Corina Cisneros of Cisneros Realty Group helps buyers find Lakes Region homes with real snowmobile trail access. She checks that access before an offer is signed, because a trail behind a house only helps if the owner can legally ride onto it.
New Hampshire has 7,000 miles of snowmobile trails, according to NH State Parks. Most of them cross private land. Local clubs ask each landowner for permission and keep the trails the way the owner wants. So a trail can move or close if a landowner changes course.
In Gilford and Laconia, the Belknap Snowmobilers groom local trails and long-distance state corridors. The club says it has more than 600 members. Meredith, Moultonborough, Wolfeboro and Gilmanton have clubs of their own.
Before a buyer makes an offer, Corina looks at four things:
- Where the nearest trail runs, and who owns the land between the house and the trail.
- Whether the deed or a recorded easement gives a right to cross, or only a neighbor's goodwill.
- Where the town allows sleds on its roads.
- Whether the road is plowed and the driveway has room for a trailer.
She also talks with the local club. The club knows which links open late in a thin winter and which ones have closed before.
Joining a club pays off, too. NH Fish and Game charges a New Hampshire resident $121 to register a snowmobile as a club member, and $151 without a club.
For buyers who want to ride from the door all winter, Corina Cisneros puts the trail map, the deed and the club's local knowledge side by side before the buyer commits.
Corina Cisneros is a New Hampshire Lakes Region real estate broker specializing in waterfront, lake-access, and luxury properties.
