<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 0
–>
Former owner, real estate agent Bob Schneider of Schneider Real Estate, lost it to foreclosure in 2007. Offers trickled in but the bank that owned it was not interested, Grout said.
Efforts by Wayne Chaney of Green Lake to buy the property and restore the 12-guestroom lodge to its former glory fell through when the city decided not to get involved by forming a tax incremental financing district, which would have helped Chaney purchase and restore the property.
“The Council was concerned about borrowing any more money for any more projects,” said City Clerk Barbara Dugenske.
When Special Properties Ltd. listed the Oakwood Lodge last year the asking price for this property with 137 feet of water frontage was $850,000, about 30 percent below fair market value.
It sold for $795,000. The new owner razed the lodge to make way for a new house, Grout said.
There are deals to be had for people looking to buy waterfront properties, local real estate agents say. A few years ago the least expensive waterfront properties went for no less than $500,000. Today, buyers can find properties with significantly lower price tags.
Prices of waterfront homes on Green Lake have taken a big hit since 2008 as supply has outpaced demand.
Bierman rattled off several examples of sales that stunned him and others in real estate. The asking price for one was $779,000. It languished on the market for 533 days, finally selling for just $490,000. Another was listed for $899,500 and sold for $517,500 after 887 days on the market. That’s two years and two months.
A house listed in 2007 for $2.1 million, sold for less than $1.6 million six months later, Bierman said.
His colleagues have experienced the same thing.
“I haven’t seen anything like this in 33 years,” said Realtor Tim Jankowski of Malcolm Bay Realty. “We’ve had hard times before but never like this.”
Jankowski said some properties have been discounted as much as 50 percent. One property on County Trunk A listed for more than $2 million. It sold for $860,000.
Bierman, who also has several decades of experience selling real estate in Green Lake, watched the market for lake properties begin to tumble in 2008. There were 15 sales of lake properties that year. In 2009, it was worse. Only nine lake properties sold, Bierman said.
A normal year will see as many of three dozen lake properties change hands, either to new buyers or established owners who sell one property and buy another.
Grout is optimistic about the future. Sales of lake properties in 2010 numbered 16 an in 2011 there were 22 sales, according to Multiple Listing Service. One of those sales involved six separate lots, Shaddick said. That is still below a normal year but the trend is moving in the right direction, real estate agents say.
Patricia Wolff: (920) 426-6689 or pwolff@thenorthwestern.com