With this crazy summer almost behind us, sales continue at a record pace and the inventory has dropped another 13% from last month to only 146 active single-family residences in the Big Bear MLS!  New properties are still coming on the market, but the inventory is selling faster than it is being replenished; so with the inventory normally starting to drop at this time of year anyways, it’s anyone’s guess as to just how low it will be by the end of Fall/beginning of Winter.  Speaking of Fall, Oktoberfest opens already this coming weekend, but with outdoor-only seating, advance reservations are required.

Area	#Sales	Avg. Price	Avg/ $/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	53	$336,743	$262.14	100.6%	87
BBL	40	$522,505	$294.44	98.7%	118
BBL-Lakefront	7	$1,630,575	$400.39	97.5%	183
FAWN	7	$341,400	$235.06	100.8%	75
FAWN-Lakefront	0	NA	NA	NA	NA
FOX	14	$649,393	$283.07	98.6%	139
MOON	52	$502,308	$285.33	99.0%	104
SUGA	30	$219,944	$255.71	100.1%	63

Have a great week!

Hi folks!

Below are the monthly Big Bear real estate stats for February. The average sales price was up big-time across the board from our last stats for December!! The inventory has gone down slightly in the Big Bear MLS from 337 single-family residences (does not include condos or vacant land) in January to 327 now.

Area	#Sales	Avg. Sale	Avg. $/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	18	$304,817	$226.88	96.2%	87
BBL	17	$513,324	$266.26	98.1%	154
BBL-Lakefront	1	$2,950,000	$636.36	94.9%	245
FAWN	0	NA	NA	NA	NA
FAWN-Lakefront	0	NA	NA	NA	NA
FOX	6	$655,383	$247.08	99.1%	96
MOON	17	$537,532	$275.28	96.6%	118
SUGA	18	$204,011	$232.54	97.4%	96

I’m excited to finally be able to announce a project that I’ve been working on for the last couple of months! I have accepted the position as Principal Broker of California for VACASA Real Estate.  With approximately 25,000 units managed, VACASA is the largest vacation rental management company in North America and should be largest in the world by the end of this year. VACASA started getting into the real estate world about two years ago and is focusing primarily on vacation rental markets. Because of that, we have unparalleled access to vacation rental histories, vacation rental market trends, and an inventory of homes that are already income-producing vacation rentals. Having both vacation rental and real estate divisions really sets VACASA apart from other national real estate firms and allows a synergy for both homeowners and buyers.  Our agents are licensed to buy and sell properties anywhere in California, of course, but we are going to be focusing on resort areas where we have a lot of short-term vacation rental properties, such as Big Bear, Palm Springs, San Diego, Lake Tahoe, etc.  Besides the exposure in the vacation rental industry, our VACASA listings will all be listed on our national website (along with cap rates for investors), in multiple boards and MLS’ throughout the state (including Big Bear and the CRMLS for maximum exposure), and include free 3D Matterport photography (something that no other brokerage in Big Bear is offering)!!  We already have a great team onboard in Big Bear that did over $50M in sales just last year, so please reach out if you are ready to buy or sell!!

Have a great week!!

Hi folks!

Here are last month’s Big Bear Real Estate statistics.  As of this morning, the inventory has dropped to 447 single-family residences in the Big Bear MLS, along with a handful of condos.  If you click on the link for the MLS, you’ll see that we switched our idx providers to a more user-friendly search that can be selected as either map-based or list-based.  If you have used the MLS search before, it may ask you to register again, but we think you’ll really like the new format.  Feel free to pass along any feedback that you may have o the new search format.  As you can see from the chart below, November was pretty busy for closings, especially for a short holiday month, with many buyers trying to close in time to enjoy the holidays at the cabin and/or get them rented for the profitable winter rental season.  As we often mention, buyers’ attention has already started to turn away from the Lake and towards the slopes, with increased sales in Moonridge.  As property values in the Big Bear Lake area continue to increase, the number of sales also continues to increase in the relatively more affordable areas of Big Bear City and Sugarloaf, which are still great areas for second homes, but not as ideal for vacation rentals.

Area	$Sales	Avg. Sale	Avg.$/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	31	$280,171	$212.40	97.1%	80
BBL	22	$406,514	$272.35	96.0%	115
BBL-LAKEFRONT	0	NA	NA	NA	NA
FAWN	4	$535,750	$228.93	96.3%	75
FAWN-LAKEFRONT	0	NA	NA	NA	NA
FOX	5	$534,800	$260.39	96.9%	118
MOON	16	$375,144	$277.30	96.2%	107
SUGA	13	$191,954	$214.37	97.7%	104

We got about 6 inches of snow at resort level last week and the first wave of the current storm is dropping snow right now.  This storm is supposed to linger through Friday morning, with another storm on the horizon for mid next week already, so it’s looking like it should be a White Christmas, if current trends continue!  Here’s a link to download this week’s edition of “Live it. UP”.  This week’s highlights include skiing and snowboarding at both Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, Winter Adventures at Action Tours, and Santa and Mrs. Claus in the Village!

Have a great week!

It’s that time of year already!  Snow Summit opens tomorrow and Bear Mountain is scheduled to open for weekends only until Dec.7th, starting next Friday.  Below are last month’s Big Bear real estate statistics.  It was a busy month for what is usually one of the slower months of the year, but keep in mind that most of the listings in October were for escrows that opened in September. As we get into the busy winter season, expect more sales closer to the slopes and less on the Lake.  Speaking of the Lake, there were two that sold last month at “lakeview” rather than “lakefront” prices because they were both very shallow-water lakefronts (one was about 60 yards from the water, at this point, and the other currently has no water in front of it).  Most owners of shallow-water lakefront aren’t selling now, with many of them waiting for the new Water Reclamation project that we first mentioned about 6 months ago to go into operation and start to stabilize lake levels.  That said, it could be a great time to pick up a shallow-water lakefront (if you can find one) and wait for the lake levels to go back up!

Area	#Sales	Avg. Sale	Avg. $/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	33	$266,997	$227.57	98.05%	66
BBL	36	$386,222	$264.25	97.46%	93
BBL-Lakefront	2	$676,250	$309.77	88.18%	217
FAWN	1	$300,000	$170.07	92.31%	257
FAWN-Lakefront	0	NA	NA	NA	NA
FOX	6	$770,833	$264.18	93.48%	162
MOON	13	$412,992	$244.11	97.84%	98
SUGA	19	$192,216	$216.90	97.18%	81

 

With Thanksgiving only a week away, here’s a link to a list of local restaurants that will be open on Thanksgiving Day, as well as local activities, including Santa’s entrance into the Village and the lighting of the Big Bear Lake Christmas Tree!!

Have a great weekend and fantastic holiday week!

With the beautiful color of changing leaves and our first dusting of snow at the higher elevations last weekend, it’s definitely beginning to feel like fall in Big Bear!  As we normally mention at this time of year, we are at the point where inventory is still relatively high (503 single-family residences in the Big Bear MLS) and activity drops off a bit because of school activities, so it’s usually a great time for buyers and really the last chance of the year to find a property and get it on the rental market before Thanksgiving.  There was a surprisingly high number of sales in Moonridge last month, with no sales on lakefronts, so it shows that buyers are already turning their attention towards the slopes.

Area	#Sales	Avg. Sale	Avg. $/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	21	$265,173	$208.71	97.8%	65
BBL-general	21	$332,133	$285.90	97.8%	110
BBL-lakefront	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FAWN-general	1	$229,000	$366.99	95.4%	235
FAWN-lalefront	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FOX	5	$492,980	$283.36	98.0%	81
MOON	25	$391,976	$260.81	98.1%	66
SUGA	28	$180,055	$222.72	08.1%	67

Here’s a link to download this week’s edition of Live It.Up.  Highlights this weekend include the ongoing 48th Annual Big Bear Oktoberfest, the Flashlight Safari at the Zoo, and Haunted Hayrides at Bear (Scare) Valley Farms.

Have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!!

Hi folks,

Below are the Big Bear real estate numbers for the last full month of summer.  Even though summer is almost over, the market is remaining hot, with the busiest September we can remember in our 11 years as Realtors up here. They are always adding more events so that spring and fall aren’t as slow as they were went we first moved up here (Oktoberfest actually opened two weekends ago) and there’s still lots of excitement about the acquisition of our local resorts by Aspen/KSL, the IKON pass, lots of progress on the new Moonridge Zoo, etc.  As with last year, the inventory seems to have peaked around the second week of August and has started dropping already.  As of this morning, we are down about 5% already to 517 active single-family residence listings in the Big Bear MLS.

Area	#Sales	Avg. Sale	Avg. $/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	21	$211,129	$219.87	97.84%	75
BBL	27	$432,308	$264.47	97.14%	142
BBL-Lakefront	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FAWN	9	$276,500	$254.10	95.65%	98
FAWN-Lakefront	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FOX	9	$524,667	$253.78	97.96%	134
MOON	19	$359,042	$257.27	97.97%	79
SUGA	21	$207,933	$200.60	98.27%	81

 

Here’s a link to download this week’s edition of “Live It UP” (formerly “What’s Up at 7000ft”).  This weekend’s highlights include Hot Dawgz & Handrails at Bear Mountain, the Big Bear Village Scarecrow Festival, and the ongoing 48th Annual Big Bear Oktoberfest!

Have a great week!!

With the summer season quickly approaching, I thought I would send out a quick breakdown of the properties that have sold so far, since the beginning of the year.  As usual, the vast majority of homes sold were in the $500K and under range.  That’s usually the range that most people are able to afford for a second home and if they are going for a conventional loan with 20% down, $575K is usually about their max. As you can see, there have only been ten properties sold over $1M (and only 3 over $1.25M); but the lakefront season hasn’t even begun yet, so that should change in the next couple of months.

Price (K)       #Sold

———-       ——-

250-               128

251-500         162

501-750           34

751-1000          9

1001-1250        7

1251-1500        1

1501-1750        1

1751-2000        1

2000+              0

Here are the Big Bear real estate single family statistics for the month of April.  As is usual, once the slopes close and until the summer season begins, the number of sales is lower; but prices continued to climb, with big jumps in the Big Bear Lake, Fox Farm, and Fawnskin areas, especially.

Area	#Sales	Avg.Sale	Avg. $/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	30	$269,425	$215.74	98.94%	77
BBL	9	$494,050	$308.46	96.33%	166
BBL-Lakefront	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FAWN	2	$355,950	$245.12	96.56%	312
FAWN-Lakefront	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FOX	4	$703,750	$268.43	98.21%	53
MOON	10	$379,840	$272.67	100.35%	98
SUGA	11	$204,968	$198.47	98.34%	72

 

Finally, here’s this week’s edition of “What’s Up at 7000ft”, including the Spartan Races at Snow Summit, Opening Day of the Bear Mountain Golf course, and guitar legend, Dave Mason, appearing at the Cave.

Here are last month’s statistics for the Big Bear Real Estate market. The inventory has continued to drop and, as of this morning, there are only 309 Single Family Residences left on the market!  This is lower than we typically see even at the lowest point of the year (in Spring).  At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if it drops to double digits by the end of the season!  In addition, this year there is the possibility of the new tax reform plan and there are people buying in an attempt to get grandfathered in with higher interest deductions, as well as concerns about higher mortgage interest rates.  Below is an excerpt from an email that we received recently from one of our national lenders:

“You have likely heard that the current administration may be reforming the tax code. Reforms to the tax code will impact many aspects of our economy. It is unknown what the final plan will include or the exact impacts it will have, but one very likely consequence of the plan, as proposed today, will be increasing interest rates on Treasury Bonds caused by shifting economic conditions, and rebalancing of cash positions held in Treasuries in the global economy.

If interest rates on Treasury Bonds increase, then mortgage interest rates in the U.S. will also increase since mortgage rates are directly impacted by rates of U.S. Treasuries.”

Area	#Sales	Avg. Sale	Avg. $/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	36	$255,674	$202.22	98.68%	106
BBL	25	$434,444	$252.02	98.21%	158
BBL-Lakefront	1	$1,020,000	$448.55	92.74%	187
FAWN	3	$224,667	$258.06	98.03%	359
FAWN-Lakefront	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FOX	15	$492,200	$258.04	97.50%	147
MOON	33	$310,263	$251.64	98.91%	84
SUGA	23	$196,235	$199.75	97.63%	98

Finally, the local resorts have been blowing snow all week and both Bear Mountain and Snow Summit are scheduled to open this Friday!

Hi folks!

As we are almost up to the beginning of the Holiday Season, we are down to only 342 Single-family residences left on the market in the Big Bear MLS.  As we have discussed in the past, the inventory normally starts to drop after summer, but when combined with the finalization of the Aspen acquisition of our local resorts this year, it has plummeted this year to levels we normally only see at the end of the winter season in Feb. or March!  Below are the stats for last month.  I’m considering starting to combine BBL-general and BBL-lakeview because so many agents are listing properties as “lakeview” even if they are 2 miles from the Lake, with only a peek-a-boo view, that it can make the stats misleading for that category.

Area	#Sales	Avg. Sale	Avg. $/sqft	SP/LP	DOM
BBC	43	$229,946	$203.67	97.98%	119
BBL-general	18	$381,378	$258.67	97.70%	107
BBL-lakeview	12	$520,708	$228.37	98.11%	168
BBL-Lakefront	4	$1,670,000	$451.03	87.92%	451
FAWN	4	$298,850	$174.77	94.90%	270
FAWN-Lakefront	2	$974,950	$585.18	100.0%	278
FOX	12	$590,208	$250.48	97.92%	133
MOON	30	$353,317	$235.91	98.08%	86

Here’s a link from the San Diego Association of Realtors (which we also belong to, in order to give more exposure to our listings).  According to the article:

“With the economy expected to continue growing, housing demand should remain strong and incrementally boost California’s housing market in 2018, C.A.R. said. However, C.A.R. said a shortage of available homes for sale and affordability constraints will continue to be a challenge.

The California median home price is forecast to increase 4.2 percent to $561,000 in 2018, following a projected 7.2 percent increase in 2017 to $538,500.

“This year’s housing market can be told as a tale of two markets, the inventory constrained lower end and the upper end that’s non-inventory constrained,” said C.A.R. Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. “This trend is likely to continue into 2018 as active listings have declined across all price ranges for the past two years, but is most obvious at the lower end.years, but is most obvious at the lower end.”

Have a great weekend and a fantastic Thanksgiving Holiday!!