Dear Friends, Customers and Future Clients, Lake Geneva Lovers, and Honored Guests who have arrived solely by the benevolent wishes of the Google Algorithms, which we’ll assume you used because Bing isn’t any good no matter how hard Rob Dyrdek tries to convince us otherwise,

At first glance, there appears to be no constitutional precedent that would mandate that I give this speech to you today. There is no decree, and no higher authority that has directly dictated that I sit here, sporting my finest jeans and the only collared shirt I could find that didn’t have a small hole developing either nearest some button or under one or the other armpit, for no other purpose than to update you on the status of the vacation home market that each and every one of us value for one reason or another. I would say to you today that if you do not hold this market dear, then you should leave the chamber without further interruption, quickly, and in shame. No, my friends, this is not a speech that I have been coerced to give. I sit here today, barely 102 days from the start of another remarkable Lake Geneva summer, humbled to be your servant-savant, it is my distinct honor to sit here in this worn leather chair and announce to you that the state of our market is strong.

The Declaration of our Independence promises us life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Never mind that the document isn’t as revered today as it was before, it’s the pursuit of that happiness that has led men, women, and children to the shores of Geneva Lake, and it’s that pursuit that will keep our market strong both during good times and bad. In spite of the pockets of stubborn resistance, the Lake Geneva market pushed forward, and delivered to us 2012 as a year of prosperity and celebration, even as other similar, but lesser, markets suffer continued irrelevance.

Americans bought more lakefront houses on Geneva than they have since any time in the last six years, high gas prices have kept Geneva in

But even as we look back with a diminishing indifference at the past five years, I will not – no – we must not take our eye off the prize. I will not rest until every individual and family of means who has ever dreamed of sitting on a white pier surrounded by the glistening, pure waters of Geneva Lake captures that dream and basks in the lifestyle accomplishment that such a purchase delivers. Value exists in this market, but only for those who are steadfast in their search, and those who aim high and shoot straight. Without a Sherpa to guide this discerning one percent, how will they make it over that hill and into the promised land where milk and honey and clear streams flow? Ask not what your country can do for you, ask instead why you spend your Saturdays sitting in a sweltering city.

One could sit in isolation and ponder this great nation of ours from coast to coast, awash in disbelief at the myriad vacation home options that are available to those who have worked hard enough and can now afford to spend their weekends and their holidays in a different state of mind, or at least a different state. From the frigid mountains, to the dusty prairies, to the oceans white with syringes and some foam, the plethora of options that exist are truly mind numbing. Other people might be lost in this sea of confusing decisions, but not us, not now. This is our time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. My friends and fellow Americans, for those willing to engage in analytical and emotional thought, there is no better vacation home option than that option that exists a mere 90 miles from the Chicago city center. A vacation home option so tantalizing close, yet a vacation home experience so much better.

The challenge facing us today is to identify value, and recognize the life shaping, future altering option that rests gently at our 53147 loving feet. If we take that first step, a step made no less bold by the obvious benefit it affords, our children and their children alike will one day hold us in the highest of places, and cherish our memory not for our smile, or for our good advise, but for our financial sacrifice than led them to these gentle shores. If we do this, our future will shine with the warm light of a cheerfully lit screened porch, and our evenings filled with the sound of rolling waves, not just for this summer and the following year, but for decades and generations beyond.

Thank you, and may God continue to bless Lake Geneva.