Real Estate Price and Foreclosure update

Quick Mammoth Lakes real estate update:

Condo Sales pace down by 53%
So far this year, 114 condos have sold (annualized rate of 176) vs. 374 in 2006. For homes, the pace is better with 30 selling so far this year (annualized rate of 46) vs. 55 last year.

Prices are basically the same
CONDOS: 2006 Average price = $662,000 (median $560,000)
CONDOS: 2007 Average price = $680,000 (median $546,000)

HOMES: 2006 Average price = $1,092,000 (median $895,000)
HOMES: 2007 Average price = $1,090,000 (median $905,000)

Yesterday someone called me asking for the complete list of foreclosures here. Others have called to ask how much our prices have crashed. They are surprised when I tell them there is only 1 foreclosure and that prices have not crashed.

Mob psychology is a funny thing. Most of our visitors come from Southern California and they hear about the real estate mess in their areas and assume the same thing is going on up here.
But our product is still fundamentally sound (4.5 square miles of private land surrounded by amazing natural beauty) and so are our buyers, who come in with healthy down payments or 1031 exchange money and therefore do not have crazy sub-prime loans.

Most sellers are able and willing to hold on until they get a reasonable offer or until the market improves. There are very few fire sales right now. So if you are a buyer with good credit, use a full time real estate agent (such as myself) to determine which listings are priced reasonably, buy for the long term and don't worry about the short term market fluctuations.

Good news for high-end property owners; a house in Juniper Ridge that was listed at $4.89M just went into escrow. Only two homes over $2M have sold in the last year. And a 3-bedroom at The Village just sold for $1.36M ($933/sqft)! So, nope, our market is not crashing. I think sellers are setting the tone about where they feel their properties should be valued. Unfortunately, buyers are not agreeing with them at this time.