May Real Estate Has Best Month in Three Years

Eagle County real estate had the best month in more than 3 years in both dollar volume and transactions. There were 150 transactions and $154,113,314 in dollar volume, both up 8% over 2011, creating an average sales price of $1,037,320.

Sales were very strong, particularly in the upper end sector of the market where there were 10 sales over $4 million; the highest sale was a Vail Village home for $10.25 million. The total of these 10 transactions were $65,587,000 which accounted for 43% of the total volume.

Bank sales also contributed 33 transactions in May averaging $313,539, and totaled more than $10 million.

The price point below $500,000 in the county is still the most active with 54% of all transactions. However, the high end market is continuing to get stronger.

May Highlights:
- Bachelor Gulch had 2 transactions averaging more than $6 million
- Gypsum had the most sales transactions with 22
- 55% of all sales were single family homes

View May 2012 Market Analysis

View Eagle County PPSF Analysis

April Real Estate Sales Show Significant Increase

April real estate showed a significant gain over 2011 with both dollar volume and transactions above 2011 numbers. April had an increase of 24% in sales volume over last April with $124,475,200, and a 27% increase in transactions with 135. This creates an overall average sales price of $922,039 for April.

Nearly 75% of all residential transactions have sold with a sales price of $1 million or less in April. However, there were also 6 high end sales over $4 million that largely contributed to the total dollar volume. Vail Village hosted the highest price sale at $9.35 million in April followed by an $8 million sale also in Vail Village.

The Ritz Carlton and the Landmark both had sales in April bringing the average sale at the Ritz to just over $3.4 million and the Landmark to nearly $3 million.

There were 25 bank owned properties in April bringing the total to 81 for the year-to-date with an average sales price of $260,117 per sale.

April Highlights:
- There were 5 areas with 10 or more transactions
- Vail Village had nearly 1/3 of the sales volume for the month and the average price was $914,055
- There were 12 commercial transactions

View April 2012 Market Analysis

View Eagle County PPSF Market Analysis

5 Bedroom/5 Bath approximately 3645 square feet ski in/ski out townhome in Beaver Creek.  Onsite amenities include front desk, concierge, outdoor heated pool and hot tubs.  Rare Beaver Creek short sale opportunity!

5 Bedroom, 3 Bath East Vail single family home on over 1/2 an acre lot.  Backs up to BLM forest land.  Fantastic views to Bald Mountain.  Over 3 car garage.  Short Sale!

Remodeled 2 Bedroom 2 Bath end unit in 4 plex Condo in Vail.  Bus stop to Vail Village directly across street. 2 Unassigned parking spaces.

Eagle County Real Estate Transactions Stay Strong

March had the highest number of transactions, 102, thus far this year. Eagle and Gypsum were the areas with the highest number of transactions again. Third in March was East Vail with 8 transactions and an average sales price of just over $550,000. Avon and Beaver Creek had good activity as well with 7 transactions each. Bank Sales accounted for 17 transactions in March; 56 through the first quarter totaling more than $15 million with an average sales price of $273,421.

More than 50% of all transactions continue to be selling for under $500,000; the majority of which are multifamily homes. In the multifamily home sector, Arrowhead has had the highest price per square foot gain over 2011 with 32% bringing the price per square foot average to $617.
Bachelor Gulch had the highest priced sale in March at $10.5 million and was one of three transactions over $5 million.

March Highlights:

- Gypsum had the most transactions with 10

- Three commercial properties sold averaging $968,000

- The average sales price was $914,055

View March 2012 Market Analysis

View Eagle County PPSF Analysis

West Vail prime location. 1 bedroom/1 bath Vail real estate deal located on free bus line to Vail ski mountain.  Immaculate condition, strong HOA. $200/month HOA includes heat, gas, snow removal, trash, sewer/water.

For more information please contact Andie Ohde by phone at (970) 306-RE12 (7312), by email at: Andie.Ohde@RMLuxuryProperties.com. If you have a smart phone, a QR-tag with Andie’s contact information is provided below. We look forward to speaking with you!

Eagle County real estate is off to it’s best start since 2008 in both transactions (181 compared with 235 in 2008) and dollar volume ($196,919,288 compared with $331,335,000 in 2008). February had 91 transactions, the majority of which were sales in Eagle and Gypsum, cumulatively accounting for 26% of all sales.

Ten of the 22 bank sales for February took place in Eagle and Gypsum with an average sales price of $178,000. These sales contributed to the total of sales in the county under $500,000, accounting for more than half of all transactions.

Vail Village continues to see a lot of activity with 8 transactions closing in February, accounting for nearly 22% of the county’s dollar volume. Four of the five transactions in February were over $4 million and took place in Vail, the highest being sold at Solaris for $6.4 million. This sale also accounts for the highest price per square foot for February at $2,218.

February Highlights:
- Residential sales had a PPSF of $472.
- Multi-family homes accounted for 43 of the 91 transactions in the county
- The average sales price was $1,042,343

This analysis is courtesy of Land Title Guarantee Company in Avon Colorado.  The full Market analysis is available here.

There’s your local market info for February.  For more information please feel free to contact us here at Rocky Mountain Luxury Properties!

Freddie Mac updated HAFA to protect borrowers who have successfully closed a short sale.  In its Mid-February Bulletin, Freddie Mac mandated that loan servicers for its loans “must waive all rights to seek deficiencies for short payoffs and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transactions on Freddie Mac Mortgages that have closed in accordance with the Guide” (Freddie Mac February 15th Bulletin, page 1).

This is encouraging news for those who are considering a short sale to avoid foreclosure.  We have previously written about the benefits of short sales for homeowners and how homeowners can recover from short sales faster than foreclosure.  This change further cements short sales as a viable alternative to Foreclosure.

We hope that Rocky Mountain Luxury Properties can be a valuable resource for you!  Contact us by phone at (970)306-RE12 (7312) or by email at Andie.Ohde@RMLuxuryProperties.com

Over the next few weeks Rocky Mountain Luxury Properties will be publishing a series of entries on Short Sales.  Our goal with this series is to help you understand a very complex short sale process.  Our belief is that we can make short sales a more viable option for homeowners in need by using our expertise to help simplify the process.

In the first installment we will define a short sale, as well as, describe the benefits of short sales to both homeowners and lenders.

What is a short sale?

A short sale is one way for homeowners to avoid foreclosure and the associated credit score penalties. In a short sale, the owner receives permission from their lender to sell their home for less than is still owed on the property. In a traditional short sale, the seller would still be responsible for the outstanding debt. In response to the housing crash in 2008, the Obama administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have allowed qualified homeowners to be forgiven the difference between the selling price and what’s left on the mortgage.

Why do Banks like short sales?

Lenders prefer short sales because in many cases it can be less expensive than foreclosing on a property. When the bank chooses to foreclose they are expecting to incur extensive legal fees, property management and damage costs, and delays from the process. In addition to foreclosure being a costly process, the bank will usually sell a foreclosed property at a liquidation price. The pricing benefits of short sales is demonstrated by this recent data.  According to this study, bank owned property prices were on average 28.5% lower than non-distressed property prices, while short sale property prices were only 23% below normal prices. Furthermore, damaged bank owned properties were on average a whopping 60% below non-distressed prices.  Short-sales not only benefit homeowners by allowing them to get out from underwater, but also minimizes the lender’s loss.

That’s it for the first installment in the short sale series.  In this post, we defined a short sale; and laid out the benefits for homeowners and lenders.  In the coming editions of our short sale series we will give an overview of the six types of short sales and also provide a mock short sale package.

We hope that Rocky Mountain Luxury Properties can be a valuable resource for you!  Contact us here with any comments, questions, or even just to chat!