I recently closed on this 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath condominium unit located in the Prairie Wind Condominium development in Lake Geneva with the assistance of Carol Becker Samsa from the First Weber Group in Greenfield Wisconsin. This was my first transaction with Carol and she was a real pleasure to work with. The financing on this transaction was provided through Sheri Day with Johnson Bank in Burlington. Sheri did a great job and I would highly recommend her. Don Melton of HouseMasters did the home inspection and was very helpful when an issue of a high Radon level was discovered during the inspection. With the help of Karla Newman from Radon Remedy we were able to remediate the unit and bring the level below acceptable EPA recommendation of 4. I have used Karla and her professional team at Radon Remedy many times and would highly them as well.

This unit was a great example of some of the exceptional values that are currently available in the Lake Geneva real estate market. Although this transaction had some bumps in the road, with the help of all the folks involved we were able to get the property to a successful closing with a very happy Buyer and Seller.

If you have any questions about the Lake Geneva Condominium Real Estate market, contact Bob Webster of Keefe Real Estate at 262-348-3233 or fill in the form below with your request for more information.

Fabulous 4 bedroom, 4 bath luxurious condominium unit in Stone Manor on the shores of Lake Geneva. Outstanding views and a transferable boat slip are included with this tastefully renovated and updated unit. One of a kind rooftop pool and patio entertainment area with breathtaking views of the lake. 2 garage spaces. Here's your opportunity to own a piece of Lake Geneva history, over 400' of Lake frontage and approx. 10 gorgeous acres, home to just 5 families. Why not consider this your new lakefront home? $1,999,000

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Here is a quick update on the Lake Geneva real estate market for the 3rd week of January 2011. It's still a little early to have a good feel for where the market is headed here into the new year. December of 2010 was busier than we would normally expect for that time of year and many of us are hopeful that January will end up being the same. Interest rates continue to be extremely attractive and near record lows, even though there has been a slight increase in rates the last few weeks. There are a number of exceptional values in all segments of our market including primary homes, rural and country homes and condominiums, both with and without lake access. There are also some great values in the second home market with lake access and lakefront homes on the various lakes in the area, including Lake Geneva, Delavan Lake, Lauderdale Lake, Whitewater Lake, Lake Beulah, Twin Lakes and Powers Lake. 

Contact me today at Bob@LakeGenevaLakefront.com if you'd like to be receiving information on some of these great values as well as being notified as any new listings come on the market or Click Here for a complete overview of information on the various lakes in the area.

It was encouraging to see the stock market close over the 11,000 mark last Friday.  I think anything that helps people feel a little better and more positive about the economy in general will work to overcome the caution and conservative thinking that lots of people seem to have right now about making big ticket purchases like real estate, applicable to both the primary and second home markets. 

I’m afraid we’re in for a messy few weeks of political ads and mudslinging but hopefully we can come through the process and things will be a little clearer about deficits and possible tax increases that I think are also weighing on the minds of Buyers today, again if not directly, possibly indirectly in some cases. 

You’ve probably heard of talk over the last week about all the mortgage foreclosure problems and a possible moratorium on the ability of banks to proceed with foreclosures.  It’s hard to know what kind of positive or negative effect that could have on the real estate market over the next few weeks and months so we’ll just have to continue to follow that story, the link below will give you a short overview of the details. 

I attended a meeting last week regarding some rules changes from the Department of Natural Resources with regard to piers on lakes and waterways in the State of Wisconsin.  The information is a little confusing and there are going to be lots of questions about what a property owner should do.  My advice to waterfront property owners is to contact legal council to get advice on whether to register the pier at this time.  I attached a link below to an article that has some of the details of the rule changes. 

Mortgage interest rates have dropped again, 4.19% today on a 30 year fixed rate.  It certainly leads me to believe that potential Buyers in the market may very well come to the conclusion that the smart thing to do is buy today and lock in these very attractive rates, rather than roll the dice in hopes of rates going lower.  Between these low interest rates, the lowest in decades, and some great values in the market today, I’m hopeful we’ll see some business coming together over the coming weeks this Fall.

Home Foreclosures

New Pier Regulations

More Good News on Interest Rates

I’ve been having a lot of conversations with many of my Sellers about pricing recently and have been watching with interest the number of price reductions that are coming through the Multiple Listing Service on a daily basis.  I have to believe that these Sellers, taking a proactive approach toward trying to attract potential Buyers interest in their property, is the right and prudent approach today in dealing with all the caution and conservative thinking that seems to be plaguing Buyers today.  Attractive values and historically low interest rates will I believe eventually get some of these Buyers to take the plunge and get off the fence. 

I’m not sure what effect the current political climate is going to have on Buyers attitudes today.  Sometimes I feel that all the political wrangling, regardless of the facts of who’s right and who’s wrong, tends to dampen the spirits of even those of us who know that this is a good time to be in the market.  So I can only imagine how a Buyer might feel today when debating over a decision on a big ticket purchase like real estate, whether it’s a modest first time Buyer or a more elaborate second home purchaser. 

My crystal ball is rather cloudy on how this will all shake out come the end of the year when we look back at 2010 but I remain optimistic that the specifics of our real estate market, when compared to a lot of other markets across the country, will show that we have weathered the storm better. 

I ran across an interesting article this week from the Wall Street Journal that I thought you might find interesting called 10 Reasons to Buy a Home.  The best part of the article was the last few sentences.  And, finally, a lot of the "glut" simply won't matter: It's concentrated in a few areas, like Florida and Nevada. Unless you live there, the glut won't have any long-term impact on housing supply in your town.

Here's something you don't see everyday in Lake Geneva.  This home is located in Fontana overlooking the Abbey Harbor and was in the process of being torn down when I drove by it yesterday.  Because vacant real estate comes at such a premium in the Lake Geneva area, especially if it is on or near the lake with a view of the water, often homes with prime locations are torn down and rebuilt by the current owners or in some cases purchased for just the land and then rebuilt by the new owner.

As I’ve indicated the last few weeks, the signs of an increase in calls and inquires continues and I think we will see that resulting in more showings in the near future, but it hasn’t really happened as of yet.  Knowing that the average time between accepted offer and closing tends to run between 30 and 45 days, it is still too early to have any measureable signs of an increase in the actual closings YTD. 

I’m having lots of conversations with potential Buyers of various types of property and various price ranges in the Lake Geneva real estate market and there continues to be a concern by many about whether this is the right time to move forward with a purchase.  I even had a conversation with an appraiser yesterday who called me looking for some help with a refinance appraisal he was working on and he came right out and asked how we are able to come up with price recommendations these days with such mixed signals in the market and a lack of actual recent sales to go by.  It’s actually a good question. 

I had occasion to sit in on a speech this week given by an economist for Stewart Title whose credentials includes a PhD in finance with a minor in statistics and a master’s degree in land economics and real estate from Texas A&M University.  He had some very interesting things to say about the real estate market, not all of it positive and many comments about what’s going on in Washington these days with spending.  His outlook for the future of commercial real estate was extremely negative but he had a rather mixed message for residential real estate.  I don’t tend to put too much stock in prognosticators these days but his talk was filled with a lot of very specific charts and statistics.  His main point of focus was on the number of home sales as a leading indicator of the future and not on average sale prices, which is what much of the media tends to focus on.  His point being that with a high number short sales and bank owned property being sold, it is only natural that the averages will go down as those sale numbers are reported.  Getting that inventory sold and off the market is actually a good thing and it doesn’t necessarily mean that overall values are declining.  If you have any interest in viewing his Power Point presentation, drop me an Email message and I’ll be happy to pass it along.

We would “normally” expect the next month or so to be relatively quiet with many prospective Buyers attention being diverted because of the Holidays.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving and for enjoying family and friends.

Usatoday.com Existing Home Sales October 2009

Realtytimes.com Real Estate Outlook          

A couple of interesting articles are linked below.  The first indicates that in a poll taken by Home.com, 5% of the respondents indicated they plan to make a real estate purchase this coming year, a possible indication that the perception is that prices have bottomed out and will be on the rise again in the future.

The second article discusses the extension of the $8,000 tax credit that was due to expire on November 30^th and details of the expansion of the program.

5% of Americans plan to buy a home next year

Tax Credit Program extended and Expanded

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – jumped 9.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units in September from a level of 5.09 million in August, and are 9.2 percent higher than the 5.10 million-unit pace in September 2008. Sales activity is at the highest level in over two years, since it hit 5.73 million in July 2007.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said favorable conditions matched with a tax credit are boosting home sales. “Much of the momentum is from people responding to the first-time buyer tax credit, which is freeing many sellers to make a trade and buy another home,” he said. “We are hopeful the tax credit will be extended and possibly expanded to more buyers, at least through the middle of next year, because the rising sales momentum needs to continue for a few additional quarters until we reach a point of a self-sustaining recovery.”

Existing-home sales in the Midwest jumped 9.6 percent in September to a pace of 1.25 million and are 7.8 percent above a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $147,600, which is 1.0 percent below September 2008.

Contact Bob Webster of Keefe Real Estate with any questions or for further informtion on the lakefront market in the Greater Geneva Lakes Area including Lake Geneva, Delavan Lake, Lauderdale Lake, Whitewater Lake, Lake Beulah, Powers Lake and Twin Lakes.

This year has presented us with some of the most difficult times in terms of trying to accurately get a handle on what’s happening in the real estate market and what direction the various parts of the market are headed.  We’ve had some exceptionally nice weather since Labor Day, probably more nice days than we did in the “summer” and there seems to be somewhat of an effect on certain parts of the real estate market.  The $8,000 First Time Buyer Tax Credit being offered by Uncle Sam has had a positive effect on the lower end entry level priced homes in many parts of the country.  That program has an expiration date, similar to the way the Cash for Clunkers program worked, coming up at the end of November with some Buyers now scrambling to get to closing.  In some areas of the country it has definitely worked and been responsible for an increase in Buyer activity and the sales numbers being reported.  The second home market in Lake Geneva continues to be soft, despite many Sellers adjusting asking prices down to the point where there are some very attractive values available to Buyers willing to ignore all the doom and gloom talk and step up and take action now. 

It just seems that many folks are being extremely cautious right now about making financial decisions and many are just not comfortable taking on additional debt in what the media seems to enjoy referring to as these “troubled economic times”.  I really dislike that term, because I think if people hear it enough over and over, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Despite this, I remain hopeful that some of the signs of increased levels of activity we have begun to see recently will continue and that the market will respond in a positive way to what I believe is a great time to be in the market for the long term.

 
I’m not giving up on 2009 as the Fall season can be a beautiful time in Lake Geneva with lots of visitors to the area.  I’m determined to make the most of the next couple of months to see if we can get some additional business done and end the year on a more positive note.

We are mid way through the month of September, isn’t it great that summer has finally arrived?  We had an exceptional run of nice days last week and the weather over the weekend was as nice a weekend as I can remember in a long time.  I had occasion to attend our statewide Wisconsin Realtor Convention last week and had an opportunity to brainstorm with a number of agents from across the state on the current market conditions.  Many areas, especially the in larger markets, are definitely seeing signs of the market picking up and much of that credit is being given to the $8,000 tax credit being offered to first time Buyers.  That program is due to expire at the end of November and there is some talk of a possible extension or expansion of the program in the works.  That would be good news for those of us in markets with higher price ranges, especially if the program is expanded to go beyond just first time Buyers.  The second home market here is the southern part of the state as well as the northern part of the state remains sluggish with lots of questions in terms of what it will take to give the second home Buyers the confidence to decide to move forward and take some action now.  With much concern about job losses, healthcare debates, talk of higher taxes and the possibility of increasing deficits, it makes the job of selling people on the idea of considering a second home purchase at this time increasingly difficult.   I’ve had several discussions the last couple of weeks with potential Buyers who think that they can come in with extremely low, unrealistic offers and that Sellers should be willing to give them serious consideration.  There was an article in the Chicago Tribune recently that I have been able to use with many of these types of Buyers that basically says Sellers in several of the resort markets are not giving their properties away and that Buyers need to keep this in mind when it comes to second homes.  There was a local real estate agent interviewed who has done very little second home business around the lake but in spite of that, he made some good points and the author of the article did not seem to try to change the basic message he and the agents from the other markets seemed to be making.   I’ve included a link to that article below.  I remain hopeful that this will be the year that the post Labor Day selling season will outperform the traditional summer season and that we’ll end the year on a high note. 

Chicago Tribune Article

It is an ongoing, literally everyday struggle to work with Buyers today in this market who are anywhere from simply afraid or concerned about making a move to being downright negative and pessimistic about the real estate market, all as a result of everything they hear and read and have been told about these challenging times.  Our only response is to try to point out the favorable interest rates and some very attractive asking prices that have been adjusted by some Sellers in response to lengthy times on the market and the reduced number of sales taking place across the board. 

Some segments of the market have been extremely slow as far as activity and showings, in spite of our advertising and marketing efforts.  The only good thing is that both the showings and the lack of showings tend to run in spurts, so we often have the possibility of making up for lost ground in a short period of time.  We’ll continue to push forward and remain optimistic that the market will respond favorably to some of the recent news, and that we will be successful in finding a Buyer for your property in the very near future.  I’ve included links to some of the articles I mentioned for your review.

USATODAY Article on Pending Home Sales

USAToday Article on Manufacturing

CNNMoney Interview

USATODAY Article on Housing Rebound

USATODAY Article on Best July for the Dow in 20 years

This year continues to be a year of struggle for almost everything from finding Buyers who are willing to take action to challenges with lenders and the whole appraisal process, which has changed dramatically over the last few months.   I’ve attached the graph below that is supposed to represent the “normal” cycle in real estate.  I hope we are at the point of the cycle where we have passed the bottom and are on the move upward and that we’ll be able to look back a few months from now and say this was the turning point.   Here are a couple of interesting articles I ran across this week:

Unusual weather for summer of '09