By: DebraSavage dsavage@railey.com 301-616-4085 April 18th, 2009 Category: Deep Creek Lake Buyer Info, Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Garrett County Real Estate, Interest Rates and Loans, Obtaining a Mortgage

Why is now a good time to buy a house for sale at Deep Creek Lake or in Garrett County? Whether you are looking to purchase a vacation or second home at Deep Creek Lake, a cabin retreat in the woods, or if you are first time home buyer - there are two reasons that now may be the right time to buy real estate;

• Sellers now understand that we have not only have moved into - but are now lodged in a ‘Buyer’s Market’ and they must now properly and realistically price their home if they desire to sell in this current market.

-and-

• Interest rates are at historically low levels.

EXAMPLE; An $800,000 jumbo loan or mortgage on a vacation property at Deep Creek Lake at 6 percent on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage will cost you $926,717 in interest over the life of the loan.  If interest rates increase just 1 percent - that same loan will now cost you $1,116,025.  That is an additional $189,308 in interest paid over the life of the loan!

A $400,000 conforming loan for a primary residence at today’s current rate of 4.75 percent on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage will cost you $351,164 in interest over the life of the loan.  Once again, there is a tremendous amount of additional interest to pay if the rate rises just 1 percent. That 1% rate increase will cost you an additional $89,180.00 in interest over the life of the loan.

So, negotiate your best possible contract price and then take advantage of these historically low interest rates.  The current buyer’s market and low interest rates won’t last forever!

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 March 3rd, 2009 Category: Deep Creek Lake Buyer Info, Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Garrett County Real Estate

Distress Sales at Deep Creek Lake??

Since the end of last summer we seem to get many potential buyers contacting us wanting to know about all the foreclosures and short sales currently happening at Deep Creek Lake. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but our real estate market just hasn’t experienced many foreclosures to date - maybe that will change in the future but compared to other areas of Maryland (and the rest of the country for that matter) we are nowhere close to what is happening in other markets right now. But before you bargain hunters looking for that great deal lose interest and click the back button in your browser - please keep reading below - you may want to look beyond the numbers and look at the bigger picture instead.

According to the Circuit Court of Garrett County there have been a total of 35 open foreclosure cases filed since August 1, 2008 - or about 5 per month for the past half year.  According to the Garrett County Tax Assessment office there are currently 28,130 taxable properties in the entire county and 991 properties that are exempt (churches, schools, government property).

35 foreclosures spread over 28,130 total properties gives Garrett County a rate of around .0012 - or in other words- only a little more than one tenth of one percent of all Garrett County properties have been in foreclosure over the past 6 months! I have no way of easily  knowing how many of these 28,130 properties actually have mortgages against them - even if we assume just half of them have mortgages the loan delinquency rate would still be a minuscule .002. And if you dig a little deeper and cross reference these 35 cases against the tax records you’ll find that only a few are in the Deep Creek Lake area (aka Tax District 18). The lake district has about 5,500 properties in it - therefore 2 foreclosures spread over 5,500 properties yields a rate in the lake area so miniscule that I don’t even know the wording for that small of a number! Most of the current foreclosures are either in the northern part of Garrett County by the towns of Grantsville, Accident, or Friendsville and in the southern part of the county near Oakland and Mt. Lake Park.

(And for those of you doing any research the only reliable source of information you can rely on is the Circuit Court of Garrett County - call the Clerk of Courts at (301) 334-1937 - they’ll be more than happy to fax or send you a list of all the foreclosure cases recently filed with active open case numbers. Be very wary of any websites that list these foreclosures - most are very inaccurate and just bait you in to signing up for their services.)

For you bargains hunters out there try not to get discouraged by the numbers above - the odds are stacked against you that you’ll find a vacation home on Deep Creek Lake that is a foreclosure or a distress sale - but here is something to think about - “Where would you rather buy now after going thru the real estate boom and bust of just a few years ago?”

(1)    An area with thousands of foreclosures and supposed “bargains” now (like Las Vegas or Florida) that has shown a recent history of wild up and down property value swings;

-or-

(2)     a four season resort area in western Maryland that is just a 3 hour drive from where you live, currently doesn’t have many distress sales, has historically shown steady and stable property value appreciation over time (even during the bad times like now), and most importantly is an area that your family can enjoy for many years to come?

If you like up more than down - and the words “steady” and “stable” instead of “wild” give us a call - we can help!  Don’t miss your opportunity while interest rates are low!

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 February 19th, 2009 Category: Deep Creek Lake Buyer Info, Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Garrett County Real Estate

In 2008 Railey Realty was once again the leader in market share for the Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County Maryland areas.  In fact, we sold more real estate in 2008 than all other area brokerages combined! Below is a chart showing the number of transaction sides and total dollar volume for 2008. These statistics include all residential, lot and land, commercial, and multi-family transactions tracked by our MLS.

Railey Realty has been the number one ranked real estate company in the Deep Creek area since 1995 - a streak that now stands at 13 years!  So if you are thinking about buying or selling property at Deep Creek Lake or in Garrett County please give us a call or shoot us an e-mail - you can be assured you will be working one of the area’s most productive and knowledgeable Realtors who will expertly guide and advise you each step of the way.

 Deep Creek Lake Market Statistics

Garrett County Maryland Market Statistics (Includes Deep Creek Lake Area)

*All data obtained by MRIS. Figures are believed to be accurate but not guaranteed.

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 January 27th, 2009 Category: Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate

Garrett County’s Planning and Land Development staff recently released their annual report that shows a continued declining trend in the amount of new subdivisions and approved building lots. However, the report does not break out the subdivisions and lots in the Deep Creek Lake zoning watershed - but instead lumps all Garrett County land statistics together. However, it’s a safe assumption that a majority of these statistics are in the general Deep Creek Lake area.

Subdivisions and Lots Down

The total number of approved new building lots in 2008 was 85 - this is down from a peak of 382 approved building lots in 2005. The Deep Creek Lake & Garrett County real estate market has experienced a sharp increase in the total number of available lake area building lots for sale over the past few years - mostly owned by developers, speculators, and flippers who purchased and developed a few years ago.  Hopefully this decrease in applications and new subdivisions will take pressure off of rising inventory.  

High Inventory of Lake Area Lots

If you are a prospective lot or land buyer - you currently have a tremendous amount of choice in the general Deep Creek Lake area - these are home sites that are NOT lakefront, have NO lake access, and NO lake views. As of today, our MLS is showing 111 of these types of lots for sale - with a majority of them priced in the $89,000-$139,000 range. For the past two years, the total number of similar lots on the market was in the 150 range - so the inventory has come down some over the past year.  This number does include about 17 home sites atop Wisp Ski Resort - some with slope access.

Low Inventory of Lakefront and Lake Access Lots

However, the number of choices and inventory levels decrease greatly as you get closer to Deep Creek Lake.  Only 12 true lakefront lots are currently on the market - ranging in price from $400,000 to $1,495,000 in Holy Cross. And only 14 lake access lots with deeded boat slips are currently for sale - ranging in price from $165,000 to $525,000. These lower inventory levels on the lake should continue well into the future as 63 of the 65 miles of shoreline around Deep Creek have already been developed.  The only larger parcels yet undeveloped are Thousand Acres, Pergin Farm, and a small area between Holy Cross and the end of Boy Scout Road. Contact us if you are in the market for a lot or thinking about buying some land - the lot and land buying process can be a very tricky in this area - there are many factors that need to be considered and evaluated.

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 January 15th, 2009 Category: Deep Creek Lake Buyer Info, Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Wisp Real Estate

The Deep Creek Lake area real estate market continued to show steady performance in 2008. As you can see from the chart below the total of number of sales continued to decline but the average sold price continued to go up.  All data was obtained from our local mls and these are residential properties only - consisting of lakefront, lake access, Wisp Ski Resort, and lake area homes, condos, townhomes.

Why does the average sold price keep going up in this market? This certainly goes against conventional thinking when most other real markets are showing declining values. The reason is probably due to the nature and financial make-up of the majority of sellers and property owners we currently have in the Deep Creek area. Most of our sellers “want” to sell but don’t necessarily “need” to sell.  What we hear most when approached to help an owner sell their Deep Creek Lake property is “We don’t use the property that much anymore. We can’t justify owning it anymore.” That is a “want” but not “need” type of motivation level. In fact, the motivation level of most sellers in our market is probably much lower when compared to other markets.  Every seller has their own unique reason for selling and, yes, there are distress selling situations in our area such as divorces, property owners in financial trouble, short sales, and foreclosures - but those are few and far between in this market.  Maybe we’ll see more distress situations in 2009 that could put downward pressure on values? We certainly saw more distress situations in 2008 than in 2007- but those types of transactions still make up just a small part of our entire market.

Why does the number of sales continue to decline? Like most other real estate markets across the country  it’s a large collection of many things  - it’s much harder to get a bank loan now, the equity in many people’s primary residence has probably gone done in value, job losses, and it was finally revealed that the country is in a recession causing much fear and anxiety.  Our resort market certainly isn’t immune to these types of things. We certainly lost those buyers who got caught up in the real estate boom earlier this decade, the flippers, speculators, and those that may have been stretching themselves financially to buy a second home. Not many of those people are around anymore looking to buy. The types of loans those buyers were using to purchase a few years have dried up as well and are all but gone - probably for good.  But what our market hasn’t lost is the buyer who wants to purchase a vacation or second home and has the financial means to do so. Those buyers are still very much around.

Is there a value correction coming to Deep Creek Lake? No one can predict the future one way or the other. But the numbers have shown that demand has decreased as evidenced by fewer sales - but average sold prices have gone up. How many other real estate markets can say this over the past two years!?!?

If you are looking for advice on what to do in this current market - that’s easy. If you are a potential buyer - take your time, study the market, find out what is currently available, how much has sold, what are current inventory levels compared to the past, ask about any new factors or developments  that could affect your value should you need to sell, ask many, many questions!  -  find a knowledgeable, experienced real estate agent who can provide this information and one who can educate you about the Deep Creek Lake market. Then once you find a property you may want to purchase - have that real agent show you similar properties that have sold and find out when they sold and for how much they sold for. A good real agent should be able to educate you enough and provide the necessary information for you to make an informed decision! When you are ready, give us a call, or shoot us an e-mail - we have the most knowledgeable and experienced real estate agents in the Deep Creek Lake area.

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 December 19th, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Wisp Real Estate

The time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is historically a slow period for the Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County real estate market. Most potential buyers are usually focused on the upcoming holidays and not purchasing a vacation home. However, the past few weeks has seen the following higher priced properties go under contract.

1038 South Blakeslee Drive - listed for $1,149,000. 5 bedroom lakefront house located in the Blakeslee subdivision on the southern end of the lake. Boat slip is located adjacent to and in front of this property.

1088 Thousand Acres Road - listed for $875,000. 3 bedroom lakefront log home with a private Type A boat dock.

86 Moorings Way - listed for $665,000. This house is a custom 3 bedroom lake access house built in 2004 with wonderful views of the southern end of the lake. Plus, the deeded boat slip is within walking distance of the house - which is located in the neighborhood known as Hickory Ridge.

123 Kendall Camp at Wisp - listed for $999,000. Four bedroom ski-in/ski-out town home built in 2006. True ski slope access at the top of the Main Street slope and easy access to chairlift 4.

Will this level of dollar volume continue into the New Year? No one knows for sure but it is a positive sign. This market has certainly experienced a drop in activity over the past few years - no one will argue that - but the important thing is that real estate values have held their ground (no pun intended) around Deep Creek Lake during this national economic slowdown. Once again our lakefront and lake access markets continue to show their strength when other areas are experiencing significant decreases in values.

Coincidentally, Railey Realty is representing the buyer on 3 of the 4 properties listed above - plus 3 of the 4 properties were Railey Realty listings. If you are thinking about selling your Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake vacation property please contact us - our marketing program and sales team has proven themselves to be the most effective in the area - usually resulting in our brokerage selling about 60% of all homes and lots in the Deep Creek Lake area year after year.

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 July 8th, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Wisp Real Estate

At the mid-point of 2008, once again the Deep Creek Lake Maryland real estate market is sending out mixed signals. However, the message is mostly the same - the number of sales continues to trend downward but the average sold price continues to climb. 

Residential Market Segment

Thru the first 6 months of 2008, 72 residential properties sold in the Deep Creek Lake area - this includes lakefront, lake access, lake view, and lake area residential houses and town homes/condos sold. These figures also include residential real estate at Wisp Ski Resort. This compares to 103 residential sales that occurred thru the first 6 months of 2007 - which is a decline of 31 properties sold.

On the bright side, the average sold price thru the first 6 months of 2008 for these 72 residential properties was $616,428 - this compares to an average sold price of $540,390 in 2007 at this point. On a wider level, Garrett County is one of only 3 counties in the entire state of Maryland where residential real estate values went up thus far in 2008. Other counties in the state are experiencing both decreases in the number of sales and prices upwards of 25-40%.

Lakefront Homes Still Going Strong

Clearly, the driver of the Deep Creek Lake market is once again the lakefront home segment. This segment clearly continues to outperform our other market segments. The values of many lakefront homes continue climb - albeit at a much more normalized rate than what we experienced earlier this decade. Even during what most consider a soft real estate market, the lakefront homes with good settings and quality features can still command a premium price. Interestingly enough, from a historical perspective the lakefront segment has always performed well. Many old time real estate professionals from the area will tell you that the lakefront homes have always held their value or even went up during other tough national economic times experienced in past - such as those in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lots and Land

The most disappointing segment of our current market continues to be the lot/land market. Only 33 lots in the Deep Creek Lake area have sold thru the first 6 months of 2008. This compares to 53 lots sold thru the first 6 months of 2007 - a decrease of 20 lots sold. The average sold price of a lake area lot is $191,226 thus far in 2008, which compares to $238,577 at this point in 2007. This is primarily due to an incredibly high inventory of lots for sale and decreased demand for these types of properties.

Impact on Buyers

If you are a potential buyer - now may be a good time to explore purchasing opportunities in this current market. With less buyers and demand in the overall market, your chances of obtaining more favorable terms (i.e. price) are greater than in the recent past. Plus the cost of borrowing money is still relatively low by historical standards. There are some pretty good “buys” out their right now.

Impact on Sellers

If you are a seller in this current market it all depends on your situation - if you are trying to sell a good, quality lakefront home with a good setting you’ll probably end up getting your offering price - assuming it’s priced correctly. If your setting or house is marginal you may need to further examine your current pricing strategy - or put some resources into boosting the “curb appeal” of your house. If you are trying to sell a lot - it will be tough for sure unless it’s priced at a very attractive level. It all depends though - we just sold a very unique lakefront building lot on Stockslager Road for $1,200,000. There are real estate buyers out their right now and they are willing to pay for quality- however most are now waiting to purchase until they find that exact house or lot they have been seeking out.

¼/p>

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 May 27th, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by a writer at the Washington Times for an article she was researching about vacation homes markets and my take about what is currently happening in the Deep Creek Lake real estate market. Last Friday, that article appeared on the Washington Times website - you can read the article by clicking here.

Other Resort Markets

After reading the article it’s interesting to note what a few real estate professionals are saying about other resort markets. A realtor who in works in the Rehoboth and Dewey Beach Delaware market stated the psychology of that market has changed slightly - but that long term prices should continue to rise. And a National Association of Realtors (NAR) spokesperson stated that their research has indicated that speculative buying behavior in resort markets have dropped back down to more historical norms.

Deep Creek Lake Real Estate Market

The current state of the Deep Creek Lake Maryland market is somewhat similar to what is going on in other vacation homes markets - which is that speculative buyers have seemed to decline but prices have continued to rise. Don’t get me wrong, there are still speculative buyers in our market right now - but the number of buyers looking to make a quick profit or flip a piece of property have steadily decreased over the past year or so. We have also seen a decrease in the number of buyers who were stretching themselves financially or had to rent heavily to buy in our market as well. Losing those two types of buyers has certainly contributed to the decease in the total amount of sales at Deep Creek Lake.

But We Still Have Plenty of Buyers…

What the Deep Creek Lake market didn’t lose coming off of our boom years were those buyers looking to buy a vacation home for their family and who also have the financial means to make such a purchase. That segment of buyers, which has traditionally made up a majority of our market, are still very much around and are still very much buying second homes at Deep Creek Lake and the Wisp Ski Resort. The continued demand by this segment has driven up prices and values in our market even though other areas have seen price declines.

Strong Fundamentals

While we’ll probably not see the high appreciation rates witnessed during our boom years just a few short years ago when speculators and flippers were everywhere - the good news is that the fundamentals are solid for future appreciation in this market. Demographic models show that the number of vacation homes purchased in the near future is expected to increase - this coupled with a low inventory of quality lakefront, lake access, and lake area homes should result in steady price appreciation at Deep Creek Lake. The entire shoreline around Deep Creek Lake is almost fully developed now - it will be almost impossible to ever have a large inventory of lakefront or lake access homes in this market in the future. If you plan on buying real estate at Deep Creek Lake in the next year or two it may be a great benefit to buy now - while prices aren’t rising quite as dramatically and while the speculators and flippers are still sitting on the sidelines - in the long run you’ll probably come out way far ahead.

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 May 1st, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Market Update

The first quarter of 2008 is officially in the books for the Deep Creek Lake real estate market. Not to anyone’s surprise the first quarter of this year was a lot like the first quarter in 2007. All market signals are starting to point that 2008 will be a lot like 2007 - which was slight decrease or stable amount of transactions the rest of the year - but overall modest appreciation gains for most property owners. In 2007 things started off slow like this year but really picked up during our traditionally strong selling season of June, July, and August. A quick summary of the market is below;

Homes Sold

Thru the first quarter of 2008, 34 homes in the Deep Creek Lake area have sold with an average sold price of $637,929 - this compares to 37 homes sold in the first quarter of 2007 with an average sold price of $537,565 - a difference of only 3 homes.  These homes include all lakefront, lake access, and lake area homes.

Lots/Land

 Thu the first quarter of 2008, 18 lots have sold in the Deep Creek Lake area broken down as follows - 1 lakefront lot, 6 lake access lot, and 11 lake area lots. This compares to 21 lots sold in 2007 - 0 lakefront lots, 4 lake access lots, and 17 lake area lots.

Contracts

Currently, there are 17 residential properties under contract - 7 lakefront homes, 4 lake access homes, 2 homes a top Wisp Ski Resort, and  4 lake area homes. The highest demand thus far this year has been the higher-end lakefront homes with good settings - private Type A dock, deep water, good views, wooded, with a newer home.

 Future Factors

There are some factors on the horizon that could make the demand stronger for real estate at Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County for the rest of the year. These include;

• More vacation rentals already booked for the 2008 summer season. Some renters turn into buyers - or most renters will go back home and tell their friends, familiy, and neigbors what a great place Deep Creek Lake is. That usually spurs more people to explore real estate opportunities in this market.
• Interest rates continue to remain relatively low. Jumbo loan rates as of today are still in the mid-to low 6% range - still very low historically speaking.
•  Continued improvements to the area. A few new restaurants should be open before the start of the summer and the proposed Aqua Mountain indoor waterpark is still in the works even though plans have not yet been finalized and construction is not yet guaranteed.  

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 March 28th, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Buyer Info, Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate

An article about buying a vacation home recently appeared on the CNN/Money.com website. It’s a pretty good article - and is basically about how right now is a good time to buy a vacation or second home. The author also does a good job of giving tips on how to buy a second home - from identifying the primary reasons you may want to buy a second home to suggesting that you first rent in a resort area to see how well you like it before taking the plunge and buying. 

We certainly agree with the main aspect of the article - that it is a great time to buy property at Deep Creek Lake and in Garrett County - interest rates are down and demand certainly isn’t as high as we had previously seen during our boom years just a few years earlier. These two factors can certainly help the chances of a prospective buyer getting better terms. In fact at the end of last week one of our clients locked in an interest rate of 5.625% on a conforming loan that they will be using to purchase their lake view vacation home.

However, there are a few things to point out in this article that just don’t relate to the Deep Creek Lake real estate market.

First, the author tries to generalize that all second home markets are “soft” right now. While demand is down slightly from our boom years - “soft” is hardly the case here now. Just in the last three weeks we have closed on a lakefront house at Sandy Beach for $1,379,000 (that had competing offers), a timber frame home atop Wisp Ski Resort for $1,250,000, a lakefront house on Marsh Hill Road for $880,000, and two other lakefront homes for $865,000 and $750,000 respectively. And just today one lakefront house in our market had 3 competing offers! I would hardly classify this type of activity as being “soft”.

Another thing the author tries to generalize is that the appreciation rates in all resort/second homes markets declined in 2007 - or are expected to decline in the near future. Once again, that’s not accurate for the Deep Creek Lake market. In 2007, the average sold price for a residential property in the Deep Creek Lake area was up approximately 4% over the average sold price in 2006 - from $537,498 to $559,168 - a modest gain - but at least a gain unlike other second home markets.  It is accurate to say that the value of a piece of property at Deep Creek Lake has held up much better than a property in other resort markets - such as Las Vegas, the Atlantic Coastal beach areas, and Florida just to name a few. This fact is just another reason to buy here at Deep Creek Lake - where historically the appreciation rates have done much better and should continue to do better than other resort areas. The main reason being that the lake is almost fully developed now - there just a few smaller tracts of land that have frontage on Deep Creek Lake or have access that can ever be developed in the future. Low inventory and continued demand should continue to fuel appreciation for lakefront and lake access homes in our market.