Winter Rules
It was fall on Saturday and winter on Sunday. It’s winter today, and it’ll be winter tomorrow. In fact, the odds are stacked heavily in favor of it being winter … Read more
It was fall on Saturday and winter on Sunday. It’s winter today, and it’ll be winter tomorrow. In fact, the odds are stacked heavily in favor of it being winter … Read more
I was going to write this morning a response to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. The article, Homeowners Hit The Jackpot, appeared to be, at the headline level, … Read more
You’ve likely already read the article. Lake Geneva Mansions Are Having A Year. Crain’s likes to talk about Lake Geneva, but only sometimes. That’s because the Crain family is from … Read more
You write an offer on a property. You negotiate the offer. You convince the seller to take your counter offer, or the seller convinces you to take his. Your offer … Read more
I’ve written it often. So often, in fact, that it probably doesn’t seem like I’ve written it at all. It’s about perspective, this life of ours. It’s about perspective gained … Read more
The most important lakefront home I’ve ever sold is 1014 South Lakeshore Drive in Fontana. I sold that home for the first time in 2010 for $5.885MM. At the time, … Read more
Every segment of the lake access and lakefront market has activity. If you list a $69k shed in Knollwood, like the one that was listed last week, it’ll sell (and … Read more
I grew up in Williams Bay. I remember my older brother wore black in 1992 when Bill Clinton was elected. No one cared that he did that, because he wore … Read more
No, this doesn’t mean your cottage with lake access is going to sell for $1.1MM. It doesn’t mean that small cottages with views and private piers are always going to … Read more
The business of listing homes is a curious one. If we were going about this business of finding a broker and an agent, we’d assume we’d look at our options … Read more
In the world of collector cars, an untouched car with original paint, matching numbers, and original factory features is a very desirable car indeed. The car is valuable because it … Read more
The way I see it, any buyer of a lakefront home here has two options. You can buy for now or you can buy for later. If you’re buying for … Read more
I started to write about how it was 93 and sunny, and how it was always 93 and sunny. It’s 93 and sunny, I was going to say, but it’s … Read more
I visited Chicago on Sunday to watch the Cubs do what the Cubs have done best for the entirety of my life: lose. But before they lost and before I … Read more
As I understand it, Door County is a place where you go because you want to eat cherries while spending the better part of a full day searching for a … Read more
This time of year the Lake Geneva real estate market will do one of two things. It will either push slowly and methodically to the end of the year, or it will remain … Read more
I need a new car. My car is older now, though if you saw it just after a washing and you were standing some slight distance from it you’d be … Read more
The Saab 900 was gunmetal gray. The roads were straight, the path clear. North. That’s all I needed to do, bearing East when possible, but mostly just North. The Saab … Read more
Earlier this year, I wrote an email to an owner of vacant lot. I told him should be be interested in selling, there was a likely premium awaiting him. He … Read more
This is, after all, a business. It’s not hard to think of real estate as a business. The business of the business has an office and a phone and some … Read more
The thing about September is that it can rain a lot. When it rains in September that’s not welcome, no matter who you are. Had I planted those new trees … Read more
The entry level lakefront market is a perplexing little market. On one hand, it’s obvious that a cheap lakefront on Geneva will always find an audience. This is unavoidable. On … Read more
Sometimes, there’s not much to write. There’s a seller and a buyer and they get along and they’re both honorable and they complete a transaction. Sometimes, the house is perfect, … Read more
There’s a problem in Walworth County. It isn’t that our fields are lush and our lakes wet. It’s not that our towns are busy and our streets are clean and … Read more
What we need now is something to sell. We’ve sold it all. We had a basketful of things, some with deplorable structures, others with superlative structures, and then we’ve spent … Read more
There are homes that you know. Stone Manor. You know this place. You know the Driehaus property and the Wrigley cottages. You know where the Pritzker’s live at their Casa. … Read more
It seems to me that what this lakefront market really wants is newer inventory in the $3-5MM range. There are buyers in that range seeking newer homes on reasonably nice … Read more
There’s a truth we need to agree on this morning. Abbey Springs is nice. That’s a truth. Abbey Springs has a golf course, another truth. I have hit many Abbey … Read more
There are very few reasons to ever go to Elkhorn. Even Elkhorn knows this. As a child, I never went to Elkhorn. As an adult, I go even less. It’s … Read more
If you bought a mountain home in Aspen last year, I don’t quite know what to say. Aspen seems nice, though I’ve never been, and I admit that most of … Read more
I think we know each other well enough that we can cut through all the nuance. It’s time we had an honest discussion about me, about you, and about what … Read more
Last month I listed a home in the South Shore Club. This month, I sold that home in the South Shore Club. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but … Read more
The first foreclosure I bought was in 2009. January of 2009, to be exact. The home was ugly, the property decent, the list price somewhere around $249k. In January of … Read more
It’s getting late. The greens are no longer bright. The grass is beginning to fade. The corn is drying as it should, first at the bottom and then, slowly, eventually, … Read more
I have now, rather unfortunately, decided that I don’t know what it would be like to take a vacation. I don’t understand the concept, not in the least. In the … Read more
In the middle of my living room is a large fireplace. It’s made of bricks and stone, mortar and sweat. Next to the fireplace there’s a basket of sorts, a … Read more
https://youtu.be/8WWC_pezLbw
August. It’s August now and it’s too late for you. If you’re at home and your vacation home dreams are there with you, then you’ve already blown it. This August … Read more
I often wonder what the connection is between the Chicago Tribune and the state of Michigan. Is it simply that the Tribune is a newspaper in Chicago and Michigan is … Read more
When you see a wolf, it’s best to tell someone. See something, say something, they always say. That’s why that little boy cried Wolf! Except that he didn’t actually see … Read more
Last month, I went with my wife and two friends to see Zac Brown. The act is called The Zac Brown Band, but that would have been similar to Elvis … Read more
The problem with market updates is that they require some movement in the market before they’ll really make sense. It’s like being a beat writer for a baseball team. If … Read more
The grocery store on a Friday night is busy. It’s always busy then. The parking lot filled to capacity, the shopping carts all in use. The carts with the wobbly … Read more
Within the South Shore Club, there are several market segments. First, the homes up front. The homes on the water. Those are the kings of the SSC. There are four … Read more
This lake is lined with $15MM houses. There are others at $20MM. Some, still at $12MM. Several at $17MM. There are estates that the owners likely value at $30MM. Some will … Read more
Freshly under contract, here’s a tour of this magnificent property on Geneva’s north shore. https://youtu.be/BwTVZ6DiTBc
Perception is an interesting thing. For instance, when I’m in front of a mirror with no one around me, I think that things are looking pretty good. When I hang … Read more
If you’ll cast your memory back to 2015, our summer didn’t really begin until Independence Day Weekend. Even then, the temperatures warmed but the sky was pale. It was pale … Read more
When it rains now it only rains for some of the day. When the clouds come, they never stay. When the sun warms in the morning it stays warm in … Read more
https://youtu.be/bA2iU_Vo07M
Sometimes, you just want what you want. You want to be on the lake, that’s smart. You want to see a weekend like the one just ended and you want … Read more
It should be no secret that the cool people are buying at Lake Geneva. It’s not just the people, but the cool people. The kids who live in the city … Read more
I’m old enough to remember when owning a swimming pool was a bad thing. It was a liability, that pool. If a seller had one, the Realtor would exclaim, what … Read more
We tend to buy real estate based on emotion and sell it based upon fact. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has ever bought or sold real … Read more
Take to the highways and county roads this summer and you’ll notice plenty of things. You’ll notice that semi drivers often change lanes with relatively little warning, which is especially … Read more
In life, much of our time and energy is spent justifying our established positions. If I’m a Democrat, I spend some energy defending my positions, no matter whether or not … Read more
The seller had a tree in her yard that had died many years ago. The tree first lost its leaves. Then it lost some branches, and then, some bark. The … Read more
The man in front of me wore a checked shirt of blue and white. I wore a similar shirt, mine more white than blue, and no fewer than six other … Read more
I’ve decided to change the major theme of my magazine. Instead of Summer Homes For City People being a Lake Geneva lifestyle magazine that features writing from yours truly and … Read more
I was in Chicago Wednesday. It was a crisp spring day, the sky and water in a matching shade. The city, when viewed from the approaching interstate, no matter which … Read more
I can feel it. It’s in the air. It’s in the way the grass looks and so many lilacs. Everywhere lilacs. The boats are here, they’re in the water and … Read more
I was the first broker to try my hand at selling the new Harbor Watch condominiums on downtown Lake Geneva’s waterfront. I believe the year was 2002, because I was … Read more
Increasingly, buyers build what they want, where they want, oblivious, either ignorantly or happily so, to the fact that their build is pricing them right out of the market they’ve … Read more
I just love it when firetrucks drive down the road in town. They drive slowly, with their lights on and their water canon blasting. What fun it is to see … Read more
A sudden twinge of pain. A shallow breath. A pain here, another there. The symptoms of something, but of what? A quick google search reveals what you already suspected. You’re … Read more
Growing up, I ate some tacos. Not a lot of tacos, just some. They came in one variety. Ortega hard corn shells stuffed with ground beef that had been mixed … Read more
I’ve spent a fair amount of time this year in Geneva National. I’ve shown most of the houses that are on the market inside those gates. I’ve generally been underwhelmed. … Read more
When I first hatched this idea to write and print a self aggrandizing magazine, I ran the concept past my father. I told him what I’d do, and as he … Read more
I have lots of brushes. I have small brushes and smaller brushes, medium ones, too. I have huge brushes, trust me, there’s no problem with my brushes. I have great … Read more
Sometimes, 50 feet of frontage just won’t do. It’s tough for me to write that, but it’s true, and the market has proven it true time and time again. If … Read more
As I understand it, when the temperature drops in Florida panic ensues. Someone rushes to the store to buy supplies. Another person hurries out to throw blankets on the orange … Read more
I suppose we all pick and choose. We pick the data that supports our positions, whether the decisions involve personal choices or business decisions. We pick the favorable bits, discard the … Read more
It’s no particular secret that buyers like Fontana. If I have 100 lakefront buyers call me this year, there’s a strong chance that 75 of them may specifically ask to … Read more
It’s snowing again. And the coffee tasted the same. The man at the corner with the portable Stop sign waved, but he didn’t want to. The FREE AIR at the … Read more
Williams Bay is a big bay. Fontana Bay, also a big bay. Geneva Bay, big. These are the bays we know from maps and from vernacular and because we know … Read more
I had never written a blog post from the day I was born in 1978 through March 28th, 2007. Then, on March 29th. I wrote one. It wasn’t really a … Read more
When the Chicago Tribune talks about vacation homes, it likes to talk about South Carolina. And then also about Uruguay. If not those, then Arizona, maybe Florida. Sometimes, Michigan. Other … Read more
When you sell a car, you can sell it one of two ways. You can either sell it because you’ve already bought another car, one that you now love very … Read more