David Curry

There is a very pretty building in the city of Chicago located at 2550 North Lakeview Avenue. The building is called Lincoln Park 2550, but only because that name sounds … Read more

My wife is generally in a fair mood. She’s from the great white north, which I didn’t capitalize on purpose because even though it’s to our North, and even though … Read more

Let’s quick pretend you’re looking for a cabin. Not a cabin here, mind you, but a cabin anywhere. Not exactly anywhere, but within this state, somewhere, North or South, East … Read more

Whenever a nurse is about to strap that arm band on me, I warn them. Before they squeeze that bulb to apply the pressure, I tell them that there’s a … Read more

I admit to being less productive when the weather is bad. In the summer, when there’s a big storm, I can work just fine. In fact, I work a bit … Read more

We needn’t look too far back to understand what happened here, assuming we’re the smart ones who know that what happened then is quite important when trying to figure out … Read more

The details of the story are not clear to me, even now. They were never clear to me. The day that my uncle broke through the ice on his snowmobile … Read more

This is the in between. The entry level lake access market is somewhat active at the moment, with a few pending contracts and a few closings already on the 2014 … Read more

My children go to school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This current school year started in very early September, and on those select days between then and now, they … Read more

I’m not exactly sure how many mortgages I’ve obtained. I was 18 when I was granted my first mortgage on my first house, and in the years that have flown … Read more

January. From this vantage point in February, I don’t see much of a different between what I see today and what I saw then, in January. The lake is still … Read more

There’s a special font that mechanics use to spell out their names on their shirts. It has a cursive flow to it, like an old hand written letter from your … Read more

Well, it seems that most of Chicago was scared away from the lake this weekend by that forecast. Thanks a lot, weather personalities. The weekend was rather perfect, with that … Read more

I know that lakerights matter. You probably know it, too. We take this knowledge for granted, that it’s obvious to us in a lake-centric community that it is imperative that … Read more

Thank you. Thank you, too. No, thank you! You’re the best. Thanks. I cannot begin this address with the standard refrain, “My fellow Americans”, because my clients ask that I … Read more

I don’t want to be the sort of person that talks about the weather all the time, but I am that person. Even people who aren’t that person talk about … Read more

On Friday, January 17th, those who measure and then record weather marked that the daytime high in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was 19 degrees. Those counterparts who measure the temperature in … Read more

One would think that first understanding, then forecasting market conditions would be a rather important requirement from any agent that any consumer chooses. To be able to understand the current … Read more

Lake access is the great equalizer. The term, Lake Access, also known as Lake Rights, both times capitalized for the sake of importance, is everywhere at Lake Geneva. It has … Read more

Familiarity breed contempt, or so they say. The girl that places my groceries into paper, or sometimes plastic, bags says that, or at least she said that once when I … Read more

I dedicate one measly post to a burgeoning appreciation for winter, and this is how I am repaid. It’s -18 in Lake Geneva this morning, and while the view out … Read more

I sat at dinner the other night, on the eve of this new year, looking around from table to table. Mostly, everyone was happy. They were imbibing and gorging, ordering … Read more

Those are the homes that hide behind high steel and concrete walls. Those are the walls that were erected to keep the traffic from that interstate and the noise that … Read more

Let’s pretend you’re looking for a vacation home. Not a Lake Geneva vacation home, specifically, but just a vacation home somewhere sort of close, but not remarkably close like Lake … Read more

I would normally reserve my year end reviews for January, once the year I’m writing about has actually ended, but today I’m taking liberties. Or at least one, and we’re … Read more

Over the past four years there has been one common question on the mind of nearly every lakefront vacation home buyer. That question, if formed in the mind of my … Read more

I spent one weekend in love with ice. One weekend, out of an entire lifetime. That weekend found me in the Cayman Islands. It was hot that weekend, sunny, too. … Read more

As further proof of the rock solid fact that many consumers are more loyal to their hair dressers than they are to their Realtors, there was a lakefront sale this … Read more

As a child, I didn’t ever go hungry. I didn’t ever go to school in old, torn clothes. I had a pair of new shoes every school year, and I … Read more

Ernest Shackleton gathered his heaviest jacket, his warmest boots, his toughest gloves and his largest hat. His wife handed him the hot cheese sandwich she had just made for him, … Read more

I have several habits, though I could never be considered a creature of those. I wake up at a specific time each day but not for any reason aside from … Read more

I suppose it’s a good thing that so many people are so bad at real estate. Without bad ideas, and bad moves, and horrible, life shattering real estate decisions, our … Read more

I’m thinking about becoming a doomsday prepper. I didn’t capitalize the title, or the occupation as it seems to be on the television shows, because I’m certain I wouldn’t be … Read more

I needn’t be buried under a mountain of snow to realize that summer is a long, long ways away. I feel it now, sitting here on a fall day where … Read more

I wanted to act like it wasn’t a big deal. I’d driven boats, after all. Lots of them. Long ones and short ones, ones with small engines and ones with … Read more

Buyers find their agents through various means. Some of those means are intelligent and worthy, others not so much. If a friend refers a buyer to an agent that they … Read more

When you buy a new car, or a used car that is new to you, the salesman will usually take at least some time running through the features of the … Read more

At any point over the last decade, if you were to have found yourself at Lake Geneva, and you were stumbling around the lake in search of prime real estate, … Read more

Even at this close distance, I look back with extreme fondness on the recessionary years. I don’t do this to be vindictive, nor do I do it to dance on … Read more

Crain’s Chicago Business, a publication that curiously lauds business while aggressively embracing a political policy that demonizes the success of those same businesses, made some headlines this week by publicizing … Read more

We have quite a few things to do between now and then. First, we have to work. This is the unfortunate part of our schedules. Then some of us have … Read more

The lake in the summer is what we all know it to be. Blue waves roll on weekends, whipped by wind and watercraft, each wave pushed higher and higher until … Read more

In 1984 Norman Rosenthal decided that being sad in the winter was a legitimate medical illness. His Seasonal Affective Disorder theory supposed that in winter, when things are bad, people … Read more

Another week, another closing that I was and am grateful to have assisted in, another display of the wide gambit that humanity has to offer. In every deal there’s the … Read more

I have a strange feeling today, and I’ve had it for a while. It isn’t the feeling I feel deep inside my molar that cracked a couple weeks ago while … Read more

It was hot yesterday. My office air conditioning stopped working in advance of that heat, and even now as I sit and write, with both office doors open and the … Read more

Over these 17 years, I’ve spent a lot of time at this desk. Not this desk, necessarily, as this desk was only my desk after I bought it in Canada … Read more

I own a somewhat unnerving take on life. I’m young enough to feel that life is long and varied, and that somehow, if I practice enough I’ll find some greener … Read more

During all points of the spring, there is a rush. Buyers rush to discover vacation homes, then to buy those vacation homes, all with the noble intent of being in … Read more

If you’re asking why the lakefront condominium has fallen out of favor with vacation home buyers, I’d offer up several possible scenarios. Some involve cycles, mortgages, simple supply and demand … Read more

I lack very little in this life. I have things and I have family, and I have a roof over my head and some hardwood under my feet. I don’t … Read more

Somewhere between ridiculous, peak-style pricing and horrible, embarrassing 2010 pricing lies the accurate price. But we’ve already discussed this, at length even, so there’s no reason to do so again. … Read more

It is with some fear that I share certain market revelations here. Not fear, in the way, say, that I’d fear a large spider or any sized snake, but fear … Read more

My car. It has four bald tires. Two loose linkage thingamabobbers, a tail light that apparently doesn’t work all the time, and some sort of air pump that goes off … Read more

It was once said there there are two things common to each life: Death and taxes. This isn’t entirely true. While those two things are indeed constants, other things that … Read more

In between discussing the merits of cutting fish free without first twisting their stomachs into knots and researching the shortcomings of other area lakes (ponds), there is something that I … Read more

In one of his races, he finished 38 out of 44. In another, he finished 5 out of 44, though if you ask him he insists that he was indeed … Read more

I wonder if they can feel his footsteps above them. I know I can see him when he’s walking down the concrete path to the pier, clutching his fishing pole … Read more

Even if you make it to Bed Bath and Beyond tomorrow, your Saturday will only be one of two things. If you do have time, and you do make it … Read more

Quick. Let’s pretend we have somewhere around $500k to spend and our singular goal is to get as close to the lake as is humanly possible. If you believed that … Read more

The pursuit of a vacation home is a bit of a paradox. It is in full speed fast forward, always scanning what’s there and watching what’s next and wondering what … Read more

The argument could be made that the Lake Geneva real estate recovery began during 2010. Those buyers who bought at that time did so with some fear, and plenty of … Read more

Every year it’s the same. The struggle of winter. Snow flies and ice clings, to the branches to our streets and to the space where our grass used to grow … Read more

Once upon a time, foreclosures were like small little puppies, the cute sort that wander down lonely streets at dusk hoping for a kind stranger who might take them in … Read more

Solitude is a powerful thing. It is also a wonderful thing, if the solitude is voluntary. I imagine forced solitude is unnerving and bad, possibly destructive. It should be noted … Read more

Over the past three weeks there have been three lakefront closings. We haven’t talked about a single one of them, yet. So if we haven’t yet then it must be … Read more

The cabin wasn’t large. It wasn’t medium sized. It wasn’t even all that small. It was, to be accurate, miniature. The things inside of this cabin were normal sized; the … Read more

When your home is listed for sale on a Tuesday and then on Thursday you have three offers, one of which is at your asking price, what does this tell … Read more

I suppose I shouldn’t be here right now. I should, instead, be cutting down sturdy trees and scraping their soggy bark. I should cut these trees into boards, some big, … Read more

When I was little, my grandfather sat me on his knee. He smelled a potent mix of fresh cigarette smoke, a smell left behind by the cigarette he had just … Read more

I don’t really remember real estate “school” all that much. I went at night, me and a bunch of other people from various walks of life, most of whom thought … Read more

My yard, in a round about way, is very nice. It’s large and unkempt. Rocks litter the dirt patches that surround the home, and weeds fill in where the rocks … Read more

Yesterday started like any other day. I took a bath, because I built a house with a large bathtub and I feel like if not me, who, and if not … Read more

If my fishing boat didn’t have a fixed t-top, what on earth would my children climb on while boating? Without this top, with its metal structure and canvas awning, my … Read more

My second car accident occurred sometime during a snow day in 1995. My first occurred on a dark night sometime during the summer that preceded that winter. That first one … Read more

Sometimes that constant itch that is a symptom of our biggest, boldest dreams simply cannot be scratched by the designs of other people. There are times, like the times that … Read more

I suppose I’m suffering from a case of missing perspective. Not life perspective, mind you, as I have two friends sick with cancer right now, so my life perspective appears … Read more

I do not know what a June bug is. I don’t know what sort of bug it is, but I think it’s a beetle. I also don’t know if it’s … Read more

The flippers are back. They’ve pushed away from their desks at their mortgage broker job or their real estate job, or they’ve handed back the keys to the demo car … Read more

After so much traveling, through the twists and turns and the flat tires and the false starts, and after that one day in February when we spent the afternoon staring … Read more

I am a paid subscriber to many, many ideas. For instance, I believe that you never, ever tug on Superman’s cape. This belief isn’t based on the reasons that you … Read more

I have spent more time wandering than you have. If you’ve hiked the Appalacian Trail without a map, you have not wandered like I have. If you were lost in … Read more

There was a day during 2008, just before the market was to shift, that buyers would look at homes, make offers on homes, and then buy either that home, or, … Read more

It’s true that the lakefront vacation home market has an epicenter. The impact zone, in this vernacular, is the lake itself. The market immediately surrounding the lake, those desirable lakefront … Read more

Remember Jeff Goldblum’s character in Independence Day? You don’t have to admit that you do, but you do. That character was personally flawed; his marriage either in trouble or over, … Read more

I’ve listed one of my great regrets as my unwillingness to play basketball in high school. As I move farther from this decision, the regret grows. Of all the things … Read more

My name is David Curry, I’ll be 35 years old next week, and I live with my parents. In their basement. This is full disclosure, and something you should know, … Read more

Whoever designs the cheap foam pads that are intended to be stretched over the round disc at the bottom of an orbital waxing device, whoever that is they should be … Read more

I suppose if I were pressed, I’d confess that the subjective nature of real estate pricing bothers me. Not the fact that one property is worth something to one person … Read more

We could be forgiven if we looked outside our windows and forgot what time of year it was. If we couldn’t discern late April from mid November, or mid November … Read more

For years, if you executed an MLS search asking for those South Shore Club homes that fell into the “SOLD” category, you’d just find one lonely home. Repeat the search … Read more

There should be a special support group made up entirely of those unfortunate people who were entry level Geneva lakefront home buyers between the years of 2005 and 2007. This … Read more

I don’t think anyone really wants to be uncomfortable in their own vacation home. Sure, some vacation home ideals find us tucked away in a primitive cabin, far away from … Read more

If I had been a pier guy, I wouldn’t be typing this. I wouldn’t have slept well last night. I would have been up, awake, tossing and turning as the … Read more

First, I wished for a deep cover of ice. And then the lake froze solid, with so much ice that it only fully receded just two days ago (there was … Read more

It’s an image that we’ve all seen thousands of times. We’ve seen those images in pictures and on websites, and we’ve lived days inside those images. I saw one of … Read more

Value, like beauty, is many times in the eye of the beholder. The eye of the beholder. We only employ that phrase when we don’t agree with the beholder. Like … Read more

When I listed and then sold the house at 1621 East Lakeside Lane last spring, I didn’t do so because of some remarkable, inspired sales job. It wasn’t that I … Read more

I drove West from the South Shore Club yesterday. I drove up and down and around the curves of South Lakeshore Drive, and when I had the chance I turned … Read more