General

Siberia has no palm trees. I’ve never been there, but I’ve read about it in magazines, and I’ve watched videos about there, the sorts that take Patagonia clad fly fisher … Read more

The thing about entry level lakefront is it’s entry level. Because it’s entry level, it’s like anything that’s so aptly labeled. An entry level sedan doesn’t have a heated steering … Read more

The celebrating of the last year and the lamenting of the one now arrived, finally over, it’s time to discuss what this market is doing now and what it’s going … Read more

The profession of real estate selling is rarely considered to be a noble one. Certainly not noble in the way that doctors and researchers and academics are able to consider … Read more

I had intended on writing something profound, or at least something pseudo-profound, but alas, a breakfast meeting went too long and then I remembered that I had loads of Christmas … Read more

You at a desk, three years ago. Your job, to chart a recovery plan for the South Shore Club. You’d need some paper, a pen. Maybe a pencil. Some coffee. … Read more

Sometimes, work is boring. My younger brother works in a forge, where I’ve been told he does all sorts of things, but mostly he stands in place and punches in … Read more

The articles that grace the front page of the Chicago Tribune’s Real Estate section are generally not the sort of articles that one would want to put on the front … Read more

Ah, the unique, uncaged animal that is the upper bracket of real estate. Upper Bracket varies in definition, but it’s easy to assume that it means the top of the … Read more

Her life is not without inconsistencies. On one hand, she’ll push back if you try to push her off your side of the bed. She’ll snap at you if you … Read more

Business has a way of making the participants feel strange emotions. On one hand, I’m super happy and grateful and excited about having a tremendous year this year, one where … Read more

Last night, after watching a show that promised me I would see a man be eaten alive by a giant snake, I couldn’t sleep. Not because I was upset about … Read more

I’ve gotten a bit lazy in checking foreclosures. I’ve gotten a bit lazy in lots of things, so this one thing shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it … Read more

If we’re looking back, as I’m fond of doing, 2009 was a really bad time to list your house. There were buyers, sure, but there was mostly just chaos. In … Read more

Everything was going as planned. Thanksgiving dinner featured a juicy, perfectly cooked bird- a rarity in a Curry household that excels at baking but tends to err on the side … Read more

Remember when I said I liked the Aspen Lane sale at $498k? Remember when I said that the main reason I liked it was because the location afforded privacy, and … Read more

Earlier this year, a famous flame thrower bought a lakefront house in Fontana. The house was large. It was fancy, with a master bedroom suite to die for and the … Read more

I think it’s good that we give our Federally mandated Thanks next week. It’s good because I have had harvest decorations up around my house for a month or so, … Read more

It was still warm when everyone told us it would be cold. They said that the cold would come from the north, which is where everyone already knew it came … Read more

There’s a generally acknowledged acceptance of community. If we haven’t yet moved to a community, be it a town or a subdivision, we search for such a community populated by … Read more

A few short years ago, there was a fire. Abbey Hill, the wooden alpine-styled condominiums on the hill near the stop and sock, suffered a casualty. The cause of the … Read more

When that one guy went to Alaska to live, he chose a spot with straight trees. Had he been truly rugged, he would have chosen a plot with crooked trees, … Read more

I recognize that from time to time, or all the time, I sound like a broken record. I say the same things over and over again, disguised with different words … Read more

I readily admit that I do not understand space. I can’t fathom what it is, how large it is, and the concept that there is no end to what I … Read more

If given a choice, most people would not say that they prefer November. There’s not much to November. In the progression, August is summer. It is filled with all sorts … Read more

There’s a foreclosure in the South Shore Club. This is the one I’ve been telling you about for quite some time, and now it’s here. The prior owner of this … Read more

To be fair, the axe was never truly intended to be used this way. It’s made by The Best Made Company in Tribeca, where the men are skinny and their … Read more

I get asked lots of things. For instance, people say, why haven’t you updated your photo on your website? In response I tell them that I don’t feel like it. … Read more

Times were, late October had its own feel. Outside, it had a feel, sure, but that’s temperature related and not real estate related. Except back then, those two things were … Read more

Once, there was a group of people who decided that they no longer wished to be taxed for the sake of being taxed. If they ran their own towns and … Read more

I hope by now you’ve figured out there’s a difference in the way I sell, and promote, real estate. I have, at any given time, plenty of listings. Right now, … Read more

I think we need to establish a few rules today. These are very simple rules, but they have been confounding the market for a long time. Buyers mostly present in … Read more

The salmon run. They run up streams in Michigan and in Indiana and Minnesota. They run up streams in Ohio and New York. They run from salty oceans and up … Read more

The American real estate story, as told from the mid 1990s through today, could very easily be told not through lots and lots of words, but simply through reading the … Read more

There’s a website operated by one of my competitors that lists a billion things to do in Lake Geneva. I’m sure it’s helpful. I, too, fall into the trap of … Read more

The people who make cars make them in silver and black and white and red. Most of the cars on the road fall under one of those four schemes. Is … Read more

Times were, a condo buyer was a condo buyer. They wanted a condo because they liked the idea of having someone to handle their maintenance for them, and they weren’t … Read more

I rarely play the lottery. That’s not because I once won a huge sum of money via the lottery and now I don’t need to play the lottery, it’s just … Read more

If you pick a basket full of mulberries, you’re in luck. You have a tremendous basket full of mulberries! Your basket full will look luscious, and the contents will glisten … Read more

I’m not a big fan of the term “new school”. In the same way, I don’t like “old school”. I mean, I do like the part where Frank shoots himself … Read more

Google tells me this: Since peaking in the early 1800s, use of the word “abbey” has declined steadily and thoroughly. I would assume the television show would have caused a … Read more

My appetite for the written word isn’t as voracious as it should be. Truth is, I read lots. I read lots and lots. But I don’t read too many books, … Read more

A few months ago, or maybe it was only a few weeks ago, a home in Cedar Point sold just a bit under $1.6MM. That’s not really a big deal, … Read more

The boy and his dad. It’s sweet, really. The boy isn’t so much a boy as he is a man, old enough to be one anyway. He’s playing catch with … Read more

The SSC now has just two developer owned lots left, those at lot 6 and lot 32. Priced at $595k and $649k respectively, they are fair lots and they will … Read more

The problem with being in the real estate business is that if you’re doing it all the time you lose sight of pretty much everything else. I can remember days … Read more

There was a time when I could remember things. Back then, if you were to give me your phone number, I wouldn’t write it down, at least not right away. … Read more

I spend most of my written capital giving advice to buyers. I tell them when it’s a good time to buy, when it’s the right house to buy, when they … Read more

Boating in the summer isn’t very difficult. Neither is walking down the shore path in the morning in whichever direction offers you coffee. Sitting in a lawn chair, watching the … Read more

In the spring of 2012, I bought this ten acre lot. In the spring of 2013, I finished construction on this home, that sits atop the small hill on this … Read more

I’m old enough now that I don’t remember going back to school. I remember it in the high school context, what it was like to wear the new clothes and … Read more

Early this year, I wasted a whole bunch of time putting, and then keeping, together a deal on a lakefront listing of mine. After deadlines were met and dates were … Read more

I don’t recall being all that impressed with the sky in Big Sky Country. It was a sky, sure, but it didn’t look any bigger to me than any other … Read more

The last boat study I’m aware of was conducted in 2003. This study looked at Geneva Lake on a number of different levels, including ecosystem issues, farm run-off concerns, invasive … Read more

For the first time all year, my iPhone weatherman shows a forecast with lots of 80 degree temps and even some 90 degree temps. Remember those summer nights from previous … Read more

I have never been to Florida in the summer. The reason for this abstention is because I have all of my faculties about me, and I have increasingly little interest … Read more

I struggle a bit with understanding how the news pundits explain housing. If, for instance, sales are up, then housing is doing well. Yay! If sales are down, housing is … Read more

I suppose it could be said that spring buyers are those with immediacy on their minds. If you search for a home in March, at the tail end of a … Read more

The pool was rather perfect looking. Perhaps one or two groupings of a few individuals hung to its watery edges, but no one was swimming. The life guard was on … Read more

I’m always surprised how many people watch properties. They don’t look at properties, necessarily, but they watch them. They look at them online, they drive by them in person. They … Read more

I have made a habit of taking one teensy tiny vacation per month. It lasts two days. I load my family into the good old family truckster, and we drive … Read more

I was a senior in high school. Around that time, I had taken to using an old leather carryall. It was a soft briefcase with a shoulder strap, and I … Read more

I think if I were a condo buyer, be it in a sweaty city or up here at the lake, I’d prefer to be on a high floor. Not because … Read more

In my mind, I develop all sorts of patterns. I think, this blog should be market updates on Monday, huge departures into gibberish on Wednesdays, and market recaps on Fridays. … Read more

The headline was sensational, the subject near and dear to my cold heart: Zillow Aquires Trulia; Let The Real Estate Hunger Games Begin. So, Zillow and Trulia are on the … Read more

Babies are fed mashed peas. The pea jar is opened, perhaps warmed so that it is warm, but never hot, and then a plastic spoon labeled BPA FREE stirs the … Read more

There are many ways to get caught in the wrong house at the wrong time. Almost all of these are honest means, leaving no fault on the owner who was … Read more

To be a seller in spring, is to be as a youth, full of optimism and energy, a spout of vision that has yet to be set off track by … Read more

If you call your hair cutter lady, or fella, and he or she is on vacation when you call, you ask the receptionist when he/she will return, and then you … Read more

I once had a customer who told me that the Lake Geneva real estate market lags behind the California real estate market, but that everything that happens in California will, … Read more

It seemed to me that if the boat tipped over, I’d be trapped inside the cabin, or worse, under the sail as that sail swung from the sky to the … Read more

My dad will, somewhat famously, hawk anything from the lawn next to our real estate office. There is nothing safe from this side-of-road mentality. He’s sold several John Deere tractors, … Read more

I drove through Lake Geneva yesterday, as I do every day. I drove into town, I stopped at the various lights, and I drove out of town, around the lake, … Read more

Speaking of rising tides, two more lakefront homes just sold this week. One of those homes was sold by yours truly, the other, sadly, by someone else. These two sales … Read more

There are too many assumptions made in the statement that claims a rising tide lifts all ships. First off, tides are anything but stable. They are predictable, sure, but they … Read more

In the event that you are selling your home in, say, Mobile, Alabama, please pay very close attention. If you’ve had lots of activity, and you just had an offer … Read more

During the year of 2004, Gudrun was the most popular name given in Iceland to newborn baby girls. It also happened to be the name that a pair of first … Read more

I could never live in a small condo in the city. My brother does this, the city living in the small condo. I don’t really know how he does it … Read more

This rain is getting to be entirely too much. I’m not a farmer, though if you caught a glimpse of my strawberry patch you might be willing to consider a … Read more

I’ll live my entire life without buying Waterworks tile. I have dabbled with buying a Waterworks faucet or two, but even in that I’ve backed off in the later innings … Read more

Last summer, on a particularly sunny, remarkably humid day, I walked into that house for the first time. It wasn’t much of a house, and the land was wide but … Read more

I once had a client refer to a million dollars as a stick. Like, a stick. A woody thing that fell or was chopped from a tree. It would have … Read more

In certain price ranges here for certain sorts of properties, the buyer doesn’t need to possess any real vision. Chances are, if you’d like a nice enough home for around … Read more

The business of making pools is, well, pretty big business. A rapidly growing segment of the pool market is in so called “natural” pools. The concept of fixing nature is … Read more

That many lakefront home buyers are already lake home owners makes a lot of sense. If I have a $4MM home for sale on the lake, I need a buyer … Read more

The lakefront market on Geneva is a strange creation. It is at once a whirlwind of activity, of showings and tours and offers and emails. It is a dizzying flurry, … Read more

The roads in Manitoba are really quite simple. Some of the roads run North and South, while the other roads run East or West. This is the entirety of the … Read more

There was a time, not all that long ago, when I bought old houses and did my best to fix them up. I can’t say that I enjoyed this, but … Read more

All homes generally do one thing well. In the game of real estate, it’s usually that one thing that makes a house valuable, or otherwise desirable to at least one … Read more

If the song is right, and the foot bone is connected to the ankle bone, which in turn is connected to the leg bone, then it shouldn’t be such a … Read more

This is either an extremely exciting week, an extremely busy week, or an extremely depressing week, a soul crushing span of five work days. In the winter, it’s easy to … Read more

It would be easy to confuse this day with any other that came before it. It’s gray in the sky and cold in the air. It’s wet underfoot. It’s snowing … Read more

No one would say that Abbey Springs is an architectural gem. I suppose that’s not entirely true, as people once bought bright blue PT Cruisers and they drove them home, … Read more

He asked if finding 230 makes the game any less fun. His question was meant to imply that there would be no fun in finding these if they were, in … Read more

Foreclosures are like old relatives that live far away. Not the sort that you get birthday cards from, nor the sort that you talk to on the phone every now … Read more

I write lots of words about prices. Pricing. Price. They sounds the same, but they’re different. Pricing, that’s what we do in hopes of encouraging a buyer to offer us … Read more

It was a prophecy without a year attached. There was no target date, no decree that it would be on the year that came so many decades, years, and months … Read more

I admit to being bored with this market. By all accounts, including mine, the market is rather hot. There are pending contracts in every segment of our vacation home market, … Read more

I’m thinking of buying a new boat today. Not some sort of normal, modest boat, but a brand new, super shiny, crazy-fast, prohibitively expensive one. Renters buy normal boats these … Read more

It’s raining again. Sitting in a dark house, with stone walls and large timber framing that reaches from wall to wall, exposed. There’s rain outside, pittering and pattering against the … Read more