Walk On Waterfront Homes on Cowichan Lake
Level, Usable Shoreline Is the Rarest Thing on This LakeWalk on waterfront homes on Cowichan Lake are the properties people describe when they say they want lakefront, and only a fraction of the lakefront here qualifies. Most of this shoreline drops away from the house, so the ones you can walk down to in bare feet sell for a premium and sell fast.
- Reset all filters or remove one of your filters above to see more properties
The geography is the reason. Much of the north shore at Youbou sits above the water on a bank, with stairs down to the dock, and plenty of the south shore is the same. Genuinely level frontage tends to be in pockets, often where a creek flattened the ground or where a bay opens out, and those lots have been in the same families for a long time.
Listing copy stretches the term, so I go and look. Stairs with a landing halfway down is not walk on. A gentle slope with a path is closer, but the test I use is simple: can somebody carrying a cooler and a toddler get from the deck to the water without thinking about it. If the answer is no, the property may still be excellent, but it should not be priced as walk on.
What comes with level frontage is usually easier dock access and a better swimming edge, and sometimes a higher water table, so I pay attention to the septic field, the crawlspace and any history of spring flooding. This is a regulated lake, so levels are managed, but the low bench properties still see the water come up in a wet year.