If I ever find myself in the market for an eight million dollar lakefront home on Geneva I already know what I’ll look for. The odds are slim that this will ever happen, which is to say that it won’t, but if it did, there are certain expectations that I, as this buyer, would have. First up, I wouldn’t care which shore it was on. I don’t really find the North Shore to be as sinister as do South Shore people and I don’t find the South Shore to be as deviant as the North Shore people do. I would have my eyes on a large prize, so the structure would have to overwhelm me. I wouldn’t be concerned with fitting in, so I would more than likely choose the biggest, baddest, lakefront home I could find. Money, in the imagined, is not an issue.
I would also not want to be adjacent to an association, and in this upper reach I shouldn’t have a problem avoiding that. But from those mentioned traits, I have just one more. I would want at least 200′ of frontage. There it is. The 200′ threshold. The mark that would position me, in my big stone and shingle manse, as the true upper of the upper tier. I would be the one percent’s one percent. And that’s where I’d belong, after all, that imaginary money never runs out and it continually adjusts for inflation. I would also have a Hinckley, but not the smallish 29′ ones that have been seen on Geneva. I’d get a big one. And a sailboat too so that I could race Patrick Ryan head to head, me in my Hinckley and he in is. I’d let him win, such is the generosity of my wealthy self.
Strangely, today, if we look through the market and try to find this large estate, we’ll have a very hard time finding such an estate. There are plenty of expensive homes listed on Geneva, eight priced over $5.5MM in fact, but if we’re going to look past some nice thick trim and into the property itself, the results are narrowed. The most lofty of list prices on Geneva today belongs to a home that is still under construction on Pebble Point. At $11MM there is no precedent set for it, but as I watch the project unfold it isn’t a stretch to see someone purchasing this trophy home. The finishes are what one would expect, the frontage wide (224′) and deep, and the style representative of a serious castle for a serious buyer. If a home is going to sell in this strata, this just might be that home.
There are others with 200′ feet of frontage- one on Snake Road and one just East of Cedar Point and still another on the North shore of Fontana. These are fine homes but two are vintage lake homes and another is in need of cosmetic updating, so they are not likely turn key trophies for trophy hunting buyers. If pressed, I would choose the one just East of Cedar Point, and I would be happy there. The few remaining homes in that upper echelon are nice, but they are homes that count on a buyer who sees more value in finishes than in the width of his plot. I can fix finishes, I cannot, no matter how much money and will power I employ, stretch my lakefront without a willing assist from selling neighbors.
The rest of the lakefront market remains in play for many buyers at the moment. There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of lakefront buyers on the prowl, and if only I could capture a few more of them I’d be in good shape. Not physical shape, mind you, but market shape. There is a pending contract (finally) on the great entry level lakefront in Glenwood Springs listed at $1.695MM. Watch it sell for more than I would have wanted a buyer to pay. There has been another reduction on a property on LaGrange in the city of Lake Geneva, just south of downtown by perhaps a half mile, maybe more. This lakefront has a nice level swath of frontage and a pleasant structure, and if it sells well under its new list of $1.75MM I’m a fan. If you’re looking for entry level lakefront, this is a home that will sell as entry level while still being, in fact, much better than that.
The two lakefronts on Oak Birch in Williams Bay want offers and probably deserve them. The larger of the two listings being another lakefront that will sell as the cheapest of entry level while still possessing nearly 80′ of frontage. There is lots of inventory in the $2MM to $3MM range, and I’m proud to represent a big segment of that market. Judging from the showing activity in that segment of late, I fully expect a few sales in that range between now and Memorial Day. This weather is doing all sorts of crazy things, including bringing buyers to the lake earlier and far more often than in previous years. I’m supremely grateful for this warm weather, but you’ll find out tomorrow that it is doing horrible, horrible things to me.