The end of this year on this site will bring many market reviews. I’ll review the lakefront market by segment, the lakefront condo market, the lake access market, Abbey Springs, Geneva National, and a few others. I’ll also make predictions for 2012, much as I did for 2011 last year. We’ll revisit those prior predictions to see if they jive with what actually happened. If I’m wrong, I’ll admit it. If I’m right, I’ll do my best to restrain my enthusiasm. That’s what the next couple of weeks on the site will look like, but for now we’ll start one market review a bit early.
With just 11 days of 2011 left, it’s safe to say that there will be no further activity in the lakefront co-op triumvirate that counts the Congress Club, The Harvard Club, and Belvidere Park as its distinguished members. With the year dying rapidly and nothing on the open market in any of these associations, it is acceptable to proceed with our cart immediately in front of our horse and complete the year end review for this group.
When you are considering the aforementioned clubs, you must first understand what these clubs are. I do a somewhat miserable job fully explaining the ownership at these. The king of the lakefront co-op is the Congress Club, which is technically a leasehold co-op. There is an actual lease. I know it exists because a buyer once asked what happens when that lease expires some fifty years from now. I didn’t know the answer and neither did anyone else. In the Congress Club you own your cottage but not the dirt under it, as it true with all of the co-ops on Geneva. The Harvard Club is not a fee simple arrangement, so it must be a leasehold as well. Right? Not so much. There appears to be no written lease for the Harvard Club, so it must not be an exacted leasehold property. Whatever it is, it works and has worked for more than a hundred years. The simple way to understand the Harvard Club is that if you must ask the question there most likely isn’t an answer.
But I am not an attorney, so you mustn’t rely solely on me to describe these ownership situations to you (consult an experienced local attorney for a full understanding of these ownership groups). What you can count on me for, however, is to determine where these fit into the market and how the market receives them. This year there were two sales at the Congress Club. This is important. It’s important because the Club had one sale at $850k and another at $1.25MM. The spread reflects this market’s deep lust for new construction. The sale at $1.25MM was of a new home, constructed where an old home once stood. It was new but it was far from fancy. I had little interest in this home, even if the market obviously did. I had more interest in the sale for $850k, and can never understand why someone wouldn’t rather put $300k into an $850k home and have a far superior product for a hundred grand less than the buyer paid for the new home. New and cheap does not beat old and high end, but that’s just by my book. And it’s not even written yet.
The Congress Club had a good year. The $850k sale represented value, and the buyer of that property should be quite pleased. I expect another offering in the Congress Club during 2012, and I know there are buyers stacked waiting for a reasonable listing there. For those who might be interested, keep the following limitations in mind: As this is a co-op, no financing is allowed, so please do bring cash. Pets are allowed here, so you’ll be able to bring Fido. This is good and it is important. The Congress Club also has year long service by Williams Bay water and sewer. Also important.
The Harvard Club asks that you leave Fido at home from the third week of June through Labor Day. This is somewhat onerous for dog lovers, and until recently I thought the rule to be a bit unnecessary. One day this summer, an owner in the Club enlightened me. If dogs were permitted in the Harvard Club, it’s safe to say that at least half of the homes would have a dog or two in them on most days throughout the summer months. These are cottages in rows, each facing another, with little distance in between the cobbled brick paths that stretch from parking lot to lake- and past each and every cottage. These cottages are also fond of their porches. So the scenario that would exist, if dogs were permitted in the summer, would play out in this manner: New owner arrives in parking lot with dog. Parks car. Slams door. Dog barks, out of excitement. Other dogs in porches also bark. Owner walks barking, or quiet, dog past rows of dog filled cottages to his/her cottage. Dogs all barking at each other. This would be a problem for the guy without a dog who just nodded off inside his own screened porch, and this is why the rule exists.
So dogs at the Harvard Club are not permitted for some of the summer, but this handsome development has succeeded over the years anyway. I sold one cottage in the club this year for $365k. The cottage sold with a boat slip and a garage and a lake view. It was a fine little cottage, but it was in need of renovations that the new owner is not afraid of. The sale represented value no matter how you slice it. This cottage does not have winter water service, something the Harvard Club lacks, so owners who buy here are limited to April through November enjoyment, unless they don’t require the use of toilets during their winter visits, which is fine by me. I had one listing in the Harvard Club that failed to sell this year, and it will return to the market this spring for your consideration. Priced in the low $500s, it is a shining example of a turn of the century cottage, and I promise you that I will sell it during 2012. The Harvard Club might be priced significantly less than the Congress Club but I assure you the lakefront park at the Harvard Club is possibly the finest on the entire lake.
Last fall, I sold a cottage at Belvidere Park. This cottage was listed at and then sold for $519k. In one day. The previous MLS offering in that Fontana co-op was nearly 22 years prior, a matter of fact exclusivity that pushes valuations just a touch higher here. The development, unlike the Harvard Club and the Congress Club, does not have enough slips for each owner to enjoy, so some homes have slips and others do not. Everyone has a garage though, so that’s nice. Belvidere Park also has year around water and sewer, and they allow pets during all seasons. Two more nice things. There wasn’t a single public offering during 2011 in this Club, but that will soon change. I have a cottage available for sale at the moment, and should you be interested, we can do a deal right now. I will be listing this cottage on the open market in late January (see yesterday’s post), but until then you can still come see it with me if you like. The price is $549k, the view is pleasing, the proximity unrivaled. It will sell in 2012.
It was a good year for Geneva’s co-ops. There was liquidity in these cash only enclaves, and there was activity that far exceeded the final sales figures. I’m quite sureyear things will be even better. There will likely be offerings in all three associations, and for anyone seeking an old school cottage retreat on the shores of Geneva, there is no better substitute. As these are cash only purchases there is no foreclosure trouble that can exist here. There is only an intermingling of generational ownership with new owners who wish the cottages to become their own generational holding. The taxes and association dues are strikingly low in these (perhaps excepting the Congress Club, though for lakefront the situation remains remarkably affordable), and the lifestyle mostly unrivaled outside of true lakefront ownership. If a Lake Geneva co-op suits you, I understand these tricky markets better than anyone, and I’d love to help make 2012 the inaugural summer of your new Lake Geneva tradition.