Clear Sky Lodge Sells

There’s a little real estate secret that you should be aware of. Most in real estate will tell you that once a property is closed they will breathe a deep sigh of relief. For this reason, Realtors tend to imbibe a bit. To celebrate the end of a stressful transaction. To toast to a new buyer, or to say goodbye to an old friend (the seller). After a closing there is congratulating, there is small talk, there is relaxation. These emotions and actions are usually acceptable because many real estate transactions are indeed stressful and most in those transactions are very, very happy when they are over. Realtors, we like to be past stressful closings.

But that’s not the secret. The real estate secret is that not all real estate deals are difficult. Not all are stressful. Not all are worthy of the celebratory toast and a healthy slap on the back. Some real estate deals are actually rather easy. This is the secret. When an agent closes a deal, he/she is supposed to act relieved. Phew, just got the Johnson deal closed! But sometimes, the deal wasn’t stressful at the beginning nor was it at the end. And when an agent walks away from closing with a large check the agent might feel relieved, but only because it’s a natural instinct to feel that way. Some deals, are easy.

When I closed on the sale of Clear Sky Lodge on Monday, it wasn’t that I didn’t feel relieved. I did. I felt happy to have had the opportunity to represent the bank in that sale, and I felt relieved that the sale was over. But it wasn’t relief that I necessarily deserved. What did I do, exactly, in order to close that sale? Was I such a great salesman that I could sell a house dripping in luxury for a price that represented roughly 55% of the prior list price? Did I somehow do the extraordinary here? Something so great and unique that I deserve to feel relieved once the process was deemed complete? Um, no. I didn’t do anything special, and that’s an admission from an agent who works every day, mostly all day, in an attempt at doing all sorts of special things.

Clear Sky Lodge sold itself on Monday, for $3.7MM. That sale will not prove to set any price ranges for value on Geneva. It won’t matter much in terms of comparable sales for lakefront homes in the area. It just won’t mean all that much because most people understand that the price paid was in no way reflective of the intrinsic value present in such an estate. When I listed the property, I argued that the size of the land- just over an acre- was far from the standard buyers would seek if they were looking for a true lakefront estate. This lack of wide frontage or deep acreage would limit the buyers, and this is why the price should be in the $3MMs and not the $4MMs. The bank agreed and we got our price and sold the property after just a week or two of market time.

That said, the sale was wonderful for me and the volume is wonderful for the lake (all volume is good volume, remember?), but I can’t take too much credit for the sale. The home was incredible, the price fitting, and in the end, a buyer was able to close on a trophy property on Geneva Lake for what will be forever remembered as a great price. Me? I’m thrilled for the volume- volume that just added up to put me over $22MM on this fading year- but I’m humble enough to know when I’ve sold a property that quite simply sold itself.