My agency – Slifer, Smith and Frampton Real Estate – issues an annual Smart Buyer’s Report outlining when it is a “smart” time to buy as well as why a certain area might be a better investment opportunity than another. You can read the entire report here and below is a quick summary of a couple of the main points. I’ll be blogging more about the report – as well as your thoughts – on my Web site this month. Visit www.ColoradoLuxuryRealEstateBlog.com.

The report opened with how the current real estate market offers smart buyers the following things: excellent home values throughout the Vail Valley, a broad selection of inventory, favorable interest rates and a resilient local market. They quoted a Fannie Mae survey from April 2010 which found that, nationally, nearly two‐thirds of Americans think now is the right time to buy a house, with a majority believing prices will be the same or higher over the next year.

Essentially, the window of opportunity for homebuyers has opened in that inventory is good, home prices remain competitive and if you’re interested in financing, rates are at a record low. Buyers are realizing that there are a number of reasons to take advantage of current market conditions and are purchasing their mountain homes. Both hard data and anecdotal evidence supports the fact that the market is on the uptick – as I blogged about last month – with sales beating out the last couple of years. You can see the numbers here.

These numbers also indicate that inventory in the Vail Valley hit a high recently – in August of 2009 – and has decreased since remaining under 2,000 active units. Here in Vail, we have not seen the mushrooming of inventory experienced by other markets around the country. This is largely because foreclosures in our area – which have risen a bit in the past year – still remain very low, below 1 percent in Eagle County. As a result, most buyers today are finding a more extensive selection of homes to choose from as compared to prior years such as in 2007 and 2008.

What is great for buyers is that the market has shifted in their favor. Smart buyers in this market are finding sellers more willing to negotiate in order to put together an acceptable transaction.

Executive summary: there hasn’t been a better time to buy a mountain home. There is plenty of inventory and the area is stable. The home prices are competitive and record-low financing is available. It is a great time to invest, not only in a piece of real estate but also in a vacation home that will provide memories for you and your family that will last a lifetime.

Tags: homebuyers, real estate in Vail Colorado, vail real estate trends

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 11th, 2010 at 5:15 am and is filed under Luxury Real Estate, Vail Valley Real Estate Market Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.