A Changing Demographic

Spring and summer in Wisconsin's Northwoods real estate market were busy, with many listings and sales too. It was a fun time to try out expanded social media marketing, to get active on Zillow again, and to take new pictures and videos -- all the while keeping the person-to-person contact and friendships with sellers and buyers we believe set Headwaters Real Estate [and Presque Isle] apart. With this quick pace, I find the broader changes we are traversing through become less visible. Now however, comes the time to relax a little and reflect... and what we are seeing is exciting.

We see people new to the area (most with primary residences within a day's drive) buying vacation homes and cabins, many with families. And there is a return of people once connected to the area in their youth, and now finding their way back. New, active retirees are choosing to move to the Northwoods year-round. We are seeing less of passing the family home/cabin along the generations, and instead younger families appear to be staying closer to home and waiting for a future opportunity for a second home. It's been so much fun meeting so many new people this summer, and also connecting with faces I remember as young children! How time does fly...

Reflecting on time, people, and place has led me to a renewed appreciation and interest in Presque Isle's history... it sure is a rich one! Recently our genealogy group put together a cemetery walk, visiting the grave sites of six people with amazing stories about their way of life from the early 1900s. From
logging barons, to a blind couple raising children without electricity (and keeping a pristine home), to a double-murder in the woods -- these stories were uniquely brought back to life by area actors and actresses. I hope they repeat this offering again, as it was a really interesting evening!

And so I find that after 40 years in Presque Isle, there is still (and always will be), much more that this little Town and its people -- new and old alike -- have to teach me.