I’ve been contemplating what, if anything, to write about the current state of things. Things, as a point of fact, are bad. Individually, I’m fine. I have a nice house with at least a few days worth of food. My tractor is running low on diesel, but I think the store still sells that. I stopped at Walmart this morning, early, to beat the crowds, except I ran into the other group of people that planned to beat the crowds and we formed our own crowd. I was forced to buy the world’s most expensive bottle of allergy medicine, because all of the affordable options were sold out. Such is our new life.
In a way, it’s all very curious to experience. I’m telling my kids to pay attention to the details, as I’m nearly 42 years old and I haven’t lived through anything like this. I don’t need to know the details as to why SARS, MERS, H1N1, et all, were either worse or better than this new virus. I really don’t care. I don’t care to place blame on anyone except whoever created this, and look forward to joining the class-action lawsuit once we pin point the source, with 100% certainty. Should we be hyper about this, as we are? Uncertain. Should we ignore it and just be smart but keep moving about our lives (while avoiding crowds, etc, etc)? Uncertain. Should I go to the cabin for a couple of days and fish? Absolutely.
I’ve noticed lots of my clients choosing to spend this odd period of time at their lake homes. I like this trend. After all, if you could spend time in a city or spend it in the country, most would choose the country. Imagine then how many more would choose the country if the aim was to interact less with our friends and neighbors. Wouldn’t we all choose the country then? I think so, which is why Lake Geneva today is filling with lake home residents that would not normally find their way to their lake house on a random Monday in March. Social distancing is easier here, and I’m betting there are a lot of affluent city-dwellers that wish they had a place to escape to right about now.
For the Lake Geneva real estate market, assume this outbreak is bad. Just as it’s bad for the Chicago real estate market and the Beverly Hills real estate market. Just assume it’s bad. When SPY is sick, Geneva is, too. There’s no other way around it. If I had the ability to control the market through this difficult period, I’d wish for limited new inventory, although I admit that none would be best. I’d wish for a few buyers (I had showings last weekend and I have more scheduled for this coming weekend), but not so many that I have to run myself ragged. There will be time for that, but it’s not now. Just as nearly every business will suffer from the next few weeks or months of economic turmoil, so will mine. I think I’ll be okay, but if you see me mowing lawns this summer you’ll know that I was wrong.
Be well, stay distanced, wash your hands. If you need some real estate help, I’m here. And if things go badly and you need your lawn mowed in June, just call my cell.