Thursday, July 31, 2008

Now is the time to buy in Summit County Colorado

Why is now a good time to buy in Summit County Colorado?

Summer is high real estate season in Summit County. More than 70% of sales occur between June and October. This summer, compared to last summer, the amount of properties for sale in all Summit County communities is double to almost triple than it was a year ago on August 1, 2007.

This means that Buyers have more choices, along with better negotiating power, because Sellers want to SELL - not sit and wait for next summer!

A good indicator of the state of the market is the amount of available properties, or "inventory." The more inventory, the softer the market and better conditions for Buyers. The less inventory, the stronger the market and better conditions for Sellers.

With higher inventory, competition among inventory becomes fierce. Prices may begin to fall, although we haven't seen properties losing appreciation yet. If you have been thinking about buying a mountain home, now is a great time. If you are thinking of Selling, be sure your property is priced competitively to market rates and that your property is in great condition.

Breckenridge:
Inventory August 2007: 388
Inventory August 2008: 838
An increase of 116%.
Out of the 838 properties for sale, 270 have been price reduced.

Copper Mountain
Inventory August 2007: 29
Inventory August 2008: 82
An increase of 183%
Out of the 82 properties for sale, 22 have been price reduced.

Dillon/Summit Cove
Inventory August 2007: 76
Inventory August 2008: 169
An increase of 122%
Out of the 169 properties for sale, 68 have been price reduced.

Frisco
Inventory August 2007 79
Inventory August 2008 167
An increase of 96%
Out of the 167 properties for sale, 68 have been price reduced.

Keystone
Inventory August 2007 79
Inventory August 2008 180
An increase of 128%
Out of the 180 properties for sale, 55 have been price reduced.

Wildernest/Silverthorne
Inventory August 2007 133
Inventory August 2008 285
An increase of 114%
Out of the 285 properties for sale, 84 have been price reduced.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Summit County Colorado Real Estate Appreciation

I would like to take this opportunity to alert the media that not all areas in the United States of America are experiencing a "severe real estate crisis", a "landslide of real estate values, or "a foreclosure epidemic." I just read the newly released Standard and Poor's/Case Schiller 20 city index, a home value index, dropped 15.8% in May compared to a year ago in May, which constitutes a record decline since the indexes' inception in 2000. The 10 city index dropped 16.9%, the biggest decline in 21 year history.

But let me tell you about my community. I am a real estate broker in Summit County, Colorado, located in the Rocky Mountains, just west of the Continental Divide. Single family home prices from all of 2007 to the first six months of 2008 INCREASED from an average of $798,889 to $830,462, a gain of almost 4%. Multi-family properties increased from 2007 to 2008 by 7.8%, from an average price of $406,529 to $440,948. Vacant land saw the largest increase from an average in 2007 of $391,587, to $517,252 in the first six months of 2008, an increase of 24.2%.

To Recap, from 2007 to the first six months of 2008

Single Family Home Values + 4%
Multi Family Home Values + 7.8%
Vacant Land Values + 24.2%

So, to the Associated Press, Standard and Poor's and whoever else is willing to listen - we are doing just fine in Summit County. Why don't you come out and visit and see why.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Evolution of Frisco Colorado

I have lived in Summit County for five years. During this relatively short time, I have seen numerous changes to my hometown Frisco. As a real estate broker, I know that I should take the advice from Charles Darwin: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." Here is my update on new Frisco multi-unit projects which will continue to change the landscape of the town.

A new commercial and residential condominium development called Latitude 39 will be built at the northwest corner of 4th and Granite Streets. There will be seven residential condos, two with elevators. A one bedroom is listed at $645,050 and a three bedroom is listed at $1,320,000.

Forty-three total units are slated for development at the old Frisco Crossroads location at the corner of Highway 9 and Granite Streets. The name will be Water Tower Place and it will built to LEED green standards. The first phase will include eleven market townhomes. The second phase will be condominiums/flats including penthouses and elevators.

Two new construction duplex projects are also in the works. Located at 2 Miners Creek Road, the Miners Creek Duplexes, four units total, are 3 bedroom 3.5 baths and almost 2,900 square feet. All are priced at $1,298,250. Another duplex project located at 414 and 416 Teller Street and 311 and 313 Fifth Avenue is called The Reserve at Teller. All four units are 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, and range in size from around 2,172 to 2,562 square feet. Pricing ranges from $944,820 to $1,101,660.

A new triplex located at the Northeast corner of Seventh and Belford streets is also in the works. These units are all over 2,900 square feet and have 3 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and 2 powder baths. The official addresses of these units are 514 and 516 7th Avenue and 707 Belford.

The Mason Glen Towne Homes, located on Third Avenue and the Teller Alley are almost complete but not yet listed as of thee time this article was due. These are four townhome units, with both three and four bedrooms.

That puts my count up to 65 new units coming into Frisco in the next couple years. I also recognize that I am probably missing some new developments!! Hopefully this information will help you to evolve your real estate business and be on the cutting edge of new Frisco projects.

*Information regarding the featured properties were obtained from Summit MLS and from the respective listing brokers.
Authored by Amy Nakos, JD, CLHMS, Owner/Managing Broker, Landmark Real Estate Group, LLC, 111 Main Street, Frisco, CO 80443, 970-668-1430 office, 970-389-8388 cell, anakos@landmarkregroup.com.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

June 2008 Statistics

At Landmark Real Estate Group, we watch the market closely. As national news of a real estate crisis looms, Summit County real estate continues to appreciate in value.

Signs that the national economy are affecting our market are decreased number of transactions, decreased gross dollar volume, and higher levels of inventory.

Using data from the Summit County MLS, I compared number of transactions and average sales prices from January 1 to June 15 in years 2007 and 2008.

SINGLE FAMILY HOME STATISTICS
Throughout Summit County, Single Family Home sales totaled 141 in 2008 so far compared to 217 from the same period last year. A decrease of 35% in number of single family transactions. The average price for a single family home in 2007 was $915,433 and in 2008 was $945,150, an increase of 3.2%.

TOWNHOME AND DUPLEX STATISTICS
Duplexes and townhomes sold in the first five and half months of 2008 totaled 109 compared to 181 sold in 2007 for the same time period. This is a decrease of 40% in number of transactions. The average sales price for townhomes and duplexes in 2008 was $643,357 compared to $562,225 in 2007 -- an increase of 12.6%.

CONDOMINIUM STATISTICS
Condominium sales in 2008 are 281 transactions compared to 446 last year. This is a decrease of 37%. Average price for a condo in 2008 is $398,417, compared to 2007's average price of $354,083. The average value of condos in Summit County increased 11%.

VACANT LAND
Vacant land values saw a dramatic increase in appreciation of 35.2% from average sales price in 2007 of $356,259 to an average sales price of $550,586 in 2008. As the saying goes, "they aren't making any more land." Total number of sales in 2008 were 68, compared to 161 in 2007, a large decrease of 57.7%.

INVENTORY
As of June 15, 2008, Summit County has 1,665 residential and vacant land listings. Last year as of July 1, 2007, Summit County had a total of 1,260 listings. Inventory has increased by 24.3%. However, historical inventory numbers in 2000 to 2004 were in the 3,000 range, every year. From a historical perspective, 1,665 listings is still a low number of properties for sale.
While our market is slowing down, our real estate values have not decreased, but in fact, continue to increase.

If you have any questions or would like more specific information about your neighborhood, please contact Amy Nakos, JD, CLHMS at 970-389-8388 or anakos@landmarkregroup.com.
Authored by Amy Nakos, JD, CLHMS, Owner/Managing Broker, Landmark Real Estate Group, LLC, 111 Main Street, Frisco, CO 80443, 970-668-1430 office, 970-389-8388 cell, anakos@landmarkregroup.com.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Summit County Statistics - January to June 2008

In this edition of Amy's number crunching, I will break down residential real estate trends by community. The data below reflects sales from January through June for years 2005 through 2008. While sales activity has slowed in the first half of 2007 to 2008, most Summit County's properties continue to see increased appreciation from year to year.

BRECKENRIDGE
Average sales prices in January to June increased each year from 2005 to 2008. 2005 to 2006 saw an increase in average sales price of 16.5%, 2006 to 2007 an increase of 16% and 2007 to 2008 an increase of 9.5%. The number of sold transactions are down from 2007 to 2008 by 34% and total sales volume is down by 28%.

COPPER MOUNTAIN
Copper Mountain's average sale price from January to June jumped from 2006 to 2007 by 22%! The previous year the average price increased 14.9%. 2007 to 2008 saw a much more modest increase in average sold price of .5%. Both number of transactions and total sales volume are down 50% from January through June, 2007 to 2008.

DILLON/SUMMIT COVE
The Dillon area, including Summit Cove, saw steady appreciation in average sales price from January to June, 2005 to 2006 at 10% and the following year at 11%. 2007 to 2008 saw a more modest increase of average sales price at 2%. Both number of transactions and total sales volume are down 50% from January through June, 2007 to 2008.

FRISCO
Frisco saw large jumps in appreciation in average sales price from 2005 to 2007. From January through June, 2005 to 2006 the average sales price increased by 17.2%, and 16.2% from 2006 to 2007. The first half of this year saw a decrease of average sales price by 10.5%. From my experience and observations, the decrease in average sales price is not indicating depreciation in Frisco, but rather showing that more of the lower priced properties are selling and those in the higher priced brackets are not selling as quickly. Number of transactions is down from 2007 to 2008 by 37% and total sales volume is down by 43.6%.

KEYSTONE
Keystone properties saw an increase in average sales price from January through June 2006 to 2007 of 28.8%! Heather Wood, the Keystone expert in my office, attributes this increase to low inventory levels at Keystone during 2007. 2007 to 2008 saw an increase of 9%. Keystone residential properties experienced a decrease of 37% in number of transactions and a decrease of 30% in total sales volume.

SILVERTHORNE/WILDERNEST
Silverthorne and Wildernest have great appreciation in average sales price. The first half of 2006 from the first half of 2005 saw an increase of 16.2% in average sales price. The following year saw an increase of 21.6% and 2007 to 2008 saw an increase of 14.6%. Number of transactions from the first half of 2007 to 2008 are down only 19% and total sales volume is down 50%, again indicating that lower price properties continue to sell.

At Landmark Real Estate Group, LLC, we maintain this data in Excel spreadsheets. Please let us know if you would like a copy of the full set of data and it would be our pleasure to email it to you.
Authored by Amy Nakos, JD, CLHMS, Owner/Managing Broker, Landmark Real Estate Group, LLC, 111 Main Street, Frisco, CO 80443, 970-668-1430 office, 970-389-8388 cell, anakos@landmarkregroup.com.