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 …..
July 5th, 2008
“How is the Summit County real estate market?” is the most asked question when I meet people today.
Owners, Sellers and Buyers all want to know, as the market has been down for so long in the rest of the country. People have assumed it would be bad in Summit County too, but it hasn’t been until recently. The first six months of the year the number of transactions was down 38% over a year ago, so we know the national economy is now affecting us.
Fear on the part of potential Buyers is the biggest cause of the downturn, in my opinion. We still have very few foreclosures and not many Sellers “must” sell their properties. Second home Sellers are notoriously unmotivated
July 1st, 2008
To purchase the “average” Frisco home, an income of more than $207,000 would be required.
“Affordable” is the favorite term used when referring to homes that are deed restricted to local Summit County residents. It seems that is the only way locals can afford to buy a home. Lately, I have heard “attainable” used, rather than “affordable”. As prices go up, it seems to be a better word. The Summit Housing Authority does a great job of helping people with low interest loans for down payments together with homeowner education. The towns and the county governments have been trying to find more ways to provide housing for locals. The Peak One parcel, being town owned, seems perfect for it.
The Peak One tract of land in Frisco was aquired by the Town as part of a Forest Service land exchange. It has been used for recreation and open space, but the Town of Frisco has warned residents that it would not stay that way forever. The time seems to have come for it to be developed, and an ongoing dialogue between the Town and homeowners is coming to an end….
June 6th, 2008
How does the national economy affect our Summit County real estate market?
Today I attended a session with the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, Dr Lawrence Yun. I found it very interesting to hear his take on the economy and how it translates to homes in Summit County, Colorado.
What I took away from his presentation was that real estate is local, and what has affected home sales so negatively is the sub prime mortage mess. Areas that had high incidences of sub prime mortgages (more than 100% financing, stated income, adjustable rate mortgages, and other similar programs) are now the areas with a lot of foreclosures. Where foreclosures are not as common, the markets are still stable or appreciating. The worst areas are Miami, Phoenix and Las Vegas, where a combination of subprime loans and speculation caused rapid appreciation, and just as rapid depreciation. However, Dr Yun seems to think that the prices still could increase 10-50%, even there, over the next 5 years.
Denver was one of three cities (Seattle and Dallas being the other two) that he thinks have the best
May 19th, 2008
Just a month ago, I wrote a post called The Scoop on the Copper Mountain market. In that post I was pretty upbeat about the market, despite terrible reports from other parts of the country for more than a year now. I did express some concerns for the middle part of the price ranges, and I talked about how many Sellers have been way too optimistic, and although I didn’t use the it, greedy might have been a good word to use.
A couple of days ago, I looked at the number of sales for this year so far, and compared them to the same time last year. What I found was that sales for the first 3 1/2 months at Copper Mountain were down by 45% from the same period a year ago! That is a huge decrease, and it is double the decrease of 22% in the rest of Summit County as a whole. Projecting that decrease……
