It seems to me that the Friday that arrives 48 days from this Good Friday isn’t as important to others as it is to me. There’s no doubt that someone, somewhere, has been watching that ticking clock and ignoring it thoroughly and completely. 48 days. That isn’t a particularly high number of days, and it’s absolutely a lot fewer days today than it was on a cold day last early winter when I stuck that widget over in that corner box. I did it to remind those unmotivated summer haters that participation in this upcoming summer has a start and it has an end (as you’ll see with another countdown that begins in 49 days). While many are intent on ignoring my benevolent warning, some have acted during their spring in order to fully seize their summer.
Recently, a cheap little house in Country Club Estates went under contract. And then another economical vacation home on Sybil Lane. And now there are two homes pending in Cedar Point Park, both priced in the $600s. I have several offers in varying states of acceptance (and denial), and will ultimately contribute some volume to this growing spring collection. I will be happy with those additions, but I would be supremely happier if they were sales of the lakefront variety.
Earlier this week, a lakefront listing in Glenwood Springs closed, finally, and mercifully. This property had been on the market for long time- 422 days to be exact. But it felt like much longer, as if this property had been an inventory fixture for many years. The home was owned by a Lake Geneva loving family who relocated to a new, bigger, fantastical home on the other side of Fontana. This home, the pretty older one on the opposite shore, sold this week for $1.5MM. The sale was good for the market and good for the seller, as I would have pegged the value at less than this ultimate sales price. But that’s just me.
The sale here is a nice sign for the entry level lakefront market, as it has been struggling of late. There are values in several locations if the buyer aims to spend the absolute minimum for private frontage. I have the best Fontana lakefront in this segment, priced at $1.599MM it’s on Sauk Trail, just two doors down from a home listed at $4.199MM. Across the street from my listing there is construction, next door there has been improvement, and my listing might be the last domino to fall in this seemingly frantic Lake Geneva style gentrification process.
There are other values as well, including two side by side homes in Williams Bay on Oak Birch. These two homes need to sell. They will sell. And when I see them sell I will either have one of two reactions. I will either be pleased for the buyer that I represented, or ashamed if the buyer wasn’t working with me. Beyond that it will be interesting to see what prices these two homes ultimately trade at. I’m betting they will sell at the very low end of expectations, but that too depends on the agent that the buyers work with. I know I can find value there in the final sales price, but I also know that not every agent will be able to find that bottom number. It’s a burden knowing there is opportunity there and yet being unable to convince a buyer of the obvious.
I’m seeing an increase in listing appointments of late, which means our inventory will likely continue as we move from April into May. This increase will allow unmotivated buyers one last chance to secure their own piece of Lake Geneva. It’s less than the piece of the pie, after all, it’s more about getting your ticket punched to the most important Lake Geneva summer of our lives. The one that starts on the Friday that falls 48 days from this good one.
Please mail me $2.29MM to my office and I’ll send you the deed for 6 Bayview. Then you’ll be able to enjoy that view up there every day.