Observations
There’s a pier and some chairs. Four nice ones that are sturdy, if faded, and four cheap ones. The sturdy ones welcome your weight, the flimsy ones bow and flex … Read more
Lake Geneva
Creekside Sells
Creekside was a nice house. A really nice house. It had a swimming pool and a boat slip and a beautiful lot and a sexy design. It was brand new. … Read more
Lake Geneva July Market Update
The summer is doing to me what summers often do to me. It’s making me rushed. The summer is rushed, and I am rushed. RUSHED, the word on my tombstone. … Read more
Summer Is Over
My life is a life in fast forward. It’s not that I intend for it to be so, it just is so. I have tried to slow it down. To … Read more
Dartmouth Woods
Tucked in a lakefront cove in beautiful 11 acre Dartmouth Woods, this home with timeless character and sophisticated modern updates will steal your heart. Lake views so immersive you feel … Read more
The Dull One
Once in a while I have a customer who decides, against my better judgment, that he or she might be better off not buying a vacation home and that, instead, … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
I haven’t been writing too many market updates this year, as you’ve likely noticed. The reason isn’t because I don’t have anything to say. It’s because the market hasn’t yet … Read more
389 N Lakeshore Sells
Every once in a while, a transaction combines an amazing property with an amazing seller and an amazing buyer. It’s a rare trifecta in the real estate world, which isn’t … Read more
2025 Lakefront Market Data
My competitors can be forgiven for their market statistic anomalies. For starters, using the South Shore Club comps alongside private frontage comps is not an accurate market measure. The same … Read more
Lake Geneva Open Houses
It’s an open house weekend at the lake, and you should come up for a tour of two pretty terrific listings. From 1-3 pm Saturday N2017 S Lakeshore, Lake Geneva … Read more
Lake Geneva Luxury Market Review
You might remember this house from 2024 when I sold it. It was a nice house then, as it was in the fall of 2025, when I sold it again, … Read more
Lake Geneva 2026
Happy New Year from Lake Geneva. I trust you had a nice Holiday season, and if you’re anything like me, you’re already over winter and ready for spring. 2025 was … Read more
Bonnie Brae Sells
One of my recent lakefront sales tells an interesting story about the progression of the Lake Geneva lakefront market. It’s easy to look at the market today and assume it’s … Read more
8 Hillside Sells
The lakefront market has been on quite a run of late. You know this. I know this. The Chicago media knows this. The run appears to have come out of … Read more
South Shore Club Sells
Around 2012 I was hired by the developers to take over the marketing of the South Shore Club. The prior attempts were fine, but my angle was different. It seemed … Read more
South Lakeshore For Sale
Here’s perhaps the most seldom available type of property on Geneva Lake: A brand new home. This stylish lake house boasts luxury finishes and wide open spaces on 160′ of … Read more
Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update
The lens through which I view the business of real estate and the economy as a whole is heavily influenced by a variety of smart people with whom I speak … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
Well, the market has spoken. I’m Hot. That’s what it said. It said it doesn’t care about things it used to care about as long ago as May. It said … Read more
Lake Geneva Lakefront Inventory
Well, we’re about to engage in a rather interesting experiment. I’m engaging in it more than you are, but we’re all involved. Sort of. If you’ve paid attention to the … Read more
Open House King
Two open houses this weekend, both on Creekside Lane. Noon to 2 pm, Saturday, August 2nd. Stop over and buy one of them, or both of them. There will not … Read more
Academy Estates For Sale
At the end of a long private driveway is where you’ll find this beautifully maintained lake house. Immense privacy (lot size 1.4 acres) combines with a deep water boat slip … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
I don’t have any lakefront deals pending this morning. I say that because over the past 15 years, there haven’t been very many days when that statement was true. Oh … Read more
Memorial Day Weekend
It’s a tradition unlike any other: An Upper Midwest Memorial Day Weekend carried out amidst the hindering malaise that is cold, rainy, cloudy, and otherwise unpleasant weather. Add in the … Read more
Geneva National For Sale
Take a look at this magnificent estate on the Trevino Course in Geneva National. Lowell built this home to his exacting standard, but a recent renovation with interior design by … Read more
South Lakeshore Drive Sells
Earlier this month I closed on the house behind Casa Del Sueno for $3.175M. That house with a private shared pier and pool was a rare offering at the lake, … Read more
April Lake Geneva Market Update
If you had to pick the worst month of the year, please list the reasons why it is, without any doubt, the month of April. It’s dark and it’s cold, … Read more
Sidney Smith Sells
I remember well the days I felt as though I had discovered a unique arbitrage in the lakefront market. The play way back then was to buy a lot for … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
On one hand, I know that market corrections are common. I know that they’re necessary. I know that the money that evaporates isn’t really evaporated unless I sell. I know … Read more
Lake Geneva Real Estate Market Update
Let’s pretend we’re in the business of selling used cars. In order for this pretend situation to barely hold up to my intended comparison, we’ll need to assume the used … Read more
2024 Lake Geneva Lakefront Condo Market Review
Once upon a time in Lake Geneva, I had a call from an owner in Vista Del Lago. This was around the time when I was selling lakefront condominiums at … Read more
Lake Geneva Lakefront 2024 Market Review
The equity market rally from 2023 and a slow decline in long term interest rates should set up 2024 to be another solid year for the lakefront market here. Buyer … Read more
Winterizing Your Lake House
Ah, but I’ve already tricked you. Because the headline, for 99.85% of those reading this, doesn’t apply. There were olden times where we’d use our lake houses in the summer … Read more
George Williams College X Topography
In the winter of 1996, during my senior year of high school, I stole a prop sign off of the George Williams College campus during the filming of the Keanu … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
I take no pleasure in the storms that have battered Florida. Not for the storms from the years before this year, not for the storms this year, and certainly not … Read more
8 North Lake Shore Sells
Sometimes, sellers sell and move away. They had their fill and then they push away from the scene and slink into the night. Enough, they say. They move to the … Read more
Lake Geneva Representation
Let’s think about the way a typical buyer or seller finds their agent. Someone knows someone who knows someone they should call. This referral might be based on some sort … 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
8 North Lake Shore Drive
In the olden days it was decided that a home on the lake might as well have an address that was their pier number and a Lake Shore Drive that … Read more
Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update
I’m tired of the rain. It’s been sunny and then it’s been rainy and once it’s a little sunny it’s immediately a lot rainy. The rain is necessary, I suppose. … Read more
Lake Geneva Inventory Study
In the spring and early summer of 2023, the lakefront market introduced a meaningful supply of new inventory priced between $3.2M and $7M. Historically that price range would not operate … 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
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
Lake Geneva Odds and Ends
Have you ever noticed how many walking trails and parks there are in the Lake Geneva area? I haven’t really, but I know it’s a lot. There’s one big walking … 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
Risk On
Risk is inherent in life, but it’s often ignored in residential real estate transactions. It shouldn’t be.
Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update
I should, at this date in summer, be doing little but plodding through my work days and enjoying what I know to be a very short summer. I should work … Read more
Close the Lake Geneva Boat Launch
Want to know what Lake Geneva should be in the future? Look to its past, because it already told you what it is.
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
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 YTD Performance
When you’re part of an industry that puts significant focus on calendar year performance, you tend to look up in late October and realize you’ve run out of time. In … Read more
Vista Del Lago Sells
After a market downturn occurs, we must set our aim towards the goal of complete and thorough recovery. If that goal is to return a specific market segment to full … 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
Bonnie Brae Boathouse
For each of us, there is something unique in our story, some important event in our past, or in the past of our parents, or our grandparents, or our great … 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
Basswood Lake Geneva
A Wednesday reminder that my listing at W4396 Basswood Drive is still available. I just reduced the price of this home to $8,495,000, and it’s now offered at an extreme … 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 Market Update
If you’ve noticed that I haven’t written as much about individual market segments of late, you’re perceptive. I haven’t. It isn’t that I haven’t had thoughts, or that the market … Read more
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
South Shore Bar Fish Fry Review
I was born in Elkhorn. Raised in Williams Bay. Then I lived in Linn Township, Geneva Township, Delavan Township, Fontana, and now Walworth Township. I am the embodiment of local. … Read more
Geneva National Vs. The World
If you think the vacation home market at the lake is active, you should check out the market for sub-$350k single family and condominium residences that lack lake access. That … 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
Lake Geneva Yacht Club Fish Fry Review
Sometimes, dive bars aren’t where it’s at. They’re fun, the irony of it all, of the dated this and the out of style that. But once in a while you … Read more
Hillcroft Lake Geneva Sale
It’s fun to see the media make a fuss about a sale on Geneva Lake. First up, please know that the media itself doesn’t pay such close attention to … Read more
Popeye’s Fish Fry Review
I called ahead. It was 5:50 pm and I figured I’d arrive at Popeye’s with my party of six sometime just after 6. I learned many weeks ago not to … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
It feels like it wasn’t so long ago that I wished for more snow. For more cold. For more winter. Shortly after wishing, all of that came true. Briefly. Since … Read more
New Geneva Lakefront Listing
It is no secret that the South Shore Club is an exclusive development. Anything numbering just 40 in total would be viewed as exclusive. While this is known, what isn’t … Read more
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
2017 Market Reviews
One year ago, I wrote my year end market reviews and worried about 2017 inventory. 2016 had been a terrific year, but without inventory there was no way that 2017 … Read more
South Shore Club Sells
In the South Shore Club, there are 40 total lots. Most are built on, a few are not. At present, there is one new construction underway. To date, there had … 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
Stone Manor Saga
In the news this week, more of the continuing saga surrounding Stone Manor. I suppose most of this story is my fault, so I should take some time to explain … 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
Lake Geneva Market Update
When times were particularly bad and getting worse, I hatched a particular theory. The theory supposed that in spite of the various factors that we know prod consumers to buy … Read more
Lake Geneva Agent Representation
We know lots of things. We know that if we don’t cut our grass once a week it will grow too tall and too thick, and when we cut it … Read more
Fall At The Lake
Of the things we know to expect during an autumn here, 95 degree sunshine is not among them. The heat is rare, but in a summer devoid of any lasting … Read more