Deadlines

I think about the days when I won’t write on this blog. I think about how admitting that is to somehow run afoul of the unwritten rules of a real … Read more

Lake Geneva Real Estate

Spring

The trees in my front yard are budding. The trees in my back yard are budding. The trees at my office are budding. I’d be willing to bet most of … Read more

Harpoon Willies Williams Bay

Harpoon Willies

I can’t tell you that I’m a regular at Harpoon Willies. When I walk in, no one winks at me a knowing wink. No one gives me a head nod, … Read more

Collect Things

At this age, I have developed many bad habits.  I shamefully subscribe to the theory of food discovery that dictates I eat one piece of pizza to find out if … Read more

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Gray Sky Rising

It’s gray again. It was gray yesterday, too. The same gray as this gray. There is no different variety of gray now. The only change comes later, when the gray … Read more

Lakefront Nuance

It seems to me that all exclusive markets- those of art, of real estate, of antique automobiles- all find the task of identifying outliers to be a difficult one. In … Read more

Ski Grand Geneva Resort Lake Geneva

Ski Lake Geneva

I bought a weight bench last month.  It’s a simple bench, the sort you’d find in a corner of almost every basement in America. It has some weights, a bench, some … Read more

The Future

Twenty years ago today was a normal day. Nothing much happened. I woke up and I drove myself to the gas station across from Daddy Maxwell’s, and I walked over … Read more

Geneva Dreaming

I haven’t shared this yet, but I nearly won that large lottery back in January. The night before the drawing, my wife and I made no small plans. We would … Read more

Sounding Winter

I can see the cold of this winter through the window in my house. All of the windows face this cold, but one window in the living room is the … Read more

Blood Red Markets

Another January morning. Clear pale blue skies, soft low light, index futures off triple digits. It’s been a trend this week, the skies pale blue and the markets in blood … Read more

Happy New Year

Some day, I might stay up late enough to greet the new year in the company of family and friends. Some day, I might celebrate the year that just ended … Read more

The New Game

There’s something changing in the Lake Geneva real estate market. The change is mostly involving the lakefront market, but there’s little doubt that this change will make its way through … Read more

Pikewood Estate

My grandmother was not necessarily a memorable fashionista. The was too old by the time I was old enough to recognize style, and by then I recognized that she veered … Read more

Geneva Won’t Ice Up

I must  apologize for being so preoccupied over recent days. It was one week ago today when I glanced at the Lake Geneva Regional News and first learned that the … Read more

Weekend Boredom

Sadly, I hear the same things over and over again. This is this life. Why can’t you sell my house, why can’t you find me a house, why can’t you … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

Even when it seems to me that there are lots of cars here, there aren’t really lots of cars. They meander past heading to one direction or from the other, … Read more

Remodeling Lake Geneva

I blame HGTV for most of the design abnormalities that I see on a day to day basis. On television, under the direction of some handsome psuedo-contractor, purple walls and … Read more

Real Estate 201

I fear this job of real estate is a no-win proposition. There is very little left to do here, little left to prove, little that can be done to change … Read more

This Time

The flowers are blooming in that big patch of flowers that looks just like a garden of weeds. Most of the flowers are dead now, having long since given their … Read more

Road Work

The signs made it known in July that the men would come to work on the road in August.  There was a sign taped to the door of this office, and one … Read more

November Again

We all engage in it. A very common mistake. It’s not a mistake like it would be to pay someone to tattoo barbed wire around our biceps, but it’s a … Read more

Oh Henry

I can’t quite read the name of the boat. ENRY is all I can see, the rest blocked by the odd inboard/outboard engine protruding from the stern. Maybe it’s HENRY, … Read more

Lake Geneva Data

It bothers me that I so fondly look back at years that have only recently passed. When the market was scary and difficult, I enjoyed leafing through the local Realtor’s … Read more

This October

How I love the summer. The distinct scenery that is uniquely this place, the bright blues and deep greens, the white topped waves falling into our white, wooden piers. The … Read more

The American Club

I do not believe in putting off until tomorrow what you can do today. Unless tomorrow is pretty open, and today is pretty busy. Then I whole heartedly endorse putting … Read more

Basswood Sells

I’m really bad at selling homes I don’t like. I show homes I don’t like, and then I think, I don’t like this house. I have to play along as … Read more

Jackets and Coats

I own many coats. I don’t tell you this by way of bragging. I’m not especially proud that I own so many coats, it’s just that I own many of … Read more

The Cubs

In 1998 I was just a kid. But I was a kid selling real estate, and as a result I was in a strange place. My friends were all still … Read more

October Boating

Yesterday while you were working, the lake did what it does in October. It went quiet. Sure, the lake goes quiet during the days that came from the last ice … Read more

Abbey Springs Sells

I built a real estate office at 57 West Geneva Street. I did this because I needed a place to work. You’d be surprised to learn, or maybe you wouldn’t, … Read more

Knollwood Sells

Generally speaking, if a home on the lake hits the open market, I email the listing to someone. Let’s say you’re looking for a lakefront for around $1.5MM. If one … Read more

Geneva Lakefront Update

I read an article yesterday about how one Japanese day trader made thirty-four million dollars last week. He had a hunch about the markets, and rode large positions of options … Read more

Summer and Fall

I can’t say that it comes as a surprise anymore. Every season follows this same pattern. When the season is a long ways off, I pine for it. In the … Read more

Honey Bees

When you buy a lake house, you should be prepared to buy the things that need to fill that lake house. I’m not talking about couches, or end tables, beds … Read more

Toys

Before that day I had never known of the word: Revo. I had heard of other words and brands, like the normal ones that you hear when you’re a kid … Read more

Dinner Time

The guests had been treated to four straight days of sameness. Blue skies in the morning, blue skies in the afternoon, and blue skies into the evening. A sparkling sunset … Read more

A Lake Geneva Weekend

There are reasons that people choose to vacation where they do. Some choose to vacation where they have family. Others choose to vacation where they have no family. Both are … Read more

Blues

The weather, they said, was delightful. On a Monday it was sunny, with skies so blue it was difficult, after some time of gazing, to imagine what they might look … Read more

Classifieds

FOR SALE: One Lake House Lightly used, near perfect condition Well, that’s not entirely true. We have owned this home for two years, and we’ve lightly used it. We have … Read more

To Renovate

Often, when someone buys something that’s ridiculously overpriced, they point to the price that the seller paid when the seller was the buyer. Or, if the seller didn’t buy the … Read more

Lake Geneva Pricing

There’s an art auction. The auction has some art that was painted by a man who is now very dead. The art is expensive, everyone knows that. This art has … Read more

Fishing Geneva Lake

Last week, while the soft suburban children played on sand beaches within close proximity of their sunscreen slathering, summer-hat wearing mothers, my son and his friend dove from piers and … Read more

The Starboard Cottage

In 1848, Wisconsin officially became a state. In the same year, the Starboard Cottage was built on the northern shore of Geneva Lake. The home was originally built as a … Read more

Longest Weekend

I have a friend who doesn’t sleep. He goes to bed late and he wakes up early, and if you’ve ever been a neighbor to this habitual undersleeper you’d know … Read more

The Invasives

There was a man I knew from the town where I lived. He was old when I knew him, and I never knew what it was that he had done … Read more

Building Lake Geneva

There were common themes during the housing downturn. The first theme was that some buyers were able to capture their motivation and seek out value. When they found value, they … Read more

Parenting

I do not remember having any bit of input into any singular plan during my youth. This was true whether the decision should have involved me, even if the decision … Read more

Suburban Insanity

Certain things bother me. For example, when my contacts are blurry, even though I’ve properly rinsed and stored them according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Maybe it has to do with … Read more

Shadow Lane Sells

Shadow Lane is really just a lane. You take it to cut directly from South Lakeshore Drive to the lake. That’s pretty much the only reason you’d ever have to … Read more

Forecast Insecurity

The rapids twist away from the road, but only briefly, before twisting back, cutting against the bank and throwing riffles and bubbles down the rocky slope. The run spills into … Read more

Lake Geneva Fire Boat Update

The good news for whomever might be buying the lakefront house next to my parents’ house is that Christmas lingers there. Long after the presents have been opened and discarded, … Read more

Gone Fishing

I have never really taken a vacation. I doubt most working people ever have. I leave town, sleep in a different bed, eat breakfast at restaurants, but this is not … Read more

Meet Lakewood Estates

Vacation home seekers that find themselves in Walworth County, due to blind luck or strong recent discernment or long ago instilled nostalgia, generally find that lakefront on Geneva Lake is … Read more

Spring Parade

In person, one can scrutinize every curve and polished detail of any sort of boat. Under this close surveillance, it would be easy to see a thin scratch and examine … Read more

Four Short Weeks

The first recorded day that would have felt somewhat similar to we commonly refer to as “spring” was March 11th. On that day, Lake Geneva warmed to 53 degrees, and … Read more

The Great Ice Out

By now even those who loved it had started to hate it. The snowmobilers were over it, having long since fogged their engines and stowed away their sleds. The ice … Read more

The In Between

It’s not really winter anymore. The snow is mostly gone. Both the tall piles of pushed white snow and the great glistening fields have been melted away, leaving country fields … Read more