BEAUTIFUL HOUSE FOR SALE

Located in Shell Knob, Missouri at Table Rock Lake and near Branson, MO

BEAUTIFUL 13.25 ACRES with charming storybook home, 3600 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, granite countertops, hardwood floors, porcelain tile, recessed lighting, MOTHER-IN-LAW APARTMENT (currently generating income of $500 per month), sunroom, library, home office, and two fireplaces (one in master bedroom), PLUS 40X60 INSULATED SHOP BUILDING/ BARN with all utilities and indoor RV parking (with a 14-foot overhead door).  The property is absolutely beautiful and looks like a park, with expansive lawns amongst hundreds of mature trees, complete with gated estate entry and a long concrete driveway to the house.  There is plenty of room for horses.  This home is also very close to town.  You can literally drive to the grocery store in 4 minutes.  You can get to the boat launch ramp in less than 5 minutes.   It is so nice to be able to live in the country, yet we can "run to town" for something and be back in practically no time at all.  This house is located in the resort town of Shell Knob, Missouri at Table Rock Lake, a wonderful lake with 800 miles of shoreline.  This is also a popular retirement destination with a low cost of living, almost no crime, and a mild environment.  Branson West is only 30 minutes away. 

There is a pond in the back yard that is spring fed.   It is full of large fish, turtles, and other life that make it our favorite feature of the property.   It creates a wonderful view from the sunroom.   

This is the yard in back of the house (looking to the left from the swing set).  Beyond the fence to the left is another 4 acres of wooded land (meaning I do not mow it) that is also our land.  It creates a nice buffer between neighbors and has a creek and a walking trail.  

This is the view from the swing set looking to the south (towards the barn/shop building).  

This is looking the same direction as the previous photo but standing on the wood deck on the south side of the house.  Up on the hill you can see the barn.  It is actually a big shop building.   We sometimes have "barn dances" up there, so we call it "the barn".   I also have a little office inside the barn with high speed Internet.  We have excellent DSL service and I currently have wi-fi access set up thoughout the house, the apartment, and the barn.   Both electricity and water are also piped up to the barn from the house (about 300 feet).    

This picture is taken while standing just down from the driveway as it meanders through the middle of the front lawn, which is enormous.  The house was originally built by the owner of the bank in Shell Knob for his own family.   All of the windows are dual pane.  There are 3 central heat and air conditioning zones.  The electric bills are very low for a big house ($130 to $250 depending on the season).  This includes the electricity to the shop building and our private well which provides very excellent water.  The house is equipped with central fire alarm and security systems.  Everything is set up for low maintenance and almost no painting with brick, vinyl siding, and metal trim covers throughout.  The house was designed so it could be divided, if desired, into two main sections, although they are connected both downstairs and upstairs.   The section over the garage was designed as a "granny flat" or mother-in-law quarters.  It is approximately 700 square feet (included in the total of 3600 square feet), with two bedrooms, full bath, living/dining area, and its own small kitchen.   It could also be used as a maid or caretaker's quarters, a "guest apartment" for friends and family visits, or a rental unit.  It rents for $500 per month (plus electric).

Turning back around, this gives you an idea just how big the front lawn is on the west side of the driveway (this only shows half of it).  We call this the "west lawn" or sometimes the "baseball field".    The far end of the fence is not the property line.  It goes on for another 280 feet (approximately) beyond the end of the fence.   There is lots of room for horses, cows, and animals of all kinds, and we have no land restrictions.  Our neighbors to the south are a retired couple who have a few horses and 3 or 4 cows.   We have great neighbors.  

Standing out on the road in front of the house you can see the beautiful curb appeal, yet the house is still secluded.  This view shows just 1/3 of the wooden farm fence.  It continues on for approximately 4/10 of a mile or around 2000 feet (600 meters), so there is quite a lot of road frontage.   The fence is in excellent condition. 

This view is looking back north toward where I was standing before.  These pictures were taken this Fall and you can see the trees were just starting to change into Fall colors.   Notice our road.  In this entire section we have no neighbors across the street.   Just trees.   The road is also county maintained (a very important feature in rural areas).  

The estate entrance is complimented by a nice wrought iron gate complete with 55 individual driveway lights that are automatically controlled.  Two giant oak trees grace both sides of the gate.  

The driveway is solid concrete all the way to the house.  The owner of the local concrete business told me it would cost well over $100,000 just for the concrete alone if I wanted to pour this driveway now.  Concrete has become so expensive.  The benefit is that concrete is very permanent and practically maintenance-free compared to blacktop.    

Looking toward the south from the main entrance, you can barely see the other driveway entrance for the barn.  

The barn has its own gravel drive with gate.   You can see the barn has a very tall 14 foot insulated door.   I had that installed about 4 years ago (at a cost of about $2500) in order to take advantage of the interior height.  Before that, I had to let all the air out of the airbags in order to get the motorhome inside under the old door.    Please notice the gorgeous row of cedar trees that line the driveway.  Also notice in this photo the enormous 4 acre lawn surrounding the barn.   There is a wonderful view from this area, all the way to the Arkansas Mountains.  The family we bought the property from intended this area to be another homesite (and still could be).  They even installed a completely separate septic system and leech field.   The barn is connected to it.  The water is also installed from the existing well (same well the main house uses--excellent water!).  

The driveway winds back and forth in two large curves down to the house.   When we moved here, each of these lights had normal 60 watt incandescent bulbs in them.  I felt that much electricity (3300 watts) just for driveway lights was not a good idea.  I then ordered 55 outdoor CFL bulbs that give the same light as a 40 watt bulb, yet use only 6 watts each.  Now it takes only 330 watts to run the whole thing.   There is a master switch at the house to turn them all on or off, and the gate lights can be operated separately.  Everything is also governed by a master light sensor that will keep the system off until it is dark.  

Down a little further you can see the driveway splits into a circle drive.  There is a large parking area in front of the house and also a large level parking area to the left.  On that section there is also an RV drain in case you have guests who want to park their motorhome and stay.   That level concrete area also provides the perfect basketball court.   The driveway is also the perfect play area for kids (their own private road!).  

Standing in front of the garage looking back up the driveway.  This is what the maple tree out front looks like in the fall (my favorite tree on the property).  

The same area at night.

The front porch is enormous and we spend a great deal of time out there most of the year.  The views are wonderful and there is a weeping willow tree that sways back and forth at the very end of the porch.    

This is the view while sitting on the front porch.  We sit at the far end of the front porch in the rocking chairs and watch the kids play constantly on this "Slippy Slide".   If you look real close in this picture you can see the main entry gate in the upper left corner.  

There is a large decorative carpet at the front door.  Starting from now I am going to attempt to give you a "tour" of the house.   So please come in.   

This is the foyer you will see when you first enter the house.  You can see the front door in the mirror on the wall.  This tile was imported from Italy and has been used extensively in the house.  It is a light color but has enough of a pattern that it does not show dirt.  We are extremely happy with it.  This is very high quality porcelain, not ceramic.  Porcelain is much stronger than ceramic tile, and the color goes all the way through the tile.  That way, if it ever does chip, you will not see it.  

The cozy living room is to your left.   It has a wonderful limestone wall and a big fireplace with mantle.  There is a high-dollar Quadrafire wood-burning insert that is only 3 years old.  We used to have a pellet stove but we changed to this one because it is much lower cost and puts out a lot more heat.  It will also burn for 8 hours before it needs more wood.  That was over $3,000.   The beautiful wood floors are real 3/4 inch thick solid oak.   The floors will never need replacement.   Scratches are also not an issue with this floor at all.  It shows none.   Please note house may be purchased fully furnished as shown for $10,000 extra (minus personal effects).  This is very low for how much is included.  Lawnmower will be $6,000 extra.  

If you look to your right as you walk in the front door, you will see the library (study).  It was built with a nice parquet wood floor and has some built-in book shelves (plus we have free standing bookshelves).  The room measures about 16'3" x 10'.  We have 3 desks and 3 computers in there because we use it as our schoolroom.   My wife has it decorated in "old world" along with things we have collected in our travels to other countries.   I wish you could look out all of these windows and see the yard.   Every window in this house (44 of them) offers spectacular views of the property.   

The kitchen is wonderful place, with absolutely gorgeous 1 1/4" thick solid granite countertops.  This is the thick kind that is completely self supporting.  There is also recessed lighting and solid oak cabinets.  The soffit boxes above have a beautiful faux finish (hard to see in the photos).  The entire kitchen area has Italian porcelain tile.  We also paid a lot extra to have non-staining grout.  It is called "Prism" grout.   

The granite color in this photo is not accurate and I had trouble getting my camera to get it right (see accurate granite color in the close up photo below).  There is lots of counter space with tons of cabinets and storage.   Multiple people can work here at the same time and there is plenty of room to walk around or just sit and talk with the cook.  The peninsula is one solid piece of granite.  The appliances are all covered by the home warranty we have had for over 5 years.  The dishwasher is brand new.  The main water heater was replaced under the warranty last winter (2010).  The main gas furnace was replaced under the warranty 2 years ago.   We upgraded to the best Carrier super high efficiency 96.6% AFUE two-stage model.    

This granite is a rare kind.  It is like a blend of the types "Santa Cecilia", "Giallo Veneziano" (with lots of red garnets) and "Venetian Gold".   It is so beautiful and we get never-ending comments about it.   The highly polished edge design is called "Ogee". 

While standing in the kitchen you still have very good views outside through the sunroom.  Both kitchens have garbage disposals and this one has a reverse osmosis water filtration system with 6 filters.  It is a very high dollar system and is part of the whole house water softener system.  Our water is not very hard and our well water is absolutely delicious right out of the tap, so I do not know why the previous owners installed all of this, but I have to admit I prefer the taste of the filtered water.  It tastes better than any bottled water.   

There are three white doors (from left to right): closet, bathroom, and a pantry. 

The left door is the coat closet that you could not see in the previous photo.  The bathroom and pantry are both small because they are built in under the staircase to take advantage of the space.  Even though the bathroom (on the right) is little, it is so convenient to have in the kitchen.  It gets a lot of use by the kids in our house because they can wash their hands right before sitting down to eat.  It also has a shower that gets used whenever they come in muddy or wet from playing outside.   

There are 3 dining areas off from the kitchen.   This one is where we spend the most time.  With the kitchen counter we can seat up to 15 in here.  In addition there is a formal dining room at the other side of the kitchen that has 6 more chairs.  Through the back window you can see the small deck that was designed as an outdoor dining area.      

The outdoor table has great views of the trees and the pond.  

Dining room.  

Most people like the sunroom the best.   It is 40 feet long and has 14 windows.   It faces east which is exactly the way a sunroom should be designed.  The trees shade the room in the summer and in the winter there are no leaves to stop the sunshine from coming in every morning to warm the house.   

Our kids play in this room constantly and it is their favorite place to be in the mornings when the sunshine pours through the glass.   My wife and I enjoy our coffee in here every day.  The room is surrounded outside by giant walnut trees that provide lots of shade and beauty.   

In the next few photos I am going to give you some idea of what the yard looks like form the deck and the sunroom, then after that we will continue the tour inside the house.  This is the east view from the deck.   All spring and summer you see these giant lush walnut trees from almost anywhere in the house.  They shade the entire house on three sides.   

When there are no leaves on the trees, the views are completely different.  The Ozark "mountains" are known for mild winters.  We are only a 10 minute drive from the Arkansas border so we are about as far south in Missouri as possible.   Once in a while we will get some snow, but just enough to have some fun with it.   

Now back to the pond.  The pond is mowed right to the water and always stays clean and beautiful due to the kind of fish it has.  This is by design.  There are giant grass carp in there (and I mean BIG ones) that serve as the water filter.  They eat algae so we never have any floating on the surface (unlike a lot of ponds).  We also have some other fish that live in harmony with them but my favorite are the colorful Koi fish that like to sun themselves near the water's edge.  There are also lots of turtles that are fun to watch.  

To the right of this photo there is a box turtle sunning himself on the shore.  There are also some turtles floating around with their little white heads out of the water.  Can you see them?

The kids appear in the pond during the Spring.  

The Koi fish like to sun themselves right next to the shore.  There are several different brightly-colored Koi in the pond.

One of the many frogs in the pond.   He let me get really close with the camera. 

Swing set in the back yard viewable from the sunroom and from the deck. 

If you turn your eyes to the west from the deck, this is the view.   God takes care of all of the trees and all I have to do is mow around them.  It looks like a park all the time.  Now we will go back inside.  

At the north end of the sunroom there are some French doors leading into a big room we call the breezeway. 

This breezeway connects the main house to the garage and the apartment staircase.  This is the perfect location for a home office, since there are so many power outlets and there is a separate entrance for clients.  It can also function as a separate entrance for the apartment.  This would also make a great craft room, music room (great acoustics for a piano), or exercise room.  The door to the right leads into the garage.   Both this room and the garage are equipped with automatic lights so the kids never forget to turn the lights off.

The door at the back of the room leads into a small enclosed porch (with a window and a storm door) that serves as another mudroom where you can take your boots off.  The staircase to the apartment is on the left.  There is a storage room under it that is accessible from the garage. 

NOW BACK TO THE FOYER TO SEE THE UPSTAIRS:

This staircase leads to the main upstairs which has 3 bedrooms (all with gorgeous views) and two bathrooms and a laundry room.  All of the bedrooms in this house (including the apartment bedrooms) are nice sized with plenty of closet space.

The same 3/4" solid oak flooring graces the upstairs banister/ hallway area.  The color on the walls looks yellow in these pictures but it is not.  It is called "Copper" (Valspar Signature color) and it is very much a copper color.  Beautiful.  

The laundry room has some cabinets and a basin sink.  The bathroom has a faux finish on the walls and ceiling that is a cape cod theme with clouds (we had this professionally done about 5 years ago).  There is a tub with shower on the right.   The sink is shaped like a sea shell.  

This is the master bedroom.  There is a beautiful wood burning fireplace that we will miss very much.  It is a very cozy room.  The size is 16'3"x13'10" without the alcove.   The configuration of the room is perfect for a queen sized bed (in there now), but for several years we had a king sized waterbed.  It fit fine but we had to turn it so the window was our headboard (I liked the view better!).  There are his and hers closets.  The carpet is the very best--extremely high quality.  It always looks so good after it is vacuumed and it is very thick and dense with a heavy pad under it.  The floor is just as comfortable as the chairs.  

The master bathroom features a beautiful granite counter with two large under-mount sinks.  The hardware is all oil rubbed bronze.  The picture on the right is the tiled shower area with a nice large shower (one piece fiberglass enclosure which is much easier to clean than tile).  There is a nice heater in there for the winter and a huge window that looks out at the back yard (east lawn).  

The door you see in the mirror leads to a linen closet and then to my wife's closet, a.k.a. the "secret passageway".  

My wife's walk-in double closets with built in drawers and cabinets.  There is also a built-in shoe rack.

Here is my walk-in closet.  It also has a built-in shoe rack, lots of light, and a nice big window.  How's that for a closet?  There's more too, plus the other bedrooms, but this page is already too long and we now must move on to the apartment.  If you would like to see photos of the other bedrooms in the house, click here.

 NOW LEADING TO THE GUEST APARTMENT: 

At the top of this staircase is the guest apartment/ grandma's quarters with two bedrooms, one bath, living area, and kitchen.   

The apartment also has a living and dining area.  There is central heat and air but the apartment also has electric baseboard heaters (in every room) in case you would just like to heat one room and not the whole place.  

The kitchen is small but functions well and we bought all new appliances for it about 4 years ago.  There is a built-in GE Profile microwave/convection oven.   The apartment is equipped with its own tankless water heater that I had installed about 4 years ago.  It provides unlimited hot water and only uses electricity when the water is turned on.  It is very energy efficient.  

The sink recently had a brand new garbage disposal installed under the home warranty.  The door you see on the right is the connection upstairs to the main house.  It leads to my wife's "closet".  That connects to another closet/linen storage area which then through yet another door leads to the master bathroom in the main house.  We call the connection to the apartment our "secret passageway". 

Looking at the views out the apartment windows.   

In addition to a programmable HVAC console, the apartment also has its own keypad for the central burglar/ fire alarm system.  The house and apartment both have photo-voltaic smoke detectors, which is the latest technology.  If there is smoke in the apartment or in the house, the fire department is immediately notified.  Since the firehouse sits directly behind our property, they can be here almost instantly.   It is a fantastic system and every house should have one.  We also get a discount on our homeowner's insurance for all of this. The keypads (3 in the house and 1 in the barn) have one-touch buttons that call for medical help or for the sheriff.   We pay $275 per year for the monitoring service (which includes the barn), but we get that back with our discounted insurance.  It might seem silly to have a burglar alarm system in this part of the country but it is nice to know we have the fire protection.  

The apartment bathroom has nice Italian tile.  A couple of years ago, I asked the granite place (near Branson) to make me a custom one piece counter that would expand the counter space.  They did a beautiful job.  This is Venetian Gold granite (also 1.25" thickness like the other bathroom and the kitchen, but with a different edge design).   

Down below, the garage is huge.  Here you see a full sized Cadillac and a Suburban parked in there.  The right side is long enough for a big bass boat.   Behind me where I am taking this photo is an extra set of washer and dryer for the guest apartment.  There is also a laundry room upstairs in the main part of the house.  

Apartment laundry area. 

The garage is also heated and cooled by the central HVAC system if desired.  It is nice in the summer or winter if you want to have any projects going in here.  Now, we must end the house tour because I need to show you a few more things outside.  First we'll head for the barn/shop building:  

BARN/ SHOP BUILDING: 

This is the outside area on the side of the barn where I usually park my old pickup truck and the lawn mowers.  At the back there is a large chicken coop that is built very sturdy (we had chickens a few years ago but not currently).  

Picture of the lawn mower I use to mow the place.  (sold)

The interior insulated portion of the barn measures about 45x60.   You can put two large motorhomes in there, or a bunch of Cadillacs.  It is very well insulated.  I have never had any of the water pipes freeze inside the barn and I do not keep it heated unless I am up there working.  There is a large gas furnace that heats the whole barn.  It is electrically ignited just like at the house.  Just turn on the wall thermostat.   There is also a small office, toilet, sink, commercial florescent lighting throughout, and lots of work benches (some of them are flimsy but they work).  I keep a refrigerator in there too.    

The barn has steel trusses, which are uncommon nowadays because they are so expensive.  They allow you to take advantage of the full ceiling height.  That is why I had the new 14 foot roll-up door installed.  Now, I can drive even the tallest motorhomes in there with ease.  That back door slides open and provides very nice cross ventilation.   The barn has its own septic system (as mentioned earlier).  There are two floor drains which allow me to wash the motorhome or the boat inside, out of the direct sunlight.  The rear drain is large enough to also work as a dump station for the RV tanks.  The barn also has 200 AMP electrical service and I had a 50 AMP RV electrical socket installed for the motorhome.  So there are "full RV hookups" in here.  

This little air conditioned office is just the right size for me.  I have a very large desk in there and my computer with a telephone and high speed Internet access.  I suppose it could be considered the "man cave" on the property.   It is where I can get away from everyone and get some work done in peace.  When we built the office, we insulated it very well and I had them use very sturdy construction for the roof in order to use it as a storage area above.    

There is a couch, carpet, and some built in cabinets on the walls.  

We have had several parties here for friends and neighbors.  This is one of the barn dances we had in the fall, complete with a hired square dance caller.  All of the work benches were covered with food dishes.  It was fun.  

This is a barn dance we had in the summer.  

Outside the barn is an area with several fruit trees (peaches and apples) and a small raised garden area.  This was the first strawberry of the season this year.  

Looking out from the corner of the barn.  On the left is the long row of huge cedars.  While most of our trees are deciduous, it is nice to have a mix of pines and cedars in the yard in order to have some greenery all year.  On the right are some more peach trees.  

This is the oak grove up by the barn and what it looks like in the Fall.  

This is a wedding out on the west lawn (summer before last).  The south lawn by the barn was the parking lot for all the cars.  A beautiful trail of ribbons lead the guests through the trees from the parking area to the wedding site.  The property is very well suited for large gatherings and we have toyed with the idea of using it for weddings as a money making enterprise, but have not done it.  It sure has the potential though. 

You can see in this Google Earth photo how well the property is laid out and our neighbors.  The firestation owns the entire 13 acre parcel behind us, so we will never have to worry about anyone building anything to ruin our beautiful view of the trees.  Notice that our neighbors to the north (a nice brick house) are separated from us by a large chasm of woods.  It is nice that the woods are part of our property so the buffer will always be there for total serenity and privacy.  However, we have thought about clearing part of it and building some boat storage buildings there.  If you'll notice, our only other neighbor (which is to the southeast by the barn) is a boat storage facility called "Lakeland Storage".  They are always full and this is an excellent business in Shell Knob because so many visitors like to store their boats here for weekend visits.  You can also see how close to town we are (which starts in the bottom right corner of the photo).  

LOCATION:  Shell Knob is called the "quiet side" of Table Rock Lake, with Branson, Missouri on the eastern side of the lake.   It is a very rural small town but is centrally located to many big towns and airports.   There is almost no crime here at all and it is one of the safest places you can be in the USA.  We are close enough to Branson for us to be considered "locals" (we get the local discounts too), but far enough away to be free of the traffic jams associated with Branson.  This side of the lake also has far fewer boats and much calmer waters, making the lake safer and more enjoyable.   Most of the business of our town is tourism and there are numerous resorts on the lake.  There are about 4,000 full-time residents, but from Memorial Day to Labor Day that number just about doubles to 8,000.  It is also a popular retirement destination, so many of the residents are from all over the country.  There are so many things to do here.  We have all of the necessary conveniences like a supermarket, hardware store (Meeks), post office, school (K-8), banks (3), restaurants (5), Dollar General, a Subway (fast food), medical care facilities (2), dentist, chiropractor, and a few other things including several boat dealerships.  However, we are small enough that we almost never wait in line and everyone greets us by name.  Our beautiful property is very close to town.  I can literally jump in my car and be at the post office or the grocery store in 4 minutes.  Since it is one of the only grocery stores in a wide area, it is good sized and offers excellent organic produce.  People drive from all over just for the meat they sell.  This is country living at its finest.  I cannot over emphasize how conveniently located our property is compared to many of the remote areas around the lake.  We also have 4 Wal-Mart Supercenters all within 30 minutes or less.  If you need to get to a really big city, Springfield is only an hour away.  It is the largest city in this area of the country and has everything.  Southern Missouri is one of the most economical places to live in the USA, and taxes are low.  

THE LAKE:  Table Rock Lake is very big.  It has over 800 miles of shoreline.  The name "Table Rock" is due to the unusual limestone flat, wafer-like rock formations that characterize this entire area of the Ozarks.  The limestone surrounds the entire lake and acts as a very effective filtration system, which keeps the water very clean.  This is why Table Rock Lake is so popular for water sports.  The water does not smell like "lake water" at all.  It is clear too.  When you are swimming, you can always look down and see your feet.  Try that in any other lake!  In addition, this lake is very deep (which is great for fishing), yet stays very warm near the surface.  The water is so delightfully warm for swimming.  We have had several boats since we have lived here and we have made so many family memories out on the water.  Living by a big lake is very fun.   

Our kids out on Table Rock Lake.  

This is what the lake shoreline looks like right now in the fall.  

This is an aerial picture over the town of Shell Knob which clearly shows the famous bridge.  Our favorite place to swim is just on the other side of the bridge.  Some restaurants cater to boaters.  Even Pizza Hut has its own dock right next to the bridge.  Point your boat to the left (east) and you'll reach Branson.  Point it to the right and you can visit Eureka Springs, AR.  

In the summertime my kids and I head down nearly every evening after dinner for a swim by the bridge.  This picture was taken after 8:00 PM.  

Sometimes we head down to Roaring River instead and play with the crawdads.  You can look up "Roaring River State Park".  

We usually buy season passes to Silver Dollar City because it is so close to the house.  It is convenient for us to go there even if just for a few hours.  We love it there and everything in Branson.   

(Note: We sold it in May, 2011, but the house is currently for sale by a realtor there.)

Thank you.