April

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There’s an interesting breeze blowing in Lake Geneva today. It stormed the other day. And then it stormed again a day later. And then it stormed a bit more. Once … Read more

Aspen Lakefront Realty

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I suppose my lifelong love of Aspen started last March when I visited for Spring Break. In Aspen, we capitalize Spring Break, because it is nearly everything to us. And … Read more

556 Sauk Trail

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Entry level lakefront homes at Lake Geneva tend to have consistent attributes. The attributes we love are those perfect white piers, and that meandering shore path at the water’s edge. … Read more

Lake Geneva Top Agent

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I am very tired of telling everyone about how many houses I’ve sold. It’s nauseating, really. I have no idea where the balance is between making sure everyone knows that … Read more

Categories Uncategorized

This Winter

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I’m not sure if it’s this winter, or just winter in general, but it no longer bothers me. It’s different. It’s cold, but is it bitter? Bitterly cold, that’s what … Read more

2023

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You probably already know I struggle with oversharing on this blog once in a while. That’s why I’ve written about that time I noticed my toenails were less than they … Read more

Happy New Year

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From my family to yours, best wishes for a peaceful, healthy, prosperous new year. Any year that starts with my family healthy and ends with them healthy is a pretty … Read more

1991

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There aren’t very many things that I can do today that make me feel like I did when I was young. When I was young, I mowed lawns. Lots of … Read more

Happy Holidays

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I’d like to say Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas and also Happy New Year, but how can that fit in the title spot? And if it did fit, how would … Read more

Demands

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Demands Summer asks too much of me. It doesn’t let me be. It tells me that five o’clock is the time to start something. To go into the water or … Read more

Pier Guy

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My wife tells me I should worry less. She tells me that it doesn’t matter what the forecast says. But next Thursday is a high of 26 and a low … Read more

Pastry

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There’s this thing about the dark of winter that makes me want to do a certain thing that I know to be detrimental to both my health and my rapidly … Read more

Christmas Vacation

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I never met John Hughes. He apparently owned a condominium in Williams Bay and was a frequent breakfast patron at Daddy Maxwell’s, which should put the two of us on … Read more

Seasonality

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Many years ago I rented a condo on Siesta Key. My son was a baby and my business was seasonal, so it made good sense to spend most of the … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

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Remember when I told you I was going to write about the things I’m thankful for? I was going to work on being grateful. I was going to really, really … Read more

RIP

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Well, my least favorite buyer has died. I don’t usually write about fatalities here, because it’s morbid and in spite of my fatalistic worldview, I prefer to keep this site … Read more

Idle Hands

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If I’ve accomplished nothing else in my life, I’ve certainly succeeded in identifying the many reasons people buy Lake Geneva vacation homes. I’ve rambled about gibberish, tried incredibly hard to … Read more

Knocking

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There’s a summer wind blowing through my October window again. It shouldn’t be, but it is. And it’s not really blowing. It’s knocking. It’s pulsing. And the curtain is dancing … Read more

Villa Hortensia Sells

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One of the interesting things about cliches is that they only become cliches because they’re used very often. And one of the reasons they’re used very often is because they’re … Read more

Burr Oaks Farm Sells

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In case you couldn’t tell, this was a really special property. I was proud to represent this lovely seller and their stunning farm. Sometimes selling a property isn’t an easy … Read more

Lake Geneva Market Update

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I’m bored with this market. That’s why I haven’t been writing as much as I’d like to. Boredom. But it’s more than boredom, it’s irritation. That’s it, bored irritation. The … Read more

Lake Geneva Condo

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Does anyone want to be my neighbor? I’ve listed one of the upper two bedroom condominiums at my 323 Broad Street building, and as you can see from these photos, … Read more

Hey Jealousy

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I declared it to be the finest place I have ever visited. No, more than that. The finest property I have ever seen. The finest of everything at any time … Read more

Prolific

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On the edge of my property, well beyond where the grass turns to prairie and after the prairie turns to a forest, if you can call it that, I have … Read more

Sales Trends

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If a condo sells because a buyer wasn’t particularly well informed, does this mean every condo should be priced based on the cemented reality of that one sale? If a … Read more

Mr. Complacent

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I’m complacent. I can feel it. I still turn over every rock and sweat out every deal, that part of me will never fade. It’ll kill me, but it won’t … Read more

Where

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So where would you rather be, he said. If you didn’t have to be here, where would you live? If you had to choose a place, tell me where. There … Read more

Market Discussion

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When I talk about the mood of the market, what exactly am I talking about? What is the market? The Market. It’s a meeting of the minds. A disagreement. A … Read more

Vista Del Lago

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There can only be one front row, and at Vista Del Lago that’s building One. The rarest offering in Vista is now available with expansive lake views reaching all the … Read more

Sioux Drive

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Many a painter, poet and writer have found inspiration in small stone cottages tucked away in a quiet landscape. And for good reason, since our surroundings influence our moods and have … Read more

Birds and Feathers

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I arrived at my office this morning and read a comment from some person I don’t know who suggested I’m a “chubby bitch” with size 44 pants, which is, in … Read more

Contagion

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If you were a buyer in 2002 and you called me to look for an entry level lakefront home, we would have been able to secure private frontage between $900,000 … Read more

Burr Oaks Farm

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Calm isn’t something we come by naturally. Life is chaotic, frenzied, complicated. It’s a whirlwind of harried navigation between the things that must be done and the things we’d like … Read more

These Days

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I spend most of my time wondering how Jackson Browne could write this song when he was just 16 years old. I remember being 16 years old. I had a … Read more

Lake Geneva Market Update

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It’s summer 2022 and the lakefront market at Lake Geneva is behaving itself. New inventory is hard to find and existing inventory has been picked over. So what’s next?

Gross

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One of the things I most dislike about real estate mania is the mania part. I want real estate to make sense. I want pricing to make sense. I want … Read more

Seller’s Remorse

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I contend that it would be impossible to sell a home that you loved without experiencing a considerable degree of seller’s remorse. Why wouldn’t you feel this way? How could … Read more

Categories Uncategorized
Lake Geneva Real Estate Market Update

Lake Geneva Fireworks

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If this blog was about my neighbors, and I was tasked with telling you when their firework celebrations were to occur, I would fail miserably. There are myriad reasons why … Read more

Ban

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I think everyone knows how I feel about pontoon boats. In case you don’t know, I hate them. That’s not to say that I don’t understand them, it’s just that … Read more

Pier 290

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I’m grateful for the dull things in life. For the way I feel when I go to the hardware store and buy two furnace filters and a small pack of … Read more

Tops

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I’m well aware that people grow tired of having me talk about sales volume. It’s tedious and annoying, I agree. I think that maybe I’ll stop talking about it, but … Read more

Tell

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If a house is listed for sale and then, a short while later, the price is dramatically reduced, what does that tell you? I view this as an admission of … Read more

Dissent

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I’ve been bothered by a comment that was made on this site recently, and I feel the need to discuss it further. The comment implied that my job as an … Read more

Rain

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It rained again yesterday. It would have come as a surprise to me, but it rained a bit two days before that as well. And last weekend we had some … Read more

Benches

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I’ve spent much of the last twenty years working on a theory that suggests the only people who sit on park benches are old men. I was driving a month … Read more

Lake Geneva For Sale

Gratitude

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I’m not one of those people who have trouble saying thank you. I say it all of the time. I say it when someone refills my water at a restaurant, … Read more

The Wall Street Journal

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Imagine writing an article on the 1982 baseball season with a specific focus on stolen bases and not interviewing Ricky Henderson. That’s what the freelancers at the Wall Street Journal … Read more

World Wide Web

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In 1995 I owned a Saab 900. It was gunmetal gray, but it wasn’t a Turbo, so I operated as though those two conditions canceled each other out. I owned … Read more

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Finally

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I feel better now. I was on the verge of breaking, but in true Midwest fashion I powered through the difficult days knowing that there were better days around the … Read more

Pricing Strategy

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One of the great debates in the business of real estate revolves around pricing strategy. Some agents want listings so bad they’ll price a listing wherever the seller wishes to … Read more

April

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When I was in high school, a friend of mine had a girlfriend named April. She had curly hair and tanned skin and braces, I think. She went to another … Read more

Short The Market

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There are many reasons that I’m worse at my job than I otherwise could be. One reason is that I really don’t like working on the weekends. It’s a pretty … Read more

My Friend Eric

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I have a friend named Eric that you probably don’t know. I met Eric when we were both in the sixth grade attending a small church in Williams Bay. We … Read more

Categories Uncategorized

Crypto

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We’re happy to announce that We Are Now Accepting Bitcoin For Payment, the sign read. We also accept Ethereum and Dogecoin and ADA and Shibu. In fact, we accept every … Read more

Herbs

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Herbs The gas station in our town is called Herb’s. I should say, it was called Herb’s. It might have been called something else even when I thought it was … Read more

The Cottage

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The first time I ever saw the cottage I don’t think I noticed it. I drove by it and kept driving, oblivious to the obsession that would soon find me. … Read more

Something Else

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There’s something wrong with you, she said. I know, I said.  The Johnson deal is in trouble.  Not because it should be, but because it just is. The deal is … Read more

The Rink

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In the winter the town would flood the gravel parking lot to give the locals a place to ice skate.  Sure the lake was full of ice, but this rink … Read more

Bridges

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I was down at that bridge again. It was dark and it was rainy and that’s why I was there. Young couples put on their prom best and stand on … Read more

Whataboutisms

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The frothy whip of the real estate market has improved the lives and wellbeing of many, and in that list of many I include my own life and the lives … Read more

Low Grade

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What if some houses are actually terrible? What if certain houses were built by people who shouldn’t have been allowed to pick any tile, flooring, cabinets, light fixtures, paint colors, … Read more