Ah, the unique, uncaged animal that is the upper bracket of real estate. Upper Bracket varies in definition, but it’s easy to assume that it means the top of the top, and not in the way that agents can proclaim themselves Top, rather in the way that we all know the Top to be defined- statistically, not proclamatory. Unless you’re inside the friendly environs of Manhattan or whatever neighborhood in London has the most heiress buyers, or whichever street in Beverly Hills is the hottest one (it’s whichever street you’re standing on with a shiny-shoe wearing agent), the Upper Bracket is generally a market that faces tall odds, stacked high and deep against whatever property achieves that rarefied status. Upper Bracket, it’s nice there, but getting there isn’t easy.
Lake Geneva’s Upper Bracket, no longer capitalized after this sentence, is a strange concoction. On one hand, you have loads and loads of these properties, iconic houses owned by iconic families, the sorts that suggest Polo is their favorite sport without their voice belying even a slight hint of irony. These are the properties we see from the water, the properties we walk across on our shore path, the properties the tour guides tell you about. These are properties we love to have, but they are rarely properties that trade. Why don’t they trade? Mostly because their owners are content in their domain, happy to be the steward of a championship property. But it’s also because the market doesn’t produce many buyers that are willing or capable of biting off a purchase price that would have to accompany such a marquee property. It isn’t that buyers don’t have the funds to buy someone else’s trophy, it’s just Geneva has shown a complete and thorough trend that says buyers of this strata want to create their own something.
It’s that upper bracket desire to build a legacy rather than buy one that has fueled the most recent high sale in our market. 88 North Lakeshore Drive, known as such because of the pier number and the location of that pier, closed on Friday. I was pleased to work with this buyer, and when a few months of dust settled the sales price of $5.195MM was printed for 234 feet of impressive frontage and 5.2 acres of level, wooded land. Sure, there were buildings on this parcel, a very serviceable house, a lovely in ground pool, a guest house, a storage barn, etc and etc, but these items had little to do with the motivation of the buyer, and even less to do with the value of the property. $22k per front foot is a market number that we can all be pleased with, but $22k per foot for 234′ of the most beautiful frontage to come to market in quite some time? That’s something worth celebrating.
To understand the sale, we must first understand the competing inventory. It might be a fun game for most of us to play, to consider what property we’d buy if we had the ability to do so. Would you buy the Castle Grayskull on the North Shore of Pebble Point for $11MM or so? Or would you consider the European Elegance of the Black Point estate for $12MM. Perhaps the dazzling importance of the Basswood estate for $11.5MM is more to your liking. Or, if you’re like the pier 88 buyer, you’d choose none of the above, because what point would it serve to buy someone else’s creation when you could simply buy the ingredients to create your own? The truth is, excepting my listing at 1014 South Lakeshore Drive, there isn’t another marquee property that’s on the market that could compete with brand spanking new construction. While the property on the hill on the North Shore of Fontana is nice indeed, 110′ of frontage doesn’t qualify for estate status.
So with that, this: Look for an exciting new build sometime in the next few years at pier 88. The new owner suffers from no deficiency of style, and it’s a guarantee that whatever is built there will become one of the most beautiful homes on this most beautiful lake. For me, I now feel satisfied to have sold two of the last three homes on Geneva to close over $5MM. I also feel much appreciation towards this buyer who has demonstrated loyalty and friendship that I will not soon forget.