‘We didn’t want hustle and bustle’

Bud and Susan Turner were looking for ways to invest other than the stock market after Sept. 11, 2001, setting their sights on vacation property. The couple purchased a lot on Lake Wedowee in Alabama and set out to build a second home for their family.

Why Lake Wedowee: The Turners started looking at property in the North Georgia mountains and on Florida's Gulf Coast, but Lake Wedowee won out because of the location. A friend of Bud's from high school also had built a home on the point where they purchased, so that was a factor as well. The gravel cul-de-sac point had only 10 lots. "We've got a water view on three sides, so we've got just an awesome view here," said Bud, who works for United Community Bank. The couple bought the property in 2001, found a house plan and began building the home.

Their home: An A-frame home, it has a metal roof, screened porch and separate boathouse. It's very functional for the couple, their three children – Suzanne, 16, and 14-year-old twins Rebecca and Mason – and two dogs. The home has a kid-friendly basement, a main floor and a loft. "We wanted a very simple home. We wanted a home that had a large gathering room for our family and friends, and that's exactly what we built," said Susan, a teacher at Newnan High School. They devoted much of the home's square footage to a 30-by-30 great room with a fireplace that opens onto the screened porch. To create a vintage look, she decorated with items from Lakewood Antiques Market's now-closed Atlanta location, antiques and furniture from stores in Wedowee, and family items, including old beds that belonged to Bud's mom.

How far from home: About 65 miles from Newnan. It's a traffic-free drive, Susan said. "It's a beautiful country ride between Newnan and Lake Wedowee," she said.

How often they're there: Every weekend during the summer and about once a month during the winter. "If it were up to Bud, we would come every weekend," Susan said.

What they do when they're there: Fishing, boating, wake boarding, knee boarding and tubing on the lake. They take walks as a family. In the wintertime, they do puzzles and watch movies. On rainy days, they may go to the movies or mall in Oxford or Anniston. But they have to plan ahead, because even the nearest gas station is about 20 minutes away.

What they love about it: "It's very quiet. We didn't want hustle and bustle, we didn't want to be around a lot of people," Susan said. " We really like the privacy that's here."

Tips for buying a vacation home: Think about what you want to accomplish with your vacation home. "We wanted to have a place that took very little time for us to get to, that didn't involve going through the traffic of Atlanta," Susan said. "That was a big push for us coming this way. We wanted a place that was very relaxing and different from the lifestyle that we have in Newnan, and we definitely got that here."

At a glance

Bud and Susan Turner’s home at Lake Wedowee has three bedrooms, three baths and about 3,000 square feet of livable space. Their home was finished in spring 2002.

Community overview

Lake Wedowee is an 10,666-acre lake with a 272-mile shoreline in East Alabama. Alabama Power Co. began construction of Lake Harris, as it is officially known, in 1974 and completed it in 1982. The Alabama Department of Conservation calls Lake Wedowee one of the top three lakes in Alabama for fishing. Alabama Power owns more than 65 percent of the property surrounding Lake Wedowee.

In 2005, 2006 and 2007, the Lake Wedowee market saw increases, up to 50 percent annually, in the number of sales and values of lake homes and lots, said Leisel Caldwell, managing broker of Re/Max Lakefront. Its first $1 million home sale was in 2007, when a lake lot also topped $500,000. It felt the impact of the housing market slowdown in 2008, with high-priced properties but few buyers and closings, Caldwell said. In 2010, there are foreclosures and bank-owned properties, developers who must sell to stay afloat, and sellers who must sell because of  life changes or financial woes, she said. Prices are being reduced, with lake lots offered at 50 percent of the original asking price and deals for less than $350,000.

Information

Re/Max Lakefront

www.ilovelakewedowee.com

Lake Wedowee Life magazine

www.lakewedoweelife.com

Lake Wedowee Property Owners Association

www.lakewedoweepoa.com

For sale

$559,000: 475 Wedowee Creek View Drive, Wedowee, Ala. 36278. A three-bedroom, two-bath lake home built in 1989 with an unfinished basement and features such as custom cabinets, ceramic tile and built-ins.