I think if I were a condo buyer, be it in a sweaty city or up here at the lake, I’d prefer to be on a high floor. Not because I’m a friend of heights, because I’m actually rather afraid of them, but because I’d want that buffer of sky between me and the ground based goings on. Cars and people and sirens and shouts, I’d rather not hear those things. This is why people para-sail. They like to see what’s happening without being stuck in what’s happening. They want to see around them without only being able to see what’s immediately around them. They want to get above the noise and increase their view. This is why if I were a condo owner I’d probably buy one on a higher floor.
There are exceptions to this idea. If I thought I wanted to be first out and first in, I’d maybe buy something on a ground floor. I have a Fontana Shores condo listed for $369k that’s on the ground level, and I like that unit very much. But that’s because the unit is on the first floor on the parking side of the building, and it’s elevated one floor on the lakeside. The action is on the lakeside, so while I get to walk into the unit with my groceries in hand without navigating a single step, when I step onto my lakeside balcony I am, in fact, off the ground, above the fray, where I want to be.
In the same way that I wouldn’t want to be in a ground level condominium in the city, I would absolutely not want to be in a garden view condominium. This is a clever way to describe the view from the unit, which may be a garden but is usually, as a matter of fact, hub caps, shoes, ankles, sometimes calves, and rubbery tires. This is what that sort of unit looks at, which is why I see a pending sale today for $599k at Harbor Watch and I think that I’d probably hold out for a higher floor. Price has something to do with it, which is why where’s a one bedroom condo pending on the ground floor- the real ground floor- at Fontana Shores for just $234k.
Surely it wouldn’t be great to be in a city, in a big building, and find yourself right on the first floor. That wouldn’t be ideal. Or would it? A buyer just went under contract on a ground floor condo at Geneva Towers, those spaces generally reserved for offices and ice cream shops, and at $589k the buyer would have had to really like the idea of being turf level. But, alas, they did and so they bought, as did the people at Fontana Shores as did the people at Harbor Watch. Given there isn’t a single other condo pending sale on the lake today except these ground floor units, perhaps I’m the outlier here. Perhaps it isn’t height and view and silence that people crave. Perhaps it’s noise and people and hub caps.
The lakefront condo market on Geneva is showing continued signs of life, and some units- like the ones mentioned above- are attracting buyers. Other units, like the ones that I seem to be trying to sell, are not doing as well. Units are available at both Bay Colony buildings, Fontana Shores, Fontana Club, Geneva Towers, and Vista Del Lago. While a few are pending, most are not, but there is good news to be gleaned. Vista Del Lago has seen its inventory shrink, and there are now just three units available there. That’s a positive for a complex that had as many as 7 offerings a year or so ago. Geneva Towers has some interesting gyrations going on, with a brokerage shift for some of the units, and at least one sale over the last month at an elevated $800k+ price point. That building is slowly being cleaned up by an outside investor who seeks to position the units as luxury residences, rather than the blah units they’ve traditionally been. The efforts appear to be working.
I exclude Stone Manor from the list of lakefront condominiums, because Stone Manor is to a lakefront condo what a Porsche Turbo S is to a moped. Stone Manor is its own creation, seeking its own exclusive audience, and should not in any way to be lumped into a conversation where a one bedroom condo at Fontana Shores is mentioned. Some of the other marquee, though obviously less marquee, buildings on the lake do not have any inventory, either. Somerset has nothing to offer you. Eastbank doesn’t want your attention, either. Bay Shore, while not marquee in many ways, doesn’t have anything available today. The condo market is improving, though it sure is taking a whole lot longer than we’d all like it to.
For now, except to find value in this segment. The fall will yield deals, and if you haven’t been paying attention, February at Lake Geneva is to spring what August at Lake Geneva is to fall. Our markets are forever in fast forward, and there are deals to be had by considering aged inventory held by disinterested ownership.