So yesterday I posted that LakePlace.com has taken some listings in a couple of new states. We listed some North Dakota lake properties and Michigan lake property for sale…so yes - we are finally expanding - but the beautiful thing is that the market made us do it (more on this later). Cameron and I have been very careful about growth. Growth is a great thing - but if it is not managed properly - it can be a disaster. The website is finally in a position where we feel we can start to move outside of the invisible borders of Minnesota & Wisconsin - and bring this little site we call LakePlace.com to new markets.

A world-wide audience.
While the vast majority of our current visitors come from the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, Chicago & Madison (in that order) - It is amazing to see how many visitors and emails come from around the world. Soldiers in Iraq planning a vacation when they return home (frequent), buyers in Dubai setting up appointments to view properties, etc…it is truly amazing to see the reach and potential of the internet and LakePlace.com.

The market made us do it.
We have a list of emails a mile long from cabin owners, vacationers, buyers and sellers that have requested we add additional markets. Most of these requests have come from Michigan. We listed a couple of Upper Peninsula (UP) lake properties late last fall - but we snuck them into our mix of Wisconsin lakeshore property listings. Yesterday we listed 15 Devils Lake ND lake property listings - a great development for those looking for excellent fishing at an affordable price. We added North Dakota lake property and UP lake property maps to our For Sale page - and we are now open for business in these states. In short - the market made us do it - the market demanded we spread our wings and we are excited and looking forward to working with an entirely new, additional group of great people!

For the record, we are now officially accepting real estate (waterfront, water view or deeded water access) listings in North Dakota and Michigan’s UP from this point forward and will be adding more listings soon. We plan to offer buyers, sellers, rental owners and vacationers the same great resources we currently offer in Minnesota & Wisconsin. We will be offering cabin rental and resort advertising in these markets. If you are a seller, agent, cabin rental owner, or resort owner/manager in Michigan or North Dakota - and you would like to team up with LakePlace.com (or if you have any questions) - please contact us online or give myself (Dave) a call at 612-366-4457 or my partner Cameron a call at 612-366-4454.

We look forward to working with you - and as always - happy lake home hunting!

We just want to take a minute to let everyone know that as of February 1, 2008 - LakePlace.com will be increasing it’s annual membership fees for Minnesota resorts & Wisconsin resorts.

This does not affect current resort members. All current members will be grand-fathered in at their 2007 rate. This increase will raise the cost of advertising on LakePlace.com from $500 to $600 annually. If you are a resort owner and you have been considering moving some of your advertising budget online - now is the time to lock in the 2007 rates.

Compare Rates, Compare Return on Investment

As I stated in our LakePlace.com Year in Review post - our featured resorts ads were clicked on 524,325 times in 2007 - in other words, we sent a lot of traffic to our resort member websites. We have been working hand in hand with the MN & WI resort industry for about 5 years now and if you are not yet a member yet - we sure hope you will give us a shot!

If you have any questions or concerns - as always - please feel free to contact us!

Here are a few testimonials from LakePlace.com Resort Members…

Advertising isn’t a sound science. You’re not guaranteed returns from any media be it Internet, magazines, newspapers and the like. Exposure in the right place, in the right markets is the focus and goal. Also the issue of the private cabins will always be out there whether they advertise on Lake Place or on another site. The visits to Birchwood Resort have increased since my signing on with Lake Place (I need to figure the hard numbers). In fact Lake Place has surpassed The Congress of Minnesota Resorts with visits to the Birchwood Web Site. I’m pleased…
Mark J. Krupowicz - Birchwood Resort

Thanks for your attention. We’ve visited our listing at your site and are happy with our exposure - so happy that we already have a link to your site (above) and have done much to broadcast our mutually successful relationship both within CMR and with some resort friends who aren’t still involved in CMR. Please let us know of any future opportunities we should be aware of. Best wishes.
Preston Turner - Big Timber Lodge

Your site is great and I have picked up quite a few reservations from it. I would be interested in any extra exposure on your very worthwhile site!!
Jennifer Gibson - Blacks Cliff Resort

LakePlace.com has not only provided the traffic to our web site they said they could, but has far exceeded our expectations. We can highly recommend their site.
Andy and Marilyn Einspanier - Delta Lodge

I want to complement you and Lake Place on there marketing. You’re really getting yourself out there and bringing in a lot of business. Seems like most everyone has heard of you. NO small task these days.
Peg Landin - Buckhorn on Caribou

Rock will look forward to seeing you, and your site helped a lot w/ last min reservations–the way most of us manage life! It was Awesome!! Thanks again for letting us know and doing a Wonderful job of getting the word out.
Lee Gillson - Life of Riley Resort

One of our hardest working agents has launched a new blog - The Brainerd Real Estate Blog.  Marv Strong is an early adopter - we know he will do a great job with his blog and we wish him the best of luck in this new and exciting endeavor.

If you are interested in the Brainerd lake property market - or the Brainerd real estate market in general - we highly recommend checking out Marv’s new blog - and don’t forget to bookmark it!

On the same note - we do have a couple of co-listed Prime Properties with Marv.  Check out this 160 Acres of BWCA lake property and this Northern Minnesota land for sale with a creek running through it.

As always - happy lake home hunting!

A while back we got a call out of the blue from the Star Tribune. Jim Buchta was writing an article (No Chore Getaways) about maintenance free lake living - and how it was a growing trend. Fast forward a little bit and I can tell you that Jim was spot on. As boomers get a little older, it seems that they are more interested in spending their free time on the water, golfing, fishing and/or entertaining. They are less interested in mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, moving the dock in and out of the water, etc. - maintenance free lake living is an extremely popular choice today.

Introducing Glen Park Condos

LakePlace.com is proud to offer Phase 1 at Glen Park Condominiums. A luxury, lakefront community in Crandon Wisconsin with several floor plans and 24 units to choose from. Glen Park sits on the edge of Lake Metonga - a beautiful, 2,000 acre lake in Forest County offering endless recreational opportunities. All of the fun - none of the work.

Please give us a call to set up a tour of the property.

As always, happy lake home hunting!

Waters of Vermilion is a lakefront development on Lake Vermilion (I think it is about 45 lots). I just read this letter to the editor from one of the owners. It sounds like some of the residents in the area are not very happy with the owners asking for some additional dock space.

The development has been rather slow to sell - even during the super-boom times that the Lake Vermilion property market has experienced over the past years - and it sounds like the Waters of Vermilion owners are asking for some additional dock space in an attempt to create a more attractive offering.

My dad has a place on the “Big V,” I have a lot of friends with cabins on the lake, and I know quite a few owners of Lake Vermilion resorts (more than you will find on LakePlace.com) - so I hear things from time to time. From what I have heard, it sounds like a lot of Vermilion property owners - especially those with imported sand beaches, grandfathered-in boathouses and saunas, and well-over-built lots are the ones with the loudest voices. Waters of Vermilion is an eco-friendly, environmentally responsible attempt at lakeshore development - I personally do not understand why anyone would complain about a few more docks.

You can visit their website here - but there is not a lot of information.

We just completed a minor update to the LakePlace.com resorts section. In the past, when visiting the resort section - the default page would show only featured resorts. The new default page will show all featured resorts as well as the first 50 listings in the resort directory. So now if you want to find a resort in Ely - you will find all of them on a single page.

Top Ten Most Searched Resort Areas (by city) for September 2007:

1. Hayward WI Resorts
2. Brainerd MN Resorts
3. Ely MN Resorts
4. Isle MN Resorts
5. Grand Marais MN Resorts
6. Wisconsin Dells Resorts
7. Duluth MN Resorts
8. Alexandria MN Resorts
9. Two Harbors MN Resorts
10. Detroit Lakes MN Resorts

More data lists coming soon… Are there any stats you would like to know? Just let us know in the comments and we will try to serve them up for you!

We are happy to announce that we have launched two new features at LakePlace.com. While neither are at 100%, we feel they are solid enough to launch and should help our visitors gather some important information.

First, we launched the all new LakePlace.com Lakeshore Values section. In the Lakeshore Values section you can enter a city, lake, county or zip code and we will return the median and average prices for lake property in that area (along with the most expensive and least expensive listing price). We have some more work to do in this area and we plan to provide our visitors with the absolute best research tool available to any serious lake property buyer. For now, simply click on Lakeshore Values, choose a state, and start your research.

Second, we finally launched the LakePlace.com Lake Finder tool with information, maps, and satellite images of more than 23,000 MN & WI lakes! Again, simply click on the Lake Finder link, choose a state (for now, Minnesota lakes & Wisconsin lakes) and search by lake or county.

We have included a comment widget on each lake page which allows you to add your own information about any particular lake. Do you have a fishing report, a funny story or some hard data about a specific lake in Minnesota and/or Wisconsin? If you do, we (and everyone else who uses LakePlace.com) would appreciate it if you would help us build the best lake dataset on the internet! There is no limit to how often or how much you post.

Cabins of Minnesota is a new book by photo journalist Doug Ohman (text by Bill Holm). I first hear of the book while watching Almanac on TPT (PBS Ch.2 in the Twin Cities). Doug was the guest for a segment about the book. I thought to myself - what a great thing - a book that celebrates the Minnesota cabin!

A few days later I decided to send Doug and email with some ideas…and here is what we came up with after a few conversations:

Visit the Cabins of Minnesota page on LakePlace.com. You can purchase a signed copy of Doug’s book using your credit card via PayPal.com. (You will not find a signed copy at any store). LakePlace.com is donating 100% of its proceeds to Minnesota Waters, a great organization dedicated to promoting responsible stewardship of our water resources.

So, with one quick purchase - you can get a signed copy of Cabins of Minnesota or two for yourself or your friends and family (they make a wonderful coffee table book and the perfect gift for anyone who loves life at the lake) and support a great cause - all for less than $25 bucks. Quite a few people have already purchased the book - but we need to raise more money for a great cause - we hope you will help!

Note: special thanks to the Minnesota Historical Society Press

For this year’s list we focused on smaller places that offered the best combination of economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do and a real sense of community.

Minnesota & Wisconsin showed pretty well (we usually do!) This year Middleton, WI came in first place while Chaska, MN was awarded the number eight spot. If you are currently living in one of the other 48 states - and thinking about moving to the perfect (a.k.a BEST) place - check out the Middleton WI homes and Chaska MN homes for sale on LakePlace.com - life is even better at the lake!

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Middleton WI, Chaska MN