I’ve been chewing on the recent spate of articles involving both the demise of the iBuyer and the slow down in transactions involving …
Christmas Vacation
I never met John Hughes. He apparently owned a condominium in Williams Bay and was a frequent breakfast patron at Daddy Maxwell’s, whi…
Seasonality
Many years ago I rented a condo on Siesta Key. My son was a baby and my business was seasonal, so it made good sense to spend most of the t…
Happy Thanksgiving
Remember when I told you I was going to write about the things I’m thankful for? I was going to work on being grateful. I was going to…
Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update
At the beginning of this year, I spent considerable amounts of time telling people that my sale of the Driehaus Estate for $36,000,000 had l…
Lake Geneva Restaurants
This is my SOS. Except my ship is my town and that makes the situation far more dire than if it were just my ship in trouble. The Lake Gene…
RIP
Well, my least favorite buyer has died. I don’t usually write about fatalities here, because it’s morbid and in spite of my fata…
Idle Hands
If I’ve accomplished nothing else in my life, I’ve certainly succeeded in identifying the many reasons people buy Lake Geneva va…
Knocking
There’s a summer wind blowing through my October window again. It shouldn’t be, but it is. And it’s not really blowing. It…
Villa Hortensia Sells
One of the interesting things about cliches is that they only become cliches because they’re used very often. And one of the reasons t…
Burr Oaks Farm Sells
In case you couldn’t tell, this was a really special property. I was proud to represent this lovely seller and their stunning farm. S…
Lake Geneva Market Update
Well, I continue to be wrong about this market. Or, perhaps, as Christian Bale as Michael Burry said in The Big Short, “I’m not …
Lake Geneva Market Update
I’m bored with this market. That’s why I haven’t been writing as much as I’d like to. Boredom. But it’s more t…
Lake Geneva Condo
Does anyone want to be my neighbor? I’ve listed one of the upper two bedroom condominiums at my 323 Broad Street building, and as you …
Lake Geneva IRS Auction
Well, that’s that. A decade of drama came to an end yesterday when someone paid $6,460,000 for the home at 619 Cedar Point Drive in Wi…
Hey Jealousy
I declared it to be the finest place I have ever visited. No, more than that. The finest property I have ever seen. The finest of everything…
1081 South Lakeshore
If you’re a buyer in Fontana, you can gain access to lots of fun things. You could try to join the Lake Geneva Yacht Club and hang out…
Prolific
On the edge of my property, well beyond where the grass turns to prairie and after the prairie turns to a forest, if you can call it that, …
Sales Trends
If a condo sells because a buyer wasn’t particularly well informed, does this mean every condo should be priced based on the cemented …
Mr. Complacent
I’m complacent. I can feel it. I still turn over every rock and sweat out every deal, that part of me will never fade. It’ll ki…
Geography Lesson
There are many things about the business of real estate that bother me. One revolves around agency relationships, and how agency rules actua…
Where
So where would you rather be, he said. If you didn’t have to be here, where would you live? If you had to choose a place, tell me wher…
Market Discussion
When I talk about the mood of the market, what exactly am I talking about? What is the market? The Market. It’s a meeting of the minds…
Vista Del Lago
There can only be one front row, and at Vista Del Lago that’s building One. The rarest offering in Vista is now available with expansi…
Sioux Drive
Many a painter, poet and writer have found inspiration in small stone cottages tucked away in a quiet landscape.ย And for good reason, since …
Birds and Feathers
I arrived at my office this morning and read a comment from some person I don’t know who suggested I’m a “chubby bitchR…
Contagion
If you were a buyer in 2002 and you called me to look for an entry level lakefront home, we would have been able to secure private frontage …
Lake Geneva Lakefront For Sale
Sometimes, I list houses on the open market. Like this time. This comfortable five bedroom lakefront at Pier 651 is ready for a new owner. I…
Burr Oaks Farm
Calm isn’t something we come by naturally. Life is chaotic, frenzied, complicated. It’s a whirlwind of harried navigation betwee…
These Days
I spend most of my time wondering how Jackson Browne could write this song when he was just 16 years old. I remember being 16 years old. I h…
Lake Geneva Market Update
Don’t look now, but summer is no longer young. It’s no longer new. It’s no longer out there in front of us. Today, it̵…
Gross
One of the things I most dislike about real estate mania is the mania part. I want real estate to make sense. I want pricing to make sense. …
Geographic Catastrophe
I’m not sure if you knew this, but this is not a climate science blog. Nor is it a climate speculation blog. I wake up in the morning …
Seller’s Remorse
I contend that it would be impossible to sell a home that you loved without experiencing a considerable degree of seller’s remorse. Wh…
Lake Geneva Fireworks
If this blog was about my neighbors, and I was tasked with telling you when their firework celebrations were to occur, I would fail miserabl…
Ban
I think everyone knows how I feel about pontoon boats. In case you don’t know, I hate them. That’s not to say that I don’t…
Pier 290
I’m grateful for the dull things in life. For the way I feel when I go to the hardware store and buy two furnace filters and a small …
Tops
I’m well aware that people grow tired of having me talk about sales volume. It’s tedious and annoying, I agree. I think that may…
Tell
If a house is listed for sale and then, a short while later, the price is dramatically reduced, what does that tell you? I view this as an a…
Dissent
I’ve been bothered by a comment that was made on this site recently, and I feel the need to discuss it further. The comment implied th…
Rain
It rained again yesterday. It would have come as a surprise to me, but it rained a bit two days before that as well. And last weekend we had…
Off Market Sales Lake Geneva
The real estate world is at battle over the concept of off market sales. Things didn’t used to be this way, but like most things in 20…
Benches
I’ve spent much of the last twenty years working on a theory that suggests the only people who sit on park benches are old men. I was …
Gratitude
I’m not one of those people who have trouble saying thank you. I say it all of the time. I say it when someone refills my water at a r…
Summer Homes For City People
It really shouldn’t be as hard as it is. It’s just a magazine, after all. A bunch of words and some pictures and the magic of a …
The Wall Street Journal
Imagine writing an article on the 1982 baseball season with a specific focus on stolen bases and not interviewing Ricky Henderson. That̵…
World Wide Web
In 1995 I owned a Saab 900. It was gunmetal gray, but it wasn’t a Turbo, so I operated as though those two conditions canceled each ot…
Finally
I feel better now. I was on the verge of breaking, but in true Midwest fashion I powered through the difficult days knowing that there were…
Pricing Strategy
One of the great debates in the business of real estate revolves around pricing strategy. Some agents want listings so bad they’ll pr…
Lake Geneva Real Estate Market Update
That’s a long title, but if I don’t really spell things out my search engine friends won’t respect my content. The nationa…