2011 will be a year of gaining more confidence in the marketplace.  Will you and your spouse both have a job this year?  Will the unemployment numbers keep improving? Will your IRA's and stock portfolio keep growing?  At the beginning of this year I recapped all of our sales for 2010 and compared them to 2009.  Some really interesting numbers came out of it and I was surprised with certain categories.  I will share this with you now.  The three categories of property that saw the most attention in regards to number of transactions were community waterfront homes, lots / acreage and waterfront sales for lots and homes.  

WHAT SOLD IN 2010?  We had 31 COMMUNITY WATERFRONT HOME SALES in 2010.  In 2009 we had 18.  The highest sale we had in 2010 was $624K compared with our highest sale at $860K in 2009.  This wasn't due to price discounting.  It was just due to not having Buyers in that higher end community waterfront category.  They didn't show up last year.  I will explain that when we get to the waterfront sales.  Chelan Hills Community Waterfront homes are always a consistent product in our sales.  They seem to increase in value regardless of what else is happening in the marketplace.  Maybe not huge gains but if they lose they don't lose much.  Having a view of Lake Chelan and access to the launch ramps and community waterfront beaches is always a sure bet and still our most popular property. 

WATERFRONT SALES for homes and lots almost doubled in 2010 over 2009.  With good reason.  We had high inventory levels and the prices were 40% to 50% down from the high year of 2006.  Due to our new tax assessments a few years ago several owners that are on fixed retirement incomes had to give up their dream of living on Lake Chelan and sell their properties. Those that listened to their respective agents regarding price reductions sold their properties and have moved on.  Inventory is still high and there are some fabulous buys out there.  Due to the price decreases in waterfront homes and lots a lot of Buyers passed on the higher end community waterfront home and purchased waterfront instead.  When waterfront prices start going back up this off the water high end home will begin selling again.

LOTS / LAND AND ACREAGE SALES almost doubled as well.  For 3 1/2 years this category has taken a beating.  There has been no financing to speak of for lots or land as every lender we approached wanted a home on it.  Now we have two really good options for lots and acreage and since prices are 50% of what the high market was we saw almost 100 sales in this combined classification.  Sellers had to give it up.  They have been in pain for almost 3 1/2 years.  If you bought land in 2003 you might break even by reselling it now.  That is how good of a market it is for Buyers.  I can get you financed if you have a job and decent credit so don't wait for these prices to come back up.  You can buy and hold and build when you want. 

BANK OWNED?  Yes, we have them.  Every week I compile a list of bank owned and short sale properties that are on the market.  This list is available as a pdf and can be sent to you electronically.  Just send me a request at kimskaar@msn.com and I will send it off.  Bank owned properties are a toxic asset to any lender and always sell fast.  If the property is not drawing offers then it is reduced usually within two weeks.  When it gets to a price that draws attention you will usually be competing against a couple of other offers.  SHORT SALES are still a pain.  You can expect to wait up to 6 or 9 months to get one closed and then again it may never close.  Bank of America has now promised to respond to an offer within two weeks but the jury is still out.  If you want to be in Lake Chelan this season then focus on normal inventory or a bank owned property.