Lakefront Update

Here’s your weekly update for the Lake Geneva, WI lakefront market. You’re not still trying to get reports from some national sites are you? Still visiting my “competition” online and looking for their reports? Don’t bother, you won’t find any! The lakefront home market on Geneva continues to exhibit all the characteristics of a stable market in soft economic times. Read on, as I’ll disect the lakefront condominium market in this article as well as point out the best deals on the lake. We currently have two lakefront homes pending, with no new contracts accepted in the past three weeks. A sure sign of a strong market is an overall lack of inventory, and boy do we have that here. As of my writing, there are only 20 true lakefront homes available on Geneva Lake. 20! Here’s the complete inventory list that includes pseudo-lakefront like the South Shore Club and Glenwood Springs. The good news for our market and others is that pending home sales are actually up this month, in spite of the stock market volatility.

The hands down best deals on Geneva are very easy to identify right now. You should be looking for unique locations, large parcels of land, or flat out values. I continue to think that the two listings on Conference Point in Williams Bay, and the lakefront in Cedar Point are the best three values on the lake. I’m not being partial to Williams Bay, it just so happens that the deals are in the Bay right now. The listing on Conference Point for $1.6595MM is not a true lakefront home, but it has all the benefits of lakefront living without the tax bill. This property is amazing, with nearly an acre of in Village land, a view of the water, a huge in ground swimming pool, canopied boatslip on shared pier, and a to die for classic home. This is a winner, and it’s silly cheap in the $1.5MM price range. The other listing on the lakefront off Conference Point is the lakefront with 120+ feet of level lakefrontage for $2.975MM. This is the parcel that I’ve talked about before. It consists of two 60′ lakefront lots, and we’ll know after a Village meeting on 10/21 if the two parcels are individually buildable. If they are, this property is a steal.

The third listing of value right now is a renovated home in Cedar Point Park for $2.195MM. This is a beautifully redone home with some of the best lake views you can find anywhere. Facing west, sunsets over the water are yours every night of the year. If purchased right around $2MM, this will prove to be a tremendous value.

The lakefront condo market is similarly low on inventory, which is a sign of a strong market in a soft economy. We have only 11 lakefront condominiums on the market today, priced from $387,500 to over $1.5MM. Three of those eleven are too aggressively priced to be considered as true inventory (Harbor Watch and Geneva Towers- all priced well over $1MM). The best condo deal on the lakefront right now is at Somerset in Lake Geneva. This is a beautiful unit, and with a price of $1.1MM, the unit can literally be had at 2004 pricing. The current owner paid $900k for this unit in 2003, and renovated the place during his ownership tenure. There’s no doubt this is a tremendous value.

Thanks for reading my update. Please share this with friends and family who might be curious as to the market at Lake Geneva. We currently have Geneva lake access homes starting at around $200k, and area condominiums starting around $150k. This is a market for everyone, with vacation home prices ranging from $100k to well over $6MM. Let’s go look at some houses and enjoy the inspiring colors of a Lake Geneva Fall. Or you could go to Michigan and come home with a new friend, and I don’t mean Tim Allen.

About the Author

I'm David Curry. I write this blog to educate and entertain those who subscribe to the theory that Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is indeed the center of the real estate universe. When I started selling real estate 27 years ago I did so of a desire to one day dominate the activity in the Lake Geneva vacation home market. With over $800,000,000 in sales since January of 2010, that goal is within reach. If I can help you with your Lake Geneva real estate needs, please consider me at your service. Thanks for reading.

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