Once, I was in trouble with a seller. The seller was upset, but not upset like a seller gets when I leave a light on. Which, by the way, I tend to do. It’s like a puzzle, a prize, a riddle, each time different but always the same. A light, left on, somewhere. But this seller was more angry than that, seriously angry, and not because I had left a light on or eaten a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup out of the pantry, which, of course, I never, ever, do. This time the seller was angry because I listed her home in the MLS under “Linn Township”. She said her home was in Lake Geneva, that no one looks for a home in Linn Township. That Lake Geneva is everything and Linn Township is nothing. Where is Linn Township? No one knows. She was upset.
This is not entirely uncommon, and if you’re a buyer I’m guessing you’ve possibly struggled with this distinction. The City of Lake Geneva is one municipality. The Town of Linn is another. Where the confusion comes in is the mailing address for Linn Township homes is Lake Geneva, WI. So, my confused seller from the example above was indeed correct, that her property had a Lake Geneva address, but it physically wasn’t in the City of Lake Geneva. Making matters worse, the Town of Geneva (think Lake Como, Geneva National, etc) also has a Lake Geneva mailing address but isn’t at all the City of Lake Geneva. Of course none of this matters if Neumann was right and zip codes are meaningless.
Linn Township, whether confused for the City of Lake Geneva or not, is, without any doubt, the biggest player in our Lake Geneva lake access vacation home market. Linn has loads and loads of lake access communities, in fact, far more than all of the other lakefront municipalities combined. I attempted a quick mental count and grew quickly tired by the time I had worked my way from Lake Geneva to Williams Bay, adding up 10 associations in that stretch alone. That brings up another item of geographical housekeeping: Linn Township is that area on the lake that extends on the North Shore between the City of Lake Geneva and the Village of Williams Bay. It’s also the area on the South Shore that runs from Fontana on the West all the way back to the City of Lake Geneva on the East. It’s a large municipality, hosting a few dozen lake access associations, some big and others very, very small.
Today, just 16 off-water lake access homes are available in Linn Township. That’s a tragically low number, but it’s actually more inventory than most of the other municipalities have, relative to their 2016 sales. Last year, 12 lake access homes sold in Linn Township, priced from $69k for a cottage in Knollwood (please do not ask me to find you a $69k cottage in Knollwood, because the one that existed just sold), all the way up to an off-water estate in Loramoor that I sold for $1.625MM.
Maple Hills had a sale in the $200s, but before I tell you more, I will tell you that I’m not a huge fan of Maple Hills purely because it doesn’t feel like a lake access community. The location, approximately three million miles from the lake, makes it feel more like a subdivision in the woods than a subdivision near the lake, and for that reason, I’m not all that interested. There was a sale in the Lake Geneva Beach Association at $360k, and there were sales in Wooddale (3), the Lake Geneva Highlands (2), Sunset Hills, Forest Rest, and Knollwood (2). These are the sales, but 2016 was more notable for what didn’t sell, rather than for what did.
Per the MLS, there wasn’t a single closing in Shore Haven, Lake Geneva Club, Oak Shores, or Sybil Lane. Nothing sold on Aspen Lane, nothing on Black Point, nothing in Glen Fern, nothing in Hollybush, nothing on Hunt Club Lane, nothing in Valley Park, nothing in the Lindens, nothing in Alta Vista, nothing here and nothing there. It was a year of limited inventory, and because of that, the sales totals were anemic. But beyond the lack of inventory pushing the overall number number, there were some notable offerings that didn’t transact. I discussed this at length in my year end review of the lake access market, but as a quick reminder, the market tested that $1.1-1.4MM price range for off-water, older homes that required significant updating and the market responded with a muffled, unenthusiastic, meh.
I don’t think the lake access inventory is going to stay limited for too long, but the lack of available inventory in each segment is causing a bit of gridlock for sellers that would-be move up buyers. If you own a nice $600k cottage with a slip and you’re looking to upgrade to an entry level lakefront for $1.4MM, that’s really nice. But if you’re that seller who would be a buyer, you need something to buy. If you can’t find something to buy, then you’re not going to have something to sell, and if you’re not a seller then what am I doing here? This is the problem today, as each market needs a carrot waiting for it in the next market higher, and without that incentive to upgrade the market stalls. That’s what it feels like right now.
Linn Township is a wonderful municipality in which to own your lake house. The taxes are low, and without adjacent city-centers, the roads feel more rural, more quaint. All of Linn Township functions on private well and septic (or holding tank), so that’s something to be aware of but it isn’t something to fear. I live in a home serviced by private well and septic and I’m almost entirely normal. If you’re looking for a lake access home in Linn Township and your target association doesn’t have any open inventory today, please reach out to me and let me know what you’re looking for. I’ll go find it for you.