Lake of the Ozarks (Osage Beach, Camdenton: for sale, real estate, condominium)

[LOnRainjer]

Anyone ever lived around the lake area? Is it better on the Bagnell dam side or maybe in the Sunrise Beach area? I want to buy a lake front condo with a dock. Dont care about the "party cove" action as I would rather spend my days fishing quietly. Any opinions or suggestions for this area?

[MrsMo]

I would look as far from the dam as possible. We are at the 55 mile marker, the boats aren't as big, our kids can still get out to ski and tube. Our dock doesn't get shook to death by the big waves the bigger boats cause. Quite a few lakefront homes for sale in our area too. We are in the Ivy Bend area. Nice and quiet.

[ckaaron1]

We've lived at the lake now for 7 years, 4 of those with a lakefront home and dock at the 3mm off Route HH (Horseshoe Bend Parkway) in Lake Ozark, and then the last 3 here off the lakefront on a golf course on Route KK in Osage Beach.

If it's lakefront you want, make sure you are not on (or anywhere near) the main channel, as it can see swells (waves) in excess of 3 to 4 feet at times. Nice deep coves are good locations for enjoyable lakefront, and you might want to inquire about water depth (although condos are usually well-located for this).

Other than it being a challenge to find stable, well-paying employment - this area has been nice to live in and safe, with the foresight to stay out of the way of tourists (avoiding the "out" crowds, especially on holidays).

To answer your question directly, Bagnell is a spot on a map more than a residential area, it's the original "carnival" and tourist spot people like to call Bagnell Dam Blvd or "the strip".

Sunrise Beach is a very quiet, undeveloped town (they may have fast food of some kind by now, but no major chain stores or grocery competition. The name Sunrise Beach is also being used to describe a large developing area across the community toll bridge ($2 to $3 each way for passenger cars) from Lake Ozark.

Lake Ozark and the HH (Horseshoe Bend Pkwy) area are nice and well-located, not to mention developing. We loved it and the Four Seasons area (name it specifically when shopping) also has community amenities like Swimming Pools, stocked fishing lakes, etc. as well as restrictions designed to keep the place looking nice. As such, prices are higher in this area, and the older condos should be approached with some due caution (read footnote about codes below please).

Osage Beach is a central located small city to the lake area, including the local hospital, shopping, premium outlets, walmart, and all the major chain restaurants are nearby. I can speak well for the schools also, due to a few of our friends having children. We've been happy here, as one of the few areas that have a regular (and responsive) Police Dept, Fire Dept, and EMS, not to mention the only hospital within 40 miles. There are lakefront condos in many areas here and alot of them are very nice.

The Camdenton area is an older town, with alot of outlying area (and many lake condos - new and old). This area is starting to grow some as well, as the state has put a HUGE amount of money into improving the highways in this area (one of the largest Missouri state excavation projects in its history) and I'm sure that will bring increased traffic and business in the next few years. They also have the 4th largest Wal-Mart superstore in the state of Missouri that is now in it's 2nd or 3rd year of operation, all the usual fast foods, a few good grocery stores, but no real restaurants per say.

If it's a vacation condo, I would say that just west of Camdenton may offer the value for the dollar, but I would buy new as opposed to old, as I can give you this warning -

BEWARE OF BUILDING CODE VIOLATIONS, aka LACK OF ENFORCEMENT OR CONCERN. Have anything inspected (maybe even twice!) prior to placing an offer, as I have seen some very strange things in this area. I'm an electrician by trade, and there seem to be a high number of building code related fires every year (just an speculative guess).

I've worked in many of the areas condominium projects, some are nice and others are okay - and then there's the "what were they thinking" *hehehe*.

An easy measure of a good condo, versus something suspect, would have a full-sized utility area - plenty of space for the water heater, a separate floor standing furnace/ central air (air handler = electric furnace). They always seem to cut space in this area first, and it IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA. In the last few years the heating and cooling industry has changed to larger equipment (for higher required efficiency) and these older condos that skimped in this area are at a loss for retrofit. Not to mention heavier insulation on water heaters, resulting in them being larger as well.

Another footnote in this area is the fact that nearly all the lake area suffers from very hard water (due to underground aquifers the wells tap from). Hard water destroys plumbing, appliances, and fixtures - a working, well-installed, name brand water softener is always a good sign of owner upkeep (or at least intent). We've purchased 2 water softener systems now (Kinetico is the least trouble) and have had good results.

My fiance worked for one of the largest Real Estate companies in the area and we've had the benefit of that experience, as well as being friends with a few realtors here.

Reading up, apparently I covered quite a bit :-) and I hope it is well-received. Enjoy the info - soon to be published in soft-cover *hehehe*.


For us, we'll be relocating to northern Georgia within the summer to be nearer to family and better employment. Yes, we'll miss it but we're not selling the house just yet :-) Good luck and best wishes!

[dfiddler]

Hi ckaaron1

As a plumber out there I was wondering what you thought of those magnetic
water-softener things ?

My buddy had a problem with calcium building up scales in his water tank , the tap water had visible white calcium in it .... so he bought these magnet-things that clamp on his water pipe ... supposed to change the electric charge on the ions or something .... his water looks clear now and so far no scale building up in the water tank , though he needs to flush it by now and see what's going on in there... LOL

[ashannon]

I've heard of the lake and it looks amazing and really affordable for land (LandsofMissouri.com - Land for sale by Rocky Mount, Missouri - Morgan County - 204.14 acres). I've always wanted to get up in that area. I've been up through the Ozarks in Arkansas and they are beautiful. I hope you have a great time.

[ckaaron1]

Hey there dfiddler - I looked into those magnetic water softeners, but I couldn't find enough evidence to support their claims. (kind of like all the quick-fix as seen on tv items out there). We went with the tried and true resin tank, salt brine style in both places with good results.

Hauling and buying the salt is kind of a pain, but the expense seems to be worth it (not to mention how much different your skin feels when you get out of the shower and the towel doesn't act like 50 grit on your skin). We've had no trouble with our water using appliances or fixtures in the time we've had them. Again, the Culligan system was out-dated, electronically controlled and overpriced, the Kinetico is a use-metered system and does not require any electric power at all (relies on the incoming water to spin its meter).

I decided not to trust the whole magnetic field issue, because I have an extremely hard time believing that the very minor magnetic area would do a thing to hundreds of gallons of water flowing through at 2+ gpm.

Good luck if you want to try it - they are cheap - and I wish you the best!