Lake Geneva Real Estate Blog

Lake Geneva Real Estate Blog http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/ Real estate commentary and insight for the Lake Geneva market en-us Nucleus CMS v3.64 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif Lake Geneva Real Estate Blog http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/ The South Shore Club http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1378

It is no secret that the South Shore Club is an exclusive development. Anything numbering just 40 in total would be viewed as exclusive. While this is known, what isn't so well known is that exclusivity does exist here on a higher level. The homes are each unique- each impressive. The slate, the stone, the imported this and hand hammered that, it's all very intoxicating. Whether the home is on Forest Hill near the tennis court, or right on the semi-circle that rings the lake like a modern day Congress Club, the structure is divine and the home a veritable castle for its fortunate owner. But this is the obvious. This is what we already know. This is what everyone, no, anyone, can see with their own two open eyes if they so much as drive past, or perhaps through, the South Shore Club.

But what is a higher prize are the select homes that line not just the circle of lush grass where a swimming pool and clubhouse reside, but those homes that rest immediately adjacent to the lake itself. These are the lakefront homes of the South Shore Club, and these are the homes that compete with private frontage in such a way that they are not just a different option for those seeking private frontage, they can indeed become the better option. In this hunt for the exclusive within the exclusive, we find ourselves at the door of 1621 E. Lakeside Lane.

We've already established that each home in the SSC is a shining jewel in its own right, but what we miss when we paint with this wide brush is that individual homes do stand out among this spiffy crowd. Some homes are larger, as is this one. At 9300 or so total square feet, this home is large enough to meet anyone's desires, and yet boasts a design that is approachable with rooms that feel large but not so large that they become unnecessary or somehow irrelevant. The floor plan here is delightful, with everything a discerning buyer might require for a true lakefront home. There are bedrooms- nearly too many to count (7) and bathrooms galore (9). There are finishes that exceed the highest of expectations. The Ralph Lauren interior design fits a lake home as perfectly as any design ever has.

But again, these are finishes and these are just one of the myriad reasons to buy in the South Shore Club. The location of this home might be its most important attribute. Nestled on the extreme eastern edge of the club, there is more space between this home and its lakefront neighbor to the East. This spacious side yard is a result of site planning, and it's this side yard that makes this home feel less like just another home in the South Shore Club and more like one of the finest lakefront homes you'll ever lay eyes on. The views from the home rival or exceed that of any lakefront home on Geneva, with unavoidable lake views present in many of the rooms, and most pronounced from the epic lakeside stone patio.

This is the appeal of this exquisite home. It is part of the South Shore Club, and along with that membership it enjoys the unrivaled trappings of such luxury- the free and varied boats, the tennis court, the pool and hot tub, the clubhouse, and if it's winter, the ice skating rink. Think you need to buy a life vest for your daughter here? Think again, they're included as it's all part of the South Shore Club experience. These are the amenities, and when a home like this requires the use of those, they are available at any moment. But what is different here is the ability to detach from the South Shore Club and live as a true lakefront home. If the activities are needed, they are there. But if they are not needed, and the new owner requires little more than a comfortable lounge chair to rest on and the sound of lapping waves as their soundtrack, this is also available. It's in the ability to live as a true lakefront home with the wide array of South Shore Club activities available when they are wanted and out of sight and perhaps mind when they are not.

This weekend, I'll be at this home and another in the South Shore Club. This open house will run from 10 am until 1 pm on Saturday, and I'm begging you to stop in for a tour. Offered at $3.95MM, the home is destined to meet your expectations. The remaining few lots at the SSC have been dramatically reduced to a point where they are all priced under $1MM. One special lot near the tennis court may sell at a level that matches the all-time low price for the development. Come see me Saturday, we'll look at this home and we'll make sure you get a proper introduction to the new South Shore Club. It's the same as the old South Shore Club, just a whole lot more affordable. ]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1378 Fri, 3 Feb 2012 08:51:08 +0000 Lake Geneva Winterfest 2012 http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1374

In Lake Geneva today the forecast high is 44 degrees. With sunshine. It's delightful, really. I walked from my car to my office this morning and those five paces were dry and they were not slippery. I rather enjoyed it. Tomorrow, the forecast high is 43, with sun. It's more of the same for Friday, 44 for that day under a generous sun. Saturday finds the temperatures moderating in the 40s again, and Sunday calls for a rain/snow mix, but with a high of 39 I'm guessing the mix will just be rain. This is a five day forecast that I can cope with. Heck, I'll even celebrate it. But that's because I'm not into the snow. I don't snowmobile, nor do I snow ski. Yes, the weather looks to be just about perfect for a summer loving guy stuck in the middle of a perpetual March. You know who isn't happy about this? The bunch of people huddled outside right now in front of the Riviera trying to chisel slush into birds, fish, and dragons.

They aren't limited to those categories, but giant pressed hunks of snow lend themselves to those three groups. Today, under that 44 degree sky, Lake Geneva's Winterfest 2012 begins. It's not just a small town festival, with hot chocolate to be sipped and shopping bags to be filled and fine fare to be sampled, it's also the 16th annual United States National Snow Sculpting Competition. It's a big deal. Which is why the weather can be both a joy for me and a disaster for them. In spite of this warm week, the show must go on. I'm no snow sculpting champion, but I'm guessing the winner will carve something that looks like a giant block of snow with some teeth and eyes. I'd avoid any limbs that extend beyond the body mass, and I certainly wouldn't plan for any legs. Perhaps this is the year that the winning sculpture is a giant M&M, minus the arms and legs.

There is ice on Geneva Bay right now, and that ice extends from the Riviera over to the Geneva Inn and westward into the Narrows. There is an open section of water off of Maytag Point, so if you're adventurous enough to tip toe on the ice for a bit, I'd avoid that section, unless your adventurous aim teeters on suicidal, then have at it. During a normal Winterfest, there would be planes with skis resting on the ice, offering rides for a reasonable ransom. There would be ice huts- many, many ice huts. There would be ice skating, and it would be wonderful. This year, none of this will happen. But that isn't to say you should avoid Lake Geneva this weekend, because you shouldn't, but it is to say that you should consider this weekend less a weekend of supposed Winterfest and more a weekend of spring exploration. This is a weekend for a drive.

I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that the Grand Geneva has a winter festival this weekend, and they have a most significant advantage. The Mountain Top ski hill has many ice machines, so the Grand Geneva is able to thumb their nose at a mild winter and make their own snow anyway. The snow that the sculptures will be working with this week came from those ice machines, and the snow that you can come up and ski on did as well. From 11 am to 2 pm this Saturday, February 4th, the ski hill will host all sorts of activities for kids and adults. Snowboarding competitions, ski lessons- that sort of thing. The lodge there is quite comfortable, and I reckon there's nothing finer than sitting in the window, with a coffee in hand and a roaring fire at your back, watching many people tumble down the hill.

Now, back to that drive you're going to take. While the winter isn't cooperating for those winter lovers, it is melting away to give us real estate hunters a great view of the land. If you can look at a piece of real estate in the middle of winter, with some dirty snow covering muddy, tan grass, and you can find that real estate attractive, then you've really found something. There is no better time to scout for real estate than when the flora is dead. There is little emotion to house hunting this time of year. There are no lilacs in bloom to captivate you, no sailboats framing your view, no romance. This is hard core real estate hunting, and it's available to you this weekend. On Saturday I'll be hosting two open houses in the South Shore Club. You'll learn more about this in the post on Friday, but there's a change coming to the South Shore Club this week, and it involves me and some slashed pricing. Look for the pictures and details Friday, but for now, plan on coming to visit me. You can stop by the sculptures afterward to see which ones still have their arms, assuming not all the sculptors will take my advice and omit them. ]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1374 Wed, 1 Feb 2012 08:15:05 +0000 Abbey Springs Market Update http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1370

When I think of Geneva National, the next thought is usually about Abbey Springs. If you need help differentiating between the two developments, just think of Abbey Springs as a much smaller, much browner, Geneva National. Abbey Springs has just one golf course, but Abbey Springs has one thing that Geneva National will never, ever have. Geneva Lake. If a resort setting is to your liking, and you require the ability to captain a golf cart not just to a golf course but also to a sandy beach on Geneva Lake, then Abbey Springs is your prize.

There is one other major difference between these two residential behemoths- one is actually popular right now. While GN has twisted and contorted and suffered through the past four years, Abbey Springs continues to skip along, either oblivious to the misery elsewhere or at the least indifferent to other developments struggles. This morning, there are 31 units on the MLS in Abbey Springs, and no fewer than six of those units are pending. If we were to extrapolate those numbers and apply to GN, that would be the equivalent of GN having 17 units pending sale right now. Instead, GN has just two pending (per MLS). Advantage Abbey Springs.

So if the advantage is clearly Abbey Springs, can we fully understand why that is? What is it about this association that captures the attention of buyers with such inspiring consistency? It must simply be that Abbey Springs has no equal in the Lake Geneva vacation home market. There is, quite simply, nothing like it. Geneva National has golf courses and swimming pools, and those courses and pools are far better than the same at Abbey Springs. Abbey Springs has a clubhouse, and it is quite nice and recently built and improved and I, for one, enjoy nothing more than a bowl of soup in the Grill Room on wintry afternoons. But have you seen the GN clubhouse? It's pretty spectacular. The members lounge is one that I have considered joining for the sole purpose of napping on the comfy couches that ring a warming fireplace. Those amenities, even if similar, are better in Geneva National.

If those items are the same, and if Abbey Springs gets an edge for having better tennis courts, then the primary and most important difference is the presence of the lake. Vacation home buyers that seek lake access cannot find that at Geneva National. They can look at a lake, but they cannot enjoy one. And so at Abbey Springs, with country club amenities intact and impressive, there is also that big blue lake, and that lake is the difference between flawless market performance over a most arduous couple of years. If it weren't for the lake, Abbey Springs would be struggling like everything else, but because of the lake, it has risen to the top of our reasonably priced vacation home market.

While I enjoy seeing volume at Abbey Springs, I do think much of the volume can, at times, consist of properties that represent perhaps only modest value. I do not see many steals in Abbey Springs, though there have been plenty over recent years. One pending sale is bank owned, so there is value there. The others? I enjoy the volume but I do not celebrate the individual purchases all that much. I think value exists here, but I also think that many buyers could do better. That's just my opinion of course, and while Abbey Springs excites I would likely rather purchase a vacation home with ridiculous proximity to the water over one with ridiculous amenities. But that's because I'm interested in the lake first, and everything else dead last. Get me close to the lake and I'll be happy. Perhaps someone could write that on my headstone. But get me close to a tennis court and let me eat a club sandwich on a patio overlooking that court, and I'll be happy then too. Perhaps write that on the other side of my headstone. Or just under and to the left of the quote about the lake.

Photograph by Matt Mason Photography www.mattmasonphotography.com. As is the one of Geneva National below. ]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1370 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:22:59 +0000 Geneva National Market Update http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1368

I think the Pursuit is the finest center console boat made today. The Boston Whaler gets a larger share of the spotlight, but the beam of a Whaler Outrage is a bit too narrow for my tastes. Grady White makes a seaworthy boat, but the rise of the bow is a tad too aggressive, to say nothing of the fact that their overall design hasn't changed since the Truman administration. A Yellowfin is impressive and obviously built for speed, but the profile is a bit short, if I am being forced to find a fault. So it leaves us with the Pursuit, the boat of choice, the boat that is my choice, the boat that I already own and the boat that I thought about buying last week.

I just said I already have a Pursuit. Sure it's older and it smokes a lot, but it's mine and it's fine. The new boat, the one that caught my eye during a random Ebay episode, was like mine but better in every imaginable way. It was bigger, brighter, fancier, and where my boat has just one engine this boat had two. It was a boat that would sell for around $130k brand new, and the day I saw it the price was bid to only $10k. It was a bank repo, which meant, to me, that the price might stall and I might be the high bidder at a price that would obligate me to wear a black ski mask when setting up the wire. I was determined to wait and bid if the boat wanted to sell for $25k. If I couldn't afford it, I figured I could always sell it for a handsome profit. I thought about this boat often last week.

I watched the bids creep slowly toward the $20k mark. No matter, I still had room. Then, in one unfortunate move, the price moved immediately and unexpectedly to $35k. My boat dreams were over. Crestfallen, I assured myself that it didn't matter. I still had a boat. It smokes a lot, but what difference does that make? So I chug on like an old whaling ship, it's no big deal. I didn't need that big boat. I wasn't even looking for a boat. I had no business even pretending to be in the market for that big, beautiful boat, but sometimes, like this time, price was everything and a discount was able to make a buyer out of me.

This is what it's like to be in Geneva National these days. A foreclosed on home hit the market two weeks ago for $185,900. I sold a two bedroom condo in GN once that might have measured 1000 square feet for $188k. This home, with five bedrooms and a two car attached garage and a pool was less than that two bedroom upper Fairway unit. A buyer of mine who had been looking in Country Club Estates was excited by the price of that new offering, and a week later that buyer who had never previously been inside the wooden gates of Geneva National was under contract to buy that large home with a pool and some rather off-putting pink Aztek inspired wallpaper.

If buyers in search of vacation homes here aren't at least considering GN, they are doing themselves a disservice. Having lived in GN over many years, I retain a fondness for the development even in spite of its market difficulties. Some view those difficulties as a warning, I view those difficulties as an exciting and rare opportunity to wrestle value out of a slow market. Lots in Geneva National that were once $150k are currently poised to trade for $30k. Condominiums that were $300k are now able to sell in the $180k range. And homes, like the Aztek wallpaper house with the pool, that were once valued in the $400k range are now set to sell for sub-$200k. I realize not everyone is a buyer, but at valuations that can exceed 50% off previous market highs, don't we at least owe it to ourselves to take a look?

There are still trouble spots in GN that I wouldn't touch with the longest of borrowed poles. Any condominium enclave that isn't sold out is one that I would avoid. I don't like the possible price reductions that can occur in those sorts of situations. If a development has 100 units, and 80 of them are left unsold, it's obvious to us now that the first 20 buyers paid too much. And after a serious round of price cuts, the next 20 buyers in will feel as though they've achieved some great discount off of retail. After all, the first 20 buyers are the ones who paid too much. What is forgotten in this scenario is what happens to the next 20 deals, and the 20 after that? Developers can and will continue to cut prices to attract buyers, and buyers who pay prices that they perceive to reflect significant discounts are merely setting themselves up to be undercut in the future by even deeper discounts. This is why I'm avoiding developments that host units still held by the developing group unless there are fewer than 15% of the total units left. This is a good rule of thumb to abide by whether the real estate is in Geneva National or the Gold Coast, or Naples.

Geneva National will slowly attract more attention as 2012 wears on, but that attention won't necessarily come from dedicated GN buyers. It'll come from buyers who view GN like I viewed that Pursuit. Sure they won't need a condo or a townhome there, but if some seller is willing to bend over backwards to entice an offer, how can opportunistic buyers resist? Today there are 83 condominiums and homes on the market in GN. Not all represent value, in fact, most do not. But there is value on that list, and I'm happy to point you in the right direction. ]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1368 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:31:32 +0000 The Ice Fisherman http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1360

It's dark now, but light enough to see that the sky and the ice and the horizon are the same dull gray. I think he's in there. He has to be in there, even though he shouldn't be. Who would be? Not me. Not you. We are not him, in fact, we are nothing like him. It is dark still, but he's in there. He's either sitting on a white paint bucket tipped upside down, or he's sitting on a folding chair, the kind that stows in a small nylon bag in the trunk of your car or the hall closet, not the kind with woven plaid straps that our grandparents had on their decks, or porches.

He hasn't been in there for long, our friend. Just a week ago there was only water there, and no surface tension could ever hold that wooden hut. When the ice formed one night, he drove by it, as I did. I stopped and glared at that new ice, muttering to myself about its intolerable existence. He stopped too, but he didn't glare at it. His eyes lit up, and likely so did his cigarette, and when he took the first step on it two days later he grew even more excited. He pulled deeper on his cigarette. "Monday", he said. "I'll drag the shack out there Monday". And to celebrate that thought, he pulled even deeper.

And when Monday came he did just that. He dragged that hut out there, maybe by himself, but probably with a friend. His ice fishing friend. I'm sure he has one or more of those. They aren't friends all the time, not in summer or fall, but they are friends when that first two inches of ice bears their weight. When they towed the shack out there on that afternoon many people stopped in their cars to watch. They were watching, waiting. Wondering if those two friends and their wooden shed would make it to where they were going in. How far were they going to go? Is there enough ice? Are they fools? This is what people were wondering, every one of them. The answers to those questions wouldn't be known, not by those people in their cars. Even by the two friends only the answer to the first question was known.

They pulled that shed, and they got hot when they were doing it. Sheds slide easily on ice, but if they hadn't strapped on their ice cleats, the ones they got in their stockings four years ago this last Christmas, they wouldn't have been able to push and pull properly. It's a traction issue. Even so, they were getting tired. It was cold out, but not so cold that they didn't sweat. When the shed was close enough to the place where they'd fish, to the place where they always fish or to the place where they once fished and caught more than one fish, then they stopped pushing. If they kept pushing, gliding and scratching over deeper and deeper water, more people would have gathered in their cars and more questions would have been asked, even though the question repeated would have been one that was already asked earlier, by one of the other people. Are they fools?

Once the shed was where it needed to go, the two friends went inside. They took turns drilling holes in the ice. Probably two, but maybe three. They tipped their buckets upside down, far away from the day when they first opened those buckets and they were full of paint. The color was wrong, but that doesn't matter now. If they didn't tip their buckets upside down they did slide their chairs out of the nylon sleeves and set the chairs close to two of the possibly three holes that were just drilled. There isn't much ice down there, but there's enough. Water pushed through the holes and covered that thin ice.

They probably caught blue gills on that first day. They went out yesterday too. And today, right now, this early on a foggy January morning, they're probably in there, Fishing, talking, smoking. The heater that they brought with is on, and they're warm. They know that people are still stopping on the side of that road, wondering what those people are doing in that hut. Are there even people in there? Is there enough ice? And if there are people in that little wooden shed, the one that one of the friends made eight years ago out of leftover plywood and 2 x 4s from his neighbors addition and mismatched nails that clung together in a red and rusted coffee tin, are they fools?

I know one thing. I know these friends are not in that hut sending emails to clients. I'm sure of it. I suppose there's no way to know for sure, from this distance and without binoculars, but I'm pretty sure. If this curiosity absorbed me and I raced home for a binoculars and returned to the shed later when the sun was higher, what would the other people in their cars think? Why would I need to know what was going on in that hut? Is it really so important whether or not one of those friends, or both of them, are emailing someone from their phones? There's no way they are. They're just sitting on those buckets with their propane heater blowing too hot, and a pile of blue gills mounting on the ice on the other side of their two, maybe three, holes. There still isn't much ice down there.

Soon the ice will melt. Foggy mornings will be more common, and the late morning winds will blow and they will push the ice against itself. It has no other choice, and ice will crush ice and soon enough it will all be gone. The two friends won't be there anymore, because one evening some time not far from now they'll have to leave their homes late at night to push and drag that shed to the shore. The smooth ice will be slush then, and the only thing people will see as they stop by the side of the road is the sporadic flicker of their flashlights that will slowly, but surely, grow brighter as they near the shore. People will stop their cars, drawn by that nearing
light and they'll wonder, are they fools?

(I tried to photograph the ice shack on Geneva Bay but I couldn't see it through the fog. Even if the photo did show the ice shack, I don't know the guys in it. This is fiction, of sorts. Like Tim Allen's Michigan commercials and those Michigan billboards.)]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1360 Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:39:32 +0000 Life and Taxes http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1358

It doesn't really matter if you're a liberal or a conservative, odds are you still care about the value of your real estate owned. No matter what planet Joe Biden originated from, or how much time Jon Boehner spends crying in the tanning salon, both men were sitting on that stage last night wondering less about what drivel was going to be uttered next and more about their neighbor who just listed his house for $100k below where it "should be". I mean, who would list their house that cheap? Do you have any idea what it's going to do to the value of my house? I'm never going to be able to sell now! This is what they were both thinking. Joe Biden also thought lots about space invaders, but that's just because it was Tuesday.

If the value of our homes is so important to us, it's obvious then that the only thing we differ in is how to hold up that value, or in the case of today, restore it. I realized last night, in the midst of that explosive bout of nonsensical, verbal diarrhea, that my market isn't a market that the president is concerned with. The market that I cater to is far less important than the market that the president wishes to pander, err, cater to. If you're reading this, and you're concerned about the value of your Lake Geneva property or the value of a Lake Geneva property that you may one day wish to buy, don't be confused by the message from last night. You, my friend, are of no concern to this administration, and neither is your real estate.

Now that's not entirely true, as you are a big part of the plan. You are the funding vehicle for the plans that are aimed to help anyone but you. You may, in fact, pay a lesser effective tax rate than your secretary. The shame. But if you are concerned only about tax rates, consider the fact that the average income tax rate for the top 1% is 24% while the bottom 50% pays just 1.85%. All of this concern over rates and no mention of actual dollars and cents. Those individuals who pay the most into our taxation system are also those individuals who receive the least benefit from those confiscated dollars. But Dave, don't you enjoy driving on roads? Of course I do. That was a stupid question. All but the most Ron Paul of us agree that paying taxes for basic infrastructure is a necessity, which is why tax proposals that are deemed the most severe and radical still call for Federal taxes to be rendered. This isn't about a desire to pay no tax, it's about the desire to cut Federal spending so the economy can be stimulated the old fashioned way: By rich people buying expensive stuff.

Our president believes that a high earning individual earning $1MM per year is too rich. He would have you believe that this individual is a hoarder of wealth, someone so rich and vile that they cannot possibly care for the lesser among them (easy to say when he's the one who gave just 1% of his income to charity in 2010). For this reason, it seems reasonable to this president to ask for a paltry 5% increase in this person's taxes. That's on top of the 3%+ surcharge phasing in soon to help pay for Obamacare. It seems reasonable, right? 5%? Such an insignificant amount. Hardly anything at all, really. Barely a drop in a very big gilded bucket. Unless, of course, you live in the real world where a 5% increase in tax due just laid claim to the money that you earmarked to pay the property taxes at your new lakefront house at Lake Geneva. (I'm using 5% as an example here.)

Ah, but Dave, you're wrong again. If you're really that rich, and you only have to pay an extra 5%, you can certainly still afford a lake home. Can you? Really? Something that most pundits and perhaps economists miss is that luxury purchases are not always driven by actual liquid wealth, but by that wealth perceived. If I am rich, which I am not, and I have to pay an extra $50k this year in taxes, it is true that I will still be rich. But if I feel even the slightest pinch from that increased liability, am I likely to go out the next day and spend more freely than I did before the hit? Of course not, and this is what the liberal does not understand.

Much of this confusion stems from the belief that the wealthy are not alpha consumers. I've written about this before, but it bears another mention. The wealthy do not hoard wealth to the degree that most might think. The wealthy drive this economy, and supply side economics are alive and well if only you'll consider this little 5200 acre lake that you obviously care about. If a prospective buyer feels a pinch from weighty rhetoric about pending tax increases, or from a general verbal assault on wealth, or from actual tax increases themselves, there is a high possibility that such a feeling will stall the purchase of a vacation home. If that purchase is stalled, liquidity is robbed from the market, and the normal trappings of a sale vanish. That new patio set? Unsold. The landscaping project that the local landscaper had planned on to make his next month's mortgage payment? Nixed. That commission that the broker was planning to use to upgrade his wife's aging car? Gone. The impact on a local economy because a politician is so detached from economic realities that he cannot connect the dots? Enormous.

And then there's the issue of tax rates. If a wealthy individual, say a guy named Mitt, pays 15% on his inspiring 2010 earnings, is such a rate cheating the government out of money that it really needs? Is $3MM in tax paid on assets that were likely already taxed once not enough? I suppose that depends on whether or not you believe that they government will use that money to help others. But help who, exactly? The same people that Mitt tried to help by giving millions direct to various charities? Those people? Now let's think about which money was more effective at helping those unfortunate among us. The government money that helps people get lots and lots of free peanut butter, or Mitt's money that went direct to the source of the need? Are these rhetorical questions helping, or are some people still struggling with the answer?

I suppose it all comes back to Lake Geneva. This is a market that the president has no concern for, up or down, volume or none, no matter to him. Whether the greedy rich succeed or fail is of no consequence, as the voting block that the rich make up isn't enough to swing an election in either direction, ever. Populist jargon works on a weak minded public, and I suppose it's our fate to forever be a market, comprised of individuals, who will continue to contribute grandly to the excess of government while receiving little coddling in return. That minor 5% surcharge the president wants? Before you deem it to be a reasonable request, just search for the answer to this honest question: For each tax increase, no matter how little, how many would be Lake Geneva buyers take a step back, take a deep breath, and decide their own dreams can wait? ]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1358 Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:25:50 +0000 2012 State Of The Market http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1355

Dear Friends, Clients and Future Clients, Lake Geneva Lovers, and Honored Guests who have arrived solely by the amazing grace of the Google Algorithms, which we'll assume you used because Bing is only really good at maps and not searches,

At first glance, there appears to be no constitutional precedent that would mandate that I give this speech to you today. There is no decree, and no higher authority that has directly dictated that I stand here, sporting my finest, if tight, jeans and the cleanest collared shirt I could find, for no other purpose than to update you on the status of the vacation home market that each and every one of us hold dear. I would say to you today that if you do not hold this market dear, then you should leave the chamber without further interruption. No, my friends, this is not a speech that I have been squarely forced to give. I stand here today, 121 days from the start of another glistening Lake Geneva summer, humbled to be your servant-savant, it is my distinct honor to proclaim to you that the state of our market is strong.

The Declaration of Independence, a document signed by 56 men, many of whom were later targeted by the British for their treasonous actions, sought to promise their fellow man three core, tangible beliefs. Those being, in no particular order: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It's that very pursuit that has led men, women, and children to the shores of Geneva Lake for centuries, and it's that pursuit that will keep our market strong both during good times and bad. The year that has passed was not uniformly benevolent, as many segments of our market continue to suffer through a nasty bout of real estate illiquidity that may or may not have originated in Michigan. In spite of the pockets of resistance, the Lake Geneva market pushed forward, and claimed 2011 as a year of prosperity and celebration, even as other similar markets languished in their own individual squalor.

The long odds that have stacked against our continued success include elevated unemployment figures and an unfortunate resurrection of populist baloney. This past year we heard those cries of the ninety-nine as they chanted and banged on bongos and blamed the one for usurping the wealth of the whole. I'm stand before you today as the leader of the entire market, but it is indeed a market meant for the one percent. This may shock you, but I do not mean this to be the one percent of financial consideration, rather the one percent that has the discernment to call this magical land of Lake Geneva their weekend home. This is not a one percent born with the most silver of spoons, instead it is the one percent that claws their way through rush hour traffic and around toll booths, transfixed with steely resolve to claim their upcoming weekend. This is a group who fights for their right to party, even if that party usually involves a gently rocking boat and some seagulls. This is the one percent that I seek to please, and lest you think I am jaded by my many years at this post, I assure you I will pander to that one percent like no one before me ever has.

But even as we look back with a diminishing indifference at the past four years, I will not - no - we must not take our eye off the prize. I will not rest until every individual and family of means who has ever dreamed of sitting on a white pier surrounded by the glistening, pure waters of Geneva Lake captures that dream and basks in the lifestyle accomplishment that such a purchase delivers. Value exists in this market, but only for those who are steadfast in their search, and those who aim high and shoot straight. Without a Sherpa to guide this discerning one percent, how will they make it over that hill and into the promised land where milk and honey and clear streams flow?

One could sit in isolation and ponder this great nation of ours from coast to coast, awash in disbelief at the myriad vacation home options that are available to those who can afford to spend their weekends and their holidays in a different state of mind. From the frigid mountains, to the dusty prairies, to the oceans white with sodium induced foam, the plethora of options that exist are truly mind numbing. Other peoples might be lost in this sea of confusing options, but not us, not now. My friends and fellow Americans, for those willing to engage in analytical and emotional thought, there is no better vacation home option than that option that exists a mere 90 miles from the Chicago city center. A vacation home option so tantalizing close, yet a vacation home experience so enticingly unique.

The challenge facing us today is to identify value, and recognize the life shaping, future altering option that rests gently at our 53147 loving feet. If we take that first step, a step made no less bold by the obvious benefit it affords, our children and their children alike will one day hold us in the highest of places, and cherish our memory not for our smile, or for our good advise, but for our financial sacrifice than led them to these gentle shores. If we do this, our future will shine with the warm light of a cheerfully lit screened porch, and our evenings filled with the sound of rolling waves, not just for this summer and the following year, but for decades and generations beyond.

Thank you, and may God continue to bless Lake Geneva.]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1355 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:07:47 +0000 About May http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1353

Last year, I went swimming earlier than I had intended to. Today, my last Blackberry and a very pristine pair of Ray Bans lay encased in a living tomb of zebra mussels about six feet West from the inside buoy that keeps my boat in place. That swim wasn't much fun but it did provide me with a very early start to the summer of 2011. That early start is one that aim to repeat in 2012, and in my own personal dedication to summer it is obvious to me that this is not a dedication shared by many.

Today my mind spins with thoughts of summer. It isn't warm today, but it isn't exactly cold either. The snow is melting, the ice is too, and spring just landed a quick right jab after absorbing many, many body blows last week from its frozen opponent. I haven't shared this publicly yet, but I do believe that February 12th is a very magical date for my fellow summer lovers. If the lake is not mostly shrouded by ice as of that date, it is unlikely the lake will ever significantly freeze. Sure Fontana Bay and Williams Bay and Geneva Bay will concede an early defeat as their shallowness provides them no other options. But if that date will come and go and large sections of open water still remain, this will be a harbinger of an early spring. And I will be overjoyed.

And what about spring? It is celebrated by some, but it is, in practice, completely and thoroughly ignored. Everyone looks forward to spring, but most let the opportunities of a young spring slip right through their hands. I'm talking about boating, and I'm talking about spring. Summer is indeed short, but if summer is preceded by an acknowledged spring, it isn't as short. I'm not only hinting that you should have your boat in the water by April 1st, as I'll do this year, though that would be commendable. Instead, I'm talking about May. May is a month that has warming temperatures, pale green leaves, later and later sunsets, and it is a month that most reading this will completely and thoroughly ignore. This needs some correcting, and if May is going to be fixed the repairs must begin in January. Like right now.

If May is going to become a month of leisure and be measured alongside July and June, though none can measure up to August, there are commitments that must be made. It is often said that September is the best month at Lake Geneva. This is true, but it's mostly thought of in that context because the lake is quieter and the traffic slighter. May is like this as well. Some of the best boating moments of my past year came during May, both on frosty early mornings and on warming late afternoons. May can provide this sort of experience, and in May you'll likely be one of a very small group indulging in such delights. I am not worried about losing my solitude on the lakefront, for even if you grasp at May I still have April.

If May is going to be dedicated to weekend leisure, April must be dedicated to the tidying bits that must be taken care of at any vacation home. There will be leaves to rake, or have raked. There will be maintenance issues to take care of, or have taken care of. There are many items that many homeowners put off until May, and if May will be splendid then these must be started and finished in April. This is the way it is. And if you do this, May can feature charcoal dinners on Saturday evenings at the lake, while your vacation home neighbors have yet to uncover their grill and sweep the leaves off the porch. This is one-upping the Joneses, Lake Geneva style.

For buyers, the art of a lake based May is not so easily accomplished. Many buyers look toward summer and place a date of June something in their minds. This is a great way to start out on the wrong foot. To close in May, or June, is to close at such a time that said buyer is welcoming a frantic summer schedule, one where deliveries occur and tradesman knock as often as towels are slung over the back of a porch chair to dry. This is not a great way to be introduced to a Lake Geneva summer. If that same buyer were to close in March, or perhaps April, there is a month or more to arrive upon a reasonable schedule. To develop a routine of what goes where and who likes what. In the establishment of a routine in April and the practice of that routine in May, then and only then can there be a seamless transition into June.

From my view today, summer does not look so far away. I have a windshield to replace on a boat, an engine to paint, and many screws to be put back in their appropriate place. In the spring, I do not want to be doing these things. Instead, I want to be chasing smallmouth around Conference Point, and throwing a fly into the mouth of Uhleins Creek. I want to be living in May, not preparing in it. Make your summer longer and better: Start it in May.]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1353 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:31:33 +0000 My Friend, The Wind http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1346

You have never contended with real wind unless you have lived in Steinbach, Manitoba. There is wind here, in my village and in your windy city, but this wind is but a gentle breeze compared with the wind that howls through this town in southern Manitoba that was named for a stony brook that long ago ran dry. Lake Geneva wind is varied. If it blows on a Tuesday it is exhausted by breakfast on Wednesday. Our wind has no stamina. The wind in Steinbach is always in action, blowing from the north or blowing from the south. Bringing with it an arctic blast from Saskatchewan or a thunderstorm from the plains of South Dakota. Wind blows from the West and heads to the East uninterrupted by any hill or stream or slight valley. The blowing never stops. It is, as you can imagine, annoying.

Wind leaves nothing undisturbed. If you have arranged an outside lunch, or dinner, and your table is set just so, wind isn't impressed. Wind will blow your table cloth up at the edges, it will knock over your wine glass, and it will push just hard enough to knock your cut flower arrangement onto its side, spilling water onto your lap. Wait for a mighty wind and then go play catch in the yard with a football, or a Frisbee. You'll find that this isn't fun either, not in the least. There are television shows on fishing and magazines on fishing that advise the fisher to find a windy point, and fight for position against the wind while fishing. They say this is where the fish will be. Me? I'll be on the other side of that point, in the calm water, content to catch nothing as long as I don't have to be subjected to the wind.

I have done much fly fishing over the past year, and I plan to do much more of it during this coming one. The problem with fly fishing is wind, well, wind and people walking behind you. If I could roam a beach or wade a flat, and do both of these things in the dead still of a windless day, I would appear capable. I would coax my fly further and further with each false cast, double hauling to push it further on the back cast and then much further on the release. In the wind I can barely keep the fly from hitting me in the head or hooking me in the shoulder. This is what the wind does. It also helps me sail, but that is typically the beginning and the end on my thin list of pros.

And so it is strange to be me today, to be cheering on the wind. The air temperature is eight degrees, the wind is howling from the north. If I were fishing on a day like today, I would curse the wind and hide around the Western tip of Conference Point, or to either side of Pebble Point. Wherever I would fish, I would find my way out of the wind and into the lee. But today I am not fishing. Not with a fly and not with a lure, I am not fishing at all. And I am not golfing, or throwing a football, and I am not setting up a picnic lunch. I am inside, with the furnace burning the bluest flame, and I can see the wind outside my office window but I cannot feel it. The wind today is not a foe, but it is a friend. It is the 1980s, I am the US, the wind is the Taliban, and the ice is the Soviet enemy.

All I want the wind to do today is blow. I want it to blow so hard and for so long that no one dare walk their dog on the street. I want it to blow so hard and so long that no dog asks for that walk. The wind today is a tenuous friend working hard and long to blow a heavy chop on the lake. This chop will keep the ice at bay, or at least in the bays, and no matter the temperature outside, the wind can keep our lake ice free. I shouldn't be like this. I should welcome the ice. I should enjoy the cleansing that it provides to Geneva Lake. Yesterday, Geneva Bay had considerable ice cover. It was fresh ice. It was beautiful, sort of. But it was suffocating at the same time. I saw despair when I looked at that icy cloak. I saw a delayed spring, and with it delayed boating and fishing and cruising.

I have sympathy for my ice boating friends. For the ice fishers too. But this isn't about you, it's about me. And today, I love the wind only because I hate the ice. ]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1346 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:56:14 +0000 New Geneva Lakefront Inventory http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1343

There is a strange feeling in the market this morning. It's not so strange on the selling side, as this always exists there, happily, contentiously, whatever the situation wherever the real estate, sellers feel it. Buyers used to feel it, back in the day. If you bought a house in 2004 it wasn't always because you wanted the house. Many times, you bought a house then because you knew that if you didn't, someone else would. The long forgotten feeling that I'm feeling this morning is just that- buyer competition.

New listings are hitting the market at a fevered pace these days, with three new lakefront listings coming to market in just the past week. I brought the new lakefront at 560 Sauk in Fontana to the party, and I'm intent on showing her off to anyone that wants a peek. At $1.599MM, this lakefront is the second cheapest lakefront home on the market in Fontana. The only home with a lighter list price is on the North side of Fontana, and it features a big lot that is limited due to a stream that meanders through from the Lower Gardens down to the lake. I plan on catching rainbow trout in front of that stream in April, but that's another post.

My new lakefront is four bedrooms, two baths, and has a two car attached garage. If you're an entry level lakefront buyer, you know that finding a two car attached garage is not a typical discovery in that particular market. The lakefront is fairly level, with just a few steps and a slight slope to contend with when taking the delightful stroll from deck to pier and back again. The lakefront measures 45' in width which should be suitable for someone to engage in a rigorous renovation or addition, or even a tear down as is the trend that has made many Lake Geneva builders content with other people's recession.

Currently, there are at least three lakefront homes pending sale. Two in the 700 Club and the third on South Lakeshore in Fontana. I am insanely jealous that I am not involved in any of these transactions, so please do send your friends and family to me so that we might together right this imbalance. There is activity outside the lakefront as well, including a fresh pending sale in Lower Brookwood, and some quality new listings elsewhere. I just listed cottage Q in Fontana's Belvidere Park- the first cottage there to see the light of the MLS in more than 20 years. This cottage is surprisingly large, with five bedrooms, two baths, a large kitchen flanked by a formal dining room, and both living and family rooms. While the home could use some renovating, it appears to be a suitable shell that could be transformed into a most impressive cottage at the lake. The proximity to the water is unparalleled, the views divine, the amble from front porch to white pier both delightful and swift. I will sell this cottage soon.

With a swelling inventory it is only normal to expect the existing inventory to adjust to the influx. Two side by side listings in Cedar Point Park are engaged in a pricing war, with one reduction prompting another. These are both primed to be bought in the low $1MMs (possibly, but who knows), and the lots are substantial in depth and the elevation not as steep as some at the severe southern point of Cedar Point. If I were a buyer, I'd call myself to talk about these two post haste. The same goes for the cheap Glenwood Springs lakefront and my new entry level lakefront on Sauk. If entry level buyers are active, they should be focusing on these properties before they are badly beaten to the punch. Buyers love to see sellers sweat. They love the competition that drives prices down, and they are right to love those things. But they may have forgotten about one nasty little aspect of a real estate market. Sometimes, buyers are in competition too.
]]> General http://www.genevalakefrontrealty.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1343 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:18:25 +0000