August 21st, 2008
More Summit County homes are sold in the last six months of the year than any other time.
Traditionally, our busy season is July to October as new homeowners close on their purchases and get them ready for ski season. With the slowdown in real estate sales in the county this year, I kept looking toward July as my indicator to know how the busy season would be. It is not very encouraging. I have gone back to 2000, tracking residential sales in Summit County (not including Park County or other areas) by the month. This July we had 94 sales. Last July it was 177. In July of 2006…..
August 11th, 2008
Eagles Nest, Willowbrook and Willowbrook Highlands homeowners
have easy access to this trail as it leaves from the upper reaches of their subdiviisons. The main trailhead is at the top of Willowbrook, and from there to Willow lakes is about 5 miles. With side trips to the other Willow lakes and Salmon lake, you can extend it to just over 13 miles round trip, as we did. The Summit County Hiker, my hiking bible, shows it as a “most difficult” trail. I scoffed for the first 3 miles, as I decided that it must be rated that way because of the length of it. However, after mile 3, the trail ….
August 1st, 2008
Proof that homes in Summit County sell quickly when the owners price them realistically came this week as we put four of our listings under contract. Even though inventories are at the highest level they have been in several years, when priced right, homes and condos still sell. This home was only 18 days from listing to closing, as we had a cash buyer wanting to close quickly, and a Seller willing to discount a little more in order to do so. It sold for 93% of the last sale of a similar duplex, but the last one had very nice views, was fully furnished and in excellent condition. Our listing had good views but was vacant, in desperate need of paint inside and out, and was sold as-is. The Seller needed a quick sale and priced it accordingly. It worked and he was very happy with the price he got.
Another of the Silverthorne homes we had listed is in a subdivision with 9 other similar homes already listed. We were number 10. How do you get to be first in line when you start out in the #10 position?
July 28th, 2008
The new tax bill is designed to help first time home buyers buy a home and should help to improve the real estate market by giving them tax credits when they buy their first home. For more details on the bill go to http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/dont_mess_with_taxes/. She has a very complete description of its provisions.
However, there is always payback. When Uncle Sam offers one group of people a tax break, someone has to pay for it, and in this case, the second home owner will be part of it. There used to be a big loophole in the tax law that allowed people doing a 1031 tax deferred exchange out of an investment property to buy a property that they might like to live in permanently, rent it for a while, and then turn it into their permanent primary residence when they retired. That loophole was tightened up recently
July 21st, 2008
After several months of little activity (June sales were down by 55% over a year ago) the Buyers finally showed up this week. We had five offers on four of our listings. Three are now under contract and the one with two offers is waiting for owner to get back from vacation. There have been lots of showings, (some properties have had twenty or more!) but Buyers have shown us that they are not willing to offer on a property unless they feel it is …..
