General

If pressed, I wouldn’t buy my lakefront home in the city of Lake Geneva. I’d take it if someone were to give it to me, I’m not stupid. But I … Read more

I’m pretty sure I need to get a grill for my boat. My boat, the boat, the only boat I really talk about on this blog when I’m not talking … Read more

I have never really been in a fight. I do remember tripping some kid once, but only after he tripped me. I also remember a friend of my older brothers … Read more

To be trapped with real estate is not an enviable thing. To be trapped inside of real estate is worse, but absent any earthquakes or F-something tornadoes most of us … Read more

Geneva National. It just sounds fancy, doesn’t it? But then again, everything with National in it sounds lofty. Geneva Lakefront Realty is okay, I guess. But Geneva National Realty? Must … Read more

If you gave me a couple hours of your time, assuming you would have to indeed give me that time as I could likely not afford to pay for it, … Read more

I admit that in February, or at least in a normal February, with snow in my eyes and a chill in my heart the lake can be less than intoxicating. … Read more

Last year at this time, it was not 70 something every day. There were no piers in on Geneva, no Sunday boat rides taking place, and no grass of any … Read more

The water temperature of Geneva Lake is currently 42 degrees. I’m pretty sure that last year the water had not warmed to that level until the end of April. This … Read more

Recently, we’ve successfully hunted down affordable proximity to the lake. Then we captured a view or two for a reasonable ransom. Now, today, on this glorious 77 degree day in … Read more

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday. To make sure that Thursday doesn’t just occur on a random Thursday of the 52 that we might have each year, presidents … Read more

If I ever find myself in the market for an eight million dollar lakefront home on Geneva I already know what I’ll look for. The odds are slim that this … Read more

The fishing poles, three of them in total, rest in the corner of the office. They have been there for some time, but not for so much time that the … Read more

During the darkest of days buried deep in the darkest of years it was easy to make a real estate mistake. Foreclosures had not yet become widespread, or not at … Read more

The quiet of a golf broadcast is attractive to me. I enjoy the stillness of it all. When the sun is ample, the grass so green, and quiet surrounds both, … Read more

I can’t say for sure if shedding my light on the demon Bigfoots of Michigan somehow swayed the fine folks at Barron’s last week, but I can’t say that it … Read more

I imagine if I scoured Ebay for long enough I could find an antiquated set that had long ago been discarded from a Hollywood stage. The furniture would smell of … Read more

There will be no ice on Geneva this year. This is obvious. There was some ice, in Geneva Bay, and a bit in Williams Bay and a few hundred feet … Read more

While no one, anywhere, has ever uttered the phrase “it’s a million dollar proximity”, they have often determined something has a million dollar view. It’s common, in fact. If you … Read more

I have not yet reached that point in my life where I feel the need to look into my ancestry. I imagine someone before me has done the work on … Read more

I operate today under a theory based partly on knowledge and partly on estimation that our lakefront market peaked in terms of value during 2006. There were sales in 2007 … Read more

By now, it is common knowledge among most that Gage Marine is in the process of constructing a restaurant. If you didn’t share that common knowledge, now you do. But … Read more

I might cover the foreclosure market on these pages, but the market that I cover on those days is limited to the market that I cover on all the other … Read more

I have bought many fancy things in my life. And I’ve overpaid for nearly all of them. Most of these splurges are modest, but when modest expenditures lay scattered on … Read more

I suppose today the Abbey Villa harbor front units are not going to count as lakefront. And why should they? That might be a harbor in front of those units, … Read more

If it is the 1970s and you build a four unit condominium building out of various materials, but mostly wood, and then you apply several coats of stain and varnish, … Read more

To be a doctor would be to know what the patient does not, even after a mostly full disclosure of the patient’s prognosis has been given. The doctor will tell … Read more

The first thing we must do is agree that private lakefront is the goal. If the means are present and the motivation is high, then lakefront on Geneva is the … Read more

In 1983, Mrs. Anderson had a wooden alligator in her classroom. It was green, as it should have been, with wooden wheels and a width across the shoulders that made … Read more

If you suffered through the State Of The Union address last week, and combined that sentiment with the “surprisingly” lower unemployment statistic on Friday, you might be under the impression … Read more

It is no secret that the South Shore Club is an exclusive development. Anything numbering just 40 in total would be viewed as exclusive. While this is known, what isn’t … Read more

In Lake Geneva today the forecast high is 44 degrees. With sunshine. It’s delightful, really. I walked from my car to my office this morning and those five paces were … Read more

When I think of Geneva National, the next thought is usually about Abbey Springs. If you need help differentiating between the two developments, just think of Abbey Springs as a … Read more

I think the Pursuit is the finest center console boat made today. The Boston Whaler gets a larger share of the spotlight, but the beam of a Whaler Outrage is … Read more

It’s dark now, but light enough to see that the sky and the ice and the horizon are the same dull gray. I think he’s in there. He has to … Read more

Last year, I went swimming earlier than I had intended to. Today, my last Blackberry and a very pristine pair of Ray Bans lay encased in a living tomb of … Read more

You have never contended with real wind unless you have lived in Steinbach, Manitoba. There is wind here, in my village and in your windy city, but this wind is … Read more

There is a strange feeling in the market this morning. It’s not so strange on the selling side, as this always exists there, happily, contentiously, whatever the situation wherever the … Read more

Winter is good for a lot of things. Without winter, that red headed kid who snowboards would only be known as the red headed kid who skateboards. Without winter, flora … Read more

New year, old year, activity on the lakefront remains. The day doesn’t matter much. Snow or sunshine, 52 or 14, it’s just the way it is. Denzel Washington keeps climbing … Read more

In light of the post from Tuesday, this might on the surface appear redundant. I struggle with redundancy here, as you already know. Monday: It’s beautiful at Lake Geneva! Tuesday: … Read more

I’m going to assume that Jack Welch is smarter than I am. This is not an easy admission to make. It’s this assumption of superior intelligence that left me bothered … Read more

In 2004, at what was the height of the national tear down craze, the tear down had already elevated to hated status. Not hated by the tearee, and not so … Read more

Later this month, when it is winter, I will tell you how wonderful it is. I will write about the snow and the frost and the ice, and I will … Read more

If we’re going to be fair about it, we should still consider the South Shore Club a work in progress. One weekend in the middle of December, I made a … Read more

There is much confusion amongst agents, buyers, and sellers when it comes to the definition of a Geneva lakefront home. As our eyes see it, a lakefront home is a … Read more

But if you decide to make thrills your regular diet and try to prolong them artificially, they will all get weaker and weaker, and fewer and fewer, and you will … Read more

The water is deep off of the southwestern tip of Cedar Point, but it does not get that deep as quickly as you might think. It is a lingering drop … Read more

Just as small municipal market statistics can be skewed by a particularly top heavy or an especially light year, so too can individual segments of those broader, if still small, … Read more

One night in the mid 1980s left me with an indelible, unexpected memory. It was Christmas Eve, and like nearly every Christmas Eve of my youth it was spent inside … Read more

If you must know one thing about Lake Geneva, please know this. Location, location, location is only surpassed by Viking, Waterworks, and Visual Comfort. There are three lakefront properties pending … Read more

The end of this year on this site will bring many market reviews. I’ll review the lakefront market by segment, the lakefront condo market, the lake access market, Abbey Springs, … Read more

The matter of timing is a curious thing. In life it is everything. In fishing it is too. And in real estate, it is everything and just a little bit … Read more

I once proudly declared that I was the leading agent for total transaction sides involving lakefront condominiums on Geneva Lake. I held that distinction for many years. I would routinely … Read more

So what exactly happens now? Well, that depends. The Lake Geneva vacation home market will continue to move, but the steady pace of fall will, or has, given way to … Read more

I have heard rumors that some people, people other than myself, can engage in a distant vacation and leave their troubles behind. Advertisements would have us believe this is a … Read more

I felt a little bad for picking on Clark Griswold earlier this week. He should have owned a vacation home in Lake Geneva, but he was obviously a middle class … Read more

I must have been about thirteen at the time. I can still remember the dirt path that dipped and dove down the hillside, each step darker than the last, each … Read more

Holiday movies come in many shapes and sizes. It’s a Wonderful Life, a story that might as well have been written about my life and my struggles with my very … Read more

I have made no secret of the fact that I dislike Delavan Lake. That I dislike this lake and others like it is easy to explain. If one spends one’s … Read more

To describe market conditions it is generally necessary to paint with the broadest brush one can find. Real estate trends and valuations are not unlike employment statistics and death. If … Read more

It does not feel like winter today. The Christmas shopping, the accompanying music filling the airwaves, both pushing us towards a winter holiday, but it doesn’t feel like winter. Sure … Read more

When we were young, we had regrets, but these regrets were different than the regrets we have now. When I was 17, I once wore red Lotto shorts with a … Read more

There is nothing pretty about quartering a 22 pound Butterball turkey. This is particularly so when the bird is still partially frozen and the knife of choice has spent its … Read more

I have committed many sins inside of the Abbey Springs gates. The gates are innocent, the winding streets are as well, but my behavior inside those gates has been anything … Read more

Low volume markets typically have a hard time establishing a pattern of recognizable value. This is the reason that Kenilworth vexes those statistics that cover the back page of the … Read more

Showcasing the lowest of low bars for entry into the real estate business, I went to real estate “school” at night. When I was in high school. I went to … Read more

View Larger Map A year or so ago there were as many as eight units on the open market at Fontana’s Abbey Hill. It seemed, to a casual onlooker, that … Read more

Many noble thoughts enter into the minds of those contemplating a vacation home purchase at Lake Geneva. If the contemplator had the good fortune to experience a taste of Lake … Read more

Just as spring in our resort market is a time for building inventory and increased expectations, late fall is a time for shedding inventory and lowering expectations. As November fades … Read more

It was a day much like this one. Dark, wet, dour. I can’t recall what motivated me to drive through the countryside towards my northward destination some 15 years ago … Read more

If you were to close your eyes right this very moment, squeezing your eye lids together so tight that it forces your face into a strained unintentional smile, and picture … Read more

I had a dream last night. I dreamt I was lying on a pier, a white one, and the depth of my dream revealed to me that I was indeed … Read more

Before my time, before I sold real estate and before I had a Saab 900, before I caught my first fish and before I was alive, there was a time … Read more

That the lakefront market is hot provides no consolation to the rest of the vacation home market. There is no joint feeling of relief when one lakefront sells and renders … Read more

As the lakefront market soars into November, the entry level lake access market is, at best, grounded. At worst it’s moving slowly in reverse, but likely it is stalled, neither … Read more

Next week, it’ll be November. The summer that I tried to hang on to for as long as humanly possible has slipped through my fingers, My grip is still tight, … Read more

When you peel back the layers of the Occupy movement, if it can or should even be labeled such, past the filth and the yelling, beyond the bongos and the … Read more

When I was a boy, I went to school. At first, the school days were hot and sweaty, my ADD roiled by the sultry classrooms that lacked air conditioning. At … Read more

I’ve been a bit top heavy of late, redundant even, focusing on the lakefront market on Geneva perhaps more than some of you might like. I’ve been telling you what’s … Read more

Many years ago, there was a time when selling a Bay Shore condominium should have been easy. At that time of apparent ease, it was, in fact, difficult to sell … Read more

You might think there is an insatiable appetite for vacant land on Geneva Lake. The lake has been nearly filled for many generations now, but as with any nearly full … Read more

Some people find their way to apple orchards when the leaves are still green, the sun still high. I am not one of those people. When that sun is high, … Read more

There are lots of rules at the Harvard Club. You can’t have your dog with you from the third weekend in June through Labor Day. You can’t plant trees or … Read more

One of the oldest individual mysteries in the real estate world is the answer to the question that asks why a buyer bought what he did. If 20 homes are … Read more

If I were sitting near Wall Street today, wearing my favorite hemp necklace, holding up my sloppy poster adorned with misspelled words of blame, wreaking of pharmaceuticals and pointing to … Read more

This week has left me a bit dazed. I was on the water yesterday, and for a brief moment, when I closed my eyes, the sun and the breeze and … Read more

In 1995, Tony Rezko purchased a second floor condominium in Stone Manor. Tony, at the time, wasn’t particularly well known then, at least not in the infamous context that he … Read more

When I walked to the pool this late morning, a short, delightful little walk over crushed granite hemmed with cobbled stone, I was dismayed to find one other person already … Read more

Weekends like the one now past never used to provide the test to my sporting allegiances as they do now. The Badger, the nasty, potent, juggernaut Badger, taught the Cornhusker … Read more

When the weather is unruly during a month like June, it is unfortunate but it is not insurmountable. If June is dark or cold or wet, it will put us … Read more

The entry level lake access market as it relates to Geneva Lake is a tortured market, of sorts. On one hand, the market benefits from a price point ($150k-$500k) that … Read more

During the spring of 2010 I was working with a buyer who was, in fact, not just any buyer. Which isn’t to say that any buyer is a boring buyer, … Read more

If you’ve made a snap judgment as to my athletic prowess based on my current wheezy state, you might find it difficult to believe that at one point, many, many … Read more

Some time ago, a seller of an unusually large and exquisitely appointed lakefront condominium asked me what I felt that particular unit was actually worth. I told him. He was … Read more

Last Friday, I drove from Lake Geneva to Saint Charles. I didn’t drive there to measure the chocolate nature of the river there, or to admire the cute downtown. I … Read more

It is true that self employed individuals can have schedules that more easily accommodate deep rooted desires of the heart. It is also true that those who are well employed … Read more

If Abbey Springs were a perennial flower, it would currently be residing in some sort of hall of fame for perennials. It would have a plaque by its unwithered blossoms, … Read more

I turned my heat on last night. I didn’t want to, but in my house, I get accused of leaving the heat off as long as possible not just because … Read more

There is a belief, held by some, or by most, that assumes most people who were investing in real estate over the last decade had some sort of intelligence. The … Read more