Geneva Lakefront Market Update

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 now, you’re buying something that’s done, something that’s ready, something that makes you happy. That’s a house that already has a coffee table where you plan to put a coffee table, and the tile of the kitchen backsplash is the same tile you would have picked if you were the one tasked with the picking. Or, you can buy for later. You can buy because right now you’re not ready to pick the tile, but you are ready to secure your piece of this scene. You’ll be more ready next year, even more ready the year after, but you see what you know you like and you buy it because the property is all that matters. Who would buy a house based on backsplash tile?

Contrary to popular opinion, I do not necessarily prefer one approach over the other. If you can find what you love and it’s done, buy it. If you can’t find what you love, build it. And if you’re ready to buy now, buy now. If you’re ready to buy next year, buy next year. But a particular hybrid of that buyer is the one who knows he can more easily afford to buy next year, but he finds what he loves and he buys now instead. That’s conviction, that’s bold, that’s the sort of buyer I tip my hat to. Also, I think I might start wearing a cowboy hat. It’ll be hard to wear it in an un-ironic way, but if I stick with it I think people will come to appreciate that hat.

The lake this year has had plenty of  buyers, those buying for now, those buying for tomorrow, and those buying now because they don’t think they’ll find the same options tomorrow.  YTD we’ve sold 16 lakefront homes. That’s a very respectable tally, though it falls well short of YTD 2015 which had 23 lakefronts trade by this date. What’s different this year is we have 9 lakefronts pending sale as of this morning. That’s a whole lot of lakefront activity, and it’s wonderful. Last year we added another 7 lakefront closings between 10/26 and 12/31, bringing our total (including Glenwood Springs first-offs and the South Shore Club) to 30 on the year. This  year, it’s more likely that we end up around 27 or 28, but that’s still a most astounding total.

What makes it so incredible is the cycle of lakefront buyers. Typically, one high volume year is followed by a lower volume year, as buyers who buy are not always replaced with more buyers who buy. In my business, if I have a terrific year it’s usually followed by a less terrific year, because I’ve spent through the buyers and sellers that have employed me, and then I must go out and find more smart buyers and smart sellers to hire me.  That’s why the strength of the market in back to back years is far more meaningful than the strength of the market after a down year. In other words, this lakefront market, man, it’s something.

There are two deals pending in the Lake Geneva Highlands, both listed in the $1.3s. One listing is mine, so that’s good. Working up the food chain, I have a new deal on the last remaining Lackey Lane offering, priced at $1.95MM. That’s 100′ of level frontage on a quiet dead end lane, surrounded by $4MM+ homes. What’s not to like? Not coincidentally, if this deal closes in 2016 that will represent the third sale on Lackey of this year, and then I’ll have brought in the buyer for all three sales. Can you tell I like Lackey Lane?  There’s a lakefront home pending on Marianne Terrace in Lake Geneva in the low $2s,  with my listing right next door still available at a similar price. To note, my listing has undergone some nice clean up over recent weeks so if you’ve seen it already and thought it was boring, come back to see it again. It’s better now.

There’s a fresh contract on a lakefront in Cedar Point listed in the $2.4s, that of a double lot. I’m expecting this will be torn down and then we’ll see two homes built on this site. I’m just guessing, but that’s the best use of that property. There’s a new deal on a mid $2s lakefront in the Birches. I’m not a fan of that house, but it’s a big deep lot so it make sense that the market absorbed it. The Sidney Smith new construction in the $3.8s is still pending, as is my large lakefront estate at 1014 South Lakeshore listed in the high $7s. Rounding out the notable pending inventory, my Stone Manor residence listed just under $6 should be closing soon.

If there were supposed to be jitters leading up to this presidential election, I haven’t noticed any. The one thing that does help Lake Geneva during times of distress is our low volume, and our low inventory. We do not have spec activity here that drags on a market as soon as we need to take a pause. As of this morning, there are just 18 true lakefront homes available,  and that’s a shockingly low total. I expect that to remain the case through the Holiday season, which should keep buyers in the market as they search for something new to consider.

About the Author

I'm David Curry. I write this blog to educate and entertain those who subscribe to the theory that Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is indeed the center of the real estate universe. When I started selling real estate 27 years ago I did so of a desire to one day dominate the activity in the Lake Geneva vacation home market. With over $800,000,000 in sales since January of 2010, that goal is within reach. If I can help you with your Lake Geneva real estate needs, please consider me at your service. Thanks for reading.

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