The french onion soup that dominated the menu at Charley O’s during the 80s and 90s was something that you either loved or hated. Some accused it of being too gravy like, a thick soup that was too robust to fit the refined mold of a traditional, if watery, french onion soup. I worked at Charley O’s as a kid, and looked forward to the days that my winter weekend shift convened over lunch hours, so I would be fed a bowl of this luxurious gravy as part of my compensation package. Last Saturday, I craved this soup. I scanned the interweb for recipes, and found that most called for bought beef stock and onions. My arrogance convinced me that I could do better, and so I set about doing just that- making a better french onion soup.
I caramelized my onions over low and lower heat for an hour, and willed them to be delicious. I roasted beef knuckle and accompanying vegetables at high temperature for three hours in an attempt to bestow a depth of flavor that I was sure canned stock could not deliver. I browned my tomato paste in the rendered fat, as is my desire, and I simmered the bones, vegetables, herbs and spices for hours and hours. The soup was finished sometime on Saturday night. I toasted my sourdough, placed the crunchy round on top of my individual cauldron of soup, added Gruyere to the top, and placed it under the broiler. My creation was coming to life, and I had visions of a proud Charley O looking on in much the same way that Mr. Miyagi looked at Daniel just after Elisabeth Shue proclaimed him the best. I dipped the spoon, blew on the bubbling cheesy, oniony mixture, and took a bite. It should have been delicious, but it was flat. My soup, like the Lake Geneva real estate market, was missing something.
As I scan the available inventory this morning, I see many homes that I like. Of the 113 listed homes that have either lake access to Geneva or private lake frontage, I see many that inspire sweaty moments of real estate lust, and I see many more properties that are just hoping and praying for a very hungry fish to swim by their cut up hot dog. Today it’s not so much about what I see, it’s about what I don’t see. The market, for all of its opportunities, feels a bit thin to me. It’s not uniformly thin, as certain residential market segments have plenty of inventory, both of the quality and the ridiculous variety, but some segments are begging for more depth.
The entry level lakefront market is woefully in need of an infusion. As of this morning, the MLS shows just one true lakefront home priced under $1.9MM. This isn’t good. There are buyers, lots and lots of them, that can, and would, gladly spend $1.2MMish for a lakefront home, no matter its condition. This run on the entry level lakefront home proved to be a huge boon to our market during 2010. I warned then that if we sold these entry level lakefront homes and didn’t replace them, those buyers who left their hands warmly pinned under their behinds would be both weeping and gnashing their teeth in 2011. The simple theory is that a lake like Geneva can effectively run out of entry level inventory. The more entry level homes that sell and are subsequently renovated and/or torn down, the fewer entry level homes exist.
I think much of the issue with the void in the entry level lakefront market is that many of the lakefront homes currently priced in the $1.8MM to $2.1MM range should probably instead be priced in the sub $1.65MM range. The sale that I closed at 6 Upper Loch Vista last year was a home that I had originally listed at $2.5MM. That was not my number, but we tried it to see if anyone felt like biting. After a series of reductions, we finally ended up at a sales price of $1.61MM. That sort of price is probably the sort of price that most of these currently $2MM joints are going to have to sell for if they want to attract the attention of the very discerning buyer pool.
It’s not just the lakefront that looks a bit out of whack right now. There aren’t many quality offerings involving homes with boat slips priced in the $500k to $800k range. This was a very active price range last year, and we haven’t replaced much of that sold inventory yet in the same way that the entry level lakefront market remains sparsely populated. There are some new additions that intrigue me, including a new listing in Fontana for $550k with slip (rough house), but for the most part this market could use a few quality offerings with 2011 pricing.
We continue to add inventory throughout the spring, so buyers should be scouting out what interests them now (with me) so they know exactly what they’re looking for before that ideal property hits the market. Let’s hope pricing stays soft, as it should, and that sellers realize 2011 isn’t only a bad year for Wisconsin unions, it’s also a bad year to attempt to stiffen on prices. If anyone knows Charley O’s secret french onion soup recipe, please email me.