Buying on (or near) a Branch County lake?

Branch County is lake country. The big one is Coldwater Lake, south of town, and it’s the head of a whole chain of connected lakes — you can travel by boat from one to the next through channels, down toward Quincy and Marble Lake. Smaller lakes are scattered all across the county too. If you’re buying a place on the water, a few things are worth knowing.

Most of the bigger lakes here have a “legal lake level” — a normal height that was set by a judge in court years ago, and that the lake is supposed to stay at. The Branch County Drain Commissioner is the official who maintains and monitors those levels, usually with a dam or control structure at the lake’s outlet. That’s why the water stays so steady from season to season.

Keeping a lake healthy costs money — the level controls, plus weed and algae treatment — and the people who benefit from the lake usually foot the bill. So the waterfront and lake-access homes on a given lake are often grouped into a special assessment district, and you’ll pay a yearly lake assessment on top of your regular property taxes. Before you buy, ask what that assessment is and what it covers; it varies a lot from one lake to the next.

Two more things to check. Many of these lakes have an active lake association — usually worth joining, since they’re the people keeping an eye on the water. And the boating rules aren’t the same everywhere: a number of Branch County lakes, and the channels that connect them, have “slow — no wake” zones, and some have other local rules. The Drain Commissioner’s office and your lake association can tell you exactly what applies to your stretch of water.