Why Seasonal Contract Details Can Make or Break a Lakefront Property Deal in New Hampshire

Most people think about price, location, and dock footage when they picture buying a lake house on Lake Winnipesaukee. Brie Stephens thinks about who is pulling the dock out of the water.



That might sound like a small thing, but for Brie, Broker and Owner of Lake Life Realty at Compass, it represents something bigger: the quiet complexity that separates a smooth lakefront closing from a messy dispute. And it is exactly the kind of thing that only gets sorted out when a buyer or seller is working with an agent who genuinely knows how waterfront property works across all four seasons.



Brie Stephens leads Lake Life Realty at Compass, the top-performing lakefront real estate team in New Hampshire's Lakes Region, and this is the kind of expertise her clients count on long before they reach the closing table.

Here is a situation that comes up more than most people expect. A buyer goes under contract on a Lake Winnipesaukee property in mid-September. The deal looks clean, the price is right, and everyone is excited. But the closing is scheduled for November. And by November, the dock should already be out of the water.



So who handles that?



"Whose responsibility is that?" Brie asks. "Is the seller taking it out of the water on their dime? Are they planning to just leave it?"



It sounds like a detail that two reasonable people could figure out. But when money is on the line, reasonable assumptions stop being reasonable. The dock is just one example. Properties also need lawn maintenance through the fall. If there is an early-season plowing event in late October or early November, someone has to take care of that too. Without clear contract language, both sides are pointing at each other and no one has the answer.

Brie puts it plainly: assumed responsibilities are not just assumed anymore. They need to be laid out contractually as seasons change.



That shift in thinking is central to how she approaches every transaction involving a waterfront property with a seasonal transition baked into the timeline. The under-contract period for a lakefront home is not a passive waiting game. Things are happening at the property. The seasons are moving. And if the contract does not address who is responsible for each of those things, the closing process can get complicated fast.



This is not just about protecting buyers. Sellers benefit just as much from having these responsibilities defined in writing. A seller who plans to leave the dock in as a courtesy needs that intention documented. A buyer who wants the lawn maintained through closing should have that requirement spelled out. Neither side should be left guessing.



Lake Life Realty specializes in luxury waterfront properties on Lake Winnipesaukee and throughout the NH Lakes Region, and that specialization means the team understands these property-specific rhythms in a way that generalist agents simply do not.

Brie Stephens was named to NAR's 30 Under 30 and has closed over $128 million in lakefront property sales. That volume is not built on luck. It is built on the kind of deep market knowledge that shows up in contract language, in conversations with sellers about fall preparation, and in the questions Brie asks before a deal even gets written.



She grew up immersed in Lakes Region life, and she lives the Lake Life herself. That background gives her an instinct for what waterfront properties require across every season. When she reviews a contract for a fall closing, she is not reading off a checklist. She is drawing from real experience with what these properties need and what happens when those needs go unaddressed.



For buyers and sellers in the Lakes Region, that experience is not just a bonus. When the calendar and the closing date are on a collision course, it can be the difference between a deal that goes smoothly and one that ends in frustration.