Those Other Lake Geneva Vacation Homes

I like to talk about, write about, think about, and generally meditate on, Geneva Lake. I like to do the same for the single family associations that ring the lake, and the condominiums that had the good fortune to have been built adjacent to the shore. I like Geneva lakefront homes, whether they are cottages or sprawling, rambling, steep roofed manors. When I write, as with when I speak, I like to include Abbey Springs and Geneva National in the vacation home conversation, as they are two developments that are as accommodating to a weekend owner as anything nestled near the water’s edge. But this is generally where my Lake Geneva vacation home conversation ends. I sprinkle in a few stories about life here, both what it is to me now and what it was to me then, and then I loop the whole thing over again and discuss the constant changes and happenings in the select markets that I have already covered. Today, this cycle will end, or at least pause. Today, I will talk to you about Willabay Shores and Abbey Hill. We’ll peak into Abbey Ridge and those condominiums that I don’t even know the name of on the corner of South Lakeshore where the road veers first to the east, as if fleeing the lake, and then again quickly south, realizing its enormous mistake. Today is a day for the little sisters of the Lake Geneva vacation home market, the little sisters without lakerights. Or LSWL for those so fond of acronyms that you’ll embrace it even though it lacks any irony or zing.

The vacation home market here is not solely comprised of homes with lakerights. I know it’s two words, but today it is one. Lakerights, as defined by our market, is a term we use here to identify homes that belong to some form of association or club that possesses a private, association owned park or pier or both on Geneva Lake. If a home up the road from the lake belongs to the Loch Vista Club, that home has the same lakerights that a home located one off the lake does. They both can enjoy the same association park and pier. Other associations are not so easy, Glenwood Springs for instance has a smattering of tiered lake access options, where all homes in the association have access to the lakefront park and piers, but beyond that some homes have a transferable boatslip, others have just a one time transfer of a slip, others have no slip, and yet others have their own private piers. It can be complicated, but they all have lakerights. Some associations are easy- Country Club Estates bestows lakerights upon all of its paying members (annual association dues typically run from $250 to $900 for most of these lake associations), whereas Indian Hills has an area of the association with lakerights, and an area without. They’re all Indian Hills, but not all have lakerights. If you’re shamefully working with another broker and using my site to glean your information, go ahead and ask then which side of Healy and which side of Jewel belongs to Oakwood Estates and which side does not (and therefore has no lakerights), and watch their head explode.

But these are homes with lakerights, and as such, are easily understood to be vacation homes. But other associations, typically condominium associations, that lack any lakerights are also longtime fixtures of the Lake Geneva vacation home market. Willabay Shores in Williams Bay has long been a vacation home community, and their attractive amenities (pool, tennis courts, attached garages) combined with a location that finds them very near to Geneva Lake, makes a purchase here a sensible one. The best thing about non-lake access associations, is that they’re typically much (much) cheaper than those association with lake access. Prices in Willabay currently range from $169k to $250k, and association dues are affordable at anywhere from $215-$270 per month. Sales here have slowed, and Willabay has gone from one of the hottest individual markets (around 2006 it was hot, hot, hot) to just another market, with eight available condominiums and one more pending sale. Just two units have sold here in the past year, with both sales closing during 2010.

Abbey Hill in Fontana has received a little more play here, perhaps because it has been the hardest hit non-lake access vacation home community in our broader market (with possible apologies to GN). Abbey Hill is positioned just up 67 from the lake, and is heavily populated by vacation home owners. It’s also a great example of how decimating a foreclosure or three can be within a small association. Prices here have plummeted, from a point where properties routinely sold in the upper $200ks to a reality where the two sales in the past 12 months have been at $110,000, and $147,500, disrespectively. There are 6 available units on the market today priced from $155k to $234,900, and another two units pending. There is activity here now, but the activity has been spurred by the existence of extreme value, not by any resurgence of desirability.

Abbey Ridge. Once the fair maiden of the Fontana real estate scene, where during the mid 2000s each sale was higher than the last, and inventory only trickled to the open market, has now been forced to come to grips with the cold realities of a changed market. As evidence of this crushing decline, I offer up the results of an MLS search: not a single Abbey Ridge unit has sold on the open market since 2007. I sold a lot of these units back then, back when buyers wanted to be close to the lake, and Abbey Ridge had a hot run that made it stand out as a up and coming enclave in an already known world. Abbey Ridge was our little Bucktown, and suddenly everyone knew about it and wanted to be there. Today, things are different. Owners still splash away their weekends in the beautiful swimming pool, while others take the short, lazy walk to the Abbey Harbor where their boat might await. The development is still in a prime location, and the units are still newer and large, but the buyers have failed to take notice. Price drops have been significant as well, with five units available on the MLS today. My office has two of those units listed, both the lowest priced two bedroom unit and the lowest priced three bedroom townhouse, but even lowered prices haven’t been successful in attracting buyers. It’s a shame really, as any buyer looking to be in the heart of Fontana, walking distance to the well groomed Fontana lakefront and park system would do well to at least consider Abbey Ridge.

And now onto those condominiums on the corner in Lake Geneva. You know the ones. They’re those townhomes on the corner just south of downtown, just behind the Harbor Watch, and the new, recently sold, properties on Wrigley. The ones without a sign that forced me to look online to find out what they’re actual name is. Turns out they’re called the Lakeview Townhomes, a name that I don’t deem to be fitting since they really don’t have much of a view of the lake. Even so, they are one of the only condominiums in Lake Geneva that lack lakerights that I actually like. The location is busy, but they’re a short block to the lake, and anyone who finds the idea of walking a few minutes along the lakefront into town to retrieve their morning coffee and paper would find this location to be ideal. Perhaps even better, there is just one available unit in this complex, and that one available unit just underwent a huge price reduction. Close to downtown, one block from the lake, large square footage, attached garage, and reasonably “newer” construction, all with a price in the low $300ks? Seems like a pretty ideal vacation home to me too, lakerights or not.

All that Monday morning writing to say this: If you’re looking for a vacation home, the LSWL properties might be worth a look. As always, consider me your humble real estate savant. I mean servant.