Basswood Sells

Whenever 154′ of level Geneva lakefront hits the open market, there is reason to hurry. Brokers call, I email, others whisper to their friends or closest clients. This is a winning property, we say, and then, if someone is in possession of a particularly motivated buyer, an offer is written and a deal is struck. When is a piece of lakefront in such high demand that deals should seemingly be hurried and buyers pushed? Well, when that piece is 154′ and flat as the entirety of Manitoba. And also, if we’re talking Geneva, which we always are, if that piece is limited on one side by Geneva Lake and the other by Basswood Drive.

To understand the appeal of Basswood is not difficult. The street lies just outside of Fontana on the south shore of Geneva Lake, lending it the reduced taxes of Linn Township while still retaining easy and quick access into the Village of Fontana. The water views are wide here as well, with Williams Bay extending to the North and Conference and Cedar Points framing a most delicious water view. The street has also been the target of some serious gentrification over the past two decades, and today some of the most delightful lakefront homes on Geneva exist on this desirable lane. Basswood, hosting both bass and wood and large beautiful homes, is a pretty great street.

So when this parcel, this 154′ that we’re talking about, came to market last year, there was a rush to see who might sell it first. At $3.4MM it certainly wasn’t a give away. So it was shown and shown, and yet it lasted all of last fall and into the winter. It waited through December and January, and try as I might, I wasn’t able to get a buyer to commit to this estate parcel. In February, the right buyer did approach, and as February spun into spring and now finally summer, Basswood has closed for $3MM. (Not my buyer or seller, regretfully.)

For $3MM, a buyer bought a two acre parcel and those 154′ of precious lakefront, the sum of which is obviously greater than the individual 12 inch pieces. Did I like the deal? Of course. It’s Basswood, remember? But could the property have traded a bit lower and been deemed a better value for the buyer? Perhaps. This is easy to commentate on now, but the reality of this situation is that a buyer paid market price for a blue chip estate property on Geneva Lake. This is a win for the buyer and a win for the seller, no matter which way we slice it. The price per front foot registered at $19,480, coming in at just a hair above where most of the larger lakefronts traded last year (closer to $18K).

While I wasn’t part of that sale yesterday, I was part of another, important, though less impressive sale. The property at 619 Aweogon in Indian Hills has sold for $610k. This was a fine example of a home with a view and high quality lake rights selling for a range that the broader market has determined to be reasonable. The view is valuable, the proximity is too, and so the home sold to a buyer who valued each. While the neighboring home sold last year for $755k, that sale went down as the worst buy of the year in my book, and as this is my computer and my site, this book of mine also matters. That neighboring sale was overinflated, but my sale was accurate and pleasing.

The sale at $610k is a bit unique these days, as the middle segment of our lake access market, those homes priced from $450k to $900k, has been struggling this year. Why that is I cannot know for sure, but the statistics bear out a market segment that needs a shot in the arm. Not unlike the Tetanus shot I received last night (a future post) but entirely different. Maybe this sale will help move that market forward, maybe it won’t. The sale is far from some odd anomaly, as it reinforces the tradition in this segment that dictates a home must either have a view, a slip, or some fantastical finishes in order to attract this target buyer. On Aweogon, we had some lake view, and that view was enough to bring us to the closing table yesterday.

And now, some embarrassing self promotion. The sale yesterday pushed my sales volume over $24MM for the past 12 months. That’s really something that I didn’t ever expect to happen, and so now that it has I find myself wondering how on earth to continue that momentum. While there are blessings to be sure, the other important aspect of this business lies in your hands, not mine. How so? It goes like this: If you know someone thinking about buying a Lake Geneva vacation home, go punch them and tell them to contact me. This will work nicely. A great big fat congratulations to the buyer of Basswood and to the buyer of Aweogon. To the Aweogon seller I offer the sincerest of thanks.