South Shore Club- Low Tax Sanctuary?

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the South Shore Club, located on the old Northwestern Military Academy grounds off of South Lakeshore Drive in Linn Township. I’m more familiar with the property than most, owning the rare distinction of having sold million dollar property at the new development, and having taken drivers ed with the cadets at the old academy. I also played a basketball game there in junior high, but I don’t want to talk about it…

The South Shore Club is beautiful, bold, and engineered for high octane lakefront fun. I didn’t like the development when it was first proposed, and even after the first homes were built I wasn’t a fan. I see now how it fits into the market, and think it to be a viable option that anyone contemplating a lakefront purchase should absolutely consider. I was thinking about the Club this morning, and in laying out obstacles to sales there, I ran a list of cons in my head. Not cons like Bill Ayers, but cons that attain to be the opposite of pros. The first thing that came to mind was “high taxes”. It’s probably one of the first things that many buyers think about when they consider that property as well. Surely a magnificent new development, with copius quantities of grounds and lakefront, numerous unrivaled amenities, and breathtaking stone and slate new construction would also boast otherworldly tax bills, right? Now if only you had a Realtor who could break down the market and explain all this to you…

I approached this theory by selecting three, like priced, similarily assessed lakefront homes on Geneva. For the sample, I chose one home in each Lake Geneva, Williams Bay, and the South Shore Club. (if you click on that link to learn more, don’t you dare contact them for more information- contact me please!) The homes are priced at $3.395MM (Bay), $2.495MM (LG), and $2.975MM (SSC). Assessed values for each are $2.275MM (Bay), $2.594MM (LG), and $2.357MM (SSC). You can see that the assessed values are much closer than are the list prices, which is exactly what we want. There’s some play in those assessed values, as some municipalities assess at different ratios than others, but we’ll use them as an average in this case.

Now to the taxes. The taxes on the home at 8 Lakeshore Drive in Lake Geneva are a whopping $51,474.66. Don’t cheat the city of Lake Geneva out of their 66 cents you cheapskate! To be fair, this is a beautiful home, and probably only of the top four best deals on the lakefront right now. The Williams Bay home at 100 Birch Walnut Drive owes an annual tax bill of $34,961.64. A big difference from Lake Geneva for sure, but still not exactly cheap. And before you jump all over the taxes on the lakefront here, think about that house you own in Hinsdale, or Lake Forest, and apply your value and tax amount to this situation. You’ll see that we’re not much different than the affluent Illinois suburbs.

Lastly, the listing at 4613 Forest Hill in Linn Township. This South Shore Club home is aggresively stunning, and is a breath of high end fresh air after viewing some of the other lakefront homes in this price range. Taxes on this nearly $3MM residence? A mere $24,521. I know, it’s alot of money, but it’s not bad really, and particularly impressive when viewed in direct contrast to the other lakefront municipalities and associations.

So there you have it. Dave Curry + South Shore Club + you = low taxes. And my five year old son thinks math is hard.

About the Author

I'm David Curry. I write this blog to educate and entertain those who subscribe to the theory that Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is indeed the center of the real estate universe. When I started selling real estate 27 years ago I did so of a desire to one day dominate the activity in the Lake Geneva vacation home market. With over $800,000,000 in sales since January of 2010, that goal is within reach. If I can help you with your Lake Geneva real estate needs, please consider me at your service. Thanks for reading.

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