George Williams College Part Two
My last post regarding the George Williams College redevelopment plan was met with some interesting replies. While a vast majority of Williams Bay property owners and local stakeholders I’ve spoken … Read more
Business
Lake Geneva Representation
Let’s think about the way a typical buyer or seller finds their agent. Someone knows someone who knows someone they should call. This referral might be based on some sort … Read more
Gimmick Central
There are several ways in which I’m aware of my age. For starters, when I play tennis on a Monday I’m still sore on a Wednesday. That’s not entirely unique, … Read more
Lake Geneva Commissions
Well, that just about does it. The National Association of Realtors settled the BOMBSHELL commission lawsuit last Friday and now everything has changed. Six Percent Commissions Are Toast, some of … Read more
Summer Homes For City People
The new winter issue is now available. Perhaps you’ve grabbed a copy around town, or perhaps a mailed copy has found its way to your mailbox. If neither of those … Read more
Cheerleader
It can be exhausting to continually cheer for something for a long, long time. This is why Cubs fans were so relieved in 2016 when we finally won the World … Read more
Commissions
You’ve likely seen the headlines out of Kansas, which is a statement that no one in Wisconsin had ever uttered before the recent ruling against several large national brokerages and … Read more
Lake Geneva Sales
My son is contemplating going to law school. When I was 20, I did not contemplate this. I was contemplating whether or not I had a house I could sell … Read more
Wisconsin’s Top Agent
In a market with a whole lot of marketing subterfuge, it’s good to know there’s still a way to calculate the top agent. I’m proud to represent the Lake Geneva … Read more
Lake Geneva Real Estate Marketing
I think maybe I’ve discovered another angle that has exposed just how terrible I am at the newly modified rules of real estate marketing. Everyone knows I’ve sold oodles of … Read more
Market Fundamentals
I’ve been chewing on the recent spate of articles involving both the demise of the iBuyer and the slow down in transactions involving real estate investors, and I think it … Read more
World Wide Web
In 1995 I owned a Saab 900. It was gunmetal gray, but it wasn’t a Turbo, so I operated as though those two conditions canceled each other out. I owned … Read more
Pricing Strategy
One of the great debates in the business of real estate revolves around pricing strategy. Some agents want listings so bad they’ll price a listing wherever the seller wishes to … Read more
Lake Geneva Real Estate Brokers
Five or six years ago, Sotheby’s flew me to New Jersey to meet with their executive team. It was time that David Curry, Local, be introduced to the high society … Read more
Lake Geneva Valuations
Market valuations are a bit disjointed, remember to not overpay for a house that doesn’t have a supporting market around it.
Of Lenders and Bubbles
It’s easy to look at 2021 and think of 2008. Markets rise and fall for plenty of reasons, but the lending practices of 2008 are nowhere to be found in 2021.
Lake Geneva Realtors
There are lots of agents in Lake Geneva. There’s only one lakefront market leader.
Risk On
Risk is inherent in life, but it’s often ignored in residential real estate transactions. It shouldn’t be.
Chicken
If you’re negotiating to buy or sell real estate, honesty is important. But it’s not just honesty from your broker, it’s your honesty that matters, too.
Lake Geneva Development
Development is good and necessary. Or is it? This hot market is bound to product some bad development, and we should prepare for the coming fight.
Williams Bay Boardwalk
Williams Bay is a nice town. It could be a whole lot better. Here’s a way to make that happen.
The Business of Real Estate
I don’t pretend to be a particularly savvy investor. I have friends that are. I am not. I just don’t have the knack for it, and aside from regular real … Read more
Welcome, 2020
2019 was a terrific year. But now it’s gone and it’s time to focus on the task at hand: 2020.
Lake Geneva Real Estate Office
A new real estate office. And two dynamite new Lake Geneva condominiums.
Out Of Towners
I blame the television for this one. I also blame the internet, but it should be argued that the bulk of this blame lies with the television. Namely,
Lake Geneva Home Search
Your vacation home search is important. Why would you leave it to the whims of an internet algorithm?
Summer Homes For City People
In case you’re not around Lake Geneva at the moment and would like to peruse the new issue…
Williams Bay Property Taxes
Tis the season for dreading the mail. There’s something nice about the season, relating to the mail, I suppose. Each day, my mailbox is full to overflowing. Will there be … Read more
Big Foot Referendum
I went to high school in the basement of a church. To be fair, not all classes were in the basement. Our homeroom was in the kitchen of Calvary Community … Read more
Compass, Et Al
It should come as no surprise that there’s a competition to be what’s next. In this context, we should capitalize What’s Next. If you own a business that makes money, … Read more
Discernment
A few weeks ago, I wrote an offer on a property on behalf of a buyer. This is no feat. There is no trick to this. It’s just a form … Read more
Lake Geneva Realtors
There’s nothing that makes me hate my chosen profession more than leafing through a local glossy magazine. There are lots of glossies here, most notably that Summer Homes For City … Read more
Lake Geneva Buyers
It’s summer of 2018 and you’re in Lake Geneva. You’ve done several things right to make it here. You’ve made strategic decisions that have led to this point. You’ve endured … Read more
Lake Geneva Lakefront Development Concern
I have a very simple process when it comes to deciding whether or not a development should be approved. If the development is needed, and that need can be successfully … Read more
Pricing Temptation
If you own a lakefront or lake access home in the Lake Geneva market, you’re well aware of the increased broker competition in our area. New agents, new brokers, new … Read more
Perspective Sadness
This very well could have been the Cubs Didn’t Get Swept But They’re Still Terrible Sadness post, but that wasn’t really bothering me this morning. The Cubs were beat by … Read more
Multiple Offer Sadness
When I dream, I dream of the good old days. Of the days before these days. The days when things were worse. I dream of anxious sellers and opportunistic … Read more
Lake Geneva Agent Representation
We know lots of things. We know that if we don’t cut our grass once a week it will grow too tall and too thick, and when we cut it … Read more
Of Agents and Inuendos
This is serious. You’ve been having the pain in your knee for quite some time. It bothered you during your junior year, but what could really, truly bother you then? … Read more
Weekend Caller
We need to have an honest discussion. It’s rare, in any business involving sales, to have such a conversation, but converse we must. This is about me, sure, but it’s … Read more
Descriptors
I might have figured out what’s wrong with me. It’s not that I don’t want to write something every other morning, as I have for the past nine years. I … Read more
Spring Break
Well, it’s just me here now. Everyone else has left. The roads are quiet. The houses dark, excepting the one lamp left on to ward away any robbers. But we … Read more
Lake Geneva Home Inspections
I feel as though I’ve been writing more admonitions than entertainment lately. It must be the time of year; the swelling of interest and enthusiasm in the housing markets has … Read more
Summer Homes For City People 2017
January bothers me. It’s a month of clean starts, of new pledges and attempted changes. It’s a month where things seem possible, sure. But it’s also a month where the … Read more
Ready For Sale
I’d like to think, after twenty years in this chair, that I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen sellers and buyers of all makes and models, the good, the bad, and … Read more
Lake Geneva Appraisals
You write an offer on a property. You negotiate the offer. You convince the seller to take your counter offer, or the seller convinces you to take his. Your offer … Read more
About Your Agent
The business of listing homes is a curious one. If we were going about this business of finding a broker and an agent, we’d assume we’d look at our options … Read more
The Business Of This
This is, after all, a business. It’s not hard to think of real estate as a business. The business of the business has an office and a phone and some … Read more
Walworth County
There’s a problem in Walworth County. It isn’t that our fields are lush and our lakes wet. It’s not that our towns are busy and our streets are clean and … Read more
Home Improvement
The seller had a tree in her yard that had died many years ago. The tree first lost its leaves. Then it lost some branches, and then, some bark. The … Read more
Trust Fall
A sudden twinge of pain. A shallow breath. A pain here, another there. The symptoms of something, but of what? A quick google search reveals what you already suspected. You’re … Read more
Summer Homes For City People
When I first hatched this idea to write and print a self aggrandizing magazine, I ran the concept past my father. I told him what I’d do, and as he … Read more
Sellers, Wake Up
I suppose we all pick and choose. We pick the data that supports our positions, whether the decisions involve personal choices or business decisions. We pick the favorable bits, discard the … Read more
For Sale Lake Geneva
When you sell a car, you can sell it one of two ways. You can either sell it because you’ve already bought another car, one that you now love very … Read more
Lake Geneva Negotiations
I could have negotiated this deal in 10 minutes if you had put me in a room with him. This is what I hear. I hear it often. This is … Read more
These Things I’ve Learned: SEWRPC
There are things in life that you must learn. Most of these must learn items are things you must indeed learn to survive, or at least to thrive. You learn … Read more
The New Game
There’s something changing in the Lake Geneva real estate market. The change is mostly involving the lakefront market, but there’s little doubt that this change will make its way through … Read more
Lake Geneva Pocket Listings
The business of real estate is a very big business. Prior to the last decade and a half, the big business players in the world of real estate were actually … Read more