Can Underwater Homeowners Hope for Refinancing Relief?

Most major news sources reported a proposal by the current administration to make refinancing possible for homeowners who are underwater or otherwise may not qualify.  I believe that most homeowners do want to stay in their homes with affordable mortgages. This may help to reduce the number of short sales in the future which would be good for real estate values across the country.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-proposes-home-loan-refinancing-181200801.html

Vail Real Estate Supply and Demand in Vail Village and Lionshead

As of December 2011, there were 232 active listings in Vail Village and Lionshead with 72 properties selling in 2011. That suggests a 39 month supply of inventory. Here are inventory numbers for some Vail Valley locations.

Vail Village and Lionshead - 39 months of supply

Beaver Creek, Bachelor's Gulch & Arrowhead - 25 months of supply

Eagle Vail and Avon - 13 month supply of homes

Edwards - 14 month supply of homes

Eagle - 10 month supply of homes

Gypsum - 7 month supply

The point being that there must be continued decline in prices in order to bring our luxury markets back into equilibrium. We still have more sellers than buyers.

Who's Moving?

In a Wall Street Journal article today, it is reported that only 11.6% of Americans moved in 2011. This is the lowest percentage reported since the Census Bureau began tracking in 1948.

Vail Real Estate and Foreclosures

The Thursday Vail Daily is where we see which Vail homeowners are quite delinquent in paying their mortgages. I read the Thursday paper every week to get a sense of our real estate environment as it relates to the number of homes in foreclosure and their location and potential re marketed listing price.


 Today there were a few more homes in the paper in areas where we don't usually see delinquencies. Arrowhead was included as was East Vail. Again, the majority of the pending foreclosures are homes in the Eagle and Gypsum areas with loans attached that originated between 2005 and 2007.

Sunridge always makes an appearance as there are so man units in the two complexes. I will write about Sunridge as a barometer to the market again shortly.

Expect prices to decline through the winter and even more so for luxury homes.

Vail Valley Real Estate Statistics October 2011

Click on Graph to Open a Larger View

Look for this to be published every month to out blog. You can also sign up for our newsletter to receive lots of interesting information about the Vail Valley Real Estate Market at www.investinvail.net

Commentary on Vail Real Estate September Statistics

The Vail valley real estate market saw a nice uptick in business in the later part of the summer and into the fall with 89 closings valley wide in September. As expected during a recession or depression or whatever you want to call this cycle, the majority of activity continues to be in the under $500,000 price range. Because there are more, lower priced listings in the Eagle and Gypsum areas, those markets continue to see somewhat brisk sales activity. Short sales and foreclosures still dominate the down valley markets and will continue to do so for quite some time. Luxury buyers are striking bargains in the resort areas as most sellers are highly motivated to make deals. Regardless of whether or not we are at the bottom, it is still a good time to buy in this valley. Reservations are looking very strong for the ski season which is a good indicator that Vail is likely to have a strong winter season.

Buying Resort Real Estate in Vail and Beaver Creek with Retirement Funds

What if you want to invest in real estate in Vail or Beaver Creek but all of your money is in your IRA or 401k rollover account?  Did you know that you can use your retirement funds to buy real estate? Self-directed IRAs are becoming more and more popular with savvy investors. The process is relatively simple and allows you to actually receive the income from rental properties if you are of retirement age. If you are not yet of age to withdraw from your retirement account, you can invest the proceeds any way you see fit in your self-directed account or move those funds back to another investment. The IRS does have strict rules in place regarding the personal use of real estate held in an IRA. If use of a property is paramount in your decision making, then there are other alternatives available for you involving annuities which we can discuss. The benefits of buying rental real estate in your IRA are numerous and include the possibility of predictable monthly cash flow (with long-term rentals), price appreciation and less volatility than the stock market. You can also form an investment partnership with others and combine your IRA investment if you want to buy but either wants to limit your exposure or do not have enough money of your own to buy the right property. I have recommendations for selecting an appropriate rental property for this type of investment as well as suggestions for administrators of self-directed retirement accounts.

Eagle Vail Floodplain Information

Recently, about 350 homeowners in Eagle Vail received a somewhat confusing notice about the new floodplain mapping project. Most of the affected residences lie in what is being referred to as "shaded zone X." This type of an area is one that has been identified as having an increased risk of flooding. In this case, the projected flooding is 1' or less. These zones do not require any additional homeowner insurance or that you even contact your insurance company. This map is preliminary until its acceptance by FEMA, likely to occur in the next 90 days. For more information, please come to the community meeting on June 15, 2009 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Eagle Vail Pavilion.

FASB loosens asset valuation terms

The independent Financial Accounting Standards Board decided today that assets on the books of banks can be valued in an "orderly" manner. According to Reuters " FASB says the objective of mark-to-market accounting is to set a price that would be received by a bank in an "orderly" transaction in the current, inactive market. It says an "orderly" transaction for accounting purposes does not include the forced liquidation or a distressed sale of an asset." There is mixed emotion to this ruling but some analysts predict this could help battered bank shares rise as much as 20%. Critics claim this will decrease the transparency of evaluating assets potentially leading to more problems down the road in the troubled asset classes (at least I didn't say toxic). The effect could be very positive for real estate markets as this may help to loosen the credit markets as banks possibly can decrease the necessary reserves if the value of their assets rises feasibly allowing them more money to lend.

Vail Property Inventory and Parking for Fancy Cars

Every day I look at the Vail MLS and watch what is going on in our valley in the real estate markets - that's my job. Lately, I've been paying more attention to what is actually going "under contract" and what is actually "selling" than the hot new listings. It is not uncommon on any given day to see 30 different listings with drastic price reductions. Often, this is accompanied by an email from the listing agent who points out that the price has been reduced another $37,000 on a $2 million dollar listing - BIG DEAL is what I say. Just today, I saw prices being reduced by up to 20%! The Vail Valley currently has about 2051 active listings for property (commercial, residential and land). In January of this year, 22 deals closed and 32 transactions closed in February. My math figures that we have a 76 month supply of inventory or just over 6 years. So, I think the sellers need to get real and offer something unique. This could include a great property at a great price, owner financing or other innovative incentives. By the way, a Founders garage parking space in Vail Village just closed today for $250,000, so people are still spending money in Vail.

If you are Thinking of Selling Your Home in Vail, be sure it will Stand Out among its competitors

Since there are fewer buyers looking at properties, what will it take to make your home the #1 choice of those searching? Pricing, condition, marketing and finishes are all controllable variables. Remember that first impressions are LASTING impressions. Do everything you can to make your home stand out and by all means keep it accessible to potential buyers. Other options include offering owner financing, paying closing costs or buying down the buyer’s interest rate. Call me for more creative strategies and a free market analysis. http://www.investinvail.com/