Originally Posted by WakeboardMom (Post 240557)

Moultonborough has one of the best school systems in the state. I pay plenty of taxes to M'borough and have never used the school system. Your plan would open the can of worms that everyone has some reason they should be an exception.

Originally Posted by TiltonBB (Post 240565)

Many things are itemized on your assessment such as the value placed on the land, buildings, garage, out buildings (such as a tool shed) docks, waterfront, breakwater, seawall, and yes, even the view. The total value of all of these things is multiplied by the tax rate in your community and that is how your tax bill is computed.

I think in the past people have thought there is a "View Tax" like it is a separate tax that you pay. If you are going to break it down like that then guess the same person would say that there is a dock tax, a tool shed tax, a garage tax, a driveway tax, Etc.

Originally Posted by Happy Gourmand (Post 240568)

Less than 75' from my property is a lot with a house on it. The town has assessed the LAND at $100,000. The lake is not easily seen from this lot. My lot, less that 75' away has a "view" of the lake, somewhat obstructed, but a view nonetheless. My little lot, land only, about the same size as the aformentioned lot is assessed by the Town of Meredith for $200,000.
View tax? You tell me.

Originally Posted by Happy Gourmand (Post 240568)

Less than 75' from my property is a lot with a house on it. The town has assessed the LAND at $100,000. The lake is not easily seen from this lot. My lot, less that 75' away has a "view" of the lake, somewhat obstructed, but a view nonetheless. My little lot, land only, about the same size as the aformentioned lot is assessed by the Town of Meredith for $200,000.
View tax? You tell me.

Originally Posted by Donzi Minx (Post 240478)

Two summers at Camp Idlewild made a believer out of me though, I loved that rustic element of island living even though it was during the late 60's

Originally Posted by Pine Island Guy (Post 240574)

DM - we may have crossed paths, I was at Camp Idlewild in '67 and '68 and loved 'island life' there too... so much so that I started looking for property in the early '90s (including a lot on Cow where the old amphitheater was), and ended up buying on Pine in 1998...

Couldn't be happier with the island decision, and waking up last Saturday morning and looking out across the frozen expanse... spectacular!!!

Don't let go of the dream... they really can come true!! -PIG

Originally Posted by wifi (Post 240581)

The value of a property to me (in my very limited sensibility, as claimed by certain posters) is the value that it sold for. So, if you bought a property for $100K, that is the value you should be taxed on the first year, then every year after the cost of living is added on. There are/were states that did that. Which they are, I leave to your own personal googling ability, so as not to start more nit picking controversies. Assessors just guess and base it on some arbitrary/argued formulas that aren't fair.

My neighbors house is on the market for an obscene value. If it sells, my taxes will go up, why? I don't even live on an island ! :emb:

Originally Posted by Leoskeys (Post 240645)

Back to "Island Living"'. For a home on an island without electricity, is a propane generator and/or solar panels the best bet? A few lights are one thing,but got to assume a fridge is going to require some solid power. Probably other things that suck power i'm not thinking of. For instance, how would you get wi-fi for to track weather, etc?

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal (Post 241632)

Thanks, Tis! We are leaving the island, but as of yet, we are not leaving the lake. So many lake options yet to consider, possibly with the new to us travel trailer.

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal (Post 241629)

Mike, when it's time to actually go out and look at island properties, I highly recommend that you give Nancy DePorter of Keller Williams Lakes and Mountains Realty a call. 603-498-3573 Nancy is absolutely wonderful and is a knowledgable islander and is a well seasoned boater. Tell her that RG sent ya! We listed our place with her last season and will relist with her as soon as the camp is ready at ice-out.

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal (Post 241629)

There have been some major life events in our family over the past year plus, which made us reevaluatie our life's goals and dreams - it's time for us to do some traveling. I do know that letting go isn't going to be easy... You can take the gal off the island, but you could never take the island out of this Gal. Lake Winnipesaukee will always be in my heart and soul. Sniff!

Originally Posted by MAXUM (Post 241636)

Nancy is awesome and I second that recommendation. When we my wife and I bought our place she was there every step of the way and there is nobody else quite like her. In fact her husband just got his license and the two of them are now working together. Between the two of them you will not find more knowledgeable and dedicated folks to work with. They are the best no question about it. Don't be fooled by others that supposedly specialize in island property, you may find yourself disappointed.

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal (Post 241629)

Mike, when it's time to actually go out and look at island properties, I highly recommend that you give Nancy DePorter of Keller Williams Lakes and Mountains Realty a call. 603-498-3573 Nancy is absolutely wonderful and is a knowledgable islander and is a well seasoned boater. Tell her that RG sent ya! We listed our place with her last season and will relist with her as soon as the camp is ready at ice-out.
(There have been some major life events in our family over the past year plus, which made us reevaluatie our life's goals and dreams - it's time for us to do some traveling. I do know that letting go isn't going to be easy... You can take the gal off the island, but you could never take the island out of this Gal. Lake Winnipesaukee will always be in my heart and soul. Sniff!)

Having a place on The Broads has been nothing short of amazing!!! Clean water, wide open spaces and in our case, a super private and deep dock spot. We loved every second of our time spent at here and know that the next family will make life long treasured memories too.

Just to add a little bit more information, not all properties Broads side need a breakwater. We purchased our place that has a u-shaped dock back in 2003. We immediately put in oversized (for our 21' boat) whips and have never, ever had an issue of any kind... In any weather. In our case, there is a jog in the island just where our lot starts, which does act as a deflector of sorts for the waves. I certainly would not leave our boat out there in a hurricane, but otherwise, there is no weather that I would not feel comfortable out there in. Last year we only used the whips once. The rest of the time a super large bumper at the bow on the shore side and a snubber at the stern was absolutely adequate.

Best of luck to you and your family, RidgeRunner31! I hope that you find your piece of Lake Winnipesaukee heaven! If you ever would like to talk island living, please feel free to PM me for my number. R-Guy and I have gained a lot of lake/island knowledge over these past thirteen years and would love to share what we've learned with you.

Sincerely,

Celia

Originally Posted by MAXUM (Post 241636)

Nancy is awesome and I second that recommendation. When we my wife and I bought our place she was there every step of the way and there is nobody else quite like her. In fact her husband just got his license and the two of them are now working together. Between the two of them you will not find more knowledgeable and dedicated folks to work with. They are the best no question about it. Don't be fooled by others that supposedly specialize in island property, you may find yourself disappointed.

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Guy (Post 161058)

Dan
Note: this started as a PM but after reading it to my family, they encouraged me to post it here. I am still not sure... but if it saves a life...

I am just going to rattle off the issues. Celia is helping me with the list in no particular order.

The device requires a paper liner to be inserted into a stainless steel clam shell, sort of like putting a coffee filter in a coffee maker. Not a big deal for us regulars, but it freaked out our company a bit.

The liquid and solids go into that big paper cone. We had some guest with bladders that were capable of overflowing the cone. The result was urine running out of the unit while they were sitting there.

The concept of drying out the solids to ash actually works pretty well but the addition of all the liquid really slowed down the process. I was pretty impressed with how little ash remained from all the use.

The paper cone did not always go down into the heated pot correctly. Sometimes it would not go far enough down for the cover over the burn chamber would not close. This required you to interact with a combination of poop, liquid and paper in various forms of being on fire.

When the materials are dehydrating (boiling and burning), the vapor would pass through the unit and as it touched cooler surfaces of the unit, it would condense this brownish sticky buildup on the inside of the unit that would require periodic disassembly and cleaning. Truly disgusting. To add insult to injury, this sticky condensate was great at catching dust and ash that was also being pulled through the same air paths.

If you flush the unit while sitting, you would not have to worry about shaving anything for a long time.

One time we had a power failure while the unit was running. The coals were still burning but the fan was no longer running. It took about a month to get the smell out of the camp.

When we moved in, the exhaust stack was a straight shot out the back of the camp which hit the wall of rock behind us with the steep island. It became obvious with the 4 of us here in the summer, this was not going to work from an oder standpoint.

We raised the stack to a height of about 10 feet. It was not good enough to satisfy the smell factor of certain contributions.

We lengthened the burn time to insure that it was burning completely. Otherwise you end up with a build up each time. This helped the amount of clean outs we had to do.

Eventually, you have to take the burn pot out and scrape the ash and build up out of it. The constant heating of the stainless pot with liquids caused it to corrode. This made the ease of cleaning pretty tough.

The fan is pretty noisy and runs a long time for each cycle. I think we were doing a 2 hour cycle. Lots of rattling with the constant vibrating from the fan.

Raised the stack another 10 feet. This helped but it was sometimes bad enough we had to leave the deck on the other side of the house depending on the wind direction. Its a tough smell. And everyone knows what it is. I found myself trying to time my bathroom activities to when the family was leaving the house for a while.

The 20 foot stack was taken down and put up each season as I was not sure how it would survive the winter.

I think that's about it.

The smell. It is too easy a target. It's not good. And the little pellets they sell to mask the smell are useless.

We changed out to a plumbed in over sized composting unit and love it. Not perfect but compared to the incinolet, it is great.

Let me know if I missed anything.

Paul

Originally Posted by RidgeRunner31 (Post 241692)

I'm actually already working with Nancy!

This past fall I came across some older threads and noticed you had some very nice things to about Nancy. Your comments were one of the reasons my wife and I decided to work with her!!

Originally Posted by goldfly600 (Post 242081)

I have been eagerly reading this thread, soaking up all the advice and half-afraid to read something I hadn't thought of before! My husband and I just closed on a house on the west side of Rattlesnake and we are dying to get out there. We looked at the house just once in August, and the incinolet almost scared us off. We have a new septic system being installed shortly after ice-out. Reading the play-by-play of the Incinolet above does much to bolster my confidence I having made the decision for the new septic!

We are excited about our new adventure, and an "adventure" it will be as we try to figure out how to hook up the water and navigate all the inevitable challenges of which we are not yet aware. We have only spent one week on an island last August, but it was enough to get us hooked on island living. I am looking forward to meeting our neighbors!

Best,
Beth

Originally Posted by goldfly600 (Post 242081)

I have been eagerly reading this thread, soaking up all the advice and half-afraid to read something I hadn't thought of before! My husband and I just closed on a house on the west side of Rattlesnake and we are dying to get out there. We looked at the house just once in August, and the incinolet almost scared us off. We have a new septic system being installed shortly after ice-out. Reading the play-by-play of the Incinolet above does much to bolster my confidence I having made the decision for the new septic!

We are excited about our new adventure, and an "adventure" it will be as we try to figure out how to hook up the water and navigate all the inevitable challenges of which we are not yet aware. We have only spent one week on an island last August, but it was enough to get us hooked on island living. I am looking forward to meeting our neighbors!

Best,
Beth

Originally Posted by goldfly600 (Post 242081)

I have been eagerly reading this thread, soaking up all the advice and half-afraid to read something I hadn't thought of before! My husband and I just closed on a house on the west side of Rattlesnake and we are dying to get out there. We looked at the house just once in August, and the incinolet almost scared us off. We have a new septic system being installed shortly after ice-out. Reading the play-by-play of the Incinolet above does much to bolster my confidence I having made the decision for the new septic!

We are excited about our new adventure, and an "adventure" it will be as we try to figure out how to hook up the water and navigate all the inevitable challenges of which we are not yet aware. We have only spent one week on an island last August, but it was enough to get us hooked on island living. I am looking forward to meeting our neighbors!

Best,
Beth

Originally Posted by IslandRadio (Post 242245)

Welcome to the Island ! We're on Rattlesnake, and not too far from you at #250 (further down the Island on the "thumb" AKA the peninsula)

Hopefully, you (and/or your husband) are handy with tools and the like. It's kind of mandatory on the Island :)

Putting the water in usually isn't too bad. Some setups are a lot easier than others - it depends on how yours is constructed. Priming the pump is usually the biggest problem I face, not having a self priming pump. Do you know anything about the water setup?

The addition of a septic will certainly ease your Island life quite a bit !! Things will feel almost "normal" :rolleye2:

That section of the Island where your place is located is generally somewhat protected from the heaviest winds unless they're coming in from the South or close to it - and usually (but not always) those winds are not nearly as strong as the winds that hit us from a Westerly direction.

Give a shout (or a PM) if you get stuck with something or need help or another set of eyes or just want to say "hello".

We hike the trails a lot and often go end-to-end, so we're up behind your place when hiking over to Washington Point.

Regards, Steve (AKA IslandRadio)