Endings

There is some question as to where the practice of providing those condemned to death a “last meal”. Some say it started with the Roman Gladiators. Others claim it began … Read more

Aloha Lodge Sells

I’m pretty happy to report my latest lakefront sale. This one is of yet another iconic property, making it the latest in a long line of iconic lakefront properties that … Read more

The Work

It’s the middle of May now and in five months it’ll be the middle of October. The bright green lawns of May will be replaced by the dull lawns of … Read more

Lake Geneva Commissions

Well, that just about does it. The National Association of Realtors settled the BOMBSHELL commission lawsuit last Friday and now everything has changed. Six Percent Commissions Are Toast, some of … Read more

Summer Regret

A man called me last spring about this time. He had spent his childhood here and now that he was growing quite old he felt an oddly powerful desire to … Read more

Categories Uncategorized

Sometimes

Sometimes spring arrives in February. The ice breaks and the wind blows and the snow melts and the grass greens and the street sweepers sweep to rid the roadways of … Read more

George Williams College

By now you’ve read the articles in Crain’s and the Tribune, so I don’t need to tell you that Aurora University has found a buyer for their cherished George Williams … Read more

Burr Oaks Farm Sells

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 Condo

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

Lake Geneva For Sale

Gratitude

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

Risk On

Risk is inherent in life, but it’s often ignored in residential real estate transactions. It shouldn’t be.

Orchard Lane

There’s a thing about houses that the market, as a whole, often forgets. In the pursuit of function over form, the market hastily changes the classic lake homes of Lake … Read more

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, here we are. On the cusp. Don’t forget, this isn’t it. This is the cusp. This isn’t summer. This is a dress rehearsal. This is the weekend where you … Read more

Market Cycles

Real estate isn’t really that hard. Buyers buy when they’re confident and they sell when they’re fearful. Nothing else really matters.

Countdown

The market knows what comes next. In case you forgot, summer is what’s next. And it starts in nine weeks, ready or not.

2019 State Of The Market

Managing Directors, Those Bored and Successful, My Wife and Children, My Mother Who Reads These Posts, and my Fellow Lake Geneva Admirers: We meet electronically this morning at a moment … Read more

Categories Uncategorized

Lake Geneva Winter

I think it’s cute that the city of Lake Geneva is installing an ice rink this winter. The ice rink will complement the ice castles that are currently being built … Read more

Lake Geneva Video

It’s been three years since I had my homepage video filmed. That was a terrific video, if I do say so myself. But this last week’s weather was so perfect … Read more

Lake Geneva Realtors

There’s nothing that makes me hate my chosen profession more than leafing through a local glossy magazine. There are lots of glossies here, most notably that Summer Homes For City … Read more

Not The Same

I don’t really know exactly how Hamburger Helper works. I assume it’s just a powder mix, with some starch to bind and some salt to flavor. Maybe a dash of … Read more

Lake Geneva Real Estate Market Update

Summery

My calendar said spring turned to summer last week. The first day of summer, it said, capitalized with an exclamation point. The hardware stores had an ad in the paper, … Read more

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Municipal Musings

Last weekend, it was hot. You know that. I know that. It was super hot. Smoking hot. Summer hot. If you were here, then you were less hot than the … Read more

Along The Way

I love my kids. I really do. Of the few things in this life of which I’m certain, that condition is firmly assured. But I can’t stand driving anywhere with … Read more

Glenwood Springs Fontana

2018 State Of The Market

(Lake Geneva lovers to the left of the podium, smiling and clapping, standing. Michigan lovers to the right of my podium, scowling, sitting, glaring. Me, walking, shaking, waving. My hair … Read more

New Lakefront Listing Geneva Lake

Tax Time

If you’re lucky enough to be a Lake Geneva vacation home owner, then you’re unlucky enough to be unwrapping Walworth County’s most untimely gift: Your property tax bill.  When I’m … Read more

Bluff Lane

Buyers have a unique tendency to focus on one or two aspects of a purchase, and in doing so, convince themselves to proceed with the transaction. This is true of … Read more

Thanksgiving

Halloween is a stupid, fake holiday. There, I said it. It’s absolutely the worst fake holiday there is. I’ll take Sweetest Day over it, and I don’t even know when … Read more

The Fall Of It All

I already know the sort of fall you like. I know the sort of fall everyone likes. It’s the fall we had last Saturday. Sunshine, 70 degrees, bright leaves and … Read more

Construction Sadness

I’ve decided, in the wake of the Cubs miserable, awful, embarrassing performance this week, to make every post a sad one. Monday, Multiple Offer Sadness. Today, Construction Sadness. Friday, likely, … Read more

Sell The Lake Geneva Riviera

In a recent Lake Geneva Regional News article, City of Lake Geneva Alderman John Halverson, when discussing the state of the Lake Geneva Riviera and a desired multi-million dollar referendum … Read more

Summer Night

There is some thought, rampant among those who cannot yet know, that a night is a night is a night. The night it dark here, just like there, in fact … Read more

Colors

By now, we all know that things haven’t been going our way. We started out with that winter, so intent on enjoying it and skiing it and sledding it, scraping … Read more

Peace

In the stillness of an anywhere field, there’s a stream that babbles and weaves and spills. The stream is loud.  There are birds both quiet and noisy, some fiddling about … Read more

Lake Geneva Real Estate

March

There’s a thing about March. It is, without any question, the worst month of the year. If you disagree, that’s fine, but I know deep down inside that I’m right. … Read more

Ski Towns

When you grow up in the Midwest, you are taught certain things. You are taught that the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings or the Detroit Lions … Read more

700 South Lakeshore

There are homes that you know. Stone Manor. You know this place. You know the Driehaus property and the Wrigley cottages. You know where the Pritzker’s live at their Casa. … Read more

Manhattan

I generally agree with the concept that what happens on the coasts will someday find its way to Lake Geneva. This is the case with both good and bad. New … Read more

Lakewood Estates

I was the first broker to try my hand at selling the new Harbor Watch condominiums on downtown Lake Geneva’s waterfront.  I believe the year was 2002, because I was … Read more

Deadlines

I think about the days when I won’t write on this blog. I think about how admitting that is to somehow run afoul of the unwritten rules of a real … Read more

Lake Geneva Real Estate

Spring

The trees in my front yard are budding. The trees in my back yard are budding. The trees at my office are budding. I’d be willing to bet most of … Read more

Collect Things

At this age, I have developed many bad habits.  I shamefully subscribe to the theory of food discovery that dictates I eat one piece of pizza to find out if … Read more

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Gray Sky Rising

It’s gray again. It was gray yesterday, too. The same gray as this gray. There is no different variety of gray now. The only change comes later, when the gray … Read more

Pikewood Estate

My grandmother was not necessarily a memorable fashionista. The was too old by the time I was old enough to recognize style, and by then I recognized that she veered … Read more

Weekend Boredom

Sadly, I hear the same things over and over again. This is this life. Why can’t you sell my house, why can’t you find me a house, why can’t you … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

Even when it seems to me that there are lots of cars here, there aren’t really lots of cars. They meander past heading to one direction or from the other, … Read more