What's up with the Mammoth real estate market?

What's up with the Mammoth market?

While the number of sales has stopped decelerating and prices are bottoming out, buyer activity is picking up. My partner and I have fielded more Internet and phone inquiries and shown more property in the last 2 weeks than in the last 2 months. And I have more appointments scheduled for July than I did for most of all last summer.

Looking at real estate used to be a national pastime during the recent boom years - and then it became uncool as buyers waited to try and time the bottom of the market. We are all listening to the media and water cooler conversation about predictions for further market worsening. I say we take note of how Warren Buffett invests; look at what everyone is saying/doing and do the exact opposite.

In Mammoth, buyers are still buying quality properties at discounted prices and many prospectors are still testing sellers by writing low ball offers on numerous properties. We still get some insulted sellers, but it has become more of the normal buying strategy and sellers are getting more used to it. However, with the lack of fire sales and foreclosures (Mono County has only 1 foreclosure per 1114 properties where the California average is 1 out of every 183, per RealtyTrac), buyers are realizing that we might indeed be near bottom, at least for Mammoth.

No one can know for sure until we are past the bottom, but buyers should buy according to their own time lines and criteria. Purchasing now as opposed to a year or two from now gives you the opportunity to begin creating those memories that are priceless. If you want your kids to see what 'seasons' are, how wildflowers grow, and how the sun feels different up here, then come up to Mammoth this summer and rent a condo before you decide to buy.

If life is getting shorter, kids are graduating college soon and if mountain air is therapy for you, then it should not matter what the short term market prognosis is. And talk to a local expert about the intricacies of rental programs, homeowners associations and vacation homeowners services. If Mammoth is in your life's plan, then forget the short term and start setting goals to meet with one of us, sign up for our automatic 'Property Tracker' and come up to start getting familiar with our neighborhoods.

A word about our Condo Inventory:

You must wade through our inventory to find the good listings. Of our 292 condos on the Mammoth Lakes market, only 4 are foreclosures, 9 are short sale listings (which you should not touch with any length of pole unless you do not mind waiting 3+ months for a response to your offer), and 62 (or 21%) are condotels at The Village at Mammoth and The Westin Monache, which are out of favor in the eyes of lenders (requiring much higher down payments) and out of favor with buyers, as only 3 sales out of the 62 condos sold since March 1st have been in The Village or Westin (only 4.8% of sales).

Buyers looking for great deals would be wise to talk to a local agent such as Tara or myself to weed out the bulk of the listings that are short sales, fractionals, condo complexes facing large special assessments, or that are just plain over-priced.

Foreclosure Update: There are 7 foreclosures in Mammoth Lakes currently on our market and only 6 additional foreclosed properties that have sold since this mess began. As a percentage of homes, this is lower than most areas of California. We do know of about 4 more foreclosures coming on the market in the next month or so, and several more properties with notices of default.

It is a stunning time of year here in Mammoth. Blue skies, 78 degrees. Just about perfect. Come enjoy the paradise we call home. -Dennis & Tara