There are no longer days between us and summer. These are not days, they are hours. In these hours, many of us will have things to do. There are towels to be washed and dried, beach bags to be packed, boats to gas. There is even work- mindless, unmotivated, tiring, work. But then on Friday, just hours from now, everything will be different. Some among us are about to embark on the most magnificent summer of our lives. There will be countless days spent under the benevolent Lake Geneva sun. Boat rides too many to mention. Sunsets, each more glorious than the last. And there will be calls to our children’s baseball coaches to tell him that Junior and Missy are sick, even though they are not. Importantly, between now and the most meaningful summer of our lifetimes, several vacation home buyers will be buyers no more, but owners.
The Lake Geneva real estate market has not performed especially well in the month of May. There have been five closings of single family homes with lake access to Geneva so far this month, and this is not a particularly exciting number. I do expect the last few days of this week, those annoying days that get between us and summer, there will be closings. If all goes according to plan I’ll have two closings on vacation homes here, and I’ll be sure to tell you about those most important sales once they occur. For now, it’s not about me, it’s about May.
The most expensive of the five sales was in Cedar Point Park for $653,250. The negotiations must have been intense. The gap between bid and sell must have been split so many times that the final number was what it was. Uneven. The home was a parkway home. A parkway home in Cedar Point Park is defined as one of the fortunate homes that line the many different large swaths of association grass that run to the lake, widening as they near it. These homes are desirable, but they do not have slips, so that’s sort of a downer. This home, while technically a parkway home, was as far off the lake as is possible while still being on the parkway. It’s a fine home. The new owners will be happy.
Another one of the homes sold was in Cedar Point Park, this one being on Circle Parkway, which is a street, not a parkway in the grassy sense. The sale at $600k was of a nice, newer home with seasonal glimpses of the water. It should be mentioned that I wrote an offer on this home a year or more ago for a price that was higher than this sales price, which provides a bit of further backing to my post from yesterday. Sellers, please pay attention.
Keeping in this price point, the third sale was in Lower Brookwood, on Fontana’s southern shore. It was a home described as a “Scandanavian Gem”, which is broker speak for “sort of modernish”. The sale at $590k was okay, as this gem had a lake view. It actually had a better parking lot view, but if you place your hands just under your eyes to provide a bit of a screen, the parking lot goes entirely away and you’re left with a fine lakeview. The home was close to the lake and I liked the sale because of that attribute. It was good enough, though still no slip.
Sliding downward in price we find ourselves at Lower Loch Vista. This was a sale that I participated in, providing sage advise to a buyer who had the good sense to discover value in a fairly extreme way. The sale at $242,500 off of a $299k list was low. There’s no other way to put it. It was a low price for this sort of proximity to the water in this sort of high quality association, and the buyer will be positioned nicely to enjoy future appreciation as the broader market recovers. Consider a sale on the upper road immediately behind this home from 2011. That sale was at $380k for a small home with a nearly identical location and identical lakerights. My buyer can now rehab this home and be all in for a much lower number than the upper road buyer started at. Advantage my buyer.
The last sale was on Sybil Lane. I don’t talk much about Sybil Lane on this site. The association is right next to Shore Haven, near the Chicago Club, the Lake Geneva Club, and Oak Shores. It’s a nice street. Quaint and cottage like, it’s a hard street not to find somewhat charming. The property that sold closed at $216k, just a smidge off the $219,500 list price. It sold within mere days of the listing date, and I suppose the buyer secured a nice deal. Me? I’d rather have bought in the Loch Vista Club for $242,500, but I wasn’t the buyer in either of these situations so my personal opinion of preference matters little. They were both solid value plays and for that the buyers should both be congratulated.
That’s what May has looked like so far. It will look better when viewed from the sunshine of June, as I do expect several pending properties to close over the next eight days. For now, let’s ready ourselves for Friday. Heck, let’s take Friday off. See you at the lake.