It’s no particular secret that buyers like Fontana. If I have 100 lakefront buyers call me this year, there’s a strong chance that 75 of them may specifically ask to be in Fontana. Why this is I cannot be certain. I grew up in Williams Bay, to the north of Conference Point, to the south of Gage Marine. I pumped gas at Mel’s Gas Pumps. I pumped gas and forgot money, a condition that I only discovered once the last drop of gas was pumped into my father’s Boston Whaler. Mel was forgiving, so long as I hurried home and hurried back with the few dollars I owed him. I explored the wild woods of Conference Point, and climbed the bent and broken willow that sticks out at a difficult angle from the very tip of that point. Because of this I am familiar with Williams Bay and that familiarity has blossomed into nostalgia and that nostalgia means I would be more inclined to buy real estate in Williams Bay than in neighboring towns.
Fontana has, for eons, been home to many cottages. Glenwood Springs, Country Club Estates, Buena Vista, Indian Hills- these associations are loaded with homes, many of which used to be rental cottages. As a result of this, many would be buyers were first introduced to the Lake Geneva scene by way of Fontana. Chuck’s and Gordy’s played a role as well, with many first beers consumed at Chuck’s, and many first boats bought at Gordy’s. This prior familiarity is possibly a reason why people love Fontana. Or it might be the new streets, the new lights, the new beach house, the quaint and tidy nature of it all. For whatever reason, Fontana is king.
976 South Lakeshore Drive is just East of Fontana, just East of the original Westgate property, in fact, on the original Westgate property. The tell is the old (but fantastically and beautifully remodeled) cut granite boathouse tucked into the hillside at the water’s edge. The entry gate is of the same cut granite. The home that resides there is not old, rather it’s somewhat new in the context of lakefront homes on Geneva. It has four bedrooms, high end bathrooms, an upscale kitchen, a huge lakeside deck, a screened in porch, and a most remarkable view of the lake. A view so remarkable, that upon deciding to list the home with me this week, the owner questioned her own sanity. Are we crazy to sell this?
Today, 976 South Lakeshore is on the market for $3,395,000. The home is fresh, clean, updated and ready for summer. The boathouse is at home among the finest on the entire lake, perhaps the finest? The pictures prove the statement. The pier is large, two slips worth, and the frontage is wide, 142 feet of meandering flagstone shore path providing a clue as to the beginning and the end of it. Four bedrooms, four baths, a full boathouse with living area and storage, that huge wooden pier, that Fontana location, it’s all unique and rare, but that view, that view is the extra special bit. Elevated just enough, but not too much, this home is, as I mentioned, positioned adjacent the original Westgate home which means the homes to the immediate West are set back, far out of view. The result is a view that extends over that manicured lawn and all the way to the Fontana beach, then again back to the East all the way past Cedar Point to Black Point and beyond. Yerke’s and Conference Point fall in between. Now that’s a view.
The home won’t be on the MLS until later this week, but today you know about it. You know about it because you have the good sense to read this blog, because you know by doing so you’ll know what the market is doing before the rest of the market does. I’m showing this home today, and I’ll be showing it this weekend as well. If you’d like to have the opportunity to own this piece of the lake, you’d do well to let me know. Here you can walk to Gordy’s for a lazy Sunday lunch, or walk to the Lake Geneva Yacht Club for fish fry. You could do those things, or you could just sit on that couch and quietly take it all in.