United States Treasury Auction of Geneva Lake Waterfront Home in Williams Bay

This Lake Geneva lakefront SOLD on September 30th, 2022 at United States Government Auction for $6,460,000.

It was really interesting to observe the "process" online that started at 11:00 that morning. There was no official count as to the number of bidders registered to bid on the property, but there was a $250,000 deposit required in order to bid, refundable if not successful in obtaining the winning position. The initial bidding was fast and furious and it took just 8 minutes to get the bid price up from the starting bid of $1.38M to $5M. The fast paced action slowed for most of the next hour and 50 minutes as the bidding was raised just under an additional $1M, finally getting up to $6M, with a minute left before the 1 PM close. Equally fascinating to watch was the the fact that the price went up the final $460k over the next 15 minutes, even though the auction was scheduled to close at 1 PM. The stipulation was that if there were any bids placed after the 1:00 deadline, the opportunity for any additional bidding would be extended by one minute, with each additional bid. So there were a flurry of bids ranging from $2,500 to $30,000 - $50,000 or more, each time with the bidding clock prominently displayed on the screen, extended for 60 "more" seconds. This is the first sale of this kind that I have ever observed for a Lake Geneva waterfront property and may be the last time we'll see such an event. There was much speculation as to who the final bidder was, in time it will probably become known through the public records, but in many instances high end property like this is taken in the name of a Trust or LLC, where the identity of the actual owner is not readily available.  The property has 207' of very desirable water frontage, an attractive boathouse and access to Williams Bay water and sewer services and is located on just over 3 acres of grounds. The most recent tax bill on the property is $81,641. The home has 6 bedrooms, 7+ baths, an indoor pool, patio, balcony, 4 fireplaces, and attached 3-car garage. The property has 207 ± feet of lake frontage with a boat house and detached 2-car garage. At a "per front foot" sale price of slightly over $30,000, this is not a record setting price by any means, actually not even close. But the fact that the home will "likely" be torn down and the parcel used for a new construction building site (or who knows, maybe used by an "adjoining" property owner as a buffer to their property), it does place the sale of $6M+ towards the upper range for Lake Geneva lakefront building sites.

Here is a link to the web site from the sale.

Here is a link to the details that led to property being seized and sold