This property didn’t require too much of me. It won’t require too much of the new owner, either. I listed N1822 Fair Oaks at the…
Off White
Grass is green and the sky is off-white. This is what the children of summer will be tought. Even if we don’t teach them, they’l…
Hillside Drive
It should come as no surprise that our travels influence our sense of design and style. If I were to travel exclusively to Manitoba, Canada,…
Inflation
I have a friend who is remarkably smart. It bothers me that he’s so smart. Have a thought? It’s wrong. How could he know it̵…
Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update
A few years ago, I stood with a buyer on a large piece of lakefront on the south shore while the buyer hemmed and hawed and kicked at the di…
The Same
I spent a few days this week in Beaver Creek. I enjoy Beaver Creek, largely because of its relatively unique mix of synthetic cleanliness s…
Lake Shore Sells
I always have the the same reaction anytime a house sells for full price in a matter of hours, and that is to assume that the home was price…
Dartmouth Woods
Here’s a dazzling lakefront home ideally situated between Williams Bay and Fontana along Fontana’s north shore. You’re goi…
Lakeview Sells
I started selling real estate in the summer of 1996. With all due respect to my young self, I see now that I had no idea what I was doing. T…
Challenged
In the early days of our town there was this town and some other nearby towns. None of the towns felt particularly connected, owed in large …
Walcowis Sells
There’s this road on the south side of the lake whose name generates some interesting commentary and even more interesting pronunciati…
Summer Homes For City People
There was a time when I really enjoyed putting this magazine together, or so says the faintest of memories. I printed this magazine for the …
Fair Oaks
I’ve said it often that I tend to offer lakefront buyers on Geneva a binary choice. They must either choose to have a nice lot with a bad ho…
Solar Lane Sells
When I wrote to tell you about Solar Lane earlier this spring, I told you that the property was unique in that it allowed the new owner flex…
Lake Geneva Realtors
In the business of real estate, there is a tremendous emphasis on the broker. The brand. The website and the signs. But at the same time, o…
Freedom?
If I were afflicted with both blindness and a rare condition that rendered my ability to sense temperature utterly and tragically useless, I…
RIP
Every person since the beginning of time has ended his or her life with one path or road that they traveled more than any other. There̵…
Limit
I’ve reached it. The limit. My limit. Our limit. The frost on my lawn and my breath stuck in the air, all of it is too much. Our taxe…
Fontana Club Sells
That didn’t last too long. It seems that buyers love the idea of a turn-key lakefront experience, without the typical turn-key lakefro…
Solar Lane
Over the past few months, there have been quite a few lakefront sales. Most recently, the $12.9M house in Lake Geneva closed for a whopping …
Risk On
Since I dropped out of law school right before I applied, you shouldn’t consider anything I ever say to be legal advice. Ask your atto…
Bonnie Brae Sells
Something that isn’t well understood in our market is how the approach to your lake house might impact your property value. For instan…
Birches Sells
Of the surprises that 2020 whipped at our heads, I’d place the fact that I didn’t sell my N1963 Birches Drive listing near the v…
Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update
I used to liken writing this blog to providing color commentary during a baseball game. A sharp line drive to the shortstop. The Cubs in the…
Fontana Club For Sale
Here’s a pretty incredible first floor, double unit at the Fontana Club. There’s nothing but level lawn between your lakefront r…
Southland Road Sells
If you’ve been in the market for a while, or you’ve spent time on the lake at some point during the past 25 years, there’s…
Wind
The wind kicked up again. It was calm two days ago, and calm the day before that. But then yesterday it picked up and today it’s stirr…
North Lakeshore Sells
It’s well known that 2021 buyers hate the Lake Geneva market. They hate it if they’re looking for a $300k lake access cottage, a…
Basswood Sells
What a street. What a house. Just sold, with a last ask of $10,995,000. I was pleased to facilitate this transaction for a terrific buyer a…
Summer Dreaming
I’m cursed with a malfunctioning ability to dream. It wasn’t always this way, but it has been for most of my adult life, or at l…
Lake Geneva Rental Market
The season is upon us. What season, you ask? The season where folks start thinking about summer. Winter is terrific, I think we can all may…
Lake Geneva Inventory Problems
If you think it’s difficult being a buyer at Lake Geneva right now, imagine being an agent. The lack of inventory is pervasive and pro…
Villa Hortensia
There were five lakefront estates on Geneva Lake designed by famed architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. Astonishingly, all of these homes are st…
2020 Lakefront Market Year In Review
Last February, I wrote the 2019 lakefront market review. I spelled out the statistics that make up this dynamic lakefront market of ours, bu…
2020 Lakefront Condo Year In Review
For all of 2019, the lakefront condo market at Lake Geneva closed seven condominiums. That’s it. I suppose there might have been ano…
2020 Geneva National Year In Review
There can only be one individual market that I find to be the most curious. While the lakefront market has my heart, there’s always be…
2020 Lake Access Year In Review
If you live in the Chicago area, chances are one of your friends or neighbors bought a lake house last year. I don’t care who you are,…
Lake Geneva 2021
Everyone is saying that this past year taught them a lot. It taught them about being alone and being still and being strong. I taught them t…
Expensive
Nice things are problematic for me. If I have one nice thing, say, a really nice drill, then I should be pretty content. After all, I have a…
Home
I’ll be home for Christmas, so the song wishes. I’ve been struggling to find some Christmas spirit this year, why it’s be…
Regrets
Some people say you should live your life with no regrets. Some of those people tattoo the phrase on their bodies, to serve as a reminder to…
Chicken
Let’s pretend I’m at a car dealership. Now let’s pretend you can feel my emotions. If you can feel those emotions and you…
Bad Decisions
One of the problems with this blog is that I cannot cite specific examples of the market mistakes I see. If I were to do so, I’d get i…
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
In 2016, there were two lakefronts for sale on Lackey Lane. Lackey, in case you didn’t know, is a nice little street on the south side…
Lake Geneva Development
For a millisecond, I thought it would be nice to be a developer. Build something, have people pay you more than your cost, make money. It se…
Thanksgiving
What a curious thing it is, this year. I sit here at this desk worrying about which customer will buy and which customer will sell, worryin…
Williams Bay Boardwalk
If you follow me on any of the social media platforms, you know a few things about me. You know I like to fly fish. This is important to kno…
Valley Park Sells
I’m pleased to have represented this south shore lakefront (along with my co-listers). 150′ of frontage and a slick modern home…
Crain’s Lake Geneva
Perhaps you recently read the new article about the Lake Geneva vacation home market in the pages of Crain’s Chicago Business. The art…
Difficult Times Ahead
It seems to me there are two seasons of a man’s life. Some would suggest there are more, but they would be wrong. No one would sugges…