General

In one of his races, he finished 38 out of 44. In another, he finished 5 out of 44, though if you ask him he insists that he was indeed … Read more

I wonder if they can feel his footsteps above them. I know I can see him when he’s walking down the concrete path to the pier, clutching his fishing pole … Read more

Even if you make it to Bed Bath and Beyond tomorrow, your Saturday will only be one of two things. If you do have time, and you do make it … Read more

Quick. Let’s pretend we have somewhere around $500k to spend and our singular goal is to get as close to the lake as is humanly possible. If you believed that … Read more

The pursuit of a vacation home is a bit of a paradox. It is in full speed fast forward, always scanning what’s there and watching what’s next and wondering what … Read more

The argument could be made that the Lake Geneva real estate recovery began during 2010. Those buyers who bought at that time did so with some fear, and plenty of … Read more

Every year it’s the same. The struggle of winter. Snow flies and ice clings, to the branches to our streets and to the space where our grass used to grow … Read more

Once upon a time, foreclosures were like small little puppies, the cute sort that wander down lonely streets at dusk hoping for a kind stranger who might take them in … Read more

Solitude is a powerful thing. It is also a wonderful thing, if the solitude is voluntary. I imagine forced solitude is unnerving and bad, possibly destructive. It should be noted … Read more

Over the past three weeks there have been three lakefront closings. We haven’t talked about a single one of them, yet. So if we haven’t yet then it must be … Read more

The cabin wasn’t large. It wasn’t medium sized. It wasn’t even all that small. It was, to be accurate, miniature. The things inside of this cabin were normal sized; the … Read more

When your home is listed for sale on a Tuesday and then on Thursday you have three offers, one of which is at your asking price, what does this tell … Read more

I suppose I shouldn’t be here right now. I should, instead, be cutting down sturdy trees and scraping their soggy bark. I should cut these trees into boards, some big, … Read more

When I was little, my grandfather sat me on his knee. He smelled a potent mix of fresh cigarette smoke, a smell left behind by the cigarette he had just … Read more

I don’t really remember real estate “school” all that much. I went at night, me and a bunch of other people from various walks of life, most of whom thought … Read more

My yard, in a round about way, is very nice. It’s large and unkempt. Rocks litter the dirt patches that surround the home, and weeds fill in where the rocks … Read more

It’s time we talk about the South Shore Club again. I do hate being redundant here, which is why I approach the item of the day with a new piece … Read more

Yesterday started like any other day. I took a bath, because I built a house with a large bathtub and I feel like if not me, who, and if not … Read more

If my fishing boat didn’t have a fixed t-top, what on earth would my children climb on while boating? Without this top, with its metal structure and canvas awning, my … Read more

My second car accident occurred sometime during a snow day in 1995. My first occurred on a dark night sometime during the summer that preceded that winter. That first one … Read more

Sometimes that constant itch that is a symptom of our biggest, boldest dreams simply cannot be scratched by the designs of other people. There are times, like the times that … Read more

I suppose I’m suffering from a case of missing perspective. Not life perspective, mind you, as I have two friends sick with cancer right now, so my life perspective appears … Read more

I do not know what a June bug is. I don’t know what sort of bug it is, but I think it’s a beetle. I also don’t know if it’s … Read more

The flippers are back. They’ve pushed away from their desks at their mortgage broker job or their real estate job, or they’ve handed back the keys to the demo car … Read more

After so much traveling, through the twists and turns and the flat tires and the false starts, and after that one day in February when we spent the afternoon staring … Read more

I am a paid subscriber to many, many ideas. For instance, I believe that you never, ever tug on Superman’s cape. This belief isn’t based on the reasons that you … Read more

I have spent more time wandering than you have. If you’ve hiked the Appalacian Trail without a map, you have not wandered like I have. If you were lost in … Read more

There was a day during 2008, just before the market was to shift, that buyers would look at homes, make offers on homes, and then buy either that home, or, … Read more

It’s true that the lakefront vacation home market has an epicenter. The impact zone, in this vernacular, is the lake itself. The market immediately surrounding the lake, those desirable lakefront … Read more

Remember Jeff Goldblum’s character in Independence Day? You don’t have to admit that you do, but you do. That character was personally flawed; his marriage either in trouble or over, … Read more

I’ve listed one of my great regrets as my unwillingness to play basketball in high school. As I move farther from this decision, the regret grows. Of all the things … Read more

My name is David Curry, I’ll be 35 years old next week, and I live with my parents. In their basement. This is full disclosure, and something you should know, … Read more

If we have 100 buyers, some slowly seeking and others desperately seeking the real estate that their heart desires and their wallet affords, how many of those buyers does it … Read more

When I was in high school, I mowed a lawn in the Buena Vista Club. That’s not entirely true. I actually mowed three lawns, nearly all in a row, spanning … Read more

Whoever designs the cheap foam pads that are intended to be stretched over the round disc at the bottom of an orbital waxing device, whoever that is they should be … Read more

I suppose if I were pressed, I’d confess that the subjective nature of real estate pricing bothers me. Not the fact that one property is worth something to one person … Read more

We could be forgiven if we looked outside our windows and forgot what time of year it was. If we couldn’t discern late April from mid November, or mid November … Read more

For years, if you executed an MLS search asking for those South Shore Club homes that fell into the “SOLD” category, you’d just find one lonely home. Repeat the search … Read more

There should be a special support group made up entirely of those unfortunate people who were entry level Geneva lakefront home buyers between the years of 2005 and 2007. This … Read more

I don’t think anyone really wants to be uncomfortable in their own vacation home. Sure, some vacation home ideals find us tucked away in a primitive cabin, far away from … Read more

If I had been a pier guy, I wouldn’t be typing this. I wouldn’t have slept well last night. I would have been up, awake, tossing and turning as the … Read more

First, I wished for a deep cover of ice. And then the lake froze solid, with so much ice that it only fully receded just two days ago (there was … Read more

It’s an image that we’ve all seen thousands of times. We’ve seen those images in pictures and on websites, and we’ve lived days inside those images. I saw one of … Read more

Value, like beauty, is many times in the eye of the beholder. The eye of the beholder. We only employ that phrase when we don’t agree with the beholder. Like … Read more

I suppose it’s about time I let you in on my little construction project. That project is, after all, taking me away from this desk more than I’d like it … Read more

I remember the first time I smelled an ocean. It was the Atlantic, off of Daytona Beach, and my family had just driven from Disney World in a rented, white … Read more

I was never much for riding bikes. I bought a Nishiki mountain bike sometime around 1991, and anyone who was sort of into entry level mountain bikes in 1991 probably … Read more

Last Friday I decided to keep my sales activity confined to a specific corner of the lake, in an even tighter corner of Cedar Point Park. I did this not … Read more

When I listed and then sold the house at 1621 East Lakeside Lane last spring, I didn’t do so because of some remarkable, inspired sales job. It wasn’t that I … Read more

I drove West from the South Shore Club yesterday. I drove up and down and around the curves of South Lakeshore Drive, and when I had the chance I turned … Read more

How many sales would you say, at least on average, it takes to create a trend? Certainly it can’t be one sale, and rarely would it ever be two. It … Read more

I mentioned it on Wednesday, and I think it deserves another mention today. That’s not really true. If it were just a mention then I wouldn’t have made the mention … Read more

The Lake Geneva vacation home market consists primarily of five key components. Those are, by measure of importance, Abbey Springs, Geneva National, lakefront condominiums, lake access homes, and finally, most … Read more

Friday gets all the attention, all the time. Thank God it’s Friday. That’s what they say. TGIF, that’s what they say when they want to shorten things up. I have … Read more

I have never been one to celebrate winter. Not here, not in private, not really ever. Sure there were cold days in my youth where I enjoyed skating over frozen … Read more

This platform hardly seems large enough to deliver to you the news of the day. However, since most of the nails and lumber in Walworth County have been swallowed up … Read more

Nothing feels better, after a long days work, than some quality rest. There’s a big difference between sleep and rest, perhaps not for the body but certainly for the soul. … Read more

There are lots of things you can do on a Saturday in Lincoln Park that you can’t do on a Saturday in Lake Geneva. For instance, you can wait in … Read more

I’ve never been the subject of a quarantine. I never had lice, or whopping cough, and I have so far narrowly avoided tuberculosis, SARS, and both the bird and swine … Read more

I suppose it would be like asking the attendees of a rummage sale for their opinion on just how the sale went, or how they liked your used wares, or … Read more

When it comes to gauging a foreclosure scene in any particular market, I suppose the best we can hope for is to ascertain at the very least if those foreclosures … Read more

One of the unfortunate things about a real estate recovery is the emergence of the strike-it-rich-real-estate-people. The breathless group was gone for a while, back when real estate was harder … Read more

Why check a seven day forecast when it offers no hope? I mean, it can offer hope, at certain times and on certain seven day screens, but today it doesn’t … Read more

I have a cold today. It’s been working through to the surface since Monday, maybe Tuesday, but today it’s mostly a real life cold. You can’t really blame me for … Read more

Dear Friends, Customers and Future Clients, Lake Geneva Lovers, and Honored Guests who have arrived solely by the benevolent wishes of the Google Algorithms, which we’ll assume you used because … Read more

When we were children, we liked houses. We didn’t like them all that much, and we didn’t write web pages about them, but like them we did. We held certain … Read more

I’ve never been lost in a forest, or a jungle. Because I’ve never been lost for a long time in one of those places I’ve never had a chance to … Read more

In the pursuit of perfection, it’s only natural to fall short of that most lofty goal no matter how energized the effort. This is true in our lives and in … Read more

The castle was built using 6000 yards of concrete, give or take. It’s one of only a very small handful of true castles that exist in the entire state of … Read more

I take it all back. Last week, I asked for ice. For cold. For a delay in the spring that I know I won’t be ready for. This morning, at … Read more

Lake Geneva’s Winterfest. Half the fun is guessing whether or not it’ll be winter! That’s not the official tag line of our Winterfest, but it probably should be. And that’s … Read more

Tomorrow, this Saturday, I’ll be holding open my fabulous lakefront condo at Fontana Shores for your viewing pleasure. It’s not just a regular old condo, it’s a special lakefront condo … Read more

I noticed the stream yesterday. I notice it most days, the little stretch of stream that twists under a culvert and joins another culvert flow just to the East of … Read more

I think it’s a shame that foreclosures are viewed so negatively. They are negative for those directly involved, and the impact on a housing market over mostly the short term … Read more

Some day, I plan to wake up in the morning and spend many moments, perhaps hours even, not thinking about anything. I want to stir in my bed for some … Read more

Most arguments have two sides. This is what makes them arguments and not agreements. Many obvious things can become arguments between sane and insane people, but mostly we argue about … Read more

On some day in December of 2011, a month that sounds like it’s a month from a long time ago but is, in fact, just a month from 13 ago, … Read more

There is a great debate in my house, and it’s a debate based on an even greater falsehood. After a visit to an ice rink last week, I have convinced … Read more

If you were to force me to pick my favorite lake access association, I would have to accept the punishment that my indecision would warrant. To pick a favorite association … Read more

Geneva National looked so primed a year ago today. Prices looked cheap, interest rates looked low, inventory looked plentiful, and for what felt like the first time in a long … Read more

I remember well the first time I ever walked through the Harbor Watch condominiums in Lake Geneva. It was a summer day, and I had just recently hurt my back … Read more

When we say, Happy New Year, capitalization required or at least inferred, we’re not so much wishing as we are demanding. Better make it a Happy New Year, or else! … Read more

In Holiday news, someone bought a house on some lake in East Troy this week for $1.25MM. If I can figure out why someone would do such a thing, I’ll … Read more

That’s really all there is for today. I’m off this afternoon to pull some wires in my shell of a house, which isn’t very festive but it is sort of … Read more

It wasn’t long ago that I would have looked at modern architecture and sneered. It didn’t make sense to me, this modern architecture. I didn’t care for the angles, the … Read more

I have a horrible rule when it comes to Christmas presents. Let’s say you’re my wife, collectively. And you want all sorts of things for Christmas, none of which come … Read more

As we wait for the closings to occur before we talk about the rush of late year sales around the lake, we should probably talk about loans. And lenders. And … Read more

It’s a lonely feeling here this morning. The office is always lonely, just me sitting here and talking or typing. People come and people go, but most of the time … Read more

Old campy cottages are the most famously loved sorts of vacation homes. Nearly everyone can relate to some sort of northwoods cabin made of wood and decorated with various spare … Read more

I think it would be fun to write about sports. If I were a beat writer for a baseball team, there would be at least 162 games to write about. … Read more

Sometimes, houses just don’t want to sell. If I list a house, it’s only natural that I then go about trying to sell it. Agents are wonderful at writing bullet … Read more

Between the true lakefront homes and the regular old association homes there exists another breed of real estate. The lakefront seeker is one who usually must have at least $1.2MM … Read more

The nature of commentary is such that it’s delivered with a general understanding of the facts combined with a heavy dose of opinion, and that opinion is subjective. That’s the … Read more

They say that some people wear their heart on their sleeve. Those same people would never say that some other people wear their soul on their sleeve. They couldn’t. Souls … Read more

Things could be worse. Instead of 2012 it could be 2006. The benefits of 2006 are obvious. We’d all be younger, which isn’t to be ageist but it is to … Read more

It should be obvious to all of us that we’re blessed. If we wake up and go to work, or we wake up and clean the dishes that litter the … Read more

Very few things in life are irreversible. Very few. Some things, maybe most things, seem as though they are. They seem that once they’re completed or secured or cut, that’s … Read more

I suppose if real estate was easy those two guys wouldn’t be in Ghana right now dodging bullets and digging in a swamp. Real estate, like math and diamonds and … Read more

We all engage in it. A very common mistake. It’s not a mistake like it would be to sear ones hand on a very hot pan, but it’s a mistake … Read more

You’ll notice that here, on this Lake Geneva real estate blog (I worded that especially for Google), I rarely factor annual price gains or losses. I contrast volume all the … Read more