I've been known to rave about the lakefront park and pier system at the Harvard Club. I believe this association lakefront to be the most idyllic such park on the entire lakefront. The positioning of the piers, with ample space between swimming and boating piers, the small lakeside screened house that hosts a ping pong table, the arrangement of white Adirondack chairs on the ridge of the lakeside lawn, well, it all fits my eye like few other parks ever have. The Congress Club lakefront is beautiful, but with the entry point currently positioned at $1.3MM, it's not as accessible to the masses as the Harvard Club (prices in the Harvard Club would range from $475k to $MM for most of the homes in the association, with a few beautiful exceptions, but that matters little since nothing is currently available there). Once you look past the venerable Harvard and Congress Clubs (ignoring the Chicago Club since nothing is ever for sale there), the next best association lakefront has to be at Knollwood.



That's not to say that myriad other lakefront parks aren't stellar, because they are. The Loch Vista Club, Oakwood Estates, Club Unique, Geneva Manor, and others all have fabulous lakefront set ups, but this isn't a public school, and we're not all winners. The Knollwood lakefront is different, in part, because of its sheer size. The lakefront there must span four hundred feet or more, and that frontage is made even more impressive by the depth of the park that runs from the lake all the way back to Oriole Lane. There is ample parking in a dedicated, private parking lot, even though nearly half of the homes in the association are within easy walking distance. The park is large and grassy, with two boating piers, a swimming pier, and a rarity among private Geneva associations- a sand beach. If you're the sort that thinks swimming off a pier sounds scary, you can timidly inch your way into the water at this private association beach. Oh, and there are lots of slips in the association, but you'll probably never get one. The slips are not transferable, so when you buy there you put your name on a waiting list for a slip. I believe the next person in line for a slip put their name on the list sometime in the 1970's. I'm not joking.



The association offers a wide variety of housing stock, featuring everything from newly constructed homes that test the limits of lot lines, to humble cottages that fit even the most frugal vacation home lovers budget. For a large association, there is a surprisingly low number of available properties on the open market. As of this morning, only four Knollwood homes are on the market, and that low inventory number is a good thing for the association. Low inventory numbers means less competition, which in turn puts less pricing stress on the sellers, which ultimately props up the prices for the entire association. Low inventory, great for owners, not so great for buyers.

Just as the inventory is meager, the YTD sales are as well. Just two homes have sold in the association this year, including a pretty decent little cottage on Indian that closed for $170k last month. The other sale took place earlier this year, and at a closed price of $360k was a terrific deal given the proximity to the water and the very robust square footage of the home. Current inventory is priced from the mid $200k's to nearly $800k, and none of the available properties excite me too terribly much.

If you're looking in Knollwood, there are a few things to consider. The association is very close to Williams Bay, but it is in Linn Township, so well and septic are the rule there. Being in Linn, the taxes also tend to be less than they'd be in any other lakefront municipality, so like everything at Lake Geneva, there are clear cut pros and cons. I like the association, and think if I were a buyer in search of a lake access property, I'd consider it. That said, better deals exist at the moment in other associations, even if those associations don't possess the same lakefront panache.

If it weren't for a head cold that has me feeling momentarily dour and ornery, I'd be in a pretty fine mood. You see, September rolled in yesterday, and there's a simple truth about this transitional month- it's far more summer than it is fall. First, I must give credit where credit is due, August, you were spectacular. If September can mirror August, then we're in for a real treat. The reality of life at Lake Geneva is that September is the best month of the year to be here. When I say best, I really, honestly, mean the absolute best. Sure yesterday wasn't that great, but September just had a few kinks to work out before it will hopefully- no, almost assuredly, become the best month of our dwindling year.

There's much to like about September, and in particular there's much to like about a Lake Geneva September. First off, the traveling hoards that tend to clog up some key streets on key weekends will largely be absent after Labor Day. They'll return for trips to Kilwins and brief walks down the Lake Geneva lakefront, but they'll be largely absent after this weekend. That's not to say that I don't love day trippers, as day trippers are essential for our local economy, but it is to say that day trippers don't really mean much to my own business. Once the crowds are thinned and kids are back in school, we still have a solid month of summer left, and for those of us lucky and wise enough to spend as many of those days at Lake Geneva, a quiet lake that you'd barely recognize is ours to enjoy.

October is another favorite month, but by October the water starts to cool beyond comfortable swimming levels, and the air has a hint of seriousness in it. October dresses in jeans and tweed jackets with leather elbow patches. October wears dark rimmed glasses, even though we all know he doesn't need them. Sure September might wear a light jacket or sweater when the evening chill makes her t-shirt a little too light, but September almost always wears sandals and a swimsuit. At least that's what I see her wearing when she's in Lake Geneva. Walking the streets of town on cool mornings, content to do a little shopping and perhaps grab lunch. But come midday she's usually down at the lake, sunning on a boat or a white pier, and with water temperatures that will likely hover above 72 degrees through the end of the month, she tends to swim more than you'd think.



There will be trips to the orchard (Royal Oak Farm- still the best orchard you've never been to), and first days of school for my children. Speaking of my children; have some adjusting to do. After a summer spent swimming or fishing, literally, without exaggeration, every single day usually by 10 AM, the swimming and fishing will have to be put off until at least 3 PM now. From my desk, I can squint and see my son Thomas. Sitting in class. His head filled with a dizzying array of everything but school, staring out an open window, considering his own width as it relates to the cracked window. Feeling like a caged animal, or like those big fish in those small Bass Pro Shops aquariums. His feet tapping incessantly. His eyes darting from teacher to clock and back to the window. Contemplating his release. Wishing he could tell time a little better in order to estimate the exact moment he makes bail and can run down the school sidewalk and to the car, where he'll beg his mother to take him swimming, or fishing, or if he can find that spear that we fashioned out of a corn stalk last weekend, both.

I pity those who think summer ends this weekend. Those summer haters will soon realize the folly of their mistake, and they'll pay for it in rapidly fading tans. For those of us at Lake Geneva, we'll enjoy this month like no other month on the calendar. We'll embrace September and understand that summer is far from over. Perhaps we'll continue to wear white as well, further proving our faith in a summer that is no where near fading. If you can find the time, come to Lake Geneva this month. Ask me for a boat ride. Or find a nice lakefront hotel and spend a night or a week there. Just don't forget about September, a month that sounds like fall but plays like summer. See you at the lake.

Michigan, Michigan, Michigan... Oh how I've tried to stay away from needling you and your easily hurt feelings this summer. Our relationship got off to a tumultuous start last year, what with your very serious reaction to my very satirical commentary. It seems that we're not only destined to never become friends, we're downright likely to hate each other for the rest of our lives, which is fine by me, since I live in Lake Geneva and there's a very good chance that my life will indeed be longer than yours (life expectancy charts don't lie, Michigan. 77.9 Wisconsin vs. 76.3 Michigan). See, there you go again, getting all blustery and upset and twitchy at any small literary or statistical jab that you're never quite able to identify until it's too late. I can't help it Michigan. I feel like I must take to the internets to decry all your slick advertising and photoshop proficiency.

This issue today, it's a tricky one. I'd like to poke fun at Michigan in a jeering way that lacks seriousness, but today there is a serious tone to my complaint. (I'm no longer addressing Michigan now, just so you know). You should know that I'm not trying to gloss over any tragic circumstance, as all loss of life is horrific and saddening, rather I'm making sure you're aware of a danger that I doubt most people know exists. Consider this a PSA of sorts. I'm not sure how to dance around the delicate issue of tragedy, so I'll let an AP story from a couple years ago explain:

Most summer days, the shoreline of Lake Michigan looks inviting: warm, soft sand. A gentle breeze. Rolling waves. But in an instant, such serenity can turn deadly. That's what happened on July 4, 2003, when seven people drowned within hours along a three-mile stretch of Berrien County beach.

Chances are that didn't make the cut for the next Pure Michigan commercial. What caused this unnerving accident? Something that is properly termed "rip current". Not riptide, or undertow, but rip current. It's a nasty exodus of shore swept water, and if you're caught up in it, you just might have an untimely date with the water djinn. From the same AP story:

There were about 30 drownings related to rip currents in Lake Michigan in 2002 and 2003," says Kinnunen, who has been with Sea Grant for 24 years. "People don't even have to be swimming. They can be in waist-deep water when a rip current knocks their feet out from under them.

I have no interest in making light of tragic circumstances, but the truth is that these stories do exist, even if they don't receive much attention or consideration. And lest you think the incident is isolated and taken out of context, consider the appalling and disturbing trend, as evidenced by this snippet from last week courtesy mlive.com:

As Labor Day approaches, rip currents are being blamed for 10 deaths this summer along Michigan's west coast. Last year, the number was two in the same stretch of shore, with two others drowning near St. Ignace.

Lake Michigan, it seems, is less a relaxing, restful body of water than it is an angry soup of currents and waves and debris. The vigilance required to take a swim in that lake seems overwhelming to me. The thought of my children playing in that water doesn't scare only me. Consider what Charles Ehrlick, manager of a state park near Grand Haven, has to say on the matter:

Those people who have small children in the water, it's kind of gut-wrenching sometimes," he said. "But we have no authority to prevent people from going in the water.

This comment, along with the other quotes culled this morning, confuses me. I thought Michigan was all fun and sun and pixie dust. I thought it was all about playing on grass with your friends and having your heart broken by beauty. I had no idea that the body of water that looks so docile in television ads was capable of not only capsizing boats, but of dragging adults and children away from shore in an unpredictable and deadly rip current. I'm just not sure what sort of vacation people are really enjoying when they visit Lake Michigan. The vigilance required to enjoy such a vacation sounds exhausting to me. While any body of water is dangerous, there are hidden dangers that exist beyond poor swimmers, reckless boaters or honest, horrible mistakes that result in injury or death.

Thankfully, Geneva Lake doesn't have any time for rip currents. Geneva has no interest in harming the people who gladly frolic in her waters, whether those waters are knee deep or 135 feet deep. Mothers and fathers can sit on a pier or on a beach and watch their children splash in her clear waters without fear of any water djinn coming close to shore and ripping their feet out from under them. Geneva is relaxing, and the only lakeside vigilance necessary involves replenishing the SPF.

If you must tease death and vacation along Lake Michigan, please do be careful. If you'd rather come to a lake where no such tragic circumstances exist, Lake Geneva awaits. Geneva Lake, rip current free since Chief Big Foot speared his first brown trout at the tender age of 6, reason #9,854,882 Lake Geneva is the place for you.

Earlier this year, my older brother landed a job working in a tall building in Chicago. And as with his previous job in the same city, I asked that he spread around my Lake Geneva paraphernalia in hopes of hooking one of the big fish that work with him in that very tall building. And being a good brother, he did a little fishing for me. The reactions he garnered were the same as they had been at his previous place of work, which displayed a general mood, or perhaps impression, that Lake Geneva was a place for rich folk. I'm fully aware that my post from yesterday could have enforced that impression, that Lake Geneva is a place for only the Chicago elite; for those who chew on fat cigars while discussing mergers and acquisitions from the helm of their wooden boat that unapologetically costs more than the average persons home. But the reality is that Lake Geneva is not only accommodating for those who seek a simple, affordable place by the lake, it's downright enthusiastic about it.

Enter the new market at Country Club Estates. Country Club has long been a fixture in the Lake Geneva vacation home market, a place where discerning, vacation loving Chicagoans and their suburban neighbors could vacation under a sun splashed canopy of oak and maple trees. Prices here have always run the gambit from quite affordable to borderline ridiculously expensive, and during the height of our selling boom here prices escalated to a point where even the very cheap homes were selling for $300k and above. The broad market has shifted, perhaps to a point where the average lake access home is off as much as 20% from the market highs, and Country Club has shifted in lockstep with that broader market. While some associations buck the pricing trend and in turn embrace a complete and irreversible lack of liquidity, Country Club has been more than happy to adjust downward in order to attract buyers that have proven elusive at best, absent at worst.

Country Club has always been a tale of two, or perhaps three associations. With boundaries that run from County B on the south and South Lakeshore Drive to the north, this is a large association with a huge variation in housing stock. A darling cottage on Arrowhead with an inspiring view of Geneva Lake and the Abbey Harbor may be $1.1MM, but a simple cottage further south in the association might have been $300k. The area on south Tarrant is home to large, new homes, with prices that have always been elevated due to the combination of location, size, and age. The shift in the market has not affected the list prices of high end properties in the association much, but the cheaper homes, well, they've become even cheaper. Sorry, more economical.

The entry level Country Club homes that had been selling in the upper $200k's and low $300k's have been falling over the past three years, and now there are two homes for sale in Country Club Estates priced less than $180k. Granted, these are the only two homes priced under $280k in the association, but it proves that the cost of admission for a home near the lake with lake rights has indeed dropped to a level where the idea of a Lake Geneva vacation home has come into play for those that had previously been unable to entertain the idea. This development, I believe, is good.

Pricing adjustments in the lower reaches of the market aside, Country Club is scuffling a bit this year. The upper end of the market features a couple of homes that I believe to be a touch too high for this market, and I base that opinion off of the drop in prices for entry level lakefront. Remember, if entry level lakefront drops, the rest of the market stacked up behind it must drop commensurate. At least that's what I think, but I'm just a kid with a computer. The rest of the market at Country Club is bottled in a fairly narrow price range that runs from around $300k to $500k. Of the 22 homes currently on the market in Country Club Estates, not a single one appears to have a pending contract in place.

A home on Arrowhead just closed for a touch over $300k, bringing the YTD total for the association to a meager six sales. Even more telling, of those six sales, the most expensive closed at $377,500. That sales range doesn't exactly bode well for owners trying to sell homes in the $400k+ range, but you already knew that. The same period during 2009 saw nine closed transactions, and during a year where most individual markets are keeping pace with the 2009 sales totals, Country Club is obviously lagging behind. From my chair this morning, it's easy to see that price is the only thing holding this market back.

The sluggish activity and softening prices in Country Club is a boon for buyers, particularly for those seeking entry level properties in the association. For those who have long written off Lake Geneva as being too expensive, it's time to take another look. Lake Geneva has a friendly, softer side, free of fat cats and fat cigars and even fatter boats, and that tender underbelly is on display this summer in Fontana's Country Club Estates.

My father, a school teacher by profession, opened Geneva Lakefront Realty in the summer of 1977. At the time, he operated by renting a desk inside of the Hotton and Sons real estate office that is located across the street from my modern day office in Williams Bay. He would eventually move out of that office and into an adjacent space, where the office would stay until he moved it onto a desk in the living room of his house. It would reopen for me in 1996 in a building right next door to the previous Geneva Street offices. That old building is also right across the street from my current office, which is located immediately to the east of a vacant swath of grass that will hopefully be playing host to yet another Geneva Lakefront Realty office come next spring. In the circular world of real estate, what began as a move east turned south and ultimately will turn west again to form a near complete clockwise motion of real estate symmetry. But geography wasn't my angle this morning.

My father built a business from a single desk inside of another real estate brokers office into a one man shop that would be selling lakefront estates and lake access cottages within just three years. The times were different then, but even with crippling 18% interest rates and technology that consisted of, well, of nothing, my father was a success. And his success came early and often. Perhaps he was a better salesman than me, or perhaps this was a time when people were more willing to give the small guy a shot. Whatever the case, when my father landed both sides of a $1.5MM lakefront sale in what was just his 7th year in the business, that sale would become real estate legend for my family.

Though I was just seven at the time and cannot remember the day well, the events that followed were told again and again throughout the following years. Stories that would have my mother taking a check for $70k down to the bank to pay off the mortgage. Stories of my father driving back from Milwaukee with a new (used) Southcoast sailboat in tow. How the bottom was originally green, and he had it painted blue. These stories stuck with me as a kid. Stories of success and hard work and the rewards of both. I admired my father's skill and success, but I have to admit now that his success warped my view of the real estate profession in much the way that watching Million Dollar Listing can do the same.


The height of my misconception was on display during one brief exchange with a friend's mother, when I was probably 12 or 13 years old. She asked what it was I'd like to do when I grew up, and I told her that real estate always seemed fun to me. I told her that I'd sell real estate, and the next part is not a lie or exaggeration of any sort, I uttered something like this appalling phrase: I want to sell real estate, because it's cool to think that someone can walk into your office one day and buy a house and you'll make like $100k. Yes, I really said that. And yes, that mother probably burns with hatred towards me to this very day. I was naive, and my naivete was obvious to me after I actually started selling real estate in 1996. No one would come into my office to buy houses of any size or sort, particularly not the sort that rendered the aforementioned paydays. While I was successful, the big sale that I thought would so easily be my birthright was no where to be found.

Then Josh and Madison and Chad came along. And the girls from Selling New York and puffy lipped Jeff Lewis. They lit up my television screen with staggering sales figures that I had once dreamed of, but never accomplished. Madison might not be a very intellectual guy, but boy could he squeak and giggle his way into some big fat transactions. And Josh might have been accused of stealing art from his customers homes, but he could dazzle buyers and sellers into buying and selling multi-million dollar homes by convincing them that the price meant very little in the presence of all that Beverly Hills inspired fabulousness. I watched these shows, and I thought of my father and his early success, and in moments of selfishness, I bemoaned my own. Selling vacation homes is a serious business for me, and I've sold too many to count. But I dreamed of the big sale that seemed to come so easy to others. Fortunately, with the loyalty of one amazing customer, my itchy patience that spanned 14 years was rewarded.



The latest member of the Lake Geneva vacation home club has completed a purchase that, in my humble opinion, is one of the best deals this market has seen in the last several years. The sale that I've been working on since early spring has been completed, and the property at 1014 South Lakeshore Drive in Fontana has closed for $5.885MM. I represented the buyer in the sale, and feel both blessed and humbled beyond compare. The property is stunning, with 165' of level lakefrontage, a deep lake-to-South Lakeshore lot, two bedroom guest house, garages for seven cars, a tennis court, and a home that is so impressive that I routinely shield my eyes from the glare when I so much as drive by it. The location is ideal, with easy and quick access to Fontana, and city water and sewer as opposed to the well and septic requirements of Linn Township. While the location is private and quiet, it affords privacy without being isolated, and the south shore location enjoys sheltered waters relative to the north shore waters that grow choppy when the prevailing southwest winds blow.

The home is a shingle style masterpiece, built just five years ago in the style and form of an old lake house, executed masterfully and appointed with so many bells and whistles that it's impossible not to gloss over them for fear of running out of ink. The 12,000 square foot home (+/-) is a showpiece; a symbol of lakefront perfection in both its impressive size and quality, and in the way that it properly fits the lakefront without appearing too gaudy or attention grabbing. If ever a lakefront mansion on Geneva could be gracious and attention deflecting, this home is easily both. While some lakefront homes scream for you to look at them, this home has a cool confidence that is difficult to capture in new construction.

The sale is the highest priced lakefront sale (excluding the vacant parcel that sold last month for $6.050MM at Alta Vista) in nearly four years, and it's significant for the trend that it bucked. The larger money on Geneva has, of late, chosen to build new rather than buy existing. This is an exciting trend for the market, but it's not always the best of possible scenarios for those choosing to build. There are several homes being built on the lakefront at the moment, and these homes are largely being constructed at prices ranging from $3MM to $7MM for construction alone. If you consider that the lots are worth anywhere from $2.5MM to $6MM, this is putting owners in an all-in situation where the outlay is between $7MM and $10MM. These are huge numbers, and when you consider that my buyer just purchased a home and estate sized parcel for around $6MM that would cost as much as $8MM to replicate, it's obvious that buying existing was the better strategy. Perhaps best of all, while those who build must endure the joys of construction- and the delays that accompany it- this home can be enjoyed immediately, with costs that are fixed and lack the mysterious nature of new construction on this scale.

Enough about the numbers for now. I'm thrilled for my customer beyond words. Well, that's not really true. I can always come up with the words. But the property is magnificent, and for a quick moment in time, I was able to imagine that it was mine. While waiting to meet the customer at the home last week, I took the long walk up the driveway to inspect the tennis court. The tennis court was, as I suspected, just fine. I turned to walk back towards the house, and with the sprawling manse splayed out before me, the stream winding through the manicured lawns, the garden in harvest mode, the perennial beds in full late summer bloom, and the guest house tucked off to the east, I ambled down the drive. I kicked a few acorns off the drive, presents left by the many oak trees that provide a suitable, but not overwhelming, level of shade. I strolled towards the home, and imagined that it was mine. I couldn't think of anything finer. I thought that if there ever was some scenario in life where I could accomplish such a purchase, I would do it without hesitation.

I also thought that of all the dumb reasons people play the lottery, a reasonable reason would be to do so in order to purchase a home like this. A special thanks to my buyer who trusted me with this transaction, as my gratitude will never be able to be sufficiently expressed. See you at the lake.

Sometime during the winter of 1996, I decided that at the tender age of 18 I should be a Trustee in the village of Williams Bay. Why I decided this I'm not sure, but I can guarantee it had something to do with the $4500 annual salary. I had filed the necessary paper work, attended some "debates" where I sat under the searing lights of the village hall, elevated on their wooded console that served no other purpose than to lift me even closer to the burning intensity of those stage lights. I sat and I sweated. And when the time came for me to talk, my teeth ached with the pain of an Novocain-less root canal. Every breath I drew caused my teeth to ache, and between the aching and the sweating, it was almost too much. But I pushed forward. I even had 50 or so signs printed with my name and the word "trustee" on them, and stapled these signs, signs that I now remember to be yellow, around town on telephone poles and mailbox posts. I was David Curry, and I was going to be trustee.

For several weeks I went on like this, spending my days trying to sell real estate to customers that always commented how young I looked, and my nights feverishly pounding away at a calculator intent on making that $4500 salary provide me with the sort of material bounty that I had as of yet not experienced. Then, on the Sunday before the Tuesday election, I didn't want to be a trustee anymore. Money be darned, I didn't need the stress. Why on earth did I want to spend my Monday nights sitting under those bright lights, trying to pretend that I wanted to be present in anything more than body? The sweating and the stress and the inevitable committee meetings and the thought that I might have to get involved with pig roasts and brat grilling and raffle ticket selling, it all made me nuts. I panicked. And then I did what any other panicking kid would do; I drove around town under the cover of night and removed all of my yellow signs.

Election day came and went, and I didn't vote for myself. That night, I sat and watched the election results for obscure elections like the one I originally wanted to win until my name flashed across the bottom of the screen. My apathy turned fear quickly turned to relief. I had lost. Phew. But I had only lost by like 18 votes or so, which left my pride intact. I could have won if I wanted to. And like the three years in high school when I refused to play on the basketball team but routinely demolished all of the players during lunch time games of 21, I had justified my lack of participation. I was not going to be trustee, not then, and not ever.

Three paragraphs to get me to where I'm going today. I do not normally care much for village governments. I don't have much interest in them. Sure I'm going to vote NO to the Williams Bay School referendum in September (live within your means school district, please), and I show up once every five years at a village meeting to be a bit snarky and negative, but I generally steer clear of local politics. That said, when something presents itself that promises to impact that ethereal lake that I love nearly as much as life itself, I feel compelled to get involved. And so, today, I must take umbrage with the village of Fontana. Fontana, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.

Fontana has positioned itself as the premier lakeside municipality on Geneva Lake. Take an hour drive around the lake, and chances are you'll come away with an understanding that Fontana is indeed the most idyllic of our four municipalities that possess property on Geneva Lake (Walworth Township, you don't count). Real estate values have risen in Fontana commensurate with this obvious appeal, and many buyers are suffering from a case of acute municipal attraction, with Fontana being the only prescription available, over the counter or otherwise. So as Fontana propels itself ahead of the competition, there's a growing concern that Fontana is getting a bit off course as it relates to zoning and permitting issues. I've been aware of this for quite some time, and wrote a year or more ago about a proposed land subdivision that I wasn't in favor of. Fast forward to today and there's another proposal that I don't like, and a slippery trend that Fontana is on the brink of escalating.

Our friends at the Geneva Lake Conservancy sent out an email last week, bemoaning some recent decisions made by the Fontana board. Among those grievances is the 2010 approval of a boathouse. Now, boathouses are cool. I love them. But I don't really think we need to start allowing more of them to be built. The boathouse that was just approved by Fontana and quickly built is on the north side of Fontana, and while it's small and tasteful, I still don't like the trend that the approval has possibly established. The fine folks at the GLC are not in favor of it either, and it's left their mood teetering on apoplectic. The letter they wrote calls out the village for this boathouse approval, but there is more disapproval directed at the village's consideration of a proposed development along the same road that would provide lake rights and a slip to an off water home that currently has neither. This, as you may have guessed, is a big deal.

I'm generally a limited government sort of guy. I dislike taxes, and as a rule dislike social programs that benefit select few at the expense of the more productive others. That said, regulations designed to protect values and protect aesthetic qualities of Geneva Lake are regulations that I support. I don't want to see the density on the lake increase. I don't want to see more piers and more boats and more boathouses. I like it just the way it is, and I have no interest in pulling back previously strict regulations for the benefit of a few powerful individuals within Fontana. I have a simple take on municipal zoning and building issues. If a house exists, I think the house should be able to be torn down and rebuilt in the same footprint without any hassle. I think that owners of small cottages who seek to upgrade those cottages by alterations or minimal additions that don't impede another owners access of view should also be permitted with little struggle. I think platted vacant lots should always be buildable, even if the municipality has restricted the building setbacks to a degree that current construction would require a lengthy and burdensome variation appeal. I think these things, and I think they are reasonable. What I don't approve of is the butchering of private lakefrontage to a degree that the density of housing and the density of riparian improvements (piers) increase.

Fontana has been leading the charge on the lakefront for improving municipal space, and they should be applauded for their gains. What they should not do is bow to the wishes of a select few that seek only financial gain. Lakerights should not be extended to those owners who currently have none, and land subdivisions should be limited to what the current zoning allows. The lakefront is too valuable to allow one municipality to approve measures that incrementally increases density in a way that affects all of those who use and love the lake. If you feel the same way, take a minute to email the village of Fontana. Tell them you're not a fan of increased density, and while you love their grassy medians, you have little interest in seeing more piers and even less interest in having them approve condominium plats on single family parcels.

Now that I'm sufficiently worked up, please remember this. If you ever see a sign up that says "Curry for Trustee", please remove it at once.

And so it goes, the easy rhythm of a Lake Geneva summer, and the seemingly easier rhythm of sales at Abbey Springs. As another yawn inducing August real estate market draws to a close, Abbey Springs seems to be the only one enjoying themselves. August is, quite simply, a month made for fun. It is not a month made for selling real estate. While agents have been busy, we haven't exactly been setting the world on fire as we store up our meager acorns for the long months that span my calendar from fall through spring. The sales lull is normal, even expected, and we'll get a better sense of how soft the market is after reviewing the September and October combined numbers later this fall. Even so, with slow sales and sluggish buyers, Abbey Springs continues to inspire and excite those who revel in the thought of a Lake Geneva vacation home.

As of this morning, the MLS shows 27 active condominiums and single family homes in Abbey Springs priced from around $150k to nearly $1.2MM. This inventory number is a really good sign for the development, as the available inventory represents merely 4% of the total inventory at Abbey Springs (592 total units, or thereabouts). In order to put the number in perspective, Geneva National has roughly 10-12% of its total built inventory on the market at any given time. The low inventory is key to the appearance of a solid market, and in the case of Abbey Springs, we actually have sales to credit for that appearance as well.



There are two properties pending sale in the association at the moment, an Alpine priced at $359,900 and an Oakwood townhouse priced at $439k. These two pending sales, assuming they close, will bring the YTD sales total to 14, which is a respectable number no matter what year we're looking at. Consider that the 2009 YTD total was 12, and 2008, the year we drew our curtains and pulled our duvets over our faces, there were only 4 YTD sales. 2010 is looking like a pretty solid year at Abbey Springs, and like a stock rising on a day when the broader market is falling, it's a sign of strength that should inspire confidence in this Lake Geneva stalwart.

It's not to say that Abbey Springs is the best option for everyone, in fact, it's really only a small percentage of buyers that would seek out this particular property. While there are amenities galore (golf, tennis, pools, restaurants, beach, exercise facilities, marina, etc), those amenities come at a fairly steep monthly association price. The monthly fees are not cheap, so I think it's imperative to use the association amenities if you do indeed purchase a vacation home in Abbey Springs. If you're not going to use the beach or the pools or the tennis courts, there's really no point in paying for them. If you want to sit in the woods, save your money and buy at Abbey Hill. You still get the Abbey name, so that's something. If you want to crank your vacation into high gear and fill your weekends with activities and opportunity, buy at Abbey Springs. To be specific, buy my house at 125 St. Andrews. But now I'm starting to sound like a Realtor again.

For a young guy who doesn't feel so young anymore, I have an increasingly measurable interest in history. I find myself watching late night World War II features more often that would appear to be healthy. I'm amazed at my ignorance to that recent history, and even more amazed at the sacrifices made by others in order to ensure that I worry more about tuition bills and mortgages than the markings on the planes flying overhead. I also find the history of Lake Geneva fascinating, even if it is less rewarding. I wish the Smithsonian channel would hire Charlie Sheen's dad to narrate a seven part series on the history of my beloved home, but in the absence of that I believe I've found the sort of insight I thirst for in the images and brief writings contained on old postcards.

The miracle of this series of tubes that the late Ted Stevens brought to our attention is in their ability to hunt down the sort of relics that would have previously required a rigorous and lengthy garage sale pursuit to accomplish. I've found and purchased some interesting Lake Geneva memorabilia on Ebay and the like, including a few old prints, a 1948 train schedule to and from Chicago, and most importantly, postcards. I have a particular affinity for cards with boats on them, but old mansions and Yerke's cards will suffice as well. I find the cards a curious and tangible link to the past, and I find that the past is one I really, really like.

The past wasn't just a time filled with inconveniences and pesky sanitation and road problems. It was also a time when simple pleasures that we plow right through today as mere speed bumps on our path toward financial domination- a path that forces us to eat small pleasurable moments in time like pac-dots on a a Pac-Man screen. People appeared a bit more relaxed back then, at least that's what I gather from reading their flowing cursive writings on the back of these antiquated post cards. From what I can tell, a trip to Lake Geneva didn't just have the ho-hum feel that many trips today have. The trip wasn't an inconvenience. It wasn't something anyone had to force them to do. It was something they wanted to do, and something they might have looked forward to for the entire year.



The images and simple writings make clear that it was a time when no one had to be convinced of the power of Lake Geneva. They just went there, and they felt it. And if they had a spare nickel, they'd write down what they did and how they felt and they'd send it to some relative or friend in a far away land that wasn't nearly as remarkable as the lake they were currently sitting near. Or swimming in. Or sailing over. They'd write- not in the style of today where postcards are filled to overflowing with self-indulgent verboseness of whatever daily activities one might be enjoying- but of simple pleasures that needed only to be conveyed with an image and a sentence. One such card is held in a frame on the wall of my home. On the dog-eared card the photo is of a sailing scow, moored next to a straight white pier. The card is from 1908, and instead of talking about how the cubs just might win the world series that year, and where the sender went to eat and how they got stuck in a rut on the road to the cottage rental and how the rental had a few bugs and wasn't very clean and how the lake was two degrees colder than the sender would have preferred- it read, simply, "It's a bit cooler this evening". No rambling, no sales pitch. No "you should totally be here! It's awesome, I promise! The fishing is the best! LOL, LMAO, ROTFL" No such gibberish. Just a simple picture and six words, and that was all it took.

Another card, one with a photo of Otto Young's Youngland Manor (now Stone), written in a delightful cursive reads "Dear Mother, How are you all getting along? As for us, we are all fine and dandy enjoying the fine lake and fresh air" And then there's the ever classic post card with no writing. As if the sender was saying, here's the deal. We're here (picture of lake or boat or house), and you're not. So deal with it and let your jealous rage of vacation envy boil over while imagining me sitting lakeside, reading or perhaps writing, drinking in the scenery and tasting the freshest of air. It wasn't necessary to write all of that, just a poignant picture and an address, and with that the entire story would be sufficiently relayed.

I spend a lot of my life convincing people of the splendor of Lake Geneva. I struggle with customers who think they're too busy for a lake home, or others who can't find one in exactly the right shade of white that they're longing for. Yet, just last night, with the dark blue water surrounding my resting boat and puffy white clouds dotting the pale blue sky, I sat there in awe. I couldn't imagine someone not doing everything they possibly could to enjoy this sort of life- if only for two days a week. I wondered why it's so arduous a task to make this scenery real to someone. With the cool breeze of a late summer evening tempering the still potent sun that slowly baked my back, I wondered these things aloud to my seven year old son. He offered no explanation.

Just as I need no convincing, the writers of these old post cards that lie scattered on my desk at the moment needed little as well. They knew Lake Geneva was the place to be, and whether the card was purchased and penned in 1908 or 1948, the message was the same. No matter how many words were used, no matter where the card was being sent, it was clear that the sender was pleased with himself or herself. The writer knew they were in a special place, and instead of attempting to arrange their words in the proper fashion in order to convey their delight, much in the same way that I do on this blog, they simply dug a one-cent stamp out of their pocket or purse or wallet and wrote a sentence or two. Without much contemplation they mailed the card and returned to enjoying their vacation at the lake. Back when no one needed convincing that Geneva was indeed the place to be.

The latest tale of real estate brilliance, vacation home style, comes courtesy the Wall Street Journal. The good intentioned Wall Street Journal published an article called 10 Summer Home Mistakes, and introduced us to a presumably sweet couple from California. This couple, caught up in second home lust that only a lifetime of hard work can induce, purchased an idyllic vacation home just a couple of years ago. They love this vacation home, as well they should, since they have roughly $2.8MM into the place. Unfortunately, this summer home is proving to be too much work for this tender couple, and for that, we should all be sad. Only three years after purchasing and renovating this charming vacation home, they have decided to sell it. It's too big they say. No one comes to visit them. The gardens need maintaining, and the house needs heating, and it's all too much. And they recently decided that at 73, they're just not getting any younger. The dream of a vacation home can be exhausting- particularly once accomplished. The horrors of owning an expensive vacation can indeed crush even the most well intentioned buyers.

All of these things are particularly true when you live in California...and buy a house in MAINE. I never capitalize letters like a high school kid on Facebook, or like Oprah on Twitter, but I pushed that shift button to further drive home the point of how ridiculous this couple is. Why would anyone buy a vacation home on the other side of the country? Why own a place that requires a full, exhausting and expensive day of trans-continental air travel just to make sure the gardener weeded around the Hydrangeas like his bill said he did? And how on earth can it be conceivable that such a vacation home will ever provide enough joy to offset the ridiculous inconveniences of the ownership? News flash to all those reading along both here and on the Wall Street Journal: If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife- no, that's not it. Right. If you want to be happy for the rest of your vacation home loving life, never buy a vacation home more than two hours from your home. Follow that simple Dave Curry rule, and you'll never run into the sorts of problems that our naive friends from California encountered.

It's this same sort of absurd buying behavior that has spawned the HGTV life sapping House Hunters International. You've probably seen this show before. Some sweaty couple flies to Roatan or some other far flung tropical locale and buys a villa there. They've made sure to pack their sandals and socks ensemble, so they're ready to go house hunting. They walk through houses or condos with strange Realtors, and they comment about how nice things are. That ugly kitchen? It'll work, they say. That chain link fence dividing their new villa from the impoverished locals? That's nice privacy. They talk about the company that they'll entertain. And how this place is nice because it's close to the beach or how that place is nice because it's close to town. They look at this real estate, and then, as if facing eternal damnation as the only other choice, the buy something. HGTV rings the doorbell a couple months later to check in on this couple, and it's all smiles and brown paper packages tied up with strings.


This is what they'd have you believe, but our silly friends from California already told us what happens when you buy real estate that isn't easily accessed from your primary residence, and they're not the only people warning us. Some of the most staunch opponents of vacation home ownership are those people that have owned them before. I went out last summer with a couple who brought along another couple to look at Lake Geneva vacation homes with them. This other couple annoyed me to death. They were anti-vacation home. While I regaled my clients with tales of vacation home splendor, their friends only told stories about how little they used their own vacation home. You'll never use it, they'd say. This is nice, but it'll become a deeded noose around your financial neck. I filled with contempt for this couple. As steam shot from my ears and my head neared explosion, I learned why this couple didn't understand the vacation home. I learned why they were so negative, and why they counted their own vacation home experience as a complete loss. It turned out that they, living near Chicago, had purchased a vacation home on a lake in northern Wisconsin- a lake that was nearly 5 hours from their home. This couple didn't hate their vacation home, they hated driving 5 hours to get to it.

And so it goes, well meaning individuals and families seeking out their own slice of vacation home heaven, looking for real estate that looks pretty online and in magazine ads, never fully understanding the single most important factor in vacation home ownership is location. I'm not saying that beautiful sand beaches with turquoise Caribbean waters teeming with Bonefish doesn't sound like a vacation paradise, but unless I can load my two kids into a car and get there in less than two hours, I'm not buying a vacation home there. My cost per night requirement won't justify the purchase on some tropical isle, just like it won't work if I look at vacation homes even four hours from my home. Two hours or less is easily accomplished, even with my horrible children in the back seat. Five hours in a car with those kids and I'd hate whatever vacation home I arrived at too.

The Wall Street Journal's article featured 10 common summer home purchasing mistakes, but buying within easy proximity of your primary home is the only one that matters. Don't buy in Roatan. Don't even buy in Door County. And it goes without saying that you shouldn't make a Michstake and buy in Michigan. It's obvious that aside from the abounding natural beauty of Lake Geneva, the biggest advantage of this sparkling destination is indeed the proximity to your home. Beware- the WSJ article does contain one bit of bad advice- it says not to befriend your Realtor. That bit should be ignored. Trust me, I'm a Realtor.

I think there's plenty of reason to believe that the elevated foreclosures (putting it mildly) on a national level are no longer representing some form of short lived, but severe, crisis. I think the foreclosure filings, which appear to have peaked already, are going to remain at an elevated level for the rest of my life. I say that as someone who isn't planning on dying any time soon. As I look at the Lake Geneva foreclosure scene, it see a stable market, but one that at any given time has foreclosure motions being filed, being granted, or properties being sold at sheriff's sale to the highest bidder (the bank). I don't see an ebbing of the situation, nor do I see an escalation. I see a steady, annoying drip, that will probably be dripping at this newly increased level for years to come. I think that because foreclosures have lost any stigma attached to them, and they are now a tool for Jo and Mary Homeowner to effectively, and acceptably, shed their debt burden and finally, I mean, finally, go to that Sandals resort in Jamaica that they've been dreaming about.

The Lake Geneva vacation home market is still experiencing the aforementioned steady drip, and this report today contains some very big news. We had a lakefront foreclosure last year, and I wrote at the time that I didn't think it was a good deal given other available inventory on the lakefront. There has been a property, also in the city of Lake Geneva, that has been drifting in and out of foreclosure over the past year, and it appears this time that it's finally going to be auctioned off. This property is old and bad, and it's in a spot that I don't like one bit. That said, the note is relatively low ($800k's), which should allow a bank to sell this thing for a million or less. If this lakefront goes for $1MM or less, it'll be a deal. If it lists for that sort of number, I'll put my red "it's a deal" light on the top of my car and drive from Lake Geneva to Michigan Avenue and back, like a modern day Paul Revere. Stay tuned for this one, because it'll sell in like three minutes if it hits the market for around $1MM. If it lists for less than that, I'll be the first to tell you (best email me to get on my list of people who will know before anyone else).

Keep in mind, if you're looking for ideal lakefront, with a perfect location and perfect house, this is not it. On to Geneva National now. GN has been a regular at the sheriff's sale, but it's really not as bad there as you may think. A development that large (1100+ units) is bound to have an ongoing foreclosure situation. GN's isn't that bad, with perhaps five or six currently on the books from what I can tell. Abbey Springs has fared remarkably well, and I can't find a single foreclosure ongoing in that foreclosure-bucking association at the moment.



There are foreclosures picking up steam at the Abbey Villas, as a lack of liquidity has really hurt the market there. Sellers can hold out for a while, but when it's close to impossible to sell your property, it's very hard to get out from a debt obligation that might be too much to handle. I see two or three active foreclosures in the villas at the moment. There are also a couple at the Abbey Hotel, those being the condo-tel units. Similarly there are some foreclosures at the Grand Geneva time shares, which goes without saying. Lake Lawn also has some trouble, but let's not beat a dead horse.

In what I think is really bad news for the Bella Vista A/K/A The Meridien, there appear to be two or three foreclosures in there at the moment. A simple rule of thumb for foreclosures is that the smaller the association, the large the impact of a foreclosure on the pricing of the other units. With only 39 units, the Bella Vista is in trouble if they see a spate of foreclosures in a relatively short period of time. There's another foreclosure in the works at Abbey Hill, which has also been damaged by just a small handful of foreclosures over the past couple years.

Cedar Point Park has a foreclosure or two brewing, which has been the case off and on for most of the year. The South Shore Club lot that has been meandering in and out of trouble had a Lis Pendens Release recorded this month, meaning the owner has pulled the property back from the brink of foreclosure. We'll see if this sticks, but either way it's good news for the SSC and for this owner.

I feel like I just rattled off quite a bit of foreclosure activity, but the reality is that the activity has been sparse compared with lesser vacation home markets. There are values out there, but these REO properties in lake access associations tend to sell very quickly, and they tend to not be the most prime real estate. The lakefront foreclosure is the big news of the day, and I'll be sure to watch it over the next couple weeks. I expect that it will generate a ton of activity, and it will sell for too much money. A house in the shadow of a large condominium is not a house that I really want to buy- unless it's dirt cheap. Which means we'll just have the figure out the going price of dirt.

(As with all of my market and foreclosure updates, this represents a mere opinion of the market based on what I'm able to see by searching public records. This information is not guaranteed, nor is it inclusive of every foreclosure filing or proceeding in this market.)