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Non Region Specific Ski Town Real Estate

newfydog

Making fresh tracks
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What are you seeing in your area these days? I instigated some thread drift on a very ski relevant topic (Tom Brady) and thought I ought to get a legitimate real estate thread rolling. The Covid upheaval has caused a perfect storm in many real estate markets. People have been able to, or been forced to work from home, and various stimulus efforts have caused mortgage rates to do a double heel release faceplant. It didn't take long for them to ask "If I can work from home, shouldn't home be near the lifts?"

Bend, Oregon has gone from boom-town to Zoom-town. The Bay area folks, with their ridiculous prices, have spilled over into towns like Bend, and bought up everything. The town I moved to with 25,000 people is now over 100,000. The basic logging town shack is over $500k. One in our neighborhood just closed for 706k. Apparently some areas are worse (not the obvious ones like Aspen, places normal humans live.)

I suppose when and if the virus is contained the pressure will subside, but I wonder how much of a permanent shift we have seen. My niece was told by her company her job would now be permanently from home, and they sold their main office building.

It is tempting to take the money and run. We did just that in the 2005 real estate boom but came back after a few years. We missed our friends and the area, but we did do well selling at the top. Not sure where we'd go....

Here's what you can get, on a busy street, 22 miles from the lifts......

363 nw Columbia.JPG
 

WadeHoliday

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Nov 30, 2015
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North Tahoe
agreed, prices up are up and crazy in most places except metro areas, SF down, as people are moving because they can with their jobs.

I don't think the people are all going to move back to the city after the pandemic, maybe some, but they've got the bug, can work a lot from away, and ski towns will be forever changed imo.

One quicke, easy stat, Tahoe has had busiest year ever, July and August both doubled the busiest months in MLS history!
I don't chose to talk work on my play website, but that's just my quick 2cents as Phil paged me :).
Cheers!
W
 

AmyPJ

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Ogden, UT
We've been priced right out of the market here in the Ogden area. It's honestly quite maddening and depressing. I know a lot of very middle class people who could not even remotely afford to buy their current homes at current market prices.

The exact area I live in has turned into a playground for the wealthy, including a new private ski community being built about 8 miles away. Those people can't build in that community yet, so they are buying up the "inexpensive" cottage homes here, which I was hoping to get in on. They have no yard, and with 1600 SF and an unfinished basement, are selling for upwards of $550k. They were originally below $400k, which is why I was hopeful to get in on one. Not an option any longer. I'm hoping to pick up a piece of inexpensive property a few hundred miles north of here and build a cute little house on it in the next 5 years.

The only people who love this market are realtors. And those with buyers are having a very hard time.
 
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newfydog

newfydog

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It appears that real estate prices are bonkers everywhere you might want to live so selling would only lead you to trying to buy in a sellers market.

Yeah, but some areas are worse than others. Been Zillowing about and there may be some real opportunities in the more obscure spots.
 

mikel

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scott43

So much better than a pro
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Great White North
I asked this question a year ago thinking ski props would..tank..with WFH they exploded..cottages up north have gone up 30%. Didn't foresee it but I understand it.
 

Jim Kenney

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2 cents from non real estate person who originally thought the pandemic would crush vacation real estate because everyone was in lockdown:doh::

I think the unusual combo of pandemic and record low interest rates in last year have caused a highly charged real estate market just about everywhere. I've lived in the Wash DC suburbs all my life and home values just never stop marching up. The rare lulls are minor and short lived. I guess I can understand the current jump in vacation properties with folks escaping far from crowded cities and working and schooling from home, but I see reports in the Wash Post that luxury homes ($4+ mil) are selling like hot cakes at record prices (one example went for 250k over asking) in downtown DC too. There it's folks moving a couple miles to go from a condo to a house with home office and backyard and using the low interest rates to make the upsizing leap.

I think the country is poised for a real estate correction in a macro sense. The white collars are flush and the blue collars are hurting. When interest rates start a sustained climb there could be a big cooling in the market with possibly some price regression. It might take a few years for this to unfold. The drop in the market could start sooner if we see a lot of blue collar foreclosures due to pandemic fallout.
 
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newfydog

newfydog

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OK, just for yucks, I thought I'd check Ohio. I grew up there, and we had some little ski areas, snowmaking and night skiing, some of my friends skied every night after school. Couldn't get out of there fast enough when I hit my teens, but it worked as a kid. I read an article by PJ O'Rourke, who takes his family ski vacations there, luxury lodging, private lessons for the kids, all the amenities they need for a get-away, and the kids don't care that the runs are even longer in Colorado. I went back for a reunion, and friend had a nice house, acreage, horses, and could see the lights of the ski area at night. His kids were in a race program run by an old friend of ours. He was terrified they might transfer him to San Francisco.

Here we go: one mile from Snow Trails, 3300 square feet, traditional house with modern construction, 14 acres, 9 horse stall, riding area, guest house, RV garages 550k. If I had really young kids, I'd think about it.

mansfield.JPG
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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Whitefish, MT
There's been a 30% increase in the zEstimate on my house since April 1 of last year. (Whitefish) A friend of my daughter, down in the Bitterroot, had six offers on her house the 1st day it was listed. It sold for $55,000 over the listing, sight unseen, cash, no inspection, no contigencies. The median price in MISSOULA is close to $800,000 (https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/m...nventory-shortage-continues-to-be-challenging) and it's not like there's a huge ski area there.
 
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newfydog

newfydog

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In the 2005 boom, Bend was neck and neck with Naples, Florida for fastest run-up. When, as we say in Indonesian, the tahi hit the kepas angin, Bend was neck and neck with Naples for the fastest crash in price.

That period was financed by insane speculation and no money down loans. The town was full of empty "flipper homes". This time round there is a bit more backing up the rise, actual money down and not a rental to be found. It sure looks like another bubble though, just maybe not as dramatic as the last one.
 

PinnacleJim

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Killington/Pico, VT
After a big dip after the financial crisis a dozen years ago, the real estate here in Killington had been strong. Things were on pause this spring, then came roaring back this summer. Inventory is down to record low levels, so anything that comes on the market that is decent and fairly priced gets grabbed at asking or gets bid up. That said prices here are still pretty reasonable. Figure $150 to $250 a square foot for a condo close to the resort. Less as you get farther away.
 

martyg

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We've had parties put earnest money on several houses, sight unseen, fly in, review what they bought, and walk away from all but the one house that comes closest to their wants / needs.
 
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newfydog

newfydog

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We've had parties put earnest money on several houses, sight unseen, fly in, review what they bought, and walk away from all but the one house that comes closest to their wants / needs.
Where are you located?
 

Magoo

Putting on skis
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Jan 1, 2017
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Boise
I sold my house in Bend that I bought in 1997 for triple the price in 2005. So glad I left that place. Way to many people crowded in that area. It was a great place to grow up in the 70's and 80's.
 

Marker

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Oct 16, 2017
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Kennett Square, PA & Killington, VT
After a big dip after the financial crisis a dozen years ago, the real estate here in Killington had been strong. Things were on pause this spring, then came roaring back this summer. Inventory is down to record low levels, so anything that comes on the market that is decent and fairly priced gets grabbed at asking or gets bid up. That said prices here are still pretty reasonable. Figure $150 to $250 a square foot for a condo close to the resort. Less as you get farther away.
It was pure dumb luck, but we bought our place at Highridge three years ago just before things started warming up. There was plenty of inventory and I recall the agent saying things were not that active. I'm so glad we pulled the trigger when we did. My wife is a market watcher (from her work days) and says we are up about 50 %.
 

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