Well, it’s the middle of June, and the same pattern continues at the Lake. Buyers are buying, just not in the numbers that we’d like to see them buying in. The thing that is true however, is that buyers are generally paying within 5% of asking price. Just this week a property on Tarrant in Country Club Estates closed for $382k. List price? $385K. A listing on Oak Birch in Williams Bay sold (that I should have listed) for $2.85MM, asking price? $2.95MM. A whopping 3.5% off asking price. See people, property is selling well up here. Volume is down, but prices aren’t. What does that mean?
It means that buyers are afraid to buy, but when they do buy, they’re paying market prices. The buyers that aren’t buying for myriad reasons, aren’t basing their decision not to buy on sound reasoning. If prices were dropping, then by all means, don’t buy! Don’t go to Detroit right now and buy the most expensive home on the block. Probably a bad idea. But to wait to buy a property that is appreciating, albeit slowly, why do it? Why wait? Wait for your kids to get another year older, for yourself to get another year older? For your grandkids to lose a summer that could have been spent splashing in the water and eating popsicles in your lakeside porch? My parents live on the lake, and I see first hand how much fun lakefront and lake access living can be. My children are 5 and 2, and all they want to do is go to grandma and grandpa’s house. For crying out loud my dad owns the whole lake according to my kids! They don’t sit and play video games or watch cartoons, instead they hunt for worms and frogs down by the water, and they jump off the pier into my waiting arms. My son Thomas is 5, and he boldly performs a front flip off the pier with ease. I’m 30, and still afraid of the front flip! Truth is, my kids love the lake, and I’ll bet my parents love being the ones that get to provide them access to the lake more than just about anything.
So get up here and let’s go find you a lake house. Prices are stable, activity is strong. Don’t miss another summer when summer 2008 is still at your finger tips. See you at the lake!