Rivers are sort of gross. Trout streams are cool. Western rivers that flow off of mountains and through low grassy valleys are too. But most rivers just flow with the things that the town upstream no longer needed. Rivers, generally speaking are gross. We have no rivers here to debate, but we do have river views. A river view is just as it sounds- it is a view from one side of the river and over the river and onto the other. These are generally unexciting. There is land and then some water and then more land. There is no intrigue. Your eye is not drawn upstream nor downstream, it is just drawn across the water and onto that opposite shore. River views, like rivers, and the entirety of Michigan, are invariably boring.
There are river views that exist on Geneva Lake. Primarily these views are found in the narrows, where the lake, um, narrows. To either side of the immediate narrows is fine, as those views tend to cast West or East and not straight across like from a river bank to river bank. Several homes on the market today own such river views. These are unfortunate to possess. Better is a view with some enticing angle, some ability to see far in one direction to where the water grows, to where it is wide or to where it is long. The South Shore Club has such views, looking northward into Williams Bay at such an angle that the impressive size of Geneva Lake is unavoidable.
Courtesy of my newest lakefront listing, I offer you another incredible view. This time from the bluff of Snake Road, just off of a winding path that twists and turns through deep woods before opening onto the property that you see above, and below. N2224 Bonnie Brae is offered to you today, here on this blog, before anyone else knows about it. Priced at $3.295MM it is a direct competitor to the glut of bad homes that mostly exist on the market today priced from $3MM to $5MM. Some of these other homes are fine. Some are quite pretty. But only some of them own these distinctions. Many share borders with associations, or have limited depth, where a wide lakefront lot is nipped short by a public road. Others are priced as land, with a home that carries no real value and is such not truly a home in the $3MM range but a project in the $6MM range. And if we’re spending $6MM we have many better options. This home has none of those shortfalls. You’re welcome.
The home, built in the early 2000s by a well respected local builder appears to be in new condition even today, some ten years after it was first occupied. Being that it is effectively new construction, the scale is proper. The rooms are large and purposed, the finishes high enough. The kitchen fits my expectations, outfitted with Viking and the like and a massive, entertainment friendly configuration. That kitchen opens to a family room anchored on the western wall by a fireplace- one of four fireplaces here. A grand staircase leads from the center of the first floor to both upper and lower levels. Up you’ll find a cavernous master bedroom with appropriate suite on one end, and three bedrooms with two baths on the other. There is space to spare.
The lower level is as it should be: large and finished and ready for lakeside fun. The owner added a serious bar to one side of the lower level, and the other end makes for a perfect pool room or theater space, or likely both. Over the garage, accessible from a private staircase, there are two more rooms, both used as bedrooms, both appearing capable of sleeping a dozen or more family and friends who will have no motivation to ever leave. There’s a bath over on this side too.
But I’m describing the house- the cedar sided home with true divided light windows and a handsome cedar shake roof- and I’m skipping the most important of details. The views here are sweeping. They are inspiring. There are views south towards the narrows, but mostly views to the east, where the sun will rise and with it your hopes for another summer day spent lakeside. While the home itself is elevated, the frontage once at the water is level, with a perfect and rare sand beach stretching all 110′ of your frontage. A pier with two capable slips was boatless yesterday, which made me sad. Beyond the finishes and the square footage and the views that teeter on the ridiculous, and the beach with the great big pier, there is depth here too, one acre of it. The three car garage has an ample driveway leading to it off of the private Bonnie Brae Lane. Our landscape here is mature and varied, with flowering trees in full bloom at this very moment.
This new offering (which will be active in the MLS later today) fills a glaring void in the current lakefront inventory. If you’re looking to buy in the $3MM range and you have an expectation of buying a beautiful large home in impeccable condition, you’d be surprised at how few your options truly are. I’ll be showing this home this coming weekend, should you wish to email me and come see it for yourself. I expect it to sell, and to sell mostly sooner rather than later. As a fun side note, this listing is now my seventh active lakefront on Geneva (including the SSC). When scanning the market, I now have more lakefront inventory (single family) than any other agent in the market. Writing that actually stroked my pride and at once depressed me. I have a lot of work to do. I must get to it.