Wife and I are talking about trying to find a lakehouse in Alabama. We live in South Ms. so I know nothing about the lakes in Alabama other than they have some nice ones. Unfortunately we don't have lakes like that in Ms. I'm looking for suggestions on where to start looking. I would like to stay around $250 - $300k. If it is in an area that could make money as a rental I could go to $500k. We know some folks that vacation at Smith Lake but looking at what's for sale, it looks like that would be out of my price range. Where should I start looking?

Lake Martin. But everything on Martin is high but very good rental opportunities though. Good luck.

Lake Mitchell would be my pick then lake Jordan

I’m on Smith all the time. I know I’m partial but there isn’t a prettier, cleaner piece of freshwater anywhere in the Southeast

There are spots on Smith but hurry. Smith will be Martin in a Decade. Both are nice but a Martin is more expensive on average.

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Back at you.

Martin is a shucks hole compared to what it once was. Makes me sick seeing what its turned into.

My mama still lives on the water…everything around her is stupid expensive..i mean.. ridiculous. My daddy moved there in the 70’s so him and my grandaddy had constant access to fishin..pawpaw had a small lure business an they bass fished pretty much everyday..when they he moved up there..you could buy a nice house on the water for $15-30k…now..its half a million for something small on a quarter acre..i keep my eyes peeled around big G..i seen one today that was about 1500sq ft built in the 80’s…$925k

All the folks on the warrior river are laughing and loving all the recommendations for the coosa chain and smith lake.

It all depends on what u want. I will tell u this…. 4th of July on the warrior is like a normal Wednesday on most of the other bigger lakes in the state. I’d look from lock 17 all the way to Copeland ferry bridge. Good fishing, some good water to ski, and a few hangouts. Don’t know much about guntersville. Jordan and Mitchell are fairly quiet….but not near as quiet as the warrior.
I’m sure there are some that will hate me for saying it on a forum, but he asked….

Ya man go look on the warrior river. It’s definitely nothing like lake Martin or smith lake. Some damn good people on the warrior but there’s some damn sure rough folks there also. I can tell you everything about the residential areas on that river from lock 17 down to Howtons camp. Anything past Howtons I’m not that familiar with. I love it around there but it aint for everybody.

Lake Martin is the prettiest lake in the state, just my biased opinion.

Stay off of lake Martin. It’s a sewage dump.... but if you want to go there I’ve got a lot I’ll sale for $1,000,000,000

I agree with you 100%. I can remember when there was no graffiti on Chimney Rock and there seems to be a horse’s ass at every turn except during the week.

I do a lot of side jobs involving construction. Most of the million dollar lake houses that I work on are owned by out of state residents. If Martin was still a secret, it would still be the lake most of y’all remember it as.

Right now even for $500k I’m betting the pickins are slim. Prices have doubled in a lot of areas in the last 1-2 years.

Yep

Absolutely correct.

Smith is the crown jewel of Bama reservoirs IMO. The Warrior is nice but the barges and swarms of Bama fans at all hours of the night on Saturdays in the fall are annoying. At least on the stretch I am familiar with.

No chance of 500,000 getting one on Martin...I looked recently and cheapest was in the 800,000s unfortunately.