Some times you can find 2 homes of nearly equal construction, design, age, and quality on the same lake less than half a mile from each other, and one is nearly double the value of the other. Why does this happen? Well there are several important factors that can have a huge impact on the value of lakefront homes. Below is a list of some of the most major and common variables that affect lakefront property value.

Proximity to a Marina
Lets face it. A Marina is a great thing to have on your lake. However, if that Marina is hosting a Bass fishing tournament that kicks off at 5:00am, and you wanted to sleep in and relax in your quiet lakefront retreat, you can forget about that. You might just be enjoying all the engine noise, and smoke from the older boat motors as they go right by your house. Also, marinas if not properly supervised can be sources of fuel spills and entry points for invasive plant species.

Proximity to a public launch or beach
For some of the same reasons that are listed above, the noise and extra boat traffic close to your lakefront home might not let you feel like you have "gotten away from it all". Sometimes if you property borders a public beach the guests might just wander onto your private beach as well.

One unified parcel
If you have just started searching for lakefront property you probably think that I am joking about this attribute. I am not. There are quite a few instances in Maine where you have a great home on a great lake at a super low price. You go to see it and discover that to get from the house to the beach that you have to cross a road. These houses should always be purchased for a discount. The amount of the discount can vary enormously. I know of  some on Tripp Lake in Poland where the street you are crossing has very low traffic on it, so the road is not a  huge value killer. However, I know of some places on Thompson Lake and Crystal lake in Bridgton where you are crossing a state Highway to get to your idyllic car exhaust scented beach.

Depth of the water frontage
Very simply, you can change the home around in astounding ways. However, the one thing you can not change is the quality of that water frontage. If you can put up a dock so that at the end of that dock you are in 4' of water or more, you have what you need to be able to tie on most normal sized boats on the end of your own dock. Just watch out because sometimes when you find a great house with a low price it is because you might have to keep your boat on a mooring ball, and have to swim out to it every time you want to go for a boat ride. Nothing is more convenient than loading your family, friends, and picnic basket on your own boat from your own dock.

Width of the owned water frontage
Another key indicator of value that needs to be considered when putting a value on lakefront property is the length of that frontage along the body of water. Typically if you have 100' of frontage you are doing pretty well, and should be afforded a decent degree of privacy. I have seen lakefront homes with far less than 100' and you are often sitting on your beach in earshot of the casual conversation of your neighbor, and vice versa. 100' or more of shorfrontage will usually ensure your privacy.

Slope of the lot down to the water.
This is another one of those characteristics that should be painfully obvious but is more often overlooked by the sellers of steep sloped property than the buyers. If your slope down to the water is at a very high pitch, you will have a heck of a work out every time you come back from your beach or boat ride. This also precludes your having guests that are elderly, out of shape, or handicapped down to your water front. So sellers take note. You can not price your fancy lakefront home at the same value as other equally fancy lakefront homes due to the consideration of your slope. The higher the pitch of your slope, the higher the percentage of discount you must give.

Privacy
I have already partially touched on this subject above when I talked about Width of Waterfrontage. I am bringing this up again so that I can mention a few other points. Some times you can find a property that has a non buildable lot on one or both sides. These provide excellent privacy. You can enhance your privacy a great deal by adding smart plantings along the sides of your property as well as tall fence. Some owners go to the trouble of removing foliage to improve their lake view and later discover that the view goes both ways. By opening up their view they have improved the view of what they do for people that boat by close to their property. I had one lakefront owner describe this effect as living in a fish bowl.

Sandy Beach
This should be a matter of common sense. But it does bear some explaining. It is now illegal to add sand to the shorefront of a Lake in Maine. Those properties that do have this sand in place are highly sought after. Of course if you are a die-hard naturalist you will prefer the vegetation that grows up from rotting underwater leaves that fill in around numerous rocks so that all sorts of native exotic biting insects, snakes and the like can populate around your shorefront. Of course you would never want to go out and rake these things out if you were a lakefront property owner that was looking to quickly add value and enjoyment to your property.

View
I have mentioned view before but I really want to emphasize what I mean. If you are on a "point" you have a killer lake view. If  you want to know how valuable your lake view is, just go out and take a picture of it. If you can fit your lake in the standard frame of any off the shelf digital point and shoot camera, then your lake view is average.