Aged Lakefront Inventory
There are several unavoidable truths involving the Geneva lakefront market of 2018. The market is frustrating for buyers. It’s awful, really. Limited inventory, quick sales, more buyers than sellers to … Read more
Market Updates
Lake Geneva Market Update
It feels like it wasn’t so long ago that I wished for more snow. For more cold. For more winter. Shortly after wishing, all of that came true. Briefly. Since … Read more
Loramoor Sells
Just sold. $4,950,000. I was pleased to represent the seller of this fine lakefront home.
2017 Geneva Lakefront Market Review
Several of our vacation home segments finished 2017 without a particular narrative. They were nice markets that had a nice year. Nothing more, nothing less. No major breakthroughs, no particular … Read more
2017 Geneva National Market Review
Do people still golf? It seems to me that they do, even though I don’t. Previously, I enjoyed golf. I enjoyed getting to the course a bit early and hitting … Read more
2017 Upper Bracket Lake Access Market Review
It’s well known and generally accepted that anyone with a lakefront budget will wish for lakefront. There were some people who lived up the road from my parents’ lakefront house … Read more
2017 Abbey Springs Market Review
I owe Abbey Springs something. Not money, I don’t think. It’s never paid me very much, so I shouldn’t feel obligated to pay it back. In the mid 1990s, I … Read more
2017 Entry Level Lake Access Market Review
That’s a mouthful. I’m sure there’s a better way to say it for search engine optimization, but the market is best defined in that way. The market isn’t particularly flashy. … Read more
2017 Lakefront Condo Market Review
By now, everyone knows the Stone Manor story. Not the Otto Young story, mind you, because he’s old news. The new news is the news we like, because we’re Americans. … Read more
2017 Market Reviews
One year ago, I wrote my year end market reviews and worried about 2017 inventory. 2016 had been a terrific year, but without inventory there was no way that 2017 … Read more
South Shore Club Sells
In the South Shore Club, there are 40 total lots. Most are built on, a few are not. At present, there is one new construction underway. To date, there had … Read more
Notable November Sales
The month of November came in like a lion, or so I remember, and then it went out like a lamb. A tender, delicious lamb. Those early quitters found themselves … Read more
Stone Manor Saga
In the news this week, more of the continuing saga surrounding Stone Manor. I suppose most of this story is my fault, so I should take some time to explain … Read more
Lake Geneva Price Reductions
Tis the season for one of two things. Ambivalence is the most popular option for mid November. Why pay attention to the market when it’s just so easy to eat … Read more
Affordable Lake Geneva Vacation Homes
Some would say that title is impossible. After all, load into a tour boat and take a trip around these shores and there’s very little that looks particularly affordable. Even … Read more
Lake Geneva Foreclosure Update
Foreclosures. They’re interesting, and awful. Awful to be a party to a foreclosure, awful to be a neighbor of a foreclosure, awful to be the bank foreclosing. There are no … Read more
Lake Geneva Lakefront Market Update
I read an article yesterday about slowing home sales in the Hamptons. Hamptons’ Homes See Double Digit Price Drop. Sounds terrible, unless you don’t care about the Northeast, which I … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
When times were particularly bad and getting worse, I hatched a particular theory. The theory supposed that in spite of the various factors that we know prod consumers to buy … Read more
Fall At The Lake
Of the things we know to expect during an autumn here, 95 degree sunshine is not among them. The heat is rare, but in a summer devoid of any lasting … Read more
Jerseyhurst Sells
There are nice locations on this lake. We know most of the nice ones. If we get to drive down Snake Road while en route to our lake house, this … Read more
Market Test
By now, we all know the last two decades of market conditions at Lake Geneva. We understand the cycle. The market rose steadily from 1997 through 2008. Then the market … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
This market has a way about it. Sometimes the market feels slow to me. It feels sluggish, lifeless. It feels as though the last seller has sold and the last … Read more
Lakefront Inventory
It feels like an epidemic. Each day starts full of hope. Each day passes choked with despair. New inventory should be here by now. But it isn’t. Why isn’t it? … Read more
Geneva National Market Update
Ah, yes. Geneva National. The single greatest argument against Walworth County growth that I, or anyone, has ever made. Growth, it’s good, they say. It’s a necessity of life, like … Read more
The Abbey’s Market Update
This summer, the activity in the single family market has been well documented. In fact, it’s been documented to death. Bludgeoned with exclamation marks. Cause of death? Overuse of hyperbole. … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
In real estate, being shameless is quite important. I’ve struggled with this at times, most of the time, really. But I still tell you I’m this and I tell you … Read more
Mid-Summer Markets
This would be much easier if we weren’t here. If we were in some other absurd little Midwestern vacation home market, everything would be different. We’d have our season, and … Read more
Lake Geneva Club Sells
There are certain things that I know without the slightest inkling of doubt. I know that summer days are best spent lakeside. I know it, you know it, remote villages in … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
Wow. That’s really all there is to say. Wow. Maybe Wowzers. The lakefront market on Geneva Lake is as heated as it has been since the summer of 2007. I … Read more
Expectations
By now you know I have a problem with cars. I like cars, but I don’t like the process of buying a car. I don’t even like thinking about cars. … Read more
Let’s Play Ball
To be the Dodger’s lead-off hitter is to be the invisible man. That first at-bat is a thankless at bat, no matter the outcome. The vendors are still loading … Read more
Folly Lane Sells
If you’re showing a house on Folly Lane, it’s best to show it in late October. That’s because the skinny road that makes an abrupt turn towards the lake off … Read more
Housing Markets
I’ve been working with a friend who is in search of his first home. This is not typically my aim, but I decided it would be good to help him … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
Next week I’m going to do an in depth review of Abbey Springs, Geneva National, the lakefront condo market, and the secondary condo markets (Abbey Villas, Abbey Hill, Willabay, Bayside … Read more
Inventory Problems
What is a healthy real estate market? Is it a market with plenty of inventory so that every buyer has an opportunity to buy whatever it is that they want? … Read more
Lakeview Lakefront Sells
Buyers are not generally pleased with the way this market is performing. Buyers want to know when the market will shift in their favor. When the inventory will increase. When … Read more
700 South Lakeshore Sells
When I listed this property last August, I knew exactly what it was. It wasn’t the most perfect house on the lake. The kitchen wasn’t exactly the current style. But it … Read more
Shore Haven Sells
The single lane associations on the south shore of Geneva are some of my favorite lake access associations. These are not large associations like Cedar Point Park or Country Club … Read more
Black Point Sells
The whole lake is special, we all know that. Every nook and cranny, whether our particular nook or our own favorite cranny, is unique and valuable. Some North Shore dwellers couldn’t … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Sales
Now see, that’s a spring weekend. When I write about how much I dislike spring, I should be clear: I am not an opponent of seventy degree April weekends when … Read more
Aged Lakefront Inventory
So much excitement, so early on. New pictures, new mulch, new signs. This is going to be it, this is going to be the year. The month. No, the day. … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
This is the weekend we need. This is the weekend we deserve. This is the weekend that starts it all, really. There’s a long standing believe that Memorial Day Weekend … Read more
Geneva National Market Update
I decided this morning that some market behavior has no choice but to flood over into different market segments. If, as we discussed last Friday, the primary home market is … Read more
Walworth County Market Update
When you’re a Realtor, you’re supposed to want to do everything you can to sell anything you can. You’re supposed to pay attention to every segment within your market, to … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Conditions
I had a dream last night. In the dream I was just myself, no one else. I wasn’t able to fly, or able to breath under water; nothing terrific like … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
I almost bought a car in December. It was late December. The snow was falling and it was cold and it had been Christmas but it wasn’t yet the new … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
I’ve been writing 2017 on my checks with solid consistency for the better part of a month now. There are no more sixes that have been scratched into sevens. It’s … Read more
Linn Township Lake Access Market Review
Once, I was in trouble with a seller. The seller was upset, but not upset like a seller gets when I leave a light on. Which, by the way, I … Read more
Lake Geneva Lake Access Market Review
That headline is clunky. But it’s only clunky because it has to be. Lake Geneva is the general term for our market. Unfortunately sometimes it’s too generic, like when people … Read more
Fontana Lake Access Market Review
In Fontana, there is a question. Country Club Estates would have you believe that it is the king of Fontana’s lake access world, while Glenwood Springs feels the same. Which association … Read more
Williams Bay Lake Access Market Review
When a buyer finds his way to Lake Geneva and begins to search for a suitable lake house, he tends to do lots of things wrong. He tends to see … Read more
Entry Level Geneva Lakefront
My body is slowly succumbing to the course of time, to the insistent, constant force that seeks to whittle and pry and break and bruise, to the inevitable process wherein … Read more
Pleasant View
I sold this property in November. What a property it was, and is, and likely will always be. $1.1MM. https://youtu.be/8WWC_pezLbw SO
Summery Things
I’m out of the office for a few days this week on a short family vacation. In my absence, focus on summery things, like this video from July. As you … Read more
Geneva National 2016 Market Review
I write lots of things on this site. I write about birds and trees and lakes and streams. I write about how much I like certain things, like trout and … Read more
Abbey Springs 2016 Market Review
There’s a common theme amongst these 2016 market reviews. Yes, the markets we’ve reviewed so far all preformed quite well in the year just ended. And, yes, each market is low … Read more
Entry Level Vacation Condominium 2016 Market Update
That’s a clunky headline, to be certain. But clunky it must be, because there’s really no other way to describe this segment of our market. It isn’t Abbey Springs. It … Read more
Geneva Lake Access 2016 Market Review
The most economical lakefront home to sell in 2016 was an odd little house in Knollwood. $1,075,000 was the required minimum price for 50′ of frontage on Geneva Lake. Farther up … Read more
Geneva Lakefront 2016 Market Review
29. It might sound like a lot, or it might sound like nothing at all. If we have 29 quarters, we don’t really even have enough money to buy a … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Condominium 2016 Review
Over the course of the next few weeks we’ll discuss how 2016 treated the various segments of our vacation home market. We know the year to have been a good … Read more
Happy New Year
I hate Luke Bryan. First of all, he has two first names. A better name would have been Luke Bryant. Like Kris Bryant, without the ring and with the T. … Read more
640 Linden Sells
Earlier this year, I sold a house on Harvard Avenue in Glenwood Springs. It was a decent old house, but more old than decent. It was the sort of house … Read more
Lackey Lane Sells
At one point earlier this year, there were three homes for sale on Lackey Lane. Lackey, in case you haven’t the pleasure of wandering down that lane before, is a … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
I was going to write this morning a response to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. The article, Homeowners Hit The Jackpot, appeared to be, at the headline level, … Read more
1014 South Lakeshore Sells
The most important lakefront home I’ve ever sold is 1014 South Lakeshore Drive in Fontana. I sold that home for the first time in 2010 for $5.885MM. At the time, … Read more
Geneva National Market Update
Every segment of the lake access and lakefront market has activity. If you list a $69k shed in Knollwood, like the one that was listed last week, it’ll sell (and … Read more
Veteran’s Day
I grew up in Williams Bay. I remember my older brother wore black in 1992 when Bill Clinton was elected. No one cared that he did that, because he wore … Read more
Pleasant View Sells
No, this doesn’t mean your cottage with lake access is going to sell for $1.1MM. It doesn’t mean that small cottages with views and private piers are always going to … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
The way I see it, any buyer of a lakefront home here has two options. You can buy for now or you can buy for later. If you’re buying for … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
This time of year the Lake Geneva real estate market will do one of two things. It will either push slowly and methodically to the end of the year, or it will remain … Read more
Market Timing
Earlier this year, I wrote an email to an owner of vacant lot. I told him should be be interested in selling, there was a likely premium awaiting him. He … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Market Update
The entry level lakefront market is a perplexing little market. On one hand, it’s obvious that a cheap lakefront on Geneva will always find an audience. This is unavoidable. On … Read more
North Lakeshore Sells
Sometimes, there’s not much to write. There’s a seller and a buyer and they get along and they’re both honorable and they complete a transaction. Sometimes, the house is perfect, … Read more
Inventory Alert
What we need now is something to sell. We’ve sold it all. We had a basketful of things, some with deplorable structures, others with superlative structures, and then we’ve spent … Read more
Loramoor Sells
It seems to me that what this lakefront market really wants is newer inventory in the $3-5MM range. There are buyers in that range seeking newer homes on reasonably nice … Read more
Abbey Springs Market Update
There’s a truth we need to agree on this morning. Abbey Springs is nice. That’s a truth. Abbey Springs has a golf course, another truth. I have hit many Abbey … Read more
Luxury Markets
If you bought a mountain home in Aspen last year, I don’t quite know what to say. Aspen seems nice, though I’ve never been, and I admit that most of … Read more
South Shore Club Sale
Last month I listed a home in the South Shore Club. This month, I sold that home in the South Shore Club. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but … Read more
Lake Geneva Foreclosures
The first foreclosure I bought was in 2009. January of 2009, to be exact. The home was ugly, the property decent, the list price somewhere around $249k. In January of … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
It’s getting late. The greens are no longer bright. The grass is beginning to fade. The corn is drying as it should, first at the bottom and then, slowly, eventually, … Read more
Lake Geneva Lakefront Update
August. It’s August now and it’s too late for you. If you’re at home and your vacation home dreams are there with you, then you’ve already blown it. This August … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Condo Update
The problem with market updates is that they require some movement in the market before they’ll really make sense. It’s like being a beat writer for a baseball team. If … Read more
Lake Geneva Lakefront Update
Perception is an interesting thing. For instance, when I’m in front of a mirror with no one around me, I think that things are looking pretty good. When I hang … Read more
Another Lackey Lane Sale
Sometimes, you just want what you want. You want to be on the lake, that’s smart. You want to see a weekend like the one just ended and you want … Read more
Lackey Lane Sells
It should be no secret that the cool people are buying at Lake Geneva. It’s not just the people, but the cool people. The kids who live in the city … Read more
Geneva Lakefront Sale
We tend to buy real estate based on emotion and sell it based upon fact. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has ever bought or sold real … Read more
Affordable Lake Geneva
Take to the highways and county roads this summer and you’ll notice plenty of things. You’ll notice that semi drivers often change lanes with relatively little warning, which is especially … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
I can feel it. It’s in the air. It’s in the way the grass looks and so many lilacs. Everywhere lilacs. The boats are here, they’re in the water and … Read more
Geneva National Value
I’ve spent a fair amount of time this year in Geneva National. I’ve shown most of the houses that are on the market inside those gates. I’ve generally been underwhelmed. … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
I have lots of brushes. I have small brushes and smaller brushes, medium ones, too. I have huge brushes, trust me, there’s no problem with my brushes. I have great … Read more
Lake Geneva’s Lackey Lane
Williams Bay is a big bay. Fontana Bay, also a big bay. Geneva Bay, big. These are the bays we know from maps and from vernacular and because we know … Read more
Lake Geneva Foreclosures
Lake Geneva Foreclosures. Those three words were types into search engines with terrifying frequency over the last decade. In the early part of the past decade, the 2006 part, those … Read more
South Shore Club at Lake Geneva
The South Shore Club at Lake Geneva is old now. It’s been here for a long time, or for a lifetime, assuming the life is young and the long time … Read more
Glenwood Springs Sells
I think it’s great when someone comes up to tour some vacation homes on a Friday and buys one on a Sunday. But I admit to you that in 20 … Read more
Lake Geneva Market Update
The ice is weak. It has been weak all season, since it first formed, just that skim coat at first, then more ice, stronger ice, but still weak. It has … Read more
Lake Geneva YTD Performance
The year is young now, but not so young that we can’t judge it. One year old children are young, so young that we shouldn’t judge them. But two year … Read more
Geneva National 2015 Market Review
In 1992, a small one bedroom condominium in Geneva National sold for $92,300. I imagine how happy the new owners were. They’d come up to golf and to swim, to … Read more
2015 Abbey Springs Market Review
If we had our druthers, we’d be Abbey Springs. That’s assuming we weren’t we, but we were in fact a large association of homes and condominiums. If that’s who we … Read more
2015 Geneva Lakefront Market Review
The real estate market in 2006 was not yet aware of the trouble that awaited it. I, too, was not aware. The lakefront market on Geneva was firing on all … Read more