I can remember the scene very well, but I cannot remember the frequency of the occurrence. This is a true statement for many of my childhood memories, and a sad indictment on my ability to recall trivial details, but not the number of times they may have actually happened. Thankfully, many of my childhood memories are water based, an aquatic upbringing that I remain grateful to my father for introducing. One such memory finds me swimming just off of Pebble Point, a small, aptly pebbled point off on the North shore of Geneva, just West of Knollwood and East of Cedar Point. 25 years ago, this point was pretty much undisturbed by any building or developing, and excluding perhaps one or two smaller homes tucked into the woods, this was a point similar to Black Point or Conference Point in its wooded appearance. On a lake lined with white piers and displays of wealth, this was a quiet spot that had not yet been disturbed by a backhoe, and whose shoreline had yet to see a pier. This was Lake Geneva the way it must have been 150 years ago, minus all the spears.
I can remember my father anchoring the boat off the shoreline there, and I can remember swimming to shore and exploring much in the way that people today drive rented boats to small uninhabited islands near Marco Island. I remember doing this, and I remember it being a very positive time spent, in a very beautiful area- but I can’t remember how many times we actually did it. Did we simply anchor there once or twice and I burned the idyllic scene into my memory? However significant the repetition of the scenery was, I’ll always remember that point in its previous, natural state.
Today, there are a couple homes that line the shoreline, and a couple piers that stick out into the water where we used to anchor. It’s still a beautiful point, but it’s not quite the same. Vacant land on Geneva has long been hard to come by, and with density that has bordered on maximum capacity for forty or more years, there’s just not much vacant shoreline left. Sure there’s plenty of unbuilt shoreline, but that’s property that either belongs to a larger estate, or property that is owned by one of the several camps that dot the shore. The absence of vacant lakefront property is one of the many factors that makes Lake Geneva real estate so expensive, but in my old, dusty book exclusivity is a blessing, not a curse.
I spoke with a customer yesterday about some vacant land on the lake, and afterward it dawned on me that I’ve yet to discuss the topic in any depth on this blog. As of today, several lakefront parcels are on the open market, with the cheapest being a bluff lot on Cedar Point priced at $1.325MM. There’s also a lot on North Lakeshore Drive outside of Fontana priced at $1.499MM, and several larger parcels on the same road priced near $3MM. There’s a rumor that one or both of the large parcels off of Snake Road are under contract, with asking prices in the mid $3MM’s. These are estate sized parcels, and if the current building trend holds, I’d expect to see some magnificently large homes built in this area. The smaller lots that are on the market can hold substantial homes, but in order to get to the 8000-12000 finished square foot range that most of these new homes are falling into, your vacant lot probably needs to have in excess of 100′ of frontage and an acre or more of land.
There’s a massive lot for sale on Black Point, and a list price of nearly $6MM makes this the parcel most suited for a family compound of Hamptons-esque proportions. For now, if you’re looking for vacant land on Geneva, expect to pay a touch north of $1MM to find that entry level lot. With construction costs varying wildly, it’s safe to say that someone could build a classic, high end cottage for $450k, or a huge obnoxious ode to extravagance for $6MM. What you build depends only on your mood. Oh, and your pocket book. Your mood and your pocket book.
Expect vacant land prices to continue to soften for as long as lakefront prices do the same. The entry level lakefront market is primed to yield the best deals right now, so expect the entry level vacant land prices to do the same. For several years, buyers bought entry level lakefronts for $1.5MM, tore them down, and built homes for another $1MM. This created an unfortunate scenario where $2.5MM homes were being built with regularity, and asking prices for such homes subsequently had to come close to, or exceed, $3MM. Today, a buyer could possibly purchase a lakefront lot for closer to $1MM, build something nice, but modest, for $550k, and be all in for a number that was previously the required cost of only the dirt. It’s a good time to be a buyer, even if you can’t buy a piece of my prized Pebble Point.