Picturesque

who bought their lakefront home in Eastlake in 1986, believe one of the main benefits to living on the lake is the ability to come home every day to a view unspoiled by development.

“You see beautiful sunsets, you see nature,” Gary said.

“We have bald eagles, blue herons, foxes and coyotes here.”

Gary and Arlene both recall sitting in the hot tub one winter night and watching while a coyote pulled fish from the lake and watching the Aurora Borealis.

“The sky was blue and green, just like you see in the pictures from Alaska,” Gary said.

“You don’t see that away from the lake.”

Gary notes some of the things they see regularly on the lake, such as Coast Guard rescues, paragliders and fishermen.

“We get to see incredible stuff every day, but the sunsets each night are just drop dead gorgeous, and the change of the seasons, the ice coming, the storms coming, the waves pounding are things we wouldn’t see if we lived off the lake,” he said.

Gary said when their children were growing up they were able to experience chasing bugs and swimming in the lake. To them it was like being in the country even though they live in the city.

Their son and daughter-in-law have just moved back from California and are now staying with them while they search for their own house on the lake.

“People are willing to move to the lake and spend the extra money,” Gary said. “In Ohio, Cleveland area lakefront living is so much more affordable than anywhere else in the country.”

Gary said the only drawback he can find to lakefront living is the wind can be fierce.

“It can be real intimidating, because when you get a really bad storm you can feel the pressure of the wind,” he said.

Gary said the lake has a huge calming effect. He can have the most stressedfilled rotten day and come home and go to the back of the house to view the lake and the stress just melts away.

“We had my mom here who has Alzheimer’s and she just stared at the lake it was very peaceful and soothing for her and what she needed,” Gary said.

Tom and Leslie Cooke have lived in their lakefront home in Euclid for 13 years and feel like they are on a 365 days a year.

Leslie describes the lake in the winter as a frozen tundra that goes all the way to Canada, while Tom describes it as looking like a white desert.

Leslie said the sunsets they view from their home are better than any they have seen anywhere else.

“We were in St. Petersburg and Key West this past winter, and both of us said to each other our sunsets are so much better, so much more colorful and so much more vibrant,” Leslie said.

They look forward to the sailboat races in the summer when, according to Leslie, you can see 250 to 300 sailboats go by.

Tom does note a few downsides to lakefront living such as the wind during the winter can get pretty nasty, and the afternoon sun can be intense.

Tom said that the taxes are higher due to the valuation of their house being higher, but Leslie notes that the view is priceless.

Being able to swim and snorkel, it’s like being on a resort, Leslie said.

She sees living on the lake as paradise and notes that occasionally she has to pinch herself and realize how blessed they are to live on the lake.

Ernest Hisey of the Hisey Group LLC from Howard Hannah, said he thinks living on the lake is one of the biggest things in this part of Ohio.

“People are always looking to purchase lakefront homes,” Hisey said.

“It’s a big demand, lakefront sells and prices are firm. Demands for lakefront has always been great, the values do not drop, they are very secure.”

Hisey describes lakefront living as a romantic thing.

“It’s a very nice thing to see looking at the sunsets, the sunrises, boats going past, changing waves and the weather,” Hisey said. “It’s almost a different style of life with lakefront property.”