The only inanimate object feeling worse than Dustin Johnson this morning may very well be the lakefront condominium on Geneva Lake. Of course, Dustin will have plenty of opportunities to redeem himself, but redemption will more than likely not come so swiftly, or easily, for the lakefront condo market here. 2010 has been a miserable, putrid year for the condominium units that dot the shoreline of my beloved lake. With 14 lakefront units active on the MLS this morning, the lack of inventory is the main force that has allowed the lakefront condo market to remain stable in spite of the lack of liquidity.
So far this year, there have been two sales of lakefront condominiums on Geneva. Two. The year is no longer young, and in terms of real estate, it’s rapidly approaching retirement age. We effectively have three months of selling season left before the misery of mid-November settles in, and in the last three months of an annual selling season (a season that runs from the end of February to the middle of November) we’d typically see some solid movement in all reaches of our vacation home market. There are some interesting market truths that can be gleaned from the two year-to-date lakefront condo sales on Geneva, even though perhaps the truth is singular. The two units that have sold this year, one at Bay Shore for $420k and another at Fontana Shores for $456k, were obviously both sold in the mid to low $400k’s. The units sold for an average of 10% off their asking prices, and both sold after reasonable stints on the market (109 DOM for Bay Shore, 10 DOM for Fontana Shores). These condominiums are the only two lakefront condos to close all year, even though 14 other condominiums are currently listed on the open market. Is the other inventory really that bad?
The two “cheapest” units available on the lakefront are both at Vista Del Lago in Lake Geneva. The most economical unit is priced at $379k, followed by a similar unit priced at $479k. There are two units available at Fontana Shores, and one of those is priced at $495k. Of the 14 available lakefront condominiums, just three are priced at less than $500k. This is a problem. There are other units available at The Fontana Club (double unit priced in the high $800k’s), a unit at Bay Colony (my listing at $599k), and inventory available at Somerset ($1.3MM+), Harbor Watch, and Geneva Towers. There is one unit pending sale right now, a larger townhouse style unit at The Old Boatyard Condominiums in Lake Geneva, listed at $699k. There is also a unit for sale at Stone Manor listed at $2.495MM, fresh off of a $500k price reduction. Stay tuned on that one, or email me if you’d like more details.
As the agent who has fortunately accumulated more Geneva lakefront condo transaction sides than any other agent since 1999, I’m pretty familiar with the lakefront condo market on Geneva. The problem for our current market is pricing, pure and simple. There is little that sellers can do in this market to excite and engage a buyer aside from pricing. No amount of perfume will work. No red carpet or bottle of champagne or clever flash advertising presence. None of these things can change the way a buyer views a property like a price adjustment can. There’s the other pesky change in buyer behavior that may be nothing more than an anomaly of recent expression- a trend away from condominiums and towards single family cottages. The lakefront condo market on Geneva has surprised me with its resiliency against the foreclosure bug, and the low inventory is a solid sign for the strength and happiness of those owners currently enjoying their lakefront units. I still think there’s a place for the lakefront condo in our market, but buyers have proven that they have very little interest unless the price is right. And for now, to quote Happy Gilmore, the price is wrong.