Mike - Bill is correct in that where you are on the water makes a big difference. On both the hot and cold side, many of the larger waterfront plots are being sliced up into 1 acre chunks (minimum size) with slivers of waterfront in the 50 foot range (sometimes less) - that's barely enough to put in a decent dock and boat slip or lift. Prices definitely reflect the quality and quantity of water frontage. My wife and I looked for over three years, rejected a lot of plots because of waterfront issues. If the waterfront was large enough (many times an issue in and of itself), the water itself wasn't deep enough or access was via a very steep climb or there wasn't sufficient room for a boat house.
Frankly, I would be very very suspicious of anything below $500K for a waterfront three bedroom/two bath on either side. What real estate sites do and do not show picture-wise is very very telling. For example, we saw one place for around $500K that boasted a pool, private beach, 3bd/3.5ba on waterfront. It had a single picture of a beautiful pool and beach. Except when we saw it, we noticed that the house was tucked way back at the end of a cove and the "waterfront" was about 20 feet of frontage accessed by a long narrow walkway sandwiched between two other properties. The "water" itself was shallow and unusable.
Also be careful of terms like "water access" and "water view" or worse "winter water views." None of those are really waterfront.
If you need a buyer's agent, I can send your folks towards the person we used (Bill knows them too). Also, check out Long&Foster's website where you can do a mapsearch of Virginia to Louisa County (the hotside of Lake Anna) at http://homes.longandfoster.com/Real-Estate/Power-Search.aspx?mode=cityCounty.
If you want to ping me offline, feel free to do that as well as I can help you with any questions you or your folks may have. Frankly, we can talk more at the end of April gathering and I can show you some of the places we saw (by water) and why they're still for sale!
