boardman Road. There you will find a Motel, a restaurant, a gas station and a furniture store. Down the street a bit is the post office. While traveling down US 131, don’t blink or you will miss the town.

Despite its rural nature, South Boardman has a lot to offer to people who want to get away from it all, but are a close commute to shops & Restaurants. South Boardman is approximately 9 miles from both Kalkaska and Fife Lake. Both villages have all the basics one would need. Kalkaska has a half dozen fast food restaurants, two large grocery stores, a HUGE community recreation center with two indoor pools, weight room and hockey rink. There is over 80 miles of groomed snowmobile trails in Kalkaska County and it has the Kalkaska Area Recreation Trail (KART), which is a paved running/biking/skating trail that is planned to hook up with the Traverse Area Recreation Trail (TART) (if it has not already).

As you travel away from Kalkaska toward South Boardman, you will pass the Country Lanes Bowling alley which hosts a number of bowling leagues and various programs for children and adults alike.

As you come to the blinking light that is the main commercial area of the town, if you turn left you will come to the South Boardman Elementary School with grades Preschool through second grade. Third to fifth graders attend the Fife Lake Elementary school about 9 miles down the road.

The village of Fife Lake is built along the lake it was named for. Fife Lake is a 600+ acre all sports lake with a beautiful, sandy public beach and boat launch. The village has a wonderful grocery store where I do most of my shopping. Usually when you find little grocery stores in small towns you can expect high prices, but I have been extremely happy with the Fife Lake Grocery Store. The Fife Lake Library is located in a beautiful building and they offer so many wonderful programs for the kids. It is a great library. But if you ask my children, they will tell you the ice cream shop in Fife Lake is the best place in town. The soft serve is wonderful there. On the 4th of July, Fife Lake is the place to be. The fireworks show is spectacular! But I digress... I meant to sing the praise of South Boardman.

What is nice about South Boardman is the Boardman River flows through the area and there are a couple beautiful lakes. If you want river front,lake front or lake view property at a reasonable price... then you need to go to South Boardman.

One of the prettiest bodies of water in the town is Perch Lake. Perch Lake is a 23 acre, no-wake lake (electric motors only) with plenty of fish. The lake is incredibly beautiful especially in the Fall.

I have two lots for sale in the Perch Lake subdivision. These lots do not have lake frontage, but they are located across the street from the lake. The township runs a beautiful park on the lake that is walking distance from these lots. The park has a sandy beach, picnic area and toilet facilities. Farther down the road there is a public boat launch.

I live on Perch lake, and I can tell you the area is extremely quiet. The only thing that can be usually heard are the crickets, the screeches of the pair of bald eagles that hang around the lake and an occasional loon.

The lots I have available are only $12,000 each and are over 0.6 acres each. They are high and dry and heavily wooded. South Boardman is an area where you can get the most for your money. If you like living in a rural area, then this is the place for you. For more information on the properties click here.

Amazing waterfront lot for sale

I recently listed an amazing parcel of land. It is 3.38 acres of heavily wooded land nestled between two lakes. This lot has about 400 ft of lake frontage on one lake to the north and 200 ft of footage on another lake to the south. The property is located in the exclusive Blue Heron subdivision and surrounds North and South Twenty-Eight Lakes in beautiful Kalkaska County. You can get this wonderful lot for only $75,900. There is a gradual slope to the lake on both sides of the lot.

Kalkaska County borders Grand Traverse County to the east. You are an easy commute to Traverse City, Cadillac, the Village of Kalkaska and even Grayling isn't too far away. If you are looking to live near state land and groomed snowmobile trails... this is the place for you. There are over 80 miles of groomed snowmobile trails in the county. There are over 75 lakes and thousands of acres of undisturbed state land. If you want to buy land or a house in the North Western Michigan area you will definately get more property for the dollar in Kalkaska County.

I have a lot of land listings in the area, but I am really impressed with the design of the Blue Heron subdivision. They have underground electric and phone utilities and nicely paved wide roads. This is a great buy.

A friend recently asked me what the difference was between stick built, modular and manufactured homes. This is a question that I often hear. Many people think modular and manufactured are the same thing and that is simply not true. I will tell you what I know about these three types of homes. Please let me know if I omit any key points or if I am giving out erroneous information.

Stick built is another term for Site Built. These are homes that are constructed on the site. These homes are on a permanent foundation and conform to all local building codes. If a site built home is properly maintained the owner can usually expect to gain equity in their home over the years.

Modular homes are very similar to a site built home, with the exception that the home is built in sections in a factory and then shipped to the site where they will be put together and permanently affixed to a foundation. Modular homes may be built out of county or state but they are constructed to conform to all building code requirements of the area where it is to be delivered. So if the factory is in Ohio and you are having the home delivered to Grand Traverse County, Michigan, the home will be constructed to Michigan and local building code standards. Modular home construction quality is usually identical to stick built/site built homes, therefore they should increase in value in a similar fashion. Most banks and mortgage companies will treat modular homes exactly the same as they would a site built home.

A side note--one thing that is nice about having a modular home built is you don’t have to worry about the Michigan weather delaying construction because it is built in a factory where it is not subjected to the elements. It usually takes less than two weeks for a factory to build a home. It may take another 3-4 weeks for a local construction company to put the home together after it is delivered to the building site. This is usually a much faster process than having a site built home constructed.

Now we get to manufactured homes. They are very different from site built and modular homes. Manufactured homes are what we usually refer to as a singlewide, doublewide or mobile homes. They are constructed in a factory like a modular home, but they do not conform to local building codes. Instead, manufactured homes are constructed to conform to a federal building code called a HUD code. These homes are built on a chassis and are transported to their destination on their own wheels.
Manufactured homes are personal property and are not considered real property until they are permanently affixed to a foundation and a Michigan affidavit of affixture is submitted to the state of Michigan. You can find more information about obtaining an affidavit of affixture by clicking here.

Most manufactured homes are originally financed through the company that built them. Some banks will finance a manufactured home if it the owner converted the home into real property (Permanently affixed to the land). The lending company may also impose other restrictions such as having to pass HUD standards and other local code requirements. Manufactured homes are eligible for VA and FHA loans. If you are trying to finance a multiple-section manufactured home and it was built after 6/14/1976 and it is permanently affixed to the land, it may be eligible for a MSHDA loan (Michigan State Housing Development authority).

You can find more information on Manufactured homes here.

Recently I toured a home listed as “Modular” on the Multiple Listing System. When I arrived at the home I noticed it looked very much like a manufactured home. An inspection of the crawlspace revealed a metal chassis. It was a manufactured home.
Many modular homes may have a similar design as a manufactured home and it can sometimes be confusing to confirm how the home was constructed. I have seen manufactured homes with stick built additions added on or manufactured homes where a stick built shell was constructed around it. I am not sure if they conform to proper building codes, but I do know they can really confuse a buyer and Realtor alike.

There are ways to identify a manufactured home. One way I mentioned earlier… looking underneath and locating the metal chassis. But if you are unable to access the undercarriage there are other ways to identify a manufactured home. All manufactured homes should have a Red HUD label containing a serial number somewhere on the outside of the home. There should also be a data plate located in the interior of the home… most-likely inside the electrical panel. One of the best sites I have seen describing how to identify a manufactured home can be found here.

Manufactured homes usually do not increase in value over the years, unlike modular or site built.