You might remember this house from 2024 when I sold it. It was a nice house then, as it was in the fall of 2025, when I sold it again, this time for $7.395M. I was up against some competition for this listing, but ultimately secured the representation and brought in the buyer as well. One of those agents hoping to list the home had told the seller that they “have buyers”. Everyone has buyers, as the postcards that inundate your mailbox and the SPAM email that overwhelms your inbox both proclaim. The thing is, when this property did come to market the agent with “the buyers” didn’t even show the house. It’s easy to be a “lakefront luxury broker”, but when push comes to shove there’s a reason I’ve been alone in the top position here for more than a decade, and alone as the top producing Walworth County agent of all time.
As a point of fact, there have been 34 lakefront transactions to close in excess of $7M in the history of the lake. Of those sales, I have represented the buyer or seller in 29 transaction sides while the next most accomplished agent here has participated in just four transaction sides. Marketing materials from corporate can project any image someone wishes to portray, but sales statistics cannot be manipulated. If we’re talking about the Lake Geneva lakefront market, the New York based corporate brokers just can’t compete with the oldest brokerage in Walworth County: Geneva Lakefront Realty.
The luxury market at the lake was firing on all cylinders in 2025, but rather than run an MLS generated report as to how the year went, let’s look at it from the inside out. The year started with two lakefronts priced over $8M pending sale. One was my sale of the George Williams College Campus, which was a sale we discussed at some length here last year so we won’t rehash it too much again. That sale never went into the local MLS, so it not only can’t be factored in to the market by those who rely on the MLS for their statistics, but it’s such a one-off that until we have another piece of institutionally owned land for sale this 2025 sale doesn’t mean much to the market. The other sale pending at the onset of 2025 was one on Sidney Smith. I brought the buyer into that deal in late 2024 and it closed in 2025 for $8.55M. But to begin the year that’s all we had pending, and that made for a light first quarter. Inventory that failed to sell in 2024 was re-introduced to the market in 2025, as is our norm, and by early summer two of those 2024 laggards had closed. One on Conference Point that initially asked (off market) over $9M and ultimately sold for $8.1M to a buyer whom I was happy to represent, and the other on Knollwood. That property initially listed in the spring of 2024 for $8.99M and finally sold in the spring of 2025 for $7.6M. Not exactly a rip-roaring start to the sales season…
In late spring another lakefront came to market- this one a large-ish estate on Lackey Lane that hit the open market for $20M and sold within a few months at that number. I’m not sure this is repeatable value, but the property became the fourth sale on Geneva to ever close over $20M. The other three sales were all sales of mine (GWC, Aloha Lodge, and Glanworth Gardens). Did the $20M sale matter to the lake last summer? You bet it did. Confidence in upper bracket pricing has been increasing since 2016, and by mid summer 2025 it was in full swing. That confidence led to an astounding $10.1M print in the South Shore Club, a sale that exceeded the prior high sale there by more than 20%. Around the same time I sold an off market lakefront in the 700 Club that printed just over $8M (this was a non-MLS deal with no publicity).
Then September happened and the lakefront printed several sales in quick succession. The 620 S Lakeshore property near downtown LG came to market and sold in excess of the ask ($10M+). A listing on Bonnie Brae was brought to market and sold just over the ask in a few days ($8.7M). Then two in Geneva Bay Estates, both over $8M hit the market and sold (one had been available off-market all summer before ultimately selling and being recored on the MLS). Then I re-sold the house shown above for $7.395M and closed a house in the South Shore Club for $7M. In a span of a few months Lake Geneva concluded nine sales in excess of $7M. That’s a heck of a run for our little lakefront market…
I think what happens for the year ahead is rather simple. If macro economic trends remain in place, we’re going to have another great year here. Pricing will need to be somewhat tethered to reality, but in cases where rare locations or otherwise desirable packages are offered you can expect to see some big numbers print. If you were hoping 2026 would finally be the year when the lakefront market takes a breather, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
The spring market is well underway on this bitterly cold day in January, and I’m pleased to have one new lakefront transaction in our upper bracket already pending sale. If you’re considering some maneuvering on the lakefront and would like to have a confidential chat about whatever might be next, please consider me at your service. I’d be honored to help.