Boston Globe: "Treasuring Island Life" Winnipesaukee featured

[cabinfever]

From the May 29 Boston Globe Real Estate section....

< http://www.boston.com/realestate/art...g_island_life/ >

Treasuring Island Life

Vacationing New Englanders who really want to get away from it all are surrounding themselves with water
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff *|* May 29, 2005

For Robert June, the best vacation is total isolation. No crowded beaches. No kids whining in the next hotel room.

''You go on vacation to get away from everybody," said June, a 32-year-old firefighter from Colchester, Conn. ''There's no better place to do that than your own private island."

For the past few summers, June has ditched the mainland for a one-acre spit of island paradise in Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. He and a few carefully selected relatives pay about $2,200 to stay 2,000 feet offshore in log cabins on Foley Island. ''There is phone and utilities and even a septic tank," June said. ''You have all the amenities but you don't have people."

In the latest twist on secluded vacations, New Englanders are renting and buying private islands for their summer fun, opting for solitude instead of fighting for a spot on the beach.

A growing supply of developed private islands and rising prices for coastline summer rentals on the mainland have made these sanctuaries cheaper, in some cases, than beach houses on Cape Cod and the Islands.

The advent of Internet sites like www.privateislandsonline.com has also made it easier to scope out secluded spots throughout New England and across the world. And these aren't just roughing-it bungalows anymore.

At Foley Island, a rocky shoreline with easy boat access surrounds the 45,000-square-foot property. Two cottages boast bunk beds, queen-size beds, a wood stove, and a microwave. A third cabin is available for recreation and games.

''And even though there's a phone on the property, that doesn't mean you have to give the number out," said Mark Borrin, manager of Preferred Vacation Rentals Inc. in Center Harbor, N.H.

Some realtors say more people are pining for island vacations to get away from it all. They're sick of the crowds at Disney World and the traffic jams to Cape Cod. People are working longer hours, the brokers said, and want to spend more time with the family in a setting with fewer distractions. (Yes, some islands do get cellphone reception.)

Foley Island -- one of several private islands in Lake Winnipesaukee -- is exceptionally popular this summer, with only one week still available in August, Borrin said.

In Connecticut, Jeff Brackett is planning to surprise his girlfriend for their 10-year anniversary with a summer getaway to Brandy Hill Island in the northeast corner of the state.

At the highest point of the private island, located about 800 feet offshore in Quaddick Pond, sits a solar- and propane-powered mountain chalet. The property -- which rents for about $2,200 a week -- comes with a pontoon boat, canoe, paddle boat, and private mainland parking.

Meanwhile, on Cape Cod, a three-bedroom cottage on a mainland beach in Brewster is renting for up to $3,400 a week this summer.

Island vacationing certainly isn't for everyone. The challenges are fairly obvious. Bad weather can turn paradise island into Gilligan's Island. Boating skills are a must. And the maid never shows up.

Amenities at private islands vary greatly from property to property. Jim Trimble, owner of Trimble Private Brokerage in Bangor, Maine, is selling a $225,000 pond island with a 1950s log cabin and outhouse and a $1.95 million set of private islands with a three-bedroom post and beam home with stone fireplace and wraparound deck.

Trimble said his business is currently listing about nine private islands -- up more than 40 percent from a few years ago. He said a growing number of older residents are disposing of these family heirlooms that had been passed down from generation to generation because children moved away and the properties remain largely unused.

Doreen and Peter Hare have no intention of letting their little slice of paradise leave their family. In 1986, the couple purchased Far Ozone, a quarter-acre island in Winnipesaukee. Peter Hare swam to it while visiting friends at nearby Little Six Mile island and discovered the only home on Far Ozone was neglected. He wrote the owner offering to buy the island, and enclosed a $100 check as an act of good faith.

''The home had been in this woman's family since the 1890s, but she told us it was time to sell since her husband's pension wasn't enough to live on, and she needed new glasses," Doreen Hare recalled. The Hares paid $80,000 for the house and island and have since renovated and updated the home to suit their vacation needs. Which, on an island, shouldn't be much, Doreen Hare said.

''We do have a TV, which I hate," she said. ''But if you are going to buy a house on an island you need to know you have to be self-sufficient and enjoy your own company. Also, everything is harder, in terms of getting things to the island, especially if you are renovating. But it's all worth it. The views are incredible and we have loons that nest here every year."

Hare, a real estate agent in the lakes region, said she sold an island last year for $450,000, and noted her property could fetch about $700,000. However, ''That house would be the last thing we sold," she said.

[SIKSUKR]

I must admit I had never heard of Far Ozone or Foley Islands before.But,sure enough,there on the Bizer map. SS