Four Lake Access Sales

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 before Memorial Day. This is when summer starts, after all, and in the vacation home world the closings that take place on the Friday before the long first weekend of summer are many and they are common. Less common are those closings that take place on the Friday before Labor Day. This restful weekend is summer, it’s fun, but it has a sad, underlying tone. It’s like a very fun funeral, or at least a lively wake. This weekend now ended, is, in my opinion, less the end of summer and more the start of late summer, which is far more tolerable in this vernacular than if we are to let it signal the start of early fall. I’m a glass half full sort of guy when it comes to my seasons, and a glass half empty guy for everything else. Even so, while rarely do people race to be in by the end of summer as they do the beginning of summer, it happens. And it happened quite a bit last week.

There were four lake access closings late last week, and while I was extremely happy to represent two of the four buyers, I felt deep shame that the other two got away from me. The most economical of the four sales was one that I was involved in on Lincoln in Cedar Point Park. The home was modest but in good repair and reasonably new (1990s build), the location not sizzling but far better than most entry level offerings in Cedar Point Park. Access to the nearest parkway, and the lake that lies below it, was close, and I’d wager a very small fortune that the dead of winter will afford this home at least a twinkle of a lake view. For $235k a young couple from the Western suburbs found their own piece of Lake Geneva, and in that everyone should be happy. A word of caution- During some snowy snow day in the late 1980s, I was convinced that my younger brother broke his back after launching over an aggressively scaled jump that we had built. The parkway across from this home is the parkway that hosted that near catastrophic injury. This has nothing to do with the real estate market, but still.

The other entry level lake access home that sold last week was in Country Club Estates, a subdivision that mirrors Cedar Point Park in many market aspects. $320k bought a nice enough four bedroom home with some decent features and a pleasant Hillcrest location. Both this home and the home on Lincoln fit into a similar segment of the market, but this home is larger and Lincoln was considerably closer to the lake. Lincoln is probably best for the buyer that wants to use the lake regularly, where a refreshing dip comes after a short stroll, whereas Hillcrest is best for those who want to drive to the lake to sit with their feet in the sand. Both are fine associations, but buyers who want to get to the lake often are generally best served to find a property in Cedar Point if that property is close to one of the 8 association access points.

The next sale was on Hunt Club Lane, just South and West a ways from the Big Foot Beach. The last home to have sold on this small lane was one that I sold for $610k a few years ago. The home that sold last week for $659k was next door to that home, and it was a bit of an odd home. It was modern without being sleek, and it was cottage-ish without resembling a cottage. It felt like a 1980s raised ranch without the raised ranch part. It had one bedroom upstairs and two in the basement. It was not a home for everyone. And I suppose that’s why it sold for $659k last week to a cash buyer after initially coming to market for $839k in 2011. The land- 1.5 acres worth- was a rare find in the lake access market, so if we ignore the curiously weird design aspect and just consider it a 1.5 acre property with boatslip and a pier shared with only three other owners, then the $659k price is just fine. A sale for everyone, no. A sale for someone? Indeed.

Lastly, I represented a rare buyer who didn’t hail from Illinois. Their purchase was of the new construction on Lower Loch Vista. The location of this nearly finished home was sublime, being just one home off the lake. There was a lake view, an easy, level walk to the lakefront, and a large enough newly constructed house that needed the final bit of construction completed. This buyer paid $720k for the home, and will now undertake the completion of the home. This isn’t the typical scenario by which newly built homes sell, but in this case it made the most sense for all parties. I’m a big fan of the Loch Vista Club, as everyone should know by now, and I’m a particularly slobbery fan of homes that are pressed as tight to the water as possible. For this buyer the home will be a perfect fit, a launching point for the lakefront lifestyle that they’ve been wishing for over many lake-less years.

Four sales over two days, all proving that vacation home buyers do not necessarily buy homes based on calendar cues, but instead based on the desire to buy a property when it presents itself as a close enough match. To answer aloud the question “When is the best time to buy a vacation home?” that I field often: The best time to buy a vacation home is when you find the home that you think will make you happy. The next best time is in late November and early December. For those recent buyers a quick word of advice. My absolute favorite 60 days of the year, besides the 60 days that just ended, are the 60 days that come next.