Harvard Avenue Lakefront Sale

If you must know one thing about Lake Geneva, please know this. Location, location, location is only surpassed by Viking, Waterworks, and Visual Comfort. There are three lakefront properties pending sale this morning. One in the 700 Club with 150′ of dead level frontage, and two others on South Lakeshore Drive. These three pending sales are going to close to buyers who value property. The sale I just closed yesterday closed to a buyer who valued high end finishes wrapped in quintessential lake home shingles nestled a mere 50 feet from the waters edge. Buyers love big front lawns and long driveways, but they love pretty tile too.

My fourth and last lakefront sale of 2011 was of my listing at 412 Harvard Avenue in Fontana’s Glenwood Springs. I have a nice history with this property. I sold the property for the first time about five years ago to my client who swiftly tore the existing home down. Then he rebuilt on a site that he cherished, only to buy another lakefront home during the summer of 2010 and now sell this one in the winter of 2011. This sort of movement is common on the lake, and every year there are several such sales attributable to the lateral and mostly upward movement of the existing lakefront ownership.

We closed yesterday for a price of $2.269MM, a modest reduction off of our $2.49MM list price. I mentioned earlier this fall that I had made a mistake on a deal that caused me some financial duress and personal embarrassment, and this was that deal. The sales price likely could have been higher, as we had two buyers on the scene during the same weekend in late October. I probably could have maxed the price a touch higher on this sale, but any transaction that doesn’t close with some doubt is a transaction that I haven’t yet seen. Brokers are famous for pointing out shortfalls in other broker’s sales. I do it to. I see a sale and wonder why the buyer paid too much. I see other sales and wonder why the seller didn’t get more money. Real estate is a precise science, sure, but it’s also a complete and hopeless game of second guessing and doubt.

Lest you think this property at 412 Harvard was just another house, I assure you that it was special indeed. While some new construction is poor, with its only discernible strength being the newness of the cheapness, this construction was impeccable. The home featured high end cabinetry by Plato, more trim work than you’ve ever seen, cut granite masonry fireplaces, cedar shake roof and siding, and both screened and covered lakeside porches. This was a perfect lake home, and it will continue to be one for the lucky new owner.

Sales like this also skew our lakefront statistics considerably. When you look to the Maple Lane sale from November that closed for $2.2MM, with 100+ feet of frontage, a tennis court, massive pier, and more estate attributes, and compare it directly side by side with this sale, the uninitiated will be confused. How can so much sell for so little, and conversely how can so little sell for so much? Well, it comes down to the market preferences. Fontana is much preferred over a location in the Birches. Level frontage is preferred over a relative cliff. And moreover the existence of two buyers at the same moment in time can push any sales price up. The Harvard property was a confluence of every finish the market likes, and the seller was rewarded for his fine taste.