Marked

There once was a walnut tree in my front yard, long before it was my front yard. As a point of fact, where there is one walnut tree there are … Read more

Bay Colony Sells

This time of year is pretty interesting when it comes to the commitment levels of vacation home buyers. It’s easy in September to take the view that summer is over. … Read more

Ice Cream

I read a headline the other day that said if I eat a lot of ice cream I’m going to die soon. But a different headline on a different day … Read more

Frogs

My older brother is, and was, a solemn type of guy, unable, or unwilling, to get uniquely excited about anything. This is why in, or around, 1988 I told him … Read more

241 Circle Parkway

Just look at this place. It’s amazing. It’s available. It’s looks like what summer feels like. And it’s only $899k. If you love beautifully restored cottages near the water you … Read more

Aloha Lodge Sells

I’m pretty happy to report my latest lakefront sale. This one is of yet another iconic property, making it the latest in a long line of iconic lakefront properties that … Read more

Corn

There are men and women in suits who trade in the futures markets. Some trade oil and some trade hogs and some trade wheat and others trade corn. If you’re … Read more

Basswood Vacant Lot

Here’s something brought to market by my agent Karen Rappaport that you might want to know about… Smack dab in one of the most esteemed neighborhoods on the south shore, … Read more

Gimmick Central

There are several ways in which I’m aware of my age. For starters, when I play tennis on a Monday I’m still sore on a Wednesday. That’s not entirely unique, … Read more

Williams Bay Tornado

That was quite a storm last night, perhaps the worst one I’ve seen here. Some meaningful tree damage on the village lakefront in Williams Bay and around the lake, but … Read more

Lake Geneva AI Launch

Well, I can’t keep it a secret anymore. It’s time to share with you the thing on which I’ve been working. It’s groundbreaking. It’s transformational. It’s otherworldly, really. And lest … Read more

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, my 17th issue of Summer Homes For City People is finished. You should be able to find it around the lake this weekend, although the rainy day today is … Read more

The Work

It’s the middle of May now and in five months it’ll be the middle of October. The bright green lawns of May will be replaced by the dull lawns of … Read more

Wisconsin flowers

Science, Pfft.

In a matter of days, they’re coming. I mean, they’re already here, they’re just sleeping. Or they’re not even alive, but they will be, and soon. Any day now. The … Read more

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Favorites

A long time ago I decided my favorite bird was a particular variety of duck, the specific variety of which doesn’t matter to the story, which is good, because I … Read more

Salesmanship

I once wrote a description about a house that angered the owner of the house, my client. He read my description and told me he was disappointed in me. Mr. … Read more

Lake Geneva Commissions

Well, that just about does it. The National Association of Realtors settled the BOMBSHELL commission lawsuit last Friday and now everything has changed. Six Percent Commissions Are Toast, some of … Read more

Summer Regret

A man called me last spring about this time. He had spent his childhood here and now that he was growing quite old he felt an oddly powerful desire to … Read more

Categories Uncategorized

It’s Time

I took a drive this morning. Down a road I know and around a corner onto a road that’s familiar but still unknown to me. As I drove from one … Read more

Stick Season

There’s a marginally popular song today where some guy whines about how it’s stick season in Vermont and that he’s sad because his friends are gone and his girlfriend dumped … Read more

Sometimes

Sometimes spring arrives in February. The ice breaks and the wind blows and the snow melts and the grass greens and the street sweepers sweep to rid the roadways of … Read more

Pier 501 Sells

I’m thrilled to have completed the transaction at pier 501 in Fontana. This sale is the fourth lakefront sale on Geneva to close over $9.5M in the past eight months, … Read more

Lake Geneva Cash Deals

While some are busy struggling to explain how property taxes work, let’s discuss the actual Lake Geneva market. Maybe someday I’ll write an article on how property insurance works, but … Read more

George Williams College

By now you’ve read the articles in Crain’s and the Tribune, so I don’t need to tell you that Aurora University has found a buyer for their cherished George Williams … Read more

Tops

I’m well aware that it’s tedious to listen to me drone on and on about how many homes I’ve sold. I really don’t enjoy it, but I’m just not quite … Read more

2023 Year End Review

After a decline in 2022 that was likely caused by limited inventory, our overall lakefront sales volume rebounded in 2023 to nearly match the cycle high set in 2021. Most … Read more

Happy New Year

It’s close enough to say that, right? I think it is. Something that’s always bothered me is how certain words or phrases ebb and flow in their use and popularity. … Read more

Cheerleader

It can be exhausting to continually cheer for something for a long, long time. This is why Cubs fans were so relieved in 2016 when we finally won the World … Read more

Kid From The Bay

When you’re a kid from the bay you ride your bike to Geneva Street but never across it. You visit Lake Geneva when you’re 45 and still think of it … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

My deaf, blind dog woke me up early this morning. She wakes me up early every morning, though lately it’s not as early as it was this past summer when … Read more

Commissions

You’ve likely seen the headlines out of Kansas, which is a statement that no one in Wisconsin had ever uttered before the recent ruling against several large national brokerages and … Read more

Novembery

I’m not like you. You’re dreaming of bright skies and blue waters. I’m driving through this mist and this gray with my windshield wipers on intermittently and I stop to … Read more

October

On Sunday I boated and maybe you did, too. It was that sort of Sunday. If you could boat, you did boat. One last ride, we all said. The skies … Read more

Pier 501

Every once in a great while, Lake Geneva offers up one of its prized locations. I could argue that each of the large legacy estates that have been listed over … Read more

Time Zones

I’m in Spain right now, sitting in a home crammed perilously into the side of a very old cliff, perhaps 500′ or more above the Mediterranean Sea below. It’s quite … Read more

Cover

On a Thursday it’s cloudy and it’s rainy and the men hurry to work with their shoulders hunched forward and their eyes towards the ground. The rain wets their hair … Read more

Lake Geneva Sales

My son is contemplating going to law school. When I was 20, I did not contemplate this. I was contemplating whether or not I had a house I could sell … Read more

September

There was a battle yesterday. While you were busy driving to work or to school or to coffee or to the store to have your fall pants hemmed the battle … Read more

Flagstone

In the town where I’m from there are all varieties of stone, but only one variety that matters. You call it Flagstone and I call it Lannon Stone and in … Read more

Stoney Hollow

Stoney Hollow at Pier 74 is a magnificent stone and slate Tudor located on Snake Road at the end of private Folly Lane. This premier estate is offered with the … Read more

Oddities

A Lake Geneva summer begins in earnest on Memorial Day Weekend, or so the cultural norm would have you believe. Fire up your grills and don your trunks, when that … Read more

New Lakefront Listing

Simple lakefront perfection is yours with this turn-key lakefront home on 100 feet of impossibly level frontage on Geneva’s South Shore. This immaculate six bedroom home is positioned at the … Read more

Pool Time

I’m sitting at a pool now trying to find the motivation to become a pool person. I can imagine being such a person. Me, sitting by this pool, reading a … Read more

Loch Vista Club

Is there a more perfect lake cottage? I don’t mean in Williams Bay. I don’t mean in Walworth County. I mean anywhere. I suppose there could be, but I doubt … Read more

Work From Home

If no one had to work in a physical office with co-workers and a communal CLIFF BAR dispenser, then it made good sense that people might move to Whitefish, Montana. … Read more

Changes

The way things are now is no longer the way things used to be. That’s what I told him when he asked. I leaned in and explained some more. Golden … Read more

Abbey Ridge For Sale

One of my two complementing agents, Jessica Genrich, just listed this rather fantastic Abbey Ridge residence that includes a separately deeded Abbey Harbor boat slip. This immaculate unit has been … Read more

April

There’s an interesting breeze blowing in Lake Geneva today. It stormed the other day. And then it stormed again a day later. And then it stormed a bit more. Once … Read more

Aspen Lakefront Realty

I suppose my lifelong love of Aspen started last March when I visited for Spring Break. In Aspen, we capitalize Spring Break, because it is nearly everything to us. And … Read more

556 Sauk Trail

Entry level lakefront homes at Lake Geneva tend to have consistent attributes. The attributes we love are those perfect white piers, and that meandering shore path at the water’s edge. … Read more