Wow!

We have had a pretty big week at LakePlace.com. LakePlace.com usually receives about 10,000 visitors (actual people) per day…this week we have been hovering in the 15,000-20,000 visitor per day (19,000+ visitors/day for the past 3 days!) mark and well over 100,000 page views per day.

Now if you are familiar with internet statistic packages, you will know that the numbers can vary quite a bit, depending on the program. The numbers we use are the lowest numbers of all the various statistical packages we have installed on our server. In other words, our actual server logs tell us that the numbers are much, much higher…but we feel it is in everyone’s best interests to go with the lower numbers (as reported by webalizer).

To put it into perspective - LakePlace.com, although specializing in one small niche of the real estate market, is the 2nd most visited real estate website in the two states we serve. That includes all of the “big” metro companys. Big Red’s corporate website has us beat by a pretty good margin, but…we gave them a 50 year head start on brand awareness, and we are gaining fast.

I remember the day LakePlace.com first hit 1,000 page views in a single 24 hour cycle. And I remember the first time we had more than 100 people visit our site in a single day. Those were exciting times for us - we knew we were on to something.

If you are reading this blog post, you have probably read the LakePlace.com about us page (which we should/will update). LakePlace.com was born out of necessity. When my business partner and I were looking for our own cabins - it was obvious that something like LakePlace.com was needed. Turns out, almost 20,000 people (per day and growing) agree!

Have a Great Weekend!

Im going to put the Whitefish Chain in the spotlight today and link you to the Whitefish Chain property page of LakePlace.com.  This is one of the most exclusive areas in Minnesota cabin country - with several properties at $3-$5M.  Why the high price tag? The Whitefish chain of lakes is beautiful - and not too bad of a drive from the Twin Cities…actually, just far enough.  Take a look around and be sure to browse all of the Crosslake,MN lakeshore properties as well.

Happy Lake Home Hunting!

LakePlace.com is proud to present this gorgeous, 7,000+ Square Ft Alexandria MN lake home for sale. Offered at $1,250,000.

It would take three days to write a proper description for this luxury home on 820 acre Lake Moses. If you are looking for something very special, this could be the one. The home is actually located in Brandon, MN (Millerville Twshp) - just minutes from all of the action the Alexandria Vacationland area has to offer. 150′ sand beach, 1.43 acre lake lot, hot tub, sauna, lakeside beach house, three fireplaces, highest-end mechanicals - it has it all. Check it out!

And as always, Happy Lake Home Hunting!

You may have noticed these little icons on LakePlace.com. These icons (that we added today) allow visitors to save, bookmark & share any LakePlace.com page on del.icio.us, google bookmarks, yahoo myweb, or stumble upon.

My guess is that we will see some of our friends who run other real estate websites add these icons and options in the next week or two - we might even see some of the “big guys” add them in the coming weeks. I just wanted to call it before it happens.

It is always better to lead…always.

Anyway, if you haven’t used any of these services - you may want to give them (or at least one) a try…it is a great way to organize your bookmarks and you do not have to worry about which computer your favorites are saved on. If you try it, we think you’ll like it.

Happy Lake Home Hunting!

I just read this post on Inman News discussing a $590k tear down. I had to comment on the post and show the world this $3,000,000 tear down on Lake Minnetonka. That’s right, $3M for a house you have to tear down (the lot is a gorgeous 2.5 acres on Lake Minnetonka - Orono, MN). The MLS description says “No showings inside the home - the value is in the land.”

That is some expensive dirt!

Over the weekend, LakePlace.com launched a very powerful tool. Using our compiled data, we built a widget that will keep you up to date on the current status of the Minnesota & Wisconsin lakeshore market.

You can visit the Lakeshore Values page of LakePlace.com to view the daily tote board. We now list all of the numbers: Total market value, high price, low price, average price, median price for both the waterfront home market and waterfront lot market in the upper Midwest. LakePlace.com displays more than $9 Billion Dollars worth of MN & WI lakefront property - and now you can watch this market fluctuate on a daily basis.

Still To Come: We will continue to add new and improved tools to this section (including charts). You will also be able to break the numbers down to individual markets and markets within markets…so check back often!

If you read this blog, you know that Cameron was recently interviewed for the news about the Minnesota & Wisconsin lakefront property market (again). Cameron noted that the 2nd home market is not the same as the rest of the real estate market. Lake Property prices are increasing as demand continues to increase.

The median price for a lake home/cabin in Minnesota (all of Minnesota) is currently $349,000 - while the median price for a home in Minneapolis is $229k. The median price for a lake lot in Minnesota is $129,000 and there are currently 1,100 lake homes/cabins priced at $1,000,000 and up on the market.

Is this trend going to change? I guess you will have to ask the 80,000,000 baby boomers who will be retiring over the next 10-15 years (and their gen x kids - who will be on the receiving end of the largest transfer of wealth in history).

In our opinion, the lakefront property market will not slow down anytime soon…but if you are on the fence…you will have to look at the data and decide for yourself.

Happy Lake Home Hunting!Â

UPDATE: Check out the video

We had an exciting day today. Started out with an email from Alex, author of the great blog: Behind The Mortgage.

He received an email from a KSTP reporter doing a story on the Minnesota cabin market - and how it continues to strengthen as the metro market continues to weaken.

Alex was kind enough to turn the reporter, Chris Keating, onto LakePlace.com - for which we issue Alex a big Thank You!

So, we get the call from KSTP (Twin Cities ABC affiliate) at 10:30am and they want to interview us on Camera at 11:00am. Just so happened that I was on the laptop until the wee hours of the night (actually early morning). I came into the office wearing blue jeans, a baseball cap, flip-flops, and the beginnings of a beard (one of the luxuries of an Internet company vs. brick n mortar)…so, my well-dressed, well-groomed business partner Cameron answered the call of duty and went on camera (again).

It’s funny - we have been interviewed for Television segments 4 times since we launched LakePlace.com…3 of which were “Scrubby Dave Days” (which are pretty rare - honestly!).

I must say, Cameron did a great job (as usual) on camera. It’s a lot more pressure than you would think and I have to thank Cam for doing such a great job with virtually no prep time. The interview should air on KSTP 6 o’clock news today - so if you have a chance to check it out, please do!

Happy Lake Home Hunting!

The Carnival of Real Estate Blogs is up and running at the RE Agent in CT blog. I am happy to report that we made the top 10 posts this week (#6)…thanks to the newspaper advertising fiasco we had earlier in the week - I would like to thank the newspaper ad rep for the inspiration.

One of these days I am going to take some time and attempt to write some really decent stuff. It is obvious that when you do take your time to write good stuff (well, maybe it is not that good, but at least I took my time) - great (and fun) conversations are started.

Admittedly, I am not much of a writer. Although I do find writing very therapeutic at times (and I did win a creative writing competition in 8th grade - which I mention to my business partner on almost a daily basis) and extremely rewarding (when I take my time to write something decent), more often than not, I find it difficult.

When it flows it flows, when I have something to say - nothing could be easier. But when I have my head wrapped around the daily ins and outs of growing an Internet startup, I often have a hard time changing gears.

Anyway, if you are reading this, I apologize for rambling on - and I promise to deliver some higher quality posts soon!

I wanted to take a quick break to feature all of the LakePlace.com Prime Properties for our readers. We have some great listings and we hope you will take a look at them…

Sauk Centre Lake Home - $1,650,000. This is a dream home. Pure luxury.
Big Sauk Lake Home - $899,000. Absolutely beautiful. Check out the foyer.
Golf Course Home (with Lake Access) - $799,000. What else is there?
Grand Rapids Lake Home - $699,000. Highly sought after Deer Lake.
Wisconsin Resort For Sale - $554,900. A once in a lifetime opportunity.
Northern WI Lake Home - $384,900. 3,000 Sqft. Crystal clear lake.
Wisconsin Lake Home - $369,500. Beautiful home. EZ Twin Cities commute.

Wisconsin Lakefront Property - $79,900. Only 10 miles N. of Taylors Falls.

Please take a minute to visit the LakePlace.com Prime Property section. If you see something you like, we will be happy to set up a showing!

Happy Lake Home Hunting!Â