Last spring was like this one. A bit cold. A touch rainy. Immensely clingy. But today, with a 70 something forecast and just two weeks until the biggest day of 2012, there is light at the end of this windy, damp tunnel. To say that the Friday that falls after this next Friday is a big deal is to woefully undersell it. While each of our lives take unique twists and turns, those twists and turns are all fine as long as they bring us to the Friday that is two Friday’s from today. If you’re wondering today, from your cubicle or your giant corner office, what your summer will be like, I have one simple thought. If the last Friday in May doesn’t find you at Lake Geneva your summer is going to stink.
It is. There’s no other way to put it. Instead of accepting this fate you can choose to do something about it. There is still time. While my summer, and perhaps yours, and scores of other vacation lovers will find a way to start their summer on the big Friday, you can be granted an extension. With the annoyance of school lasting well into June you could be forgiven, though only in theory, if you allowed your summer to only start in the middle of June. While I cannot see any way that this is a good idea, to start summer in June is far better than to never start it at all. Attention to those who will not be ready for summer 2012: The June extension date has gracefully afforded you a second chance at making this summer count.
If we are to assume that a standard real estate transaction takes but a month from start to finish, then we can also assume that a buyer locking in on a vacation home in the next week or so can still capture summer in its entirety. Yes, it’s going to be soul crushing when you smell the Memorial Day charcoal grills wafting all the way from Lake Geneva to your tiny city yard, but you’re just going to have to bide your time until closing. It will be a relief to know that you’re only having to hack away a couple weekends before the real weekends can begin. Summer weekends in the city can be tolerated when you know there are only a few of them left. My June buyers, please do keep the faith.
But this is where the timing becomes important. Today, on May 11th there is time. Next week, for the whole of it, there is time. But then, the next weekend to follow and the one after that, these are times that should be spent preparing for a closing not considering a home. This summer extension offers some last minute hope, but like all good extensions it does not last indefinitely. Extensions expire.
Today I see several values in our market. The entry level lakefront segment is still packed with value. There are two deals in Cedar Point Park, another in Indian Hills, and a third in the city of Lake Geneva. While I generally don’t want to buy my lakefront in the city of Lake Geneva itself, I will make special considerations if the property is an extreme value. Today, there is such a value. The rest of the lakefront market has value too, though not as much by measure. A property on Folly Lane has been reduced again, and the property will sell, likely soon, to some buyer who values land as a launching point for a lakefront construction project. The market requires vision, but it really is easy if you can hold a blueprint up to a wooded shoreline and picture a new home where the old one sits. Anyone has this meager dose of vision.
The second tier vacation home market (Abbey Ridge, Villas, Geneva National, Abbey Springs) features some significant value as well. There are distressed sales in GN that might be worth a look- including bank owned and short sale properties, but not excluding distressed sales of a different sort; those held by owners who are just ready to leave. These sales can be every bit as enticing as bank owned sales, though they lack the sex appeal and the perceived value that accompanies a true distressed sale. Still, there are deals to be had.
The lake access market surrounding Geneva has some value, particularly if the buyer is a location hunter. I see value in Williams Bay at the Loch Vista Club, in Glenwood Springs, in Trinke Estates, and some more scattered over in Oak Shores and Loramoor. Any one of these homes- the lakefront, the lake access, the large association homes- nearly any one of them can fulfill the needs of some buyer, somewhere. Perhaps you’ve been delaying this spring. Perhaps the weather just hasn’t put you in the mood. Perhaps your dog has been sick and you can’t find a way to sneak up to the lake. Perhaps it’s time you realized that while my summer starts two weeks from today, your summer extension is nearly up even as it has barely begun.