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Scott Stone, a woodworker and retired metallurgist from Ferndale, Michigan, was at Cavanaugh’s grocery at The Homestead resort in August waiting for his pizza when he picked up a copy of our Aug. 22 edition of the Glen Arbor Sun, flipped to page 2, and read a story about the iconic bicentennial barn property at the corner of M-22 and Bohemian Road being for sale again. The 1890s farmhouse and barn on a 4-acre property in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was purchased in February 2021 by Greg and Heather (Nachazel) Ford. “I know this place,” from biking by it on the Sleeping Heritage Trail, Scott told himself. Fast forward to Oct. 17, when Scott and his wife Tamara bought the bicentennial farm from the Fords, who are moving out of state. The Stones have vacationed in the Glen Arbor area for 23 summers, they love the National Park, the vibe here, the sense of community, and proximity to Lake Michigan. For the past year they’ve been casually looking for a place to buy.

Vacasa, the largest rental company in North America, has purchased Leelanau Vacation Rentals in Glen Arbor from Ranae Ihme. The changeover will take place at the end of August. Most of the local staff will stay on, and Ranae and Bob Ihme will continue to own and run Glen Arbor Outdoor and LVR Realty, which they have renamed Leelanau Vacation Realty. The Ihmes and Vacasa will operate out of the same building across the street from the Glen Arbor park.

Photos (l-r): Cherry Republic owner Bob Sutherland (photo by Taro Yamasaki); Jamaican workers employed by Anderson’s Market in 2017 (photo by Norm Wheeler); Leelanau Fruit manager Ben LaCross (photo by Madeleine Vedel) By Jacob Wheeler Sun editor Farmers and retailers in Leelanau County who rely on seasonal migrant and guest workers are sweating through the […]

Let our exceptional staff make your vacation a memory to treasure! With more than 130 Great Places to Stay, Leelanau Vacation Rentals offers top quality vacation properties. Whether you are looking for a Homestead condominium or a home or cottage on Lake Michigan, Glen Lake or one of Leelanau Peninsula’s other beautiful inland lakes, we are confident that you will find our properties second to none.

LVR Realty owner Ranae Ihme enjoyed a banner 2016. She was the highest grossing agent in Glen Arbor (within the Traverse Area Association of Realtors (TAAR) MLS system) and was the third highest grossing agent in Leelanau County last year.

It wasn’t quite a “road to Damascus” epiphany, but Rob Serbin did find the road to Little Traverse Inn last year. The Glen Arbor realtor finally sold the restaurant on M-22 for the second time in seven years, this time to Scotsman Graeme Leask, after it sat idle on the market for 18 months. The sale was emblematic of Serbin’s monster year, which saw his company’s net sales surge by 250 percent. Numerous realtors in the Glen Arbor area shared that good fortune.

Sometime this month, the 1,364,835th visitor to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in 2012 will arrive at the Dune Climb, hike to Pyramid Point, or perhaps bike the Heritage Trail and enjoy its stunning autumnal beauty. In doing so, that visitor will officially make this the busiest year ever for the Glen Arbor region, the most profitable for local businesses, and perhaps the most hectic one too.

What’s remarkable about the Baremans’ work is that, wherever possible, they’ve used reclaimed and refurbished materials to improve their home, which they call the HalSeaOn House. Mark, who together with his brother owns a commercial construction business called Bareman & Associates, believes he’s saved 75 percent of the cost of buying new materials. Using reclaimed materials has cost him time, but that he writes off as a hobby.