Lake Geneva Real Estate Blog

Well, the sales continue to pile up at the lake. Just this week, two more lakefront homes received contracts, and a beautiful home on Linden Lane in Fontana sold. ATTENTION: Negative buyers listen up! Asking price of that Glenwood Springs home off the lake, with no view and no boatslip? $1.399MM. Sale price of that home? $1.399MM!! Come on people. Open your eyes to this market. This is not the suburbs, this is not a market affected by the peaks and valleys of the stock market. This is a solid market where buyers choose to buy, and sellers choose to sell. Few buyers need to buy, and fewer sellers need to sell. I hope I'm opening your eyes to this fact by showing you these sales and the activity that exists in this market. So come on! Get up to the lake and make this summer the first of many spent on the water. Here's my son Thomas enjoying another summer day on the water. Could be your son or grandson doing the very same thing!

I just listed two of the rarest parcels in all of Walworth County. Two vacant lots in Shore Haven association. These south shore lots are wooded, and have deeded access to the Shore Haven lakefront just a short stroll down the lane. These lots are listed individually for $289,900 each, or could be purchased together. They are buildable as one parcel for sure, though a diligent buyer may be able to work with the municipality to ensure the buildable nature of the parcels on an individual basis. Either way, this is a very rare offering!

I'll be at an open house in Williams Bay on Saturday, June 21, from 1-3 pm. The home is a classic lake home in Summer Haven with four bedrooms, hardwood floors, fireplace, extensive landscaping, and many new updates. The listing is on Leichty Drive in Williams Bay, just up the street from the lake. You'll find my signs directing you to the home from Geneva Street. Stop by and see me, and better yet, see this beautiful lake home with fantastic lakerights to Geneva. Priced at $439k, it won't last long!

Well, it's the middle of June, and the same pattern continues at the Lake. Buyers are buying, just not in the numbers that we'd like to see them buying in. The thing that is true however, is that buyers are generally paying within 5% of asking price. Just this week a property on Tarrant in Country Club Estates closed for $382k. List price? $385K. A listing on Oak Birch in Williams Bay sold (that I should have listed) for $2.85MM, asking price? $2.95MM. A whopping 3.5% off asking price. See people, property is selling well up here. Volume is down, but prices aren't. What does that mean?

It means that buyers are afraid to buy, but when they do buy, they're paying market prices. The buyers that aren't buying for myriad reasons, aren't basing their decision not to buy on sound reasoning. If prices were dropping, then by all means, don't buy! Don't go to Detroit right now and buy the most expensive home on the block. Probably a bad idea. But to wait to buy a property that is appreciating, albeit slowly, why do it? Why wait? Wait for your kids to get another year older, for yourself to get another year older? For your grandkids to lose a summer that could have been spent splashing in the water and eating popsicles in your lakeside porch? My parents live on the lake, and I see first hand how much fun lakefront and lake access living can be. My children are 5 and 2, and all they want to do is go to grandma and grandpa's house. For crying out loud my dad owns the whole lake according to my kids! They don't sit and play video games or watch cartoons, instead they hunt for worms and frogs down by the water, and they jump off the pier into my waiting arms. My son Thomas is 5, and he boldly performs a front flip off the pier with ease. I'm 30, and still afraid of the front flip! Truth is, my kids love the lake, and I'll bet my parents love being the ones that get to provide them access to the lake more than just about anything.

So get up here and let's go find you a lake house. Prices are stable, activity is strong. Don't miss another summer when summer 2008 is still at your finger tips. See you at the lake!

Happy first day of June. I'm going to be in Abbey Springs this afternoon, holding two units open from 12-2 today. It's a beautiful sunny day, so there should be some people out and about enjoying all that Abbey Springs has to offer. The units being held open are 520B Bristol Oak, and 605D Knollwood Circle. Both units are beautiful, having undergone renovations over recent years. Priced at $369,900 and $373,000 respectively, both units offer a great way to enjoy all that Abbey Springs has to offer, from the golf course to the beach and all points in between. Stop over to see me today! Just come in through the main gate and ask for the brochure to David Curry's open house. I look forward to seeing you there.

It looks as though the weather is going to cooperate this weekend, and give us one of the very few pleasant Memorial Days in recent years (decades?). I'll be busy for sure, with many scheduled appointments already on the books, and many more undoubtedly ready to spring up at the last moment. For now, the weekend plans have me holding an open house on Friday from 1-4 at unit 17G in the Abbey Villas. This is a beautiful unit on the ground floor with a very tranquil stream side patio. Saturday I'm moving down the road to Abbey Springs, with the plan of holding unit 605D Knollwood Circle open from 1-3. Abbey Springs is in the throws of a multi-million dollar renovation of its' clubhouse and common areas. Once completed (at sellers expense!) it will be a first class vacation destination, and the only association of its' kind on the shores of Geneva Lake. Come up and join me at any one of these units, or call me to schedule showings of other properties. It's a great market, and things have only been heating up as the weather warms. Hope to see you this weekend!

I'm holding an open house today at unit 17-G in the Abbey Villas. This is a beautiful unit, offered turn key with all furnishings and decore included. A first floor unit with two bedrooms, two baths, and a tranquil stream side location. I'll be at the Condo from 1 pm to 4pm today, May 10, 2008. Stop by to see me and take a look at this fabulous unit. Offered at $389,900.

My friend Jon Adams started a new company a couple years back called Twilight Solutions and set about transforming the landscape lighting scene in Southeastern Wisconsin. His tag line "where science and art meet in the dark" may be a little campy, but his work speaks for itself. I've encouraged numerous clients to get a bid from Jon to see how his products can change the atmosphere of their entire property come nightfall. I had his guys install a basic walkway lighting system at my house in Geneva National, and couldn't be happier. This isn't the junk that you can buy at Home Depot, rather this is some pretty high quality copper lighting. He has myriad options available, and I'd encourage you to give him a ring and set up a consultation. Installing a lighting system like this not only adds to your overall enjoyment of your property, it sets the stage for maximizing profit in a resale situation as well.

While I'm sure he's done some pretty unique installations, one of my favorite is the pier and lakefront lighting at the South Shore Club. Not only does the subtle lighting add safetly and improve visibility to night time pier goers and boaters, it truly is a thing of beauty. Visit his website at www.twilight-solutions.com or call Jon direct at 262-903-3667.

I just listed a cute little cottage on Menominee in Williams Bay. It's officially the cheapest house on the market located in Williams Bay. A great little vacation cottage close to the lake, and bordering Cedar Point Park. Two bedrooms, full bath, forced air heat, and a nicely wooded lot. Needs a little TLC, but who doesn't?

I've written about this before, but it's more relevant now than ever. The issue of platted vacant lots with assigned tax key numbers being labeled as "unbuildable" by local municipalities. These are not lots that were created by some crazy homeowner who divided his lot into two and now wants to sell half of it. These are lots that were platted years and years ago, by the city engineers, and lots that the municipalities have greedily been taxing since their inception. These lots should be buildable. They should be, but on paper, they aren't. Reasons as to why such a lot would be deemed unbuildable abound, but generally it's because they lack the total square footage required in a specific zoning district, or because they lack a certain minimum lot width or length. Williams Bay for instance, requires that lots me 60' wide to be considered "standard". Corner lots, many of which are pie shaped, cannot meet this requirement, through no fault of their own.

Property owners mindlessly pay their taxes every year on these parcels, only to find out that they're unbuildable when they decide to sell them. There is a simple, quick fix to this problem. Apply the required setbacks to these lots, so that the setbacks match the zoning requirements. Then apply the zoning districts minimum home square footage requirements. If the setbacks are met, the size requirements are met, and the lot is part of an original plat, with its' own tax bill, it's BUILDABLE!

If you feel the same way, reply to me in my comments section, by clicking on my name (David) at the headline. Tell me you support this idea, and we'll bundle the responses together along with a letter to the Village of Williams Bay, or any other County municipality that needs a little dose of common sense. It's high time we gave some relief to property owners who are being taxed as though their lots are indeed buildable, and allow them to sell these parcels at their own discretion.