Buying along Lake Coeur d’Alene, Lake Pend Oreille, Priest Lake, or on rural acreage in Kootenai and Bonner counties involves issues a typical in-town purchase doesn’t. On the water, your private land generally extends only to the natural or ordinary high water mark — the State of Idaho owns the lakebed below it — and any dock or other structure requires an encroachment permit from the Idaho Department of Lands that must be reassigned to you at closing. On rural and forested land, the things that most affect value and use are recorded legal access (not just a road that exists), the water rights that do or don’t convey with the land, whether the mineral estate was severed by a prior owner, and the private septic and well — permitted and inspected by the Panhandle Health District and the Idaho Department of Water Resources, and not covered by title insurance. Deeds for property in Kootenai County are recorded with the Kootenai County Recorder in Coeur d’Alene, and Bonner County deeds with the Bonner County Recorder in Sandpoint. Kootenai Title Company closes waterfront and rural transactions across this area every day and reviews each of these items on your title commitment so there are no surprises.