River homes on the St. Croix. Lake homes in Lake Elmo, Stillwater, Grant and Woodbury. Western Wisconsin lake and river property, from Hudson up to the Cumberland lakes in Barron County.
I'm Jason Lange, a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Results, licensed in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I help buyers and sellers with lake and river homes, and with the questions that make waterfront different: the shoreline, access rights, septic and well systems, financing, local rules and how the property is valued.
Waterfront in this part of Minnesota and Wisconsin covers a lot of ground. A bluff-top home above the St. Croix and a walkout on Lake Jane are both "waterfront," but they come with different rules, different buyers and different questions.
I've spent decades of summers at our family's cabin on Sand Lake in Cumberland, and I bring a lender's eye to how waterfront homes get appraised and financed. My job is to help you understand what you're actually buying or selling: the house, the lot, the shoreline and the rules that come with them.
Browse waterfront homes for sale: Washington County, MN · St. Croix County, WI
Why Waterfront Is Different
With a waterfront home, the land and the water often matter more than the house. Two homes at the same price can be very different values once you look at the frontage, the slope to the water, the depth off the dock and which way the shoreline faces.
A few things change when water is part of the deal:
- The rules are stricter. Shoreland zoning, bluff setbacks and, on the St. Croix, federal and state riverway rules limit what you can build, add or change.
- Comparable sales are harder to find. There are fewer waterfront sales, and no two shorelines are alike. Pricing takes more judgment and less formula.
- Systems matter more. Many lake and river homes have a well and septic system. Minnesota requires sellers to disclose septic information, and some counties and cities also require a compliance inspection at sale. Washington County does, for example, with a few exceptions. Requirements vary by location, so I help clients sort out what has to be checked before buying or selling.
- Appraisals and financing take more care. Lenders and appraisers look closely at unique properties. Knowing how they think helps avoid surprises late in the process.
- The lake or river itself is part of the purchase. Water quality, depth, boat traffic, invasive species and water level history all affect how you'll use the property and what it's worth.
It also helps to be clear about what kind of waterfront a home actually has:
- Direct waterfront means the property adjoins the lake or river. Even then, the exact boundary, riparian rights and allowed shoreline uses need to be verified.
- Water view means the property overlooks the water without necessarily including any frontage.
- Water access can come through an association, a deeded easement, a shared waterfront lot or another arrangement, often with waiting lists or rules of its own. The exact rights need to be reviewed in the documents.
All three can be appealing, but they're valued very differently, and buyers should know which one they're looking at.
Living on the St. Croix River
The St. Croix is the reason many people move to this part of the metro. On the Minnesota side, river homes run through Marine on St. Croix, Stillwater, Oak Park Heights, Bayport, Baytown Township, Lakeland, Lakeland Shores, Lake St. Croix Beach, St. Mary's Point and Afton. Across the river, Hudson and the Western Wisconsin river towns offer the same views from the other bank.
River property here comes with a set of rules most buyers haven't run into before. The Lower St. Croix was added to the national wild and scenic rivers system in 1972, and the protected stretch runs 52 miles from Taylors Falls to Prescott. Cities and counties enforce the rules through local riverway ordinances, which can be stricter than the state minimums.
Here are the Minnesota DNR's general statewide minimums. They aren't a ruling on what you can build or change on a specific property: the district the lot is in, the local ordinance, existing improvements and any recorded easements all need to be checked before you make plans.
- Setbacks are large. Homes and other structures must sit 100 to 200 feet back from the river's ordinary high water level, depending on whether the lot is in an urban or rural district. Setbacks from the bluff line run 40 to 100 feet.
- Lot coverage is capped. Rooftops, driveways, decks and patios together can cover no more than 20 percent of the lot.
- Height is limited. Structures are limited to 35 feet, to keep development below the tree line.
- View clearing is restricted. Trees larger than six inches in diameter can't be cut in the setback area, and vegetation that screens a home from the river has to stay.
- Older homes have special rules. Many river homes were built before the rules existed. They can often be expanded if the addition stays out of view from the river in summer, but a full replacement has to meet today's standards.
- Some lots carry scenic easements. The National Park Service holds many of these, mostly between Taylors Falls and Stillwater. Each one is different and can limit building height, placement and tree removal.
These are Minnesota's rules. On the Wisconsin side, river property in and around Hudson follows Wisconsin's own Lower St. Croix standards (Chapter NR 118), applied through local ordinances such as St. Croix County's riverway overlay district. Wisconsin lakes away from the river fall under county shoreland zoning based on Chapter NR 115. The numbers and terms differ from Minnesota's, so for a Wisconsin property I'd check with the local zoning office rather than assume the Minnesota standards apply. If you're looking on the Wisconsin side, you can search St. Croix County, WI waterfront homes.
High water matters too. When the river reaches 683 feet at the Stillwater gauge, the whole lower river becomes a slow, no-wake zone. If you're buying on the river, I'd want to know how the property has handled high-water years, where the septic system sits, and what the flood zone determination says.
None of this makes river property a bad idea. It means the questions you ask before you buy, or before you price a home to sell, are different. A home that looks like a teardown might not be one. A home that looks easy to expand might not be either.
Lake Homes Across the East Metro and Western Wisconsin
The river gets most of the attention, but the East Metro and Western Wisconsin have dozens of lakes with homes on them. They range from deep, clear recreational lakes to small, quiet lakes better suited to a kayak than a ski boat. Here's how I'd describe the main ones buyers ask about.
