Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva Commissions

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 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

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

Risk On

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

Orchard Lane

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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(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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Remodeling Lake Geneva

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I blame HGTV for most of the design abnormalities that I see on a day to day basis. On television, under the direction of some handsome psuedo-contractor, purple walls and … Read more

Road Work

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The signs made it known in July that the men would come to work on the road in August.  There was a sign taped to the door of this office, and one … Read more

November Again

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We all engage in it. A very common mistake. It’s not a mistake like it would be to pay someone to tattoo barbed wire around our biceps, but it’s a … Read more

Oh Henry

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I can’t quite read the name of the boat. ENRY is all I can see, the rest blocked by the odd inboard/outboard engine protruding from the stern. Maybe it’s HENRY, … Read more

Lake Geneva Data

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It bothers me that I so fondly look back at years that have only recently passed. When the market was scary and difficult, I enjoyed leafing through the local Realtor’s … Read more

This October

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How I love the summer. The distinct scenery that is uniquely this place, the bright blues and deep greens, the white topped waves falling into our white, wooden piers. The … Read more

Basswood Sells

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I’m really bad at selling homes I don’t like. I show homes I don’t like, and then I think, I don’t like this house. I have to play along as … Read more

Jackets and Coats

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I own many coats. I don’t tell you this by way of bragging. I’m not especially proud that I own so many coats, it’s just that I own many of … Read more