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Sales Up & Inventory Down for Big Bear Real Estate Market

That's the current Big Bear real estate in a nutshell. Here's a good chart for the Sugarloaf area that parallels the other Big Bear neighborhoods.  If this holds steady, get ready to see prices slowly increase. If you're interested in more markets stats, be sure to check the Big Bear Communities pages on our website.  Each area is updated monthly with pretty charts like these :-) … [Read more...]

Interest Rates May Have Bottomed Out

The Big Bear real estate market has been picking up steam lately thanks to the correction in home prices and historic low interest rates. And while many potential home buyers have been waiting on the sidelines for an indication that the market has bottomed out, the recent up-tick in interest rates may be signaling that the time to buy a Big Bear home or investment property is NOW. The most recent “Primary Mortgage Market Survey” by Freddie Mac reports that fixed mortgage rates moved higher following stronger … [Read more...]

How’s the Real Estate Market in Big Bear?

I'd say it's pretty active based on our company transactions list for July. It's nearly full! I haven't seen it this way for a while. Nice to be busy, and productive, again. … [Read more...]

Big Bear Sellers, Time is Not on Your Side.

Click here for video link. Back in the "crazy" Big Bear real estate years of 2000 thru 2007, the longer a home was on the market, the more a seller could get for it.  The prices were going up every month, and sellers were getting lucky.  Over the past 5 years however, this process has flip flopped.  Generally, the longer a home sits on the market, the lower the price it will fetch.  Seems pretty simple.  Yet, sellers continue to tell me they want to sell, but they are not in a hurry.   Therein lies the … [Read more...]

Market Conditions – New Home Down Payments

With the housing bubble burst, the real estate market has returned to a “back to basics” mentality. The days of creative financing and piggyback loans are over. The credit bar has been raised and there are more obstacles to overcome in making a purchase. Cash is still king. The trick is to balance the amount of your down payment with a reasonable monthly mortgage payment. Depending on the size of the down payment, you can generally expect to pay between .75% and 1.15% of the purchase price for your monthly … [Read more...]

Renting Out Your Big Bear Home

If you own a second home in Big Bear, you’ve probably considered jumping into the rental market. The Big Bear vacation rental market is one of the most active and lucrative markets in California. The City of Big Bear Lake currently has over 1,100 registered vacation rentals on the books and they estimate another 300 to 500 properties are operating “under the radar”. If you take into account the hundreds of vacation rental properties located outside of the city limits, the total number of rentals in the Big Bear … [Read more...]

Big Bear Real Estate – From “For Sale” to “SOLD”

When it comes to selling Big Bear real estate you have to understand the marketing process to reach the ultimate goal of a closed escrow. Here are a few crucial tips for selling your Big Bear home in today’s challenging market. Choose the right agent Choosing an experienced agent to help guide you is the most important step in the marketing and sales process. Unfortunately, there are dozens of agents that claim to be Big Bear real estate “Experts”. Working with an unqualified agent can cost you time and money. … [Read more...]

Is The Big Bear Real Estate Market Shifting?

That is anybody's guess but there is some encourgaing news coming out for the real estate market in Big Bear. The number of homes under contract has nearly doubled while available inventory is down about 25%. Most people are concerned with the number of closed sales every month and what direction prices are heading, but the basics of supply and demand always come first.  Based on the most recent numbers, there are some reasons to be optimistic about the Big Bear real estate market. Pending Home Sales … [Read more...]

Dip In Inventory Equals Opportunity For Big Bear Real Estate Sellers

Direct link to - Window of opportunity for Big Bear sellers The number of homes for sale in Big Bear has been steadily dropping the past few months.  Just recently, we dipped below 600 homes for sale.  With that comes a window of real estate opportunity for some Big Bear home sellers. As the inventory levels drop, so does the number of available options for buyers to choose from.  And when they have less options to choose from, this makes certain properties stand out, which in turn increases the odds of that … [Read more...]

Who Controls the Real Estate Prices in Big Bear?

Direct link to Big Bear Real Estate - Who Controls Real Estate Pricing? In short, the buyers. Real Estate agents like to think they have some effect on the pricing, but I believe it is determined mostly by the buyers, and to some degree, sellers.  It doesn't matter how great an agent thinks they are, our how much money they spend marketing the property, if the price is too high and the buyers don't agree with it, it won't sell.  No amount of skill or marketing will force a buyer to pay a significant amount … [Read more...]