Ed
and Linda Sternberg searched for several years for a summer home on
Michigan’s Mackinac Island when they spotted a charming, Victo- rian
cottage with views of the lake and a 105foot wraparound porch. They were
immediately smitten. “We like the relaxed pace of the island, the
small- town feel,” said Mr. Sternberg, a retired biologist from Devon,
Pa., near Philadelphia. “We needed a place to decompress.”
But
when it came to making an offer, the couple suddenly felt overwhelmed
with doubt: The island is only accessible by ferry, and once there, cars
are banned, limiting transport to mostly bicycles or
horse-drawn carriages.
“Mackinac
is not an easy place to live,” said Mr. Sternberg, who is 64 years old.
“We are 2½ miles from downtown, so that’s a 5-mile bike ride to get
groceries.” Ultimately won over by the island’s historic appeal, the
couple bought the house two years ago, spending $1.5 million for the
fully furnished, five-bedroom summer home overlooking the lake.
For
many vacationers, Mackinac Island ( pronounced Mack- i- naw) has the
allure of a place seemingly frozen in time, with its horsedrawn
carriages, grand Victorian architecture and fudge shops lining Main
Street.
Living there, even just for the
summer, can be a labor of love, however. The old homes are costly to
maintain, getting around is difficult, and with roughly 500 horses
living on the island, manure is a constant sight—and smell—around town.
Situated
off the northern coast of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, Mackinac Island
measures 3.8 square miles and has for more than a century attracted
visitors looking for a simpler way of life.
Vacationers
began flocking to this former fur-trading post in the late 1800s,
arriving mostly by rail and steamboat from Chicago, Detroit and other
cities in the Midwest. By the turn of the century, the island had become
a summertime haven for the political and business elite, as well as
self-made industrialists.
Today, many of
the large Victorian homes built during this era -described as “cottages”
by the locals—remain in near-pristine condition. They’re perched on the
island’s limestone cliffs overlooking the straits between lakes Huron
and Michigan. Paved paths wind through the state-preserved forest, and
the downtown is crowded with shops, bars and restaurants with names like
Pink Pony and Yankee Rebel Tavern. Much of the island looks like it did
when the first “fudgies”— the term for vacationers—flocked to its
wooded shores.
More recently, Mackinac
Island’s real-estate market has begun to heat up, particularly for homes
in the $ 400,000 to $ 600,000 range, real-estate agents say.
“Right
now, my inventory is zilch,” said Billy Borst, owner of Mackinac Island
Realty, referring to houses around the half- milliondollar price range.
“We had a run on them last year, so we have a lot of people looking for
those.”
The difficulty of building new
homes on the island exacerbates the shortage. More than 80% of the
island is designated state park, with little space for new developments.
Construction is also more expensive than building on the mainland,
since materials must be transported to the island by ferry and then to
the building site by horse and dray.
“Mackinac
is a fixed pie. There is only so much land here,” said Phil Porter,
director of Mackinac State Historic Parks. Right now, about 50 vacant
residential lots are available for purchase on the island, priced
anywhere from $ 42,000 to more than $ 200,000, but building there would
“not be inexpensive,” Mr. Porter added.
As
a result, costs have skyrocketed over the past few decades, especially
for completed houses. “Cottages selling here in the 1960s for $25,000 to
$50,000 are now selling for $ 3 million to $ 3.5 million,” Mr. Porter
said.
Contributing to the housing shortage
on the island is a need to accommodate summertime employees, said Jerry
Murray, owner of Murray’s Mackinac Realty. “Businesses are buying up
anything that becomes available with a few bedrooms,” he said.
One
of the island’s newest developments is an eight- unit condominium
project called Carriage Hill Condos that will soon be ready for
occupancy. The units range from $ 350,000 to $ 425,000, and with the
island’s tight housing market, the new building has already attracted
more than a dozen interested buyers, said Andrew Doud, a partner on the
project.
“There is very little available
on the island,” Mr. Doud said. “The fact we haven’t had to list it with a
Realtor says everything.”
Homes are more
plentiful on the luxury end; in July, six properties were on the market
for $1 million or more, according to Realtor.com, a real-estate listings
website.
That includes an
8,000-squarefoot home listed for $ 5.85 million. Cairngorm Cottage, a
Victorian- era home built in 1888, has seven bedrooms, six bathrooms and
a car-
riage house with a small
apartment. All the furnishings are included in the $ 5.85 million price
tag, a common practice because of the cost of transporting bulky items
to and from the mainland.
The house is
located in the historic West Bluff district, a collection of large
cottages built in the late 19th century on land leased from the state.
Today, 33 homes on the West and East bluffs remain on land that the
owners lease for 20- year periods from the Mackinac Island State Park
Commission, paying $3,500 to $6,000 a year.
When
homes in these districts are sold, the buyer only purchases the
structure on top of the land, an arrangement that has, in part, made
these homes difficult to sell. Cairngorm Cottage, for instance, has been
on the market for about a year— not unusual for homes on the island
priced above the $1 million mark.
In
Hubbard’s Annex, another historic district, Melissa Gembis, who is from
Birmingham, Mich., has vacationed at her family’s cottage since she was a
little girl. Now she spends her summers there with her husband, Jeff,
and three children.
Built in 1870, the
cottage has been in her family since her great grandparents purchased it
in 1928. “There is a lot of family ownership of the properties,” said
Mrs. Gembis, a 54year-old small-business owner. “They really just don’t
turn over often.”
Keeping up the aging
homes, is a real challenge, though. Even small projects can be fraught
with high costs and delays. The family, for instance, is rebuilding the
cottage’s main chimney. Just hauling away the old bricks and debris cost
about $800 per horse-drawn wagon load. So far, the family has need
three wagons.
Owners of historic homes
will find that major changes to the facade and landscaping must be
approved by city officials. And building codes may require homes to have
wood siding, which takes a beating from harsh Michigan winters and wind
coming off the lake.
“We’re constantly painting and repairing rotten wood,” Mrs. Gembis said.
In
the newer Stonebrook development on the west side of the island, Gary
and Karen Lennard built a 3,200-square-foot, Victorian-style home in
2000. The couple moved from southern Michigan, where he practiced law
and she owned a travel agency. They said they were drawn to the island’s
“quaintness” and detachment from the mainland.
Now,
as they get older, the Lennards, who are in their late 60s, are looking
to sell and move back to the mainland, but finding a buyer has been
slow going. Listed for $1.275 million, the large, three-bedroom home on
the water has been on the market for nearly three years.
“Not
much has been selling in this price range,” Mrs. Lennard said. Sitting
on their large front porch, enjoying the breeze off the lake, she and
her husband don’t seem to be in any hurry.
“It takes a particular kind of buyer,” she added. “With Mackinac Island, you either love it or you hate it.”
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