Blog : Market Update

Lake Geneva Price Per Foot
David Curry

Lake Geneva Price Per Foot

There’s a problem with our market. A long standing problem, one that has been established by people who thought, at the time, that they were helping. It was the Realtors that initiated this problem, through well-intentioned averaging, and once the problem took hold into the psyche of the Lake Geneva real estate market, it quickly became deeply and thoroughly entrenched. The concept is the Price Per Foot, and if I had to tell you how many times over my 23 year career I’ve been asked where that magical number was currently residing, I couldn’t, for the life of me, come up with the tally. It’s a number everyone wants to know. Everyone needs to know. It’s a number that tells us whether or not the market is hot, whether it’s appreciating, whether it’s time to sell or time to buy. And the number, unfortunately for the followers of this religion, is almost always misleading. It turns out the most commonly cited number for lakefront value on Geneva Lake is, as a point of fact, irrelevant.

The reason for its irrelevance isn’t always understood. It’s not that the number isn’t a nice number to think about when you’re valuing, whether on the buy side or the sell side, a lakefront home. It is. It’s meaningful, but it’s not everything. That’s because in order to interpret the number with any real accuracy there needs to be a hefty dose of market knowledge added to the formula. Yet, when deals are being negotiated the price per foot barges into the negotiation, especially if that magical number advances your particular case. If the seller wants $30k a foot, you’ll happily and aggressively remind him that the average is $28,700 per foot. If you have the listing and the buyer wants to pay you $24k a foot, you’ll remind her that the price is, in actuality, much, much higher. This is how the game works, but the game is flawed.

And it’s too bad, really. Because it’s not the fault of the seller, or the fault of the buyer, it’s the fault of the long standing market tendency to hold this number up as the true market indicator. At this point, there’s nothing we can do about this tendency. It’s become part of the market, in good times and in bad, and for that we are all worse off. That’s because the magical number fails to take into account the single most important thing in the game of real estate: Location. We pretend to understand location, but we don’t. We pretend to understand how valuable it is to the market, but we don’t. We pretend that the entirety of Geneva Lake consists of equal and consistent shoreline, but it isn’t. The lakefront is nuanced, sometimes in such a subtle manner that the true definition of value is entirely subjective. But the lakefront is also blunt, a heavy hammer taken to different ideas and locations in such a way that there an be no mistaking a quality location for an inferior one. The market is both things, and yet this pesky price per foot insists on blending the good with the bad to come up with an indicator of value.

A lakefront property on Basswood recently sold. The price for 150′ of level frontage? Right around $30,000 per foot. There are several other large-ish lakefront properties for sale, including one on the South Shore of the lake that is listed closer to $10,000 per foot. Does this mean the lakefront is worth $30,000 per foot? Not really. Does it mean the lakefront is worth $10,000 per foot? Nope. Does it mean, as the longstanding measurement would dictate, that the lakefront is worth $20,000 per foot? Not even close.

What it means is that level feet on Basswood are worth more than sloped feet somewhere else. It means a street that’s capable of holding value up to and perhaps beyond $12,000,000 is going to command a higher dirt price than a street that might be hamstrung around $6,000,000. This shouldn’t be hard to understand, but throughout the myriad negotiations that I’ll captain this year I will continually and consistently run into either buyers or sellers who fail to grasp this most basic concept. The lakefront is not uniform. And as such, the pricing cannot be, either.

Next time you’re buying or selling Lake Geneva, use the Price Per Foot to your advantage. But know that it’s generally nothing more than one of three or four indicators that point to the value of a specific property. Also know that if you’re buying on Valley Park, where recent sale printed for around $16,000 per front foot or you’re buying in Indian Hills, where a recent sale went closer to $50,000 per front foot, both properties could represent a value, or both could be overpriced. The only way to know? Understand the market by working with an agent that understands it better than you do. (that’s me)

Geneva National Market Update
David Curry

Geneva National Market Update

To understand Geneva National you must first understand the fundamental issue with Geneva National. Notice I didn’t call it a problem. A problem suggests that it’s something we can solve. If I have a problem with a certain pair of pants, I would first identify the problem (they’re too long) and then fix the problem (hem). Geneva National doesn’t have a problem, it has an issue. And that issue is simple. It’s such a large association that it requires a significant amount of annual volume to keep it moving forward, both in terms of market positioning and price stabilization, or appreciation. In good times, that volume is present. In bad times, it dries up. And unlike the lakefront market, which can endure some lengthy periods of low volume, Geneva National tends to see pricing pressure the moment (or year) that sales soften. This is the Geneva National condition.

Understanding this, you can imagine how nice it is for me to write a positive review of the market conditions in Geneva National. Just last week I closed on a nice home in the Geneva Club, a gated enclave within Geneva National, for $640,000. This is a nice sale for GN, a nice sale for the seller (lost money) and a nice purchase for the buyer I represented. We contracted on that home in May, only to close in late August, and while we spent the summer under contract the Geneva National market had a serious run of sales.

Currently, there are 12 homes and condominiums pending sale in GN. Of those 12, four are priced in excess of $500k. Since the beginning of 2019, there have been 71 closings in GN (per MLS, excluding vacant land sales). Of those, 12 have closed over $500k. This is an important price point for Geneva National, as you can sell all the $180k condominiums you want and it won’t signal any sort of meaningful activity for an association that is reasonably heavy in $500k+ homes. Liquidity in that upper-middle market is what GN craves, and this summer provided that movement. Consider for 2018 there were a total of 81 sales, with just 11 of those printing over $500k. And for context, you must know that 2012 saw just 35 total sales with only two of those closing over $500k. Geneva National, you’ve had yourself quite a 2019 and it isn’t close to being over.

In spite of this activity, the one thing that continues to weigh on the single family home component (all condo classifications) is the presence of vacant lots that are priced far, far, far below their initial valuations in the early 1990s. There are currently 41 listed lots available in GN, and just one of those shows as pending sale. That property, by the way, is listed at $10k. That $10k lot had sold previously in 1996 for $62k, and again in 2003 for $52k. And in this you’ll find the Geneva National conundrum. On one hand, no one really feels like enduring a construction process when there is ample built inventory priced between $450k and $750k. The presence of this built inventory and the elevated construction costs associated with new construction has left the vacant lot market out in the cold. But on the other hand, the existence of so many cheap vacant lots is weighing on the built home market, because why would I buy your 1994 brick and cedar creation only to have to remodel it (extensively) when I can buy the lot next door for $Free.99? This is the issue within GN, and it all stems from that volume situation. Too much inventory, too large of a subdivision.

There are things that can turn the tide in GN, and one of those that I’ve written about often, would be to adjust the Geneva National Declaration to allow property owners to buy adjacent lots and not have to pay additional association fees on the purchased lot. This would help absorb some of the vacant land inventory, which is at the root of the GN market issue. The association won’t do this because they can’t imagine the loss of that vacant lot revenue (owners pay dues on a vacant lot, just as they would on a built home), but this fixation on the dues is causing market strains that are self-inflicted. If the concern is over dues, then charge each owner who purchases an adjacent vacant lot a one time fee of $3000, or similar, when they purchase the lot. That’ll grease the budget a bit on an annual basis, as owners snap up cheap, adjacent lots. GN, I do hope you’re paying attention.

GN should benefit from low interest rates moving forward, and if this exaggerated Illinois Exodus exists, GN will likely be a landing place for many of those newly minted Wisconsinites (psyche, our top income tax rate is 7.65). Rarely would a family from Illinois (or an individual for that matter) move to Lake Geneva from the Chicago suburbs and land in a small cottage near-isn the lake. Instead, they’d look in GN and find that $400-700k buys a remarkably nice home, and they’ll like the way that looks and feels for a new primary residence. For now, Geneva National, rejoice in your solid 2019. The sales volume is meaningful.

Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update
David Curry

Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update

I spent much of Sunday on the lake. There’s a new boat in the Curry fold, and the boat must be used. Boats are like that. If you don’t use them, they’re no fun. Just like lake houses. You can own one, and the ownership won’t be all that much fun. It’ll be work. But if you use it, then it becomes fun. It’s like money. Having a lot of it is fun, I imagine. But what good is it if you don’t use it? Along that line of thinking, the boat, and that sunshine, and Sunday. And a stop at Gordy’s for lunch and a gawkers tour of the lakefront to see what has changed since last fall.

Like every year, the lake has experienced changes. New builds are underway. Some large, some small, mostly, however, large. Renovations, big, deep, heavy renovations. Some renovations that you drive past on the boat and wonder if the renovation was the right decision. Should the old house with old house rooms and old house stylings have been scraped and rebuilt, rather than rebuilt around what was old? A new house in Loramoor, beautiful. Another new one in the Lindens, beautiful. Some new homes here and others there. The constant on this lake is the scenery. It’s always the same, always green, always lush, always dialed in. The change is the shade of the siding and the roof pitches of the new homes. Each year, the same, yet each year, change.

Earlier this week, a lakefront sold on Walworth Avenue in Williams Bay. This was not my sale. The buyer paid full price for a cottage with 50 feet of frontage, which is now the last domino in a line of five lakefront homes to have sold in the past two years along this particular stretch of lakefront. There are rumors of new construction coming to these skinny, long lots. Tear downs, maybe. Each of those sales closed between $1.1 and $1.5MM, whith just one at the $1.5MM mark and the other four in a clearly defined range between $1.1MM and $1.25MM. If gentrification is coming to this stretch of the lake, we’re about to find out.

The question now for the owners is whether or not this stretch is worthy of the gentrification, and the bigger, market question is whether or not this is a smart decision. I would argue that it’s a good decision if the initial purchase and the initial budget is range-bound. I’m speculating here, but that’s what I’m paid to do. Speculate on the current status of the market. Speculate as to where it’s going. And help buyers and sellers react to the market in an appropriate and intelligent way. That’s why I’m here today to think about the lakefront market, and to think about these sales on Walworth Avenue. There have been too many of them to ignore.

Times were, you wouldn’t want to buy on Walworth Avenue and tear the house down. This had been done in recent years, but it didn’t make a lot of market sense. Now, today, on the heels of five sales in 24 or fewer months, has something changed. Does this now make sense? I would argue that it does, with a big caveat. That caveat is not a market based caveat, but a personal one. If a buyer wants to buy for $1.2MM on this lake, they have very few options. Historically they would need to be in the Lake Geneva Highlands or on Walworth Avenue, with a few other spots dotting certain other sections of the lake. If you’re a $1.2MM buyer, you typically would not have a lot of options, but with ample, steady inventory on Walworth Avenue, it makes sense that these buyers found their way to this specific shore.

If you’re going to tear down a $1.2MM cottage and build a new house for $1MM (the low end of new construction on the lake, in my opinion, even on a small lot), you’ll be $2.2MM into a brand new lakefront house. Admittedly, this cannot be done anywhere else, and if you’re a buyer with eyes on a new house for $2.2MM, this is indeed your only option. Build away, new buyer. But this article isn’t about that buyer, it’s about the buyer that might be able to do better. The buyer who could have spent $2MM on a tear down instead of $1.25MM. This is about the buyer who is going to build a bigger house. A better house. And with all things bigger and better, that also means more expense. This is about the buyer who settled for this location rather than reached for it.

This is about the mistakes that are made by seeking out lower priced land. Don’t forget, it’s only a mistake if a particular buyer has a personal economy that is healthy enough to reach for more. Because for that buyer, reaching higher for the land purchase will always yield a higher top end once the new home is built. If you can do better, why not hope for that improvement? Why not wait to find better land with a higher upside? Why build in a range-bound section of lake when you could build in another location that might have legs to reach to $4MM or beyond? Why be early to a specific shoreline’s gentrification when you can settle in to another shoreline that has already made those strides? Why entertain the risk of one location when another, slightly more expensive, location will all but guarantee a gain at the end of the project? These are the questions that I ask on behalf of my buyers, and these are the questions that every home buyer who is considering building new on Geneva Lake should entertain. Without working through this process, you’re just buying a silly house on a lake without any real idea as to what amount of money you may be throwing away.

The market today is active, we all know this. Even new agents who tell you that they’re lakefront experts in spite of never having any lakefront experience or success can tell you this (and they do, in postcards, weekly). But the market is not without traps, and the easiest trap to avoid is the one that would have you over improve a specific section of shoreline that has yet to prove it is worth the investment. If you’re stumbling around this lakefront market looking for guidance, I’m here to help.

North Lakeshore Drive Sells
David Curry

North Lakeshore Drive Sells

There are certain ways that certain houses charm their way into our pocketbooks. It might be a floor plan. A quirky corner where a staircase shouldn’t necessarily be, but is, and because it is, it’s somehow perfect. Or a set of finishes, the tile in the first floor bathroom. The light fixtures. The trim work, elaborate and fussy or simple and calming. Whatever the case, whatever the house, there might be something there. Something that makes the house better than the others.

Last week, I sold 389 North Lakeshore Drive in Fontana for $6,950,000. This is an important sale for our market, to display once again the dominant characteristic of our lakefront market: liquidity in the upper bracket. That’s our eleventh sale over $5.8MM since 2010, and I’ve been pleased to represent either the buyer or seller in seven of those eleven sales. This is the fifth sale over $6.9MM since 2016, and I’ve closed four of those five sales, as well. Consider now that our MLS, which covers much of the state, but not all of it, shows that outside of the Lake Geneva market, there hasn’t been a single residential sale over $6.9MM in the remainder of the state of Wisconsin over that same tenure. If you want to look at a market with a vibrant top end, you needn’t look any further than Geneva Lake. And if you’re looking for representation at that top end, I can’t imagine you’d want to work with anyone not named David Curry.

This house didn’t sell because of my masterful sales job. It sold because it was the right style house, finished with the right materials, located on a very desirable stretch of Fontana shoreline. Some sales make you wonder about the when and why, the how, really. But this sale doesn’t require any deeper or nuanced line of thought. It’s just a pretty house on a pretty lot in turn key condition and because of that, I sold it. Beginning, middle, and end of story.

For the seller who chose me to represent this fine property, a sincere note of appreciation. And to the buyer who allowed me to work with them to make sense of our upper bracket market, I thank you. Your weekends are never going to be the same.

Just Sold

Market Update
David Curry

Market Update

It’s April. That means the year is young, but it’s not exactly new anymore. The ice left us over the weekend, and now it’s just soft water and sunshine as far as the eye can see. But that’s not entirely true, because it’s time for those April showers, the kind that are supposed to bring May flowers, but instead, often, only bring angst. It’s the in-between, not winter but not yet spring, and summer? Not even close.

The market, man, the market. Just a few short months ago I was concerned about it. Because that’s what I do, I fret. I want to keep the market momentum moving forward, and if I was put in charge of this market, more so than I already am, I could keep it going for a long, long time. Like Bernanke or Yellen, I’d be able to give the market what it needs, and tell it what it wants to hear. Still, in early January I was concerned about 2019. Today, just three months later I’m still concerned, but the concern has shifted.

When the year was young, I worried that the December stock market melt would negatively impact our markets. I worried that the recent Federal tax reform would hurt our vacation home market. And before I knew the specifics of his asinine proposal, I worried that JB’s envy driven tax plan would hurt us. Hate the man who has more than you, that’s the way that pitch went, and I worried.

But then the market melted back up, and buyers showed no signs of letting up. Contracts flew. Even as this winter threw snow and sub-zero temperatures at us, contracts were written. Buyers, rather than being spooked by any sort of December equity selloff and the rhetoric of a populist governor, pushed forward with their goals. Those goals, by the way, are mostly singular: Enjoy life, while it’s still here to be enjoyed. And if that enjoyment hinges, as we know it does, on spending weekends in a different place where the beautiful people instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano, then so be it.

Today, I see nothing but activity. The market is strong in every aspect imaginable. The upper end of the lakefront flexing its muscles with the pending sale at 389 North Lakeshore Drive ($7.395M). The middle market showing strength with recent offers in the South Shore Club and elsewhere. The entry level lakefront remaining devoid of inventory, excepting my pending lakefront on Park Drive ($2.195M). But beyond the lakefront, the activity is even more significant.

Pending sales are everywhere, homes with slips, homes without slips. Lake access homes that might have been barely $400k a few years ago now pending over $600k. There is activity, ample, generous, sometimes confusing, activity. Abbey Springs is on fire, with 19 available homes and condominiums and at least nine of those under contract. At Abbey Hill, four available units and two of those are pending sale. In another big turn around, there is only one available unit at the Abbey Villas. If you look back several years, you’ll read me lamenting the state of the market there. Lament no longer.

The lakefront condo market is effectively locked down, with just three available condo units as of this morning. The best among those is my $799k Bay Colony listing, but you already knew that. The picture is above, in case you forgot how great it was. There are pending sales at Bay Colony and Vista Del Lago, and a recently closed condo at the Old Boatyard around $800k.

You can see, whatever worries I had in January have been eased with this wild dose of market activity. But don’t think I’m not without worry, because I’ll always find something to worry about. It’s called creative anxiety, in case you didn’t know. Now my worry is placed back on the side of inventory. If we don’t keep stoking this fire, it might burn itself out. The best medicine for our market now is a steady supply of inventory, and with the things I’m currently working on, I think we’re going to be able to feed that need as well. Which will force me to worry about other, more important things, like how on earth I’m going to lose 30 pounds before summer.

Countdown
David Curry

Countdown

It’s spring break, and everyone is gone. To the mountains. To the beach. To a different place with its own brand of monotony. In the mountains, it’s snowing again. Powder Day, the flat-brimming locals shout. But it’s more of a lazy shout, if there is such a thing. On the beach, more shells. Here’s one that looks like my dog, says some old lady, as she tucks it into her sack full of other shells that also look like her dog. It’s another place this week for many, a break from the monotony of our early spring, to enjoy the monotony of another place.

But while everyone is playing and traveling, I know that there’s something serious on the horizon. Memorial Day Weekend. It’s nine weeks from this Friday. It’s not going to be a normal Friday, that’s for sure. It’ll be you, your office, your co-workers, and there will be a decidedly pronounced difference in attitudes on that day. Some will have an energy, a desire, optimism. Others will behave the same way they did the week before and the week before. For some, that Friday matters. For others, it means only the turning of a calendar, from one season to another, unofficially.

The decision whether or not that Friday matters is yours, and yours alone. The market today is humming with activity, and while I particularly enjoy the activity on the lakefront, each segment of our market is bustling. There is no segment left behind this spring, each price range and housing category finding buyers and fielding offers. You needn’t be robustly rich to enjoy a weekend at the lake. So long as a $90k condo in Geneva National is in your range, you’re in play.

There are pending sales throughout our market, no matter if it’s a $198k cottage in Country Club Estates, or a lakefront estate on the North Shore of Fontana for $7.395MM. The best news for our spring market is that inventory is increasing, albeit slowly. New inventory in any category is a positive, as this market features considerable in-trading amongst vacation home owners. A new lakefront for $3.5MM is good, because it very well may free up a new listing of a $700k cottage with a boatslip. That boat slip property will be great to list, because an owner of a condo at Vista Del Lago might be looking to switch over to a single family vacation home. Any inventory is good inventory, as it lubricates the gears that churn this market forward.

For now, you have a decision to make. If you’re sitting in your office thinking about summer, this is fine. But if those summer thoughts lead you only to a Saturday rooftop dinner and a Sunday morning brunch line, then you’re not thinking as clearly as I had hoped. Dream of summer. Dream of that Friday, nine weeks from this one, but make the decision to make this summer different. I’m here to help, if only you’ll let me.

Above, the divine porch at 434 Oakwood in Fontana. Just sold last week for $1,150,000.

2019 State Of The Market
David Curry

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 of unlimited potential. As we begin a new year, I sit here ready to work with you to achieve historic breakthroughs for your family, that prized collection of individuals who count on you to ignite their weekend, lakeside dreams. Our fellow Midwesterners are watching us now, hoping that we will not vacation as two parties, some seeking solace on these shimmering shores, and others still wandering blindly towards a great big, unusable lake in a lesser Eastern state, but as one Nation, united in the desire to spend weekends splashing and playing. The contrast I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda, not an agenda for those in Winnetka and another for those in Hinsdale. It is the agenda of the American people, those who have come here, weary of their work and seeking rest.

 There is a new opportunity in American vacation homes, if only we have the courage to seize it. Victory is not winning the bid. Victory is winning the bid on the right house, on the right lake, at the right price. This year, we will recognize an important anniversary that shows us the majesty of this great Lake Geneva mission. This year, we mark 23 years since the start of what I would call a most illustrious Real Estate career. Should I have gone to college and law school? Of course I should have, but that doesn’t matter now. It’s too late to worry about that when the promise of summer is so near.

Today, a mother from Buffalo Grove will log on to her computer, and she’ll stumble upon this website and her eyes will be opened to the possibility of a Lake Geneva vacation home. This is the promise of America, yes, but it’s the further promise of Lake Geneva. And when this mother searches and strives and brings her family to the lake this summer, and oh so many summers after, this is when the dream of my father, and of her father will have been realized. Of course, that assumes her father dreamt of this in the way that my father did, but still. It’s in these people, the city worker and the mother from Buffalo Grove and my father and her father that combine to make the state of the Lake Geneva market strong.

The results of this work, of the street plower dutifully fulfilling his pledge, and of the mother looking and then buying the most perfect lake house, is that our market has never been stronger. We have never been stronger.  We own the Midwest vacation home market, and it is all but assured that the coming year will be as bright as the years that preceded it. No, brighter, as if that could be possible.  We do not shut off our lights, or turn away any weary travelers just because we are content in our own strength, proud of our resilience and upper bracket liquidity. Instead we offer benevolence to the lake weary, to those who toil and labor in cities and in suburbs, and we offer them shelter because that is what we do and this is who we are.  How can we call ourselves Americans if we do not encourage those with the means to lay down roots near our shores? The only wall that Lake Geneva needs is made of Hydrangea, and it blooms as bright as the faces of our sun-kissed children.

The question for us today is actually only for you. It is not for you if you’re content with your vacation home ownership here. If you splash your way through every summer, this is not a charge that you need to consider because you have already passed this greatest test. The question today is for those who sit at their computers, who sit on their couches, who spend Saturday wondering what Sunday will bring even though you know it just brings a long line and then brunch.  Maybe a stroller ride through an insufferable park.  The question is what, exactly, are you doing? Why are you allowing a most un-American complacency to drag down your weekends, when you know that we’re here- the city worker, polishing the streets that we’d like you to drive over, and the mother, picking up corn at the farmer’s market in the morning to cook it lakeside in the evening. We are here, working and playing and living in a most amazing fashion, even while you sit there in that same new chair, obstructing your own path in life simply because you’re scared to venture into the unknown.  Do you not dream our same watery dreams? Do you not wish for your own American dream?

But this isn’t the unknown, my friends, this is America, yes, the most pure version of it. This is America, if the entirety of it would be washed in clean water, surrounded by a lush green shore, where every family gets a boat in every slip and some gas in that boat and a few hours of leisure. This is what we offer, and in the coming months you must make a decision to join us or forever get out of our way. In God We Trust, yes but do we not also trust in blue water and soft summer skies? Do we not trust in weekends that are different than weekdays? In summer that is different than fall?  We can make progress this year, together, but we cannot do this without your cooperation. We can lead you to the water but we cannot make you swim. We cannot simply urge you to join us if you will not make even a modest effort. This isn’t what it is to be an American, to lie and lounge in city apartments and in suburban backyards, this isn’t the sense of adventure that our fore-bearers wished for us. Do you not aspire to join us in our greatness?

But today is for the laborer. The partner and the founder. The director and the vice president.  They rise and they work, and they rise and they work. They wake on Saturday and they pretend that this day is somehow different. They rise and think that a Lake Geneva vacation home isn’t for them, because it hasn’t ever been for them. That this dream is unattainable. They huddle in their darkest corners, holding tight to their money that they’ve worked so hard to earn, and they fear the things that might happen if they let some of it go. They live as though their pedigree is in question, as though they cannot consider Lake Geneva because of its long enduring reputation as a place for the very best among us. I assure you today, as I will assure you again tomorrow, that Lake Geneva is for everyone, for every man, woman and child, for anyone who wakes on a Saturday and says, “I’m bored, let’s go to the lake”.

And so I make this decree, by executive order, under the authority bestowed upon me by myself, I hereby demand every vacation home seeker of some means to at least consider a Lake Geneva vacation home.  Your complacency cannot thrive under this bright lakeside sun, and so this command today by me, your market leading agent, shall be followed otherwise the willing dissenters risk being labeled enemy combatants and foist into the darkness of a Pure Michigan weekend.  We may disagree on the course of value, or on the benefits of one shore over the other, or on which restaurant is worthy of our breakfasting intentions and which restaurants are not, but we can agree that Lake Geneva is the place to be. In fact, it always has been, and it always will be. If we can summon the courage to live in a way that finds our weekends at the lake, then we can achieve a new standard of living for the twenty-first century and beyond. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless Lake Geneva and no place else.

Vista Del Lago Sells
David Curry

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 health, then there are several steps that must be followed. There is no shortcut to this health, and you cannot out-volume a market issue any more effectively than I can out-lift my horrible, no good diet.  If the market was bad and we wish the market to be good, then the steps must be followed.

The first step is to weed out any weak hands. Financially troubled owners have a tendency to drag on a market, negating any market gains with the constant, worrisome threat of foreclosure. If volume is printing but prices are still falling, this is generally acceptable, and will, over some period of time, work out in favor of the ownership. But if there are pieces of weak ownership that have the ongoing possibility of some form of distressed sale, this creates market drag that volume alone cannot overcome. This scenario occurred in the South Shore Club in the early years of this current decade, and the only way the SSC moved forward was by eliminating those trouble spots, which unfortunately only occurs after an owner has lost their home to the bank.

With the weak spots identified and fixed, then we need volume. Plenty of volume. We need sales in all price sectors within that segment. Some prices will be low, and we cannot be too concerned about this. If an average price in the segment is $500k, and over a particular duration there are two sales around $400k for every sale around $500k, that’s not a big deal. It’ll feel awful, but remember, the goal is not immediate health but rather a path towards it. It’s painful to watch low sales print when you know they’re creating an issue for those who wish for higher sales, but  I never said this path was going to be fun.

With the weak owners flushed and the volume on the rise, the third step is bright spots of higher valuations. A sale here and there over the expected average of the segment. If we’re in this $500k range, then we’ll need to see some sales print higher- $525k, $550k. There will still be lower sales, sure, but the momentum is achieved by raising the expected ceiling.  Higher sales beget higher sales, and all it takes is one or two of these sales to move a market higher.

Step four is the strengthening of volume. We need more sales. More and more sales. New listings, shorter Days On Market. Movement, that’s what we need now. Liquidity is important to both establish the market pattern and introduce new, energized ownership to a segment. The reason new owners matter is because they tend to make improvements. Remodel the kitchen, update the bathrooms. New appliances, new tile, new paint. This shows a potential buyer that they’re surrounded by neighbors who value what it is that they own. Increased volume is vital to return a market to health.

The last step is a tightening of inventory.  True price gains cannot be realized if there is ample, sufficient inventory. We need limited inventory, tight conditions. We need buyers asking about product in that particular segment, be it a specific association, condominium, or price range. Without this last, crucial step, a market cannot return to full health. If you doubt these steps, consider each and every step has occurred in sequence within the South Shore Club over the past eight years. The good news for the local condominium market is that Vista Del Lago appears to be following the same, successful path.

Last week, I closed on another four bedroom unit at Vista Del Lago. I sold one in May for $520k, and I sold this recent one for $515k. Both sales represent meaningful volume for this association, and both sales prove that Vista is on the path towards full health. If you’re a condo buyer on Geneva, you generally have options with two bedrooms. Some association have three bedroom units, and some have four bedrooms. But the four bedroom condominiums tend to be pricey, located in higher-end associations like East Bank. Vista offers four bedroom units for $520k, and as long as families want a view of the lake, a slip, and a place to sleep, Vista will have a market.  Speaking of the market, there are only three available units at Vista this morning, and none of those are four bedroom units.  Vista isn’t yet finished with this plan, but as you can see, it’s well on its way.

Entry Level Lakefront Market Update
David Curry

Entry Level Lakefront Market Update

I’m not sure if there’s a more interesting segment in our market than the entry level lake access market. While other segments exist because particular homes move in and out of that defined value range, the entry level market is truly the only range for which their is no defined price structure. When times are good, entry level might mean $1.5-2MM. When times were bad, we learned that entry level meant $800k-$1.2MM. If we look over any particular decade in our past, there’s nothing consistent about the pricing of this segment. In that, it’s a curious segment, but beyond that, it’s also our most important lakefront segment.

Yes, yes, we know liquidity at the top end is the most unique attribute of our market. We know our liquidity makes every other vacation market in the Midwest look like a low quality timeshare rental. But still, in spite of that robust upper bracket strength, the entry level market is the market that matters to more people. The goal of vacation home buyers, if the budget affords, is to find lakefront.  Knowing that the entry level market is directly connected to the upper-end off water market, we know that if the entry level market struggles then the off-water market struggles. If the off-water market is strong, then that must mean that not only is the entry level market strong, but it’s light on inventory. These two markets are connected, and 2018 has proved that once again.

This isn’t about the off-water market, even though it is remarkably strong and liquid as a direct result of the low inventory and sales patterns of that entry level lakefront market. This is about the entry level market itself, and what 2018 has done to it, and for it.  This year, there have been four lakefront homes sold between $1.1MM and $1.25MM.  All four of those properties had around 50′ of frontage, and three of the four were on Walworth Avenue in Williams Bay. If you’re familiar, Walworth Avenue is the road to the North of Pier 290. The other sale was in the Elgin Club.

The fact that there have been four sales in this segment isn’t surprising. It is somewhat surprising that the prices, in spite of the spectacular market activity of 2018, have been somewhat stagnant in that tight, low buck range. While the homes that sold were certainly habitable, it wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest that they are all in need of some additional attention. Whether that comes in the from of wide-scale renovations or surface improvements, that is up to the new owners. Will any of these four be scraped to make way for a new home?  No one, except the owners, can answer that question.

Walworth Avenue hasn’t shown any real strength over the mid-million dollar market. There’s a giant newer home on that road, one that represents a significant investment, but is that an individual pursuing what is best for that individual, or is that a market market-minded play? Will Walworth Avenue soon be home to more tear downs, to more new construction? And if so, will that new construction find favor in the market?  I honestly don’t know the answer to my own questions. I’m inclined to suggest that new construction in that location wouldn’t be a wise play. But I know the tight inventory markets on the lakefront between $1.8MM and $2.5MM, so it wouldn’t be crazy to suggest an owner could pursue new construction here, even though the neighborhood hasn’t shown the ability to support it.

There have been a few other happenings in the entry level market this year, notably a pending foreclosure in the Lake Geneva Highlands and a private lakefront sale on Outing Drive. You’ll remember the Outing house, as I had it for sale earlier this year, and another agent had it for sale for a spell as well. The home sold in what appears to be a private sale for a price (as shown in the transfer rolls) of  $1,525,000. That’s a reasonable price for that house. The Highlands lakefront is one that was on market last year and under contract (per MLS), but failed to close. That home is likely valued in the mid $1s, and I’ll be curious to discover if it comes back to market as REO, or if someone takes a stab at it through the sheriff’s sale.

Today, the entry level market is once again void of inventory. The lowest priced home with frontage is over in Trinke’s, a property with the lagoon in front of it, priced at $1.85MM.  The next available lakefront is to the East of there, priced just over $2.2MM. This is a tight market, and a difficult one for would-be lakefront buyers.  What’s interesting here is that the lack of inventory and consistent sales really hasn’t translated into valuation gains in this segment. I’d expect that’ll change if the market stays tight for too much longer. Maybe it won’t change at all until someone breaks the pattern on these entry level streets and builds something new. Something that seems out of place, something that doesn’t make sense. Or at least it’ll feel that way until everyone else does it, too.

 

Abbey Springs Market Update
David Curry

Abbey Springs Market Update

There’s a simple thought relating to markets like ours that supposes a specific pricing segment should prove active in different market segments. The theory would say that if $300-500k condos are selling, then those condos should be selling whether they’re on Geneva Lake, in Geneva National, or Abbey Springs. In the same way, if a $400k lake access home in Loch Vista Club is in demand, then a $400k lake access home in Cedar Point Park should also find an audience. The theory isn’t very difficult to understand, but markets don’t always behave in the most obvious ways.

Consider the lake access market on Geneva Lake right now. There are 34 active homes priced under $700k. Of those 34, no fewer than 12 are pending sale. That’s a very active market segment, with offers flying and summer contracts set to close next month. If that market is supremely busy with buyers seeking a reasonably priced vacation home experience, then the other specific vacation home segments in a similar price range should be similarly active, right?

Abbey Springs currently has 19 available condominiums and single family homes. Of those 19, the MLS shows not a single pending contract. Year To Date, Abbey Springs has closed 18 condos/homes, which isn’t awful, but it certainly pales to the 24 such sales for 2017 YTD. If there weren’t inventory, I’d understand the difference in activity, but there is inventory, even if it is a bit light.

In the same way, Geneva National has 57 available condominiums and homes priced under $700k. Of those 59, twelve are pending sale. That’s a decent amount of activity, especially for Geneva National, which has had its fair share of ups and downs over its lifespan. If the lake access market has approximately 35% of its under $700k inventory under contract, and Geneva National has 20% of its under $700k inventory under contract, then what’s eating Abbey Springs?

The answer, likely, is nothing. It’s just the unique nature of the Lake Geneva vacation home market.  That’s why I write this blog as often as I do. Markets here hinge on such low overall volume that a good weekend can right any listing ship. If there were three or four new contracts written in Abbey Springs last week that have yet to show in the MLS, just like that we’d see Abbey Springs marching in lockstep with the remainder of the vacation home segment.  If you’re trying to figure out the exact rhythm of sales at the lake, don’t.

Lake Geneva Market Update
David Curry

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 then the weather has been a mix of spring and sort of winter, the dreaded in between that will come to define the next six weeks of our existence. But fret not, for February is nearly over. With it we leave behind the Olympics, and with that, we leave behind the nightly disappointment of a country with so many participants, but so few medals.  It’ll be March soon, and then we can lament the weather in March and wish for it to be April. Once April starts, we have just one more month of wishing for May. Soon, it’ll be nice out.

Even though the weather is haphazard, the real estate market doesn’t really care.  New inventory has been introduced to market, much of it by yours truly.  Pending sales have printed, and new contracts have been written. Some have been accepted. My lakefront in Loramoor closed late last month for $4,950,000, placing that property in what will be a short-lived position of first. Like when a US skater is in the gold medal position before anyone else has laced up their skates. Another lakefront in the city of Lake Geneva closed recently, that of a small hillside home listed and closed at $1.799MM.  I’ll be expecting to see that home torn down or significantly remodeled. A home in the Birches on 105′ of elevated frontage closed for $3MM.

A new lakefront came to market with 150′ of frontage and a $3.975MM asking price. I sent it around but didn’t think too much of it, and then it sold. The market doesn’t always care what I think, which is probably good, since I tend to be conservative in my valuations. A small lakefront in Williams Bay listed just over a buck is pending sale, but there’s nothing more I feel like adding to that one. A level lakefront in the Narrows is under contract recently, listed in the $2.3s.  Rounding out the lakefront activity, there are three remaining 2017 contracts left out there waiting to close, those of lakefronts listed at $3.85MM, $6.5MM, and $12.5MM. It’s going to be a terrific 2018, and we’ve only just begun.  For a full list of available lake access and lakefront homes, CLICK HERE. Feel free to share this post with anyone you know who also might appreciate an accurate list of inventory.

I’ve added some new lake access inventory this month, including a large home in Indian Hills.  Listed at $675k, it will give the new owner an opportunity to engage in the Fontana scene, with very little effort. The home is spacious, with two story foyer, main floor master bedroom, and five total bedrooms. There’s also a two car garage, along with those private Indian Hills lake rights.  I added another home in the lower price ranges this month as well, that of an off-water home in Geneva West. This is about a mile north of the lake in Williams Bay. That home, pictured above, offers a charming spread for a buyer looking for a primary residence in the Williams Bay School District, or perhaps a vacation home owner looking to find privacy at an affordable price.

A particular sale of note involves a large condo in Fontana at the Fontana Club.  I sold this unit to the original owner, when I represented the developer back in 2001. The first sale was of a single unit, then the buyer bought an adjacent unit and remodeled the space into one large residence. I sold that combined unit for him in 2006 for $1.125MM, at the time that would represent the obvious peak in the lakefront condo market. That new owner  has offered the unit for sale off and on over recent years, while the price steadily eroded. That double unit closed this month for $685k. That’s a terrible thing.  The good news for the Fontana Club is that with this sale, and that of my single unit that closed last fall for $390k, the aged inventory has finally and mercifully been cleared from the market. The best situation for the Fontana Club would now be to withhold any inventory from the market so that demand can slowly build.

Overall, I like the way the market is behaving so far this year, but I’m increasingly wary of over confident sellers. I’ve often told you how I personally behave when I’m a seller of my own home. I recognize the fact that I need that buyer more than that buyer needs me. My particular home is the only home I need to sell, whereas that buyer has several different homes he can choose. Sellers so far in 2018 are negotiating from a position of strength, which they have understandably earned.  There are some buyers, as evidenced in the market today, that will pay a seller’s price, no matter if it’s 15% too high or not. But most of the buyers are still smart, even if they choose to work with an agent they found on Zillow, because Premier Agent’s must be amazing! (or willing to pay huge sums of money to buy leads) But these buyers are still reasonably concerned about their investment, and they’re not pushing prices quite as high as sellers would like. I’ve heard of and been part of several negotiations over the last six months that featured buyers and sellers in odd standoffs over insignificant amounts of money.  Should buyers come up? Maybe. Should sellers come down? Maybe. Should you stop working with any agent who isn’t David Curry? Duh.

Above, my listing in Geneva West. $499k.
2017 Lakefront Condo Market Review
David Curry

2017 Lakefront Condo Market Review

By now, everyone knows the Stone Manor story. Not the Otto Young story, mind you, because he’s old news. The new news is the news we like, because we’re Americans. The news is, as you know, that a buyer has bought up Stone Manor, that famed limestone manse on our eastern shore. The building has been lots of things since it was first built some 120 years ago, but most of us know it either as an old French restaurant or as the condominiums that it has most recently been. Today, it’s still a  condominium, but not really. There are seven units in the building, and all but one are under the same ownership.  The volume created by those 2017 condo sales is not something we’ll count in our year end figures, because the sales were direct, and the circumstance obviously unique. Stone Manor, we hardly knew you.

Now that the Stone Manor bit is out of the way, let’s consider the real lakefront condo market.  That is, those two and three bedroom condominiums that measure between 1200 and 1500 square feet. Those are the meat and potatoes of this market, and really of every condo market everywhere. Vacation condos follow similar designs- two bedrooms, maybe three, a small kitchen and open living room. Maybe a balcony, or a deck, which are the same thing except one feels like it has to be made out of wood, the other out of stone, concrete or steel. Still, condominiums are similar here and they’re similar there, and in fact they’re similar everywhere.

Lake Geneva condominiums have, as you well know, been lagging the overall vacation home market. I’ve suggested many theories as to why this may be, but I admit I’m not particularly sold on any of them. The lakefront condo is simply not as prized as it once was. But that’s not to say it doesn’t matter. For 2017, we sold 12 lakefront condominiums ranging in price from $302,500 for a Geneva Towers two bedroom, to a four bedroom at Eastbank for $1,212,500. I should add that I blew that Eastbank sale by sending the prospective seller emails to the wrong email address. This is my shame. Of these 12 condominiums, I sold just one of them- the two bedroom at the Fontana Club that printed $390k.

The 12 sales are fine. There’s nothing fancy about these sales. But there’s nothing lacking, either. They’re just sales. The prices have stalled, this is undebatable. Consider the Fontana Club unit that I sold for $390k was originally sold (by this kid) for $393k back in 2001. I was so young then, so healthy, so full of optimism. So was the Fontana Club. Then, at the height of the condo market a mere five years later, this two bedroom unit was likely valued around $600k. Fast forward to December when the unit sold again for a price below that of its original sale in 2001. That’s awful, but it’s a sign of the times for the lakefront condo market.

In all, five units sold at Geneva Towers, one in the Old Boatyard Condominiums ($689k- behind Harbor Watch in Lake Geneva), one in Vista Del Lago ($350k), one in Fontana Shores ($510k), one in Fontana Club ($390k), and two in Bay Colony ($550k/$476k). That’s a fine sales tally, ahead of the eight sales of 2016, and ahead of the 2014 and 2015 totals as well, if only modestly so. And that brings us to the current state of the market, and what’s next.

Inventory is low in the lakefront condo complexes, and this is a good thing. While I worry that the single family market won’t have enough inventory to spur activity, I’d prefer to see limited inventory in the lakefront condo market. That’s because the prices have sagged, and the only way to pull those priced upward is to limit supply.  The best possible scenario for the lakefront condo market is that 2018 features a handful of sales- no need to match or beat the 2017 sales total. Sell a few condos, keep inventory scarce, and see if demand increases. If the $500k-1.5MM single family vacation home market stays light on inventory, this will likely drive some buyer traffic to the condo market. And if that condo market is even lighter on inventory, this very well may help increase valuations.  That’s exactly what I think will happen this year, and that’s exactly what the doctor ordered for our slowly improving lakefront condo market.

Above, my delightfully stylish lakefront condo at Bay Colony, listed for $899k.
Lake Geneva Price Reductions
David Curry

Lake Geneva Price Reductions

Tis the season for one of two things. Ambivalence is the most popular option for mid November. Why pay attention to the market when it’s just so easy to eat pie and pretend your weekends aren’t awful and boring? Sellers find and embrace ambivalence today as well, accepting that the market will slow to some degree from now through the earliest part of 2018. In spite of this holiday pause, there’s reason to doubt that several deals will come together over the next six weeks, as the market never actually sleeps. It just rests its eyes once in a while. Because of this, some sellers will remove their property from market (mistake), and others will just continue on as though everything is fine (it likely will be). But some sellers are November price cutters, and those are the sellers we’re looking for.

Last week I dropped the price of my large Basswood estate from $9.75MM to $8.995MM. This is a meaningful price drop, and it wasn’t easy to achieve. Buyers in this strata should take another look at this property, as it offers too much to be ignored. Large frontage, deep property, perfect location. The house itself is large, easy to understand, and ready to host an easy surface renovation.  There are many estates on Geneva Lake. Many amazing estates. But there are very few that are complete. What do I mean by complete?  I mean a property that’s large enough to feel important. A house that matches. A swimming pool. A guest house. A large pier.  Combine all of those elements and you’ve got an estate. Basswood? It’s an estate, and I just put it on sale.

Another listing of mine that’s been struggling to attract a buyer is my modern home on South Lakeshore Drive now listed at $1,095,000. I don’t feel as though I’ve done a very good job explaining this property to the market. It seems as though, after so much market time, the property should make sense for someone. I know it makes sense in the market. I know it’s a screaming value. The house sold during the prior peak for $1.5MM and change. The house sold at that level because of what it offers. Immense and rare privacy. Loads of square footage over four finished levels of living space. Transferable boat slip. Situated on the lake between massive estates, with lake views and nothing but a few trees between the house and the water. This is a lakefront house without private frontage, and it’s downright cheap. If I’m a buyer around the million dollar mark, this is a house I’m looking at. A tiny smear of lipstick and it’ll be a fantastic lake house.

My new listing on Outing in Williams Bay ($1.699MM) is offered today at a reduced price after initially coming to market just under $2MM. These are the sorts of sellers you want to find. The motivated ones. It’s too convenient today for sellers to sit back and wait for the market to come to them. After all, there are several 2017 examples of this happening for aged lakefront inventory. But I’m writing today to buyers. I’m writing today to those you don’t want to throw caution to the wind. If you’re throwing caution to the wind,  other agents specialize in that, not me.  I’m assuming there are still buyers who want to find value, and if that’s you, then let’s chat. We can aggressively look for new inventory and pounce if it’s right, but I’d rather comb over aged inventory and see if we can find a seller who’s ready to play ball. The myth of this market is that every seller is overly confident and every seller is holding out. The reality of November at the lake (and December for that matter) is that there are still sellers who are ready to sell. They just need a value minded buyer (and that buyer’s dashing agent)  to convince them that the time is right.

 

Above, the pier at Basswood. $8,995,000
Lake Geneva Market Update
David Curry

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 and sell homes, things like interest rates and employment and marriage, there’s really only one thing that makes real estate markets move. In bad times, it’s fear. If you have $10MM in the bank and your $2MM home is only worth $1.7MM, do you need to sell it? Of course not. Then why sell it for $1.6MM? The answer, which we can only know now, is that you sell at $1.6MM because you’re afraid next month it’ll be $1.5MM. That’s why this market moved like it did from 2009 through 2012, because of fear.

And if it’s fear that drives a declining market to lower lows, then it must be the opposite that drives an escalating market to higher highs. Job growth is great, but it doesn’t fuel the top end at Lake Geneva. Interest rates are important, but are they? Stock market return are incredibly important to this vacation home market, and with steady returns piling up it makes sense that consumer confidence is as robust as it is. The opposite of fear is confidence, and it’s that confidence that’s driving the Lake Geneva market. And it’s driving super fast.

Another week, more contracts. More offers. More sellers wondering if their house is next, more buyers buying homes they didn’t know they needed but now can’t live without. There are 30 lakefront homes available this morning, per the MLS. Of those 30, nine are under contract. That makes just 21 available lakefronts.  Of those 21, several have active offers being negotiated. 20 true lakefront homes have already sold in 2017, leaving us to assume that we’ll break the 30 home mark for 2017.  Last year was a banner year, and we only closed 24 true lakefronts (MLS). If we break 30 this year, it’ll be even more important to remember that in 2007 we only sold 17 lakefronts. This new norm is really, really something.

This week, a lakefront closing. That of Kerry Wood’s house in Fontana. At $4.7MM it’s an okay sale. I don’t love it, and I don’t hate it. I’m ambivalent, which is how I feel about baked cod and maple syrup.  It’s a lofty sale for the frontage (102′), and the location (mostly homes valued under $2MM in the immediate neighborhood). It’s proof, once again, that our market loves new(er) homes, and will do just about anything to own them.

More contracts this week as well. A new contract on my listing in the Elgin Club. A new contract on a large Fontana lakefront listed in the $6s. A new contract on the non-lakefront modern home ($1.85MM) that sits on the cliff overlooking Fontana Bay.  A new contract on the house next to the Lake Geneva Country Club ($3.095MM), and a new contract on the Main Street, Lake Geneva lakefront ($2.495MM) that sits near the Library Park.  Hillcroft, that big estate with an older house that anchors 415′ of Snake Road lakefrontage is still pending ($12.5MM), as is the spec home in Williams Bay ($3.85MM) and the Circle Parkway lakefront ($2.95MM).  My South Shore Club lakefront also remains under contract ($4.595MM). Rounding out this flurry of activity is the small home on Marianne Terrace in Lake Geneva that’s under contract ($1.799MM).  The market is searingly hot. Breathlessly hot.

Do you think every deal is a good deal? Absolutely not.  Some of the deals I see are pretty awful. Embarrassing, really. But that ties in with Monday’s bit, so you already know how terrible this is. Still, the market is moving and there’s plenty of room left in 2017 for it to move further. Are prices increasing? Well, yes, they are. The wood sale just printed at $47,000 per front foot. That’s not the average, but a few of those in a year will skew our 2017 average to the very high end.  Continue to expect sales as we finish the year, and continue to expect many of these sales to be carried out by buyers who really should have done some more homework before they docusigned on the dotted line.

Above, my dynamite Loramoor listing.

 

Geneva Lakefront Market Update
David Curry

Geneva Lakefront Market Update

I almost bought a car in December. It was late December. The snow was falling and it was cold and it had been Christmas but it wasn’t yet the new year. I drove to the dealership, took a ride in the car that I was thinking of buying, and then sat in the chair across from the salesman for what felt like two hours. It felt that way because it was that way, and I sat and thought and looked around and thought some more. I wasn’t sure what to do.  The deal was in place, the trade on my car negotiated, the new vehicle ready and able and if I just said yes I would have driven it home. My children would have looked it over with great admiration, and my wife would have told me how superficial and horrible I was. Things were so close.

But I couldn’t do it, not then, and not in the days since, because I have commitment problems as it relates to cars. I dislike purchases that depreciate rapidly, which is also why I’m a solid $30  chicken dinner guy even when I kind of want the $62 ribeye. I drove from that car dealer and emailed the salesman the next day to work on a few final tweaks of our possible deal. The car, I was told, had sold.  I spend hours, no days, weeks contemplating most purchases, no matter how seemingly trivial they might be.  Although I am an alpha consumer, I’m reluctant.

This is a fine way to be, assuming you don’t want to secure something that might be fleeting. Just a week ago I wrote a bit on the state of the lakefront market. I was considering the pending sales on the lake and the market reaction to new inventory that had been slowly trickling on. My theory was that a market can be better gauged by the reaction, either swift or slow, to new inventory than it can be by the absorption of the old inventory. Since then, two things have occurred that have cemented my opinion of this market.

I listed that small lakefront with 60′ of level frontage a couple of weeks ago. Within a week, I had it under contract.  Last week, an odd lakefront came to market in the mid $3s, and it didn’t even last a week before a buyer put it under contract. These are the two newest lakefront additions, both unique in their own way, both under contract within mere days of listing. If you’re wondering about the state of our lakefront market,  these sales should help you understand just what you’re up against.

There are motivated buyers aplenty. More now than I think I can ever remember. There are buyers for entry level and buyers for large estates. There are buyers for land and buyers for finish, there are those who want to find value and those who just want to find a shiny marble shower. The market has plenty of matches, we just need some kindling. If you’re a buyer who, like me, finds it difficult to make a decision in any reasonable amount of time, this market is not going to be easy for you. But if you’re a buyer who knows what you want, and you trust your agent (that’s me) to guide you to lasting value, then it’s time to act. Inventory will be coming to market, but you need to get early eyes on it if you’re going to have a shot. Want to know what’s going on before the rest of the market?  Tell me what you’re looking for and you’ll be in the know before some automated MLS feed spits the listing your way.

Geneva Lakefront Market Update
David Curry

Geneva Lakefront Market Update

I’ve been writing 2017 on my checks with solid consistency for the better part of a month now. There are no more sixes that have been scratched into sevens.  It’s 2017 and we know it, the shock of a new year has worn off.   Spring is racing towards us, or it’s here, or it’s not, no one is sure.  The year isn’t old enough to judge yet, but at seven weeks, the market is ready for a 2017 assessment.

The best way to judge an early year market is not by watching the closing data. Closings in January were sales from November or December. They are hold overs that pay testament to the prior year activity, and so they aren’t important. No matter, there haven’t been any 2017 lakefront closings to discuss. But there have been some new listings to review, and in those new listings there’s a bit of a story. The market can be measured by sales, measured by inventory, but also measured by the market reaction to new inventory. Let’s discuss that.

Last week a new lakefront in Cedar Point came to market in the $1.5MM range. A few days later, that lakefront property had sold. A magnificent sales job by the participating agents? A super rare piece of inventory that throngs of buyers had been anxiously awaiting? Not really, just an entry level lakefront that came to market cheap, and sold quickly.  Every property has a price at which it will sell immediately, so there’s no secret to that particular sauce.   But the sale proves the entry level market still has considerable legs even after the high volume year that was 2016. The quick listing and sale is a good sign for our market.

Two other lakefronts were brought to market this year, one being my listing in the South Shore Club that you’re looking at in the above photo. That’s a great house, but I haven’t sold it yet. It’s only been on market for three weeks, so by now it’s only fair to recognize that I didn’t price it as a fire sale. Another home in the South Shore Club that hasn’t sold for years came back to market as well, leaving two available homes in the club.  Remember, these aren’t association homes priced as lakefronts. They’re $5MM lakefronts priced as $3MM association homes.

Another lakefront in Fontana hit the market at just under $6MM. That’s a nice lakefront home to be sure, and it’s only been on market for the past two weeks or so.  Three new listings in total, one sold immediately, the other two for sale.  No carry over sales from 2016 yet, although there are a couple that will be closing over the coming weeks as there are currently five lakefront homes pending sale (including new contracts on the Solar Lane lakefront and the harbor front home in Country Club Estates).  So where does that leave us? Do we have the makings of a dynamic 2017 or are we seven weeks into a dud? The quick sale in Cedar Point tells us that buyers are ready and willing to pounce, but the two available at the higher ranges suggest buyers are still measured, still cautious, still paying attention. After all, this is the Midwest and we do measured very, very well.

The only thing we know so far is that the market is low on inventory, which is the same thing we knew at the end of December. Without new inventory, there’s no fuel for this fire.  The stock market stability is wonderful for our real estate market, and interest rates remain low, albeit it at higher lows than last year.  And there are buyers, plenty of buyers. All we need now is some more inventory, and I expect the market will find a way to provide that in the coming weeks. If you’re a buyer in search of something you haven’t yet found, let’s talk.

Lackey Lane Sells
David Curry

Lackey Lane Sells

At one point earlier this year, there were three homes for sale on Lackey Lane. Lackey, in case you haven’t the pleasure of wandering down that lane before, is a dead end street with a handful of homes on it to the west of the Birches. The street is unique in this market. It’s a dead end, which is always a positive here as it makes it more awkward for strangers to commit to a wandering, gawking drive.  The lakefront is level, the location on the lake creating a slight bay that keeps aggressive boaters at bay. There is little I don’t like about this street. Little not to celebrate. And that’s why there were three homes available earlier this year and as of today there are none, and I’ve sold them all.

First, the beautiful home at W3818 Lackey. I sold that home in June for $4.275MM, and what a home it was. The new owner is happy there, which makes me happy, and the street, though it possessed a history of selling in the threes, had a print in the low $4s that it needed. This print is important as it shows there is a path to value in that range, and the few tear downs that remain on the street now had an angle. Buy one for $2MM or less, build a new home for $2MM or so, and you’ll be secure in your value. This seems easy to do, but it’s not as easy on this lake as you might think.

Next, I sold the small brick ranch on 100 level front feet at W3846 for $1.91MM. Again, the value makes complete and utter sense, and not only when you consider that price per foot is just $19,000. The street can support built value, and if you’ll drive down that lane today you’ll see the foundation of a new build where the old Arlington Heights ranch had previously stood.  That was a nice sale, a  terrific value, and a new place on the lake for a long time Lake Geneva family.

Yesterday, I knocked over the last Lackey domino of 2016. W3852 Lackey closed for $1.925MM, to a delightful young family who saw what the prior family saw: opportunity to grab rare land at a very attractive price. The street now will do one of two things. It’ll either quiet down while the new owners make their mark in that dirt and along that shore, or it’ll see another offering or two as existing owners who may have an eye towards a someday sale see the value and demand that is obvious on their quiet little lane.

Coincidentally, two other lakefronts closed yesterday. One in the dead center of the Narrows, that of an older house with unremarkable attributes and a 100′ lakefront lot. That closed for $2.485MM. The other closing was in the same neighborhood as these others, but this home was immediately adjacent to a very busy boat launch. I can change out an old sink if I don’t like it. I can buy a new range if I want a shinier model. I can lay hardwood where there is now carpet. I can nail on shingles where there was vinyl. I can do lots of things to my new lakefront house, but something I can never, ever do is move a boat launch. $2.899MM was the print for a home with shiny finishes and a municipal launch for a neighbor. These sales bring the lakefront sold tally (MLS) to 25 for 2016, and I’m proud to say I’ve been involved on either the buy or sell side (or both) in 10 of those 25. That’s not bad for a kid from Williams Bay.

To the new owners on Lackey, a big congratulations. I’m never unaware of the reality of my business. I can sell lots of homes one year and very few the next. I could do this work for another decade and find success, or I could be cast aside as an insignificant blowhard who writes about Christmas trees and my grandmothers and pontoon boats. I understand that buyers and seller alike have myriad choices for representation in this market, and I’m always grateful to those customers and clients who choose me as their agent. I’d like to think I’m a bit more fun to work with, and I’d like to think I have better insight into the market (I’m actually certain of it, but humility), but mostly I’m just happy that my sale yesterday represented incredible and lasting value, and in that, I’m content.

Lake Geneva Market Update
David Curry

Lake Geneva Market Update

I was going to write this morning a response to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. The article, Homeowners Hit The Jackpot, appeared to be, at the headline level, something that might interest me. Then I read the article and deemed it rife with stupidity. How could I respond to something as lame as that article? And so I decided instead to write a market update. Lake Geneva, it’s December. It’s almost time to start talking about the year in the past tense, but if we did that now we’d miss the present. It’s December, and there’s a lot happening. Here’s your Lake Geneva Market Update.

Yesterday, I closed on W4160 Lakeview in Linn Township.  I had that cute little lakefront for sale for what felt like most of my life, but was, in fact, just the last two summers. The house was what you’d expect of an entry level lakefront. 50 feet of frontage, no garage, basic finishes. It was a charming little place, with a boathouse that most estates would like to own. The house was simple, the sales price $1,260,000. The new buyers happy, sure, but not yet certain just how good it will be to own a weekend home on this lake. The seller had owned the house for 11 years and didn’t make any money on it. In that, I failed. But the owner told me yesterday that although the house isn’t the fanciest on the lake, and although the bedrooms are small and the kitchen boasting white appliances, his family looks at that property as the place where the best of their memories were made.  That, after all, is what this whole game is about.

This week I brought to market a lake access home in Shore Haven. It’s a nice house, this Shore Haven place. It has a slight, squinting view of the lake if the leaves are in the right position (on the ground). It also has a two car garage and plenty of parking, attributes which are rare in the lake access world. The house is charming, the finishes nice enough, the layout comfortable with the possibility of attic expansion if someone so desired. But that’s not really the thing that matters with this $749k new listing. What matters is the boat slip. Slips, in the eyes of the wandering market, are all created equal. You either have one or you don’t. If you have one you’re lucky. It you haven’t one you’re sad. You didn’t need one, you said. But above a certain price point off the lake you do need one, because everyone else expects one even if you don’t. That said, this boat slip is fantastic. It’s deep and it’s big and it’s easy to pull in and out of, no matter if a north wind is howling from Williams Bay. Boat slips matter, and this slip that accompanies this house is an absolute gem.

Last week I closed on a Bay Colony condo. I don’t sell a lot of condos anymore, but I sold a ground floor two bedroom in the north building for $415k. That price is significant, as that $415k price is the lowest paid for any unit in either Bay Colony building since at least 2005.  Does the kitchen have a Viking range? Don’t be ridiculous. It might after the remodel, but it doesn’t now, and that’s why I negotiated on behalf of a client and we pushed a $475k asking price to a $415k closing price. Want to buy a condo on the lake? We can go bargain hunting together.

For the remainder of the year we’ll see a few new contracts, but mostly we’ll see the closings of homes that have been placed under contract over recent weeks and months. Lest you think it’s a bad idea to buy a lake house in December, consider the importance and duration of a Lake Geneva summer. If you want to be ready for summer you have to prepare in the winter. It’s December, which means it’s basically winter, and now is the time to start your preparations for the upcoming summer. The summer, not coincidentally, which has the chance to either be the best summer of your life or just another one.

 

Above, the new Shore Haven listing for $749k. 
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
David Curry

Geneva Lakefront Market Update

This time of year the Lake Geneva real estate market will do one of two things. It will either push slowly and methodically to the end of the year, or it will remain as active as it has been for much of the past several months. Under the first scenario, it’s just a tidying up of the closings on properties that are already under contract, inching inevitably closer towards December 31st. The market will calm, fresh deals will be fewer and far between, and we’ll focus our attention on closing out what will prove to be the best year ever for the upper bracket lakefront market. The alternative course is that we add some new inventory over the next few weeks and that inventory is met with buyer interest. If that occurs, we’ll also likely see a push on some of the aged inventory that has been clogging the market for most of this year. New inventory that sells quickly helps aged inventory simply because it shows buyers that time is, likely, of the essence.

It’s early fall here, but it’s late fall for the real estate market. We have plenty of time left of active selling season, as I’d just as easily sell a lakefront in October as in June. The serious buyers will remain engaged throughout the change of seasons, those who understand that this search should not be taken lightly nor should it be considered over just because the leaves have begun to change.  But the summer buyers who operate on whim and fancy, those buyers will slowly drop off as the temperatures cool and the leaves dull and fall. November, now that’s a month for the serious buyer. Things are brown, and the things that aren’t brown are gray. Daylight is limited, sunshine, too. The buyers that remain through October and last into November are the real buyers, and I think there are more of them in the market today than I’ve seen in a long time.

The issue today is inventory, as we only have 22 true lakefront homes available as of this morning.  We haven’t seen much by way of new product this fall, and the two of the three new lakefronts that have hit the market recently sold immediately (Lakeview, $1.3s, Sidney Smith, $3.8s). I continue to expect new lakefront inventory to come to market, but I continue to be disappointed with each passing day. In February, it’s no big deal when a week passes without fresh inventory, because the next week will be better and the week after might be March. But in October, the next week might also be quiet and the week after might be November.  Lakefront properties have been listed between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that’s a rare seller who decides to present to the market during that traditionally slow market. Still, if a seller is paying attention to the limited inventory she would do well to list into that environment, no matter what the calendar says.

Today there are several lakefronts pending sale. There’s the entry level on Lakeview that I mentioned earlier, and there’s the Marianne Terrace listing in the low $2s. That’s right next door to my listing that’s offered at a similar price. Shamefully, I haven’t sold my listing yet. The new listing on Sidney Smith of a home under construction sold quickly, and that sale is a very important data point for buyers looking to build new. That property sold for $1.925MM in 2015, and the seller began construction on a new home just a couple of months ago. That home was new, but it struck me as being rather basic as presented to the market, yet it sold and it sold quickly.  For buyers considering new construction projects, this is a reminder that the market is quite liquid for newer construction on reasonably nice lots (100 or so feet of frontage) priced below $4.5MM. This is a segment of the market that wasn’t particularly tested until this year, and it’s now obvious that buyers will gravitate towards new construction in this price range.  Lastly, my lakefront for $7.95MM in Fontana is pending sale.

So which scenario do think will play out? Will there be new inventory that will be excitedly gobbled up by the market? Or will the market slow as a result of stale inventory? I think it’s likely the latter, but I also know that as soon as you count this market out and expect it to sleep for a few months, it has a tendency to surprise. Still, expect a normalized market as we head into fall. Buyers will revisit aged inventory one last time, and they’ll be ready to pounce if any interesting new inventory presents itself as we move towards winter.

Geneva Lakefront Market Update
David Curry

Geneva Lakefront Market Update

The entry level lakefront market is a perplexing little market. On one hand, it’s obvious that a cheap lakefront on Geneva will always find an audience. This is unavoidable. On the other hand, the inventory is slight in this segment and yet there have been two entry level lakefront homes toiling under $1.4MM for much of this year and nearly for all of last. In the same segment, a new lakefront was listed last week and has since gone under contract (I’m not involved in the transaction). Not only is the new home in the same segment, it’s on the same street, and it sold without much ado even as the other two sit. This bothers me, but it proves the market absolutely loves new inventory and at the same time finds something distasteful about aged inventory, no matter what benefits the aged inventory can offer. New inventory good, old inventory bad, or so the market proves.

Last month the wide frontage on Basswood closed for $3.55MM. Lest you think this was some amazing, full depth Basswood lot, I assure you that it wasn’t as ideal as it first sounds. The property was wide at the lake, beautiful indeed, but the lot angled back to a sliver as it headed towards Basswood. Compare this to my listing on Basswood (more money, granted) that runs a complete rectangle from lake to Basswood, full of old deciduous growth. Still, the lot that sold is nice and the house could very well be renovated. I’ll be curious to see if there’s a sizable renovation there, or just a lipstick renovation, or if the structure follows the well worn path towards demolition. Time will tell.

That sale was the seventh lakefront this year to print at or over $2.75MM.  Not coincidentally, of those seven sales, I represented either buyer or seller in five of them, including the three highest priced sales of 2016. Last year at this time we had closed just four lakefronts at or over $2.75MM, so there’s little doubt that the market at the higher end has much more strength now than it did before.  As I wrote last week, what this upper bracket markets wants now is more inventory. We can’t sell what we don’t have available, and so there are buyers on the hunt and increasingly less game in the field. My large lakefront in Fontana is under contract, leaving just 11 lakefronts priced over $3MM for sale. Of those, two or three of them are in no danger of selling, perhaps ever.  The highest priced listing to grace our lakefront this year has just been reduced from $16.45MM to $14.5MM.

And that brings us back to the entry level market and the lesson of the week.  In this lower inventory environment, new inventory will always be met with excitement. Sellers who are thinking of waiting until next spring to list their lakefront home are doing themselves a disservice by not taking advantage of the market conditions that exist today. Why trade the relative certainty of today for the complete uncertainty of some time far into the future? The thing is, even with this low inventory environment, there are deals to be had. There are aged bits of inventory that look appealing to me, but that’s because I’m value driven and I know that just because the market hasn’t been excited by a property that doesn’t mean there isn’t value hidden under all those days on market. Below and above, my Basswood estate listing.

Abbey Springs Market Update
David Curry

Abbey Springs Market Update

There’s a truth we need to agree on this morning. Abbey Springs is nice. That’s a truth. Abbey Springs has a golf course, another truth. I have hit many Abbey Springs houses with golf balls that were launched off of a club face under my “control”, super truthful. Also, the Abbey Springs beach on a sunny holiday weekend is less a beach and more a flesh blanket. It’s a flesh blanket. Mind if I lay my head on your stomach, because I can’t find any open spot of sand? Flesh. Blanket.

But this is unfair, because it’s a nice flesh blanket and it’s the only association of its kind that has a beach at all. It’s a miniature Geneva National but instead of being located on Lake Como, it’s located on our Geneva Lake. It’s also just 592 units in size, which makes it enormous but still about one third the size of Geneva National. In this size difference there is a key to the market. Instead of needing to print 60-100 sales per year to keep pace with market demands, Abbey Springs can leisurely print 18-25 sales per year and everything will be fine. Smaller associations are like that, and Abbey Springs has both a holiday beach draped in a flesh blanket and a really solid market. Let’s talk more about the market.

Last year at this time there had been 14 closings in Abbey Springs, with just one of those sales printing over $500k. This year Abbey Springs has closed 28 total sales with five over $500k, including two over $800k.  With that you know this: Abbey Springs is having itself an absolutely terrific year. The condominiums are selling, the houses are selling, the beach has a blanket of flesh and the golf balls are knocking roofs. The grounds are well maintained and the ghosts of large past special assessments all but forgotten. Abbey Springs might be having the best year of any individual association around this lake, and that’s a really good thing.

But the market isn’t without holes. There are issues here, chiefly the market’s relative difficulty in printing sales over $700k. Yes, this year there have been two over $800k, but look back and consider since 2010 there have been just 9 single family sales over $700k in Abbey Springs. That’s a little more than one per year, and that’s not terrific.  There are loads of Abbey Springs homes valued over $700k. Lots and lots of them. Yet the market still has a hard time absorbing that nicer inventory. For an association as strong as Abbey Springs, with the indulgent amenities, I’d expect a stronger market over that price point. For context, Geneva National offers bigger and better homes for the money, but GN has printed 15 sales over $700k since 2010, so GN has finally beat Abbey Springs at something.

I have plenty of buyers who contact me in search of some nice single family home in Abbey Springs priced around $500k. This is hard for me to say, but Abbey Springs around $500k in a single family home situation doesn’t offer much. It’ll give you a reasonably decent house that needs updating. If you’re looking to spend $500k and you want a Viking stove, better check elsewhere. This does create a market for the buyer who wishes to improve a built home, as nice homes with elevated, newer finishes in Abbey Springs generally start at that $700k mark and run upward from there. Looking to create value in Abbey Springs? Buy an older house and fix it up. You know, like they do on TV.

I’ll be working this holiday weekend, so if you find yourself at the lake and in need of some advice, fire away. Unless you want to call me at 11 am Sunday morning and you’re hoping to see seven homes at noon, then don’t call me. Just email me and we’ll see what happens. Have a terrific weekend at the lake.

Lake Geneva Lakefront Update
David Curry

Lake Geneva Lakefront Update

August.  It’s August now and it’s too late for you. If you’re at home and your vacation home dreams are there with you, then you’ve already blown it. This August will not be special for you. It might be special for you if you enter into a contract to buy a vacation home during this month, but otherwise it’ll be uneventful and horrible. You went to Lollapalooza over the weekend? Terrific, that also sounds boring. The good news is that while this August is a complete and utter waste, next August can be spectacular. And next July, too. June, sure. May, and its Memorial Day, delightful. And so it goes, a summer still underway but an August already wasted. That’s your upbeat Monday morning message. Enjoy your week!

The market is remarkably active today. The lakefront in particular. A few weeks ago I sold my large lakefront listing on the North Shore near Pebble Point. A buyer paid $3.93MM for 181′ of dead level frontage and four acres of fabulous depth. This lot is likely the best vacant lot to sell on this lake in quite some time. I prefer it over the lot that sold near Alta Vista a few years back for $6MM. That lot is sold, and with it I’m back to where I belong in the MLS rankings for Walworth County- Number One.  Another large lakefront on Basswood is under contract with an asking price just under $4MM. That home had been for sale for quite a while, and finally found a spurt of activity this summer before finalizing a contract last month.  Two hundred feet of frontage with an old house will always find a buyer, assuming the price slowly succumbs to the market’s expectations.

The South Shore Club has had a nice injection of activity, as I listed and then almost immediately went under contract on a large home just to the lakeside and west of the pool. At $2.99MM this was the first home in this sort of location to come to market since I sold a foreclosure two years ago on the east side of the pool. The home sold quickly because it’s a large home, with elevated finishes, and a most beautiful lake view. The other listing in the South Shore Club is farther towards the back, with less of a view, but I expect that home to benefit from my soon-to-print-comp, and that home will sell this year as well. If you’re looking at the SSC and don’t want to swing the $2.7MM+ price to be on the circle, I have my lot on Forest Hill Court available for just $598k, including home plans.

Just last week a home on the Abbey Harbor came to market, and then this last weekend that home went under contract. Do buyers love harbor front? Of course not, but buyers do love new and fancy and if you’re a buyer who loves large boats and new and fancy well then you’ve met your ideal situation. At $2.8MM the seller was rewarded in large part because of the lack of quality lakefront inventory in that price range.  The SSC home is a similar beneficiary. If the lakefront had more inventory in the $2-5MM segment, buyers would absorb much of it with little delay. If you’re a seller sitting on a home in that segment and you’ve thought of selling, now is the time to call me. Actually, email me, since my return phone call habits are terrible at best.

Entry level lakefronts continue to be shown regularly, but are failing to attract contracts. I just reduced my lakefront on Lakeview to $1.419MM, and that’s likely the best entry level property on the market.  With just 27 lakefront homes available, and two more vacation lots (my Loramoor lakefront being the best option there), buyers have few options to choose from. The good news for buyers is that aged inventory is already starting the reduction process. Sellers know that while this market is a 365 day market now, buyer traffic will slow by November, meaning there’s just 90 days of solid market time left for 2016. Smart sellers are evaluating their position in the market and reducing. It’s not a desperate move by any means, it’s just smart business. Watch for the savvy sellers who have experienced significant market time to reduce soon. Of course the smart buyers are the ones working with me to both strangle deals out of this aged inventory and pounce on the new inventory.

 

Above, the boathouse at my W4160 Lakeview listing. Yours for $1.419MM.

 

Glenwood Springs Sells
David Curry

Glenwood Springs Sells

I think it’s great when someone comes up to tour some vacation homes on a Friday and buys one on a  Sunday. But I admit to you that in 20 years of selling real estate that’s only happened like once. And maybe that one time I’m remembering is something I’m imagining, like a dream I dreamt so many times that I now believe it to be true. The sorts of buyers that I work with tend to be far more methodical. They tend to be discerning. They tend to be slow moving, sometimes to the point where their deliberations become the reason they miss out on opportunities. Often, being thoughtful can cause buyers to overlook incredible value because they’ve convinced themselves that to be eternally patient is somehow better than being opportunistic.

Last week, I closed on the sale of an old house on Linden in Glenwood Springs. This house is in pretty rough shape, which might be giving it too much credit. It’s a tough old house, but it’s on a double lot with a lake view and a private pier so what difference does it make if a marble dropped in the living room somehow ends up making a visit to each main floor room before it settles?  Like most sales, this one tells a story, and it’s not a story of finding a buyer by placing an ad in the New York Times, or by pulling a full page ad in Mansion for $18,000. This is a story like most Lake Geneva stories.

In February of 2009, this old house came to market for $949,000. For those who weren’t paying attention to the market then, the winter of 2009 was an interesting time. The stock market melted in the fall of 2008, but it wouldn’t stop melting until spring of 2009, and the housing market from late 2008 through late 2009 wasn’t quiet sure what was happening. There were well known local Realtors here telling us, and I quote, “Lake Geneva is Different”. The supposition was that we wouldn’t crash like other markets because we’re better than other markets. We’re stronger, less dependent on leverage, more stable. I admit to finding myself in that camp on some days during that confusing winter.  In February of 2009, the seller in Glenwood Springs was buying that narrative, and so $949k it was.

The market worsened from late 2008 all the way through 2011, and so this house sat. The price was reduced and reduced some more, and then in the fall of 2011 the home sold for $499k. A far cry from the $949k initial list in 2009. Fall of 2011 was likely our market bottom here, but it wasn’t a uniform bottom. Entry level lakefront wouldn’t bottom until mid 2012, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that entry level lakefront still hasn’t recovered from that bottom. The higher reaches of our lakefront market have fared very well since that 2011 bottom, but how has Glenwood Springs done?

The Linden house was sold, but the new owner was mostly buying it because it was there, and at $499k it was cheap. In November 0f 2014, with the markets vastly improved, the old house on Linden came to market for $675k. The owner would make a nice return for the risk they took at the bottom of the market. They would make money, and they would celebrate over drinks. A toast, to the investor!

But last week I sold that home for $465k.  The 2011 risk on owner lost a sizable sum of money. Perhaps $100k when all fees and carrying costs are factored. Now a new buyer, a new opportunity, a $465k price for a double lot with a lakeview and a private pier. Since the 2011 low, two neighboring homes on Linden have sold, both in the $700s, both older homes. I sold one of those homes. The market proved fickle yet again, and the new buyer is the beneficiary of seizing the moment.

But the moment was almost lost, because this buyer had actually looked at the home with serious intent last summer. At that time, the list price was in the mid $500s and we were guessing that a $500k price might get the job done. The buyer decided the timing wasn’t right and we never engaged the seller in a negotiation. Then, in late January, I thought the time might be right, and the buyer bid. The timing wasn’t convenient for the buyer, as a family vacation was already planned and underway, but he found the time and made the bid.  When the dust settled, we had paid $465k- a price well below the 2011 market “bottom” price. The buyer won, and I’m pleased to have represented him.

It would have been easy to watch this property over the years and assume something was wrong with it. It would have been easy to take a pass. Every buyer but one did just that. But the new buyer found the motivation at the right time, and his family now gets to spend summer lakeside, swimming from their private pier, enjoying the Glenwood Springs scene, while the other more methodical buyers remain methodical in their city and suburban homes, wondering when the time will be right.

 

Geneva National 2015 Market Review
David Curry

Geneva National 2015 Market Review

In 1992, a small one bedroom condominium in Geneva National sold for $92,300. I imagine how happy the new owners were. They’d come up to golf and to swim, to tennis and to walk, to explore the area and when the day was done, return to their tidy little condominium.  It was a slice of heaven, I suppose. In 2005, that small condo sold for the second time, for $129,900. Seems a reasonable ransom for that little bit of Lake Geneva bliss. If you’re worried that you missed out on that deal, don’t worry, the same condo is available today for $69,900.

It’s not easy to offer a property in 2016 for 75% of what it sold for in 1992, but Geneva National can do it.  2015 was a most spectacular year for GN. 81 built homes and condominiums sold. Consider in 2014 only 44 sold. 2013 had 56 such sales. 2012 just 35. In fact, you’d have to go all the way back to the peak market year of 2006 to find more annual sales (91). Geneva National found favor last year, and anyone wondering why need only consider the sad tale of that one bedroom condo. Prices are still down, values are still obvious, and as a result, the liquidity is profound.

I’ve written often about Geneva National. Indeed such a large development in such a small overall market deserves considerable coverage. It’s no secret that I really like Geneva National. I like like it. It’s a terrific development, and as a guy who generally despises development Geneva National is an exception. It’s a fantastic development and our market needs it to bridge the gap between lake access homes on and near Geneva and everything else. The only problem with Geneva National is that it’s too big. It requires too many buyers annually to keep it moving forward, which is why it stalls when things in the market go sideways for a while. But its size isn’t its fault, it’s the fault of the developer who saw only dollar signs when he should have been contemplating the long term ramifications of such a large development. Perhaps a certain Geneva, Illinois developer should learn from Anvan’s mistake?

Value today is apparent in GN. There are deals, and there is value, and in that, Geneva National should continue to capture the attention it deserves. I sold two properties  in GN last year, and I have a terrific townhouse pending sale right now.  The sort of condo that you can buy in Geneva National for $200k doesn’t exist in Abbey Springs even up to $400k. If you want to affordably hang your hat and have a quiet launching point for a Lake Geneva weekend, is there anything better than Geneva National?

While the 2015 volume was comprised of plenty of smaller condo deals, it was nice to see some higher value properties print as well. There were 7 MLS sales over $500k, which is a positive for GN.  When I built my home in GN in the mid 2000s, I figured the primary market would take to GN and drive up prices as my generation sought to upgrade and improve their housing situation. I was wrong, of course, but Geneva National should be on the radar of any primary home buyer seeking a Walworth County residence in excess of $450k.  Additionally, a vacation home buyer seeking a $500k vacation home should generally try to be as close to Geneva Lake as possible. If that sort of cottage isn’t  desirable, then a GN home should at least garner a look.

Inventory in GN has dropped, with just 62 homes and condominiums for sale as of this morning. That’s way down from the traditional inventory levels that hover over 100, and I expect this will help GN in the first quarter. The properties that are for sale largely represent value, and low interest rates should help fuel some solid spring sales. I’m not sure how GN will fare over the course of 2016 if this stock market blip turns into a real slide, but I would expect a drop in volume from that most excellent 2015. A return to normalcy would be good for GN, so if the association can print 50-60 sales I would think that to be a fantastic year.

2015 Abbey Springs Market Review
David Curry

2015 Abbey Springs Market Review

If we had our druthers, we’d be Abbey Springs. That’s assuming we weren’t we, but we were in fact a large association of homes and condominiums. If that’s who we were, we’d do so very well to be Abbey Springs. We’d laugh at our friends, presumably they’d be other large associations as well, because we, as a large association, wouldn’t consider hanging out with smaller, lesser associations. We’d have our friends, those bloated associations just like us, and we’d sit around and talk about life, about associationy things.  We’d laugh about people who stand up and complain about dues, and we’d laugh about the association presidents who desired, for one reason or many others, to be an association president. We would have fun being this massive association, because if we were Abbey Springs we’d be revered among our peers.

That’s because Abbey Springs just is. It’s just the way it is, the way it’s been, and those ways have found reasonably routine favor with the vacation home buying masses that smartly find their way to Walworth County.  In the way that Geneva National has been sexy at times because of its feast or famine nature, Abbey Springs has just existed.  There was a blip when the association decided to spend trillions (millions) of dollars and update the facilities and grounds. That was a battle and in that there was some sizzle. But otherwise, Abbey Springs is just a 592 unit association on the southern shore of Geneva Lake that plods along without a whole lot of market adversity.

When times were really good, in 2006, Abbey Springs sold 28 total units. Of that mix of single family and condominium properties, just one closed under $200k and four closed over $794k, including one at $1.3MM. That was one heck of a year.  When the market re-set in late 2008, what followed was an adjustment that was necessary and needed. Prices corrected, volume slowed, and what wasn’t well known was how deep and how long this particular correction would endure. While Geneva National muddled along in those rough years, Abbey Springs jus sort of was.  There were 17 sales in 2010, 14 in 2011, 17 in 2012, and 22 in 2013. Abbey Springs, even though prices corrected and volume dropped, fared as well as any large association ever has.

2015 was a very good year for Abbey Springs, but it wasn’t remarkable, nor was it special. It was just a year and Abbey Springs was just Abbey Springs. There were 22 units sold last year, with five of those printing over $500k and seven closing under $200k.  In 2014, there were 20 sales, in 2013, 22. This is a pattern of normalcy at Abbey Springs, and the association should be rather proud of itself for producing such a steady and consistent flow of transactions. Geneva National should be envious of that stability (though Geneva National had a fantastic 2015).

While it’s understood that $300-500k buys a pretty nice condo in Abbey Springs, and that $450k-$900k buys a pretty nice house (including one on Saint Andrews that I sold last fall for $746k), the unique part of Abbey Springs is the lower end segment that thrives. If you came to the lake with $200k to spend on a vacation home, I applaud your sense of purpose. Many in that range would opt for a smaller, lesser lake, where they could buy a similarly small, lesser property. This would be their mistake. Abbey Springs will gladly take your $200k and offer you a small condominium with full access to the unrivaled Abbey Springs amenities, which include, as a reminder, the following: Indoor pool, outdoor pool, restaurants, sand beach, basketball courts, tennis courts, exercise facilities, racquet ball court, game room, in/out service, pier system, and 18 hole golf course.

If you’re looking for a vacation home here, and you’re amenity oriented, there’s nothing like Abbey Springs. The market is sound, the volume predictable, the prices easy to understand. 2016 should be a repeat of 2015, which was a repeat of 2014, which, oddly enough, was a repeat of 2013. Expect around 20 sales here, with stable prices. Low interest rates should encourage buyers, and left over buyers from 2015 should be pleased to find new spring inventory coming to the market this month and the next. If we were Abbey Springs, we’d be awfully proud of ourselves, but we’d try to keep it to ourselves for fear of coming across as too smug.

2015 Lakefront Condo Year In Review
David Curry

2015 Lakefront Condo Year In Review

I’m just going to say that it makes sense. It makes sense that the lakefront condo market remains stuck in neutral. It doesn’t make sense because of some large demographic shift, and it doesn’t make sense because of some market dynamic that isn’t explainable. It makes sense because entry level lakefront homes are also stuck in neutral, and as long as prices on the low range of the lakefront market remain soft, there’s no reason that the lakefront condo market should succeed.

The thinking here follows very simple principles of market demand, and the reactionary pricing that exists when one market is closely tied to another. If a buyer can spend $600k on a lakefront condo, that’s tremendous. There are many buyers that would find that to be their upper limit, which is a lofty limit by any standard. But many in that range can sneak upwards, they can reach to $1MM, or $1.1MM, maybe even $1.2MM. If they could spend $600k easily but $1.1MM with a stretch, that’s the sort of buyer that would generally be well served to stretch to private frontage, and that’s likely what’s been happening within the lakefront condo market. It isn’t that there aren’t buyers, it’s just that the buyers are being tempted by single family homes that are competing for their vacation loving dollars.

It’s not just lakefront, mind you, it’s off-water single family stealing the condominiums’ thunder as well. If you could spend $550k for a lakefront condo with a slip, I like that idea. But what if you wanted a yard of your own because your dog is super obnoxious and you don’t want to bother condominium neighbors? Well, then you could drive down some road here and find a lake access cottage with a slip for similar dollars. The condo market isn’t flawed, and it isn’t dying, it’s just facing stiff competition.

In 2015, nine lakefront condominiums sold per our MLS. That’s a nice number, and it included condominiums of all shapes and sizes. Someone paid just $187k for a one bedroom lakefront condo at Fontana Shores, and a customer of mine paid $1.195MM for a fabulous lakefront condo at Eastbank with finely appointed finishes and furnishings, a lake view and a canopied boatslip. Other notable sales this year included a couple at Vista Del Lago, a couple at Fontana Shores (including one I sold for $335,500), one at Bay Colony, and a couple at Geneva Towers. It should be noted that one developer’s plan to upgrade Geneva Towers into a building bursting with $1MM+ condominiums didn’t really work as planned. They sold some units, but the initial pricing goals were not met.  All in all, it was a fine year for the lakefront condo market on Geneva.

Currently, there are 13 lakefront condos available on Geneva. My fabulous Stone Manor unit is still available in the high $5s, and my lovely two bedroom condo at the Fontana Club remains unsold in the high $400k range. The market is light on inventory at the moment, which is a good thing. The lakefront condo market functions at its absolute best when the inventory is limited. Too many units available in any one condo development and the market senses trouble, even when there is none. If we can keep the inventory total down in 2016, I’m expecting a similar year to 2015.

Low interest rates should provide plenty of fuel for continued condo sales. Remember, 2014 boasted 11 lakefront condo sales on Geneva, so our 2015 total is sagging behind a bit. I think 2016 will be more in line with 2015, as the market absorbs the remaining aged inventory at somewhat discounted prices. If you’re a $500k buyer and you want your own yard so your horribly loud dogs can bark away, I understand. But if you’re a $500k type buyer and you just want an easy place to hang your hat on the weekends, the condo market deserves a look.