Buying on (or near) a Hillsdale County lake?

Hillsdale County sits up on the high ground where five rivers get their start, but it’s also dotted with dozens of lakes — and the biggest, Baw Beese Lake, is right on the edge of the city of Hillsdale. They cluster especially thick in the northeast around Somerset and down around Reading, though you’ll find them all across the county. If you’re buying a place on the water, a few things are worth knowing.

Most of the larger lakes here have a “legal lake level” — a normal height that was set by a judge in court, and that the lake is supposed to stay at. The Hillsdale County Drain Commissioner maintains and monitors those levels, usually with a dam or control structure at the lake’s outlet. That’s what keeps the water steady from one season to the next.

Keeping a lake healthy costs money — the level controls, plus weed and algae treatment — and the people who benefit from the lake usually pay for it. 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 Hillsdale 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.