sannesm's Blog: All Categories

I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating our country's birthday. Being on a Friday this year, July 4th led to an extremely busy and fun-filled weekend here in Big Bear Lake. The fireworks show on the lake, as usual, did not disappoint.

 

As We Pass the Midpoint of 2008

With half of 2008 already behind us, let’s check in on what has been happening with Big Bear Real Estate.  Overall the drastic and dramatic shift in Big Bear’s real estate market continued. Sales volume and the number of transactions have dropped significantly. In the first 6 months of 2008 compared to 2007, sales volume dropped roughly 40% and total number of transactions was down about 30%. Inventories remain high and buyers are still, for the most part, full of anxiety and…

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Big Bear Real Estate Market:  Current Statistics
(as of 6/16/2008)

Single Family Residence $0 - 250K $250 - 500K $500 - 750K $750 - 1mil Over $1mil Active Listings 379 565 132 76 87 Sold Year-To-Date 188 145 34 11 17

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Big Bear Cabins -- Looking at the Listings

Here in Big Bear, virtually everything is called a cabin.  But, for the purposes of this blog post, let's limit ourselves to single-family homes located in the Big Bear Valley.  As of June 4, 2008, there were 1183 active listings for cabins in Big Bear.  Looking at how those listings are distributed is quite interesting.  Almost half the cabins listed are in the main vacation rental areas of our valley: Big Bear Lake, Moonridge and Fox Farm. 

 

Over one quarter of the listings were small cabins, less than 1,000 square feet and almost half of the listings were of modest size, between 1,000 and 1900 square feet.  Only about a quarter of the cabins listed were larger than 1900 square feet.

 

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Anyone following real estate lately is aware of the increasing number of foreclosures taking place. In fact it is hard to read or watch the news without coming across stories detailing the repercussions of so many loans going bad and the major impact that has had on our country’s banking system and the economy. So you might wonder, what impact has this trend had on Big Bear’s real estate market? Well, based on what has occurred so far this year, one thing is for sure, there is demand out there for reduced-price listings. However, Big Bear is primarily a vacation/second home market and bank-owned properties do not dominate nor have they completely taken control of the Big Bear real estate market as they have in many areas down the hill. 

 

As of May 1st…

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Big Bear Real Estate Market:  Current Statistics
(as of 5/1/2008)

Single Family Residence $0 - 250K $250 - 500K $500 - 750K $750 - 1mil Over $1mil Active Listings 376 505 124 54 74 Sold Year-To-Date 126 111 30 9 13

 

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Although there is still one business day remaining as I write this, March has shown an 18% increase in closed residential sales compared to the previous month. The number of open escrows remains solid as new escrows continue to more than replace closed sales. Big Bear’s real estate inventory has been increasing slightly as Spring typically brings many would-be sellers off the fence and into the market. Although demand has been increasing, it seems that many would-be buyers still remain on the fence. That said, there has been tremendous interest in bank-owned and short-sale properties of late. While these sorts of listings do not currently dominate the Big Bear real estate market, they are increasing in number. As such, for all of you ‘distressed property’…

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Spring is in the air here in Big Bear. For me personally this cannot come soon enough as I have already shoveled more than enough snow for my taste this winter. For Big Bear this is a bittersweet time of year, as the major tourist season will soon be behind us, but the Summer, full of long days and beautiful weather, is just around the corner. The abundant snowfall this winter puts the jewel of our valley, Big Bear Lake, in prime shape to enjoy. In the Big Bear real estate market, the arrival of spring typically kicks off the listing season and I think this year will be no exception. I expect our inventory to expand considerably in the next few months and this will lead to even more terrific opportunities becoming available for interested buyers. Closings…

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Sunshine has returned here in Big Bear as the latest of this season’s many winter storms has just passed.  The clouds may also be parting in the Big Bear real estate market based on what I have been seeing.  Buyer interest and demand has increased in February. Last weekend was President’s Day, typically one of the busiest of the year for tourism in Big Bear. With all of this season’s snow fall, which will also make for a terrific summer on the lake, this year was no exception and even exceeded most expectations. Having an increased number of visitors enjoying our beautiful valley does not always translate into increased activity in Big Bear's real estate market. However, I cannot recall a weekend in many, many months that saw so many of our valley's real…

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