By: DebraSavage dsavage@railey.com 301-616-4085 September 3rd, 2009 Category: Deep Creek Lake Buyer Info, Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate

Well to give an answer this question it takes further explanation of two trends we have seen - 1.  the number of units sold has dramatically fallen - but  2. Deep Creek lakefront properties have still continued to hold their value. Let’s walk-thru this in greater detail;

Deep Creek Lakefront Residential Homes Sold

Year # of Homes Sold # of Homes over $1,000,000

2000          97                                     4

2001          79                                     6

2002         115                                     5

2003          70                                      7

2004          82                                     13

2005          94                                     21

2006          79                                     26

2007          61                                     21

2008          54                                     20

2009 YTD    19                                      5

These numbers are based upon information obtained from MRIS, our local MLS System, showing homes listed as fee simple lakefront residential homes at Deep Creek Lake.

As you can see the number of transactions has fallen starting in 2006 - but please note that until this year (2009) the number of lakefront homes sold with a list price over $1 Million has been a strong and upcoming market.

Deep Creek Lakefront Values have Remained Steady

I took a completely random sampling of properties, both single family and condominium lakefront properties, which are currently listed for sale to establish value.  I reviewed the sales history of these properties from the time we started to track sold prices in our public records and here are the results:

Area of the Lake - Southern

Sold Price                   Transfer Date

$350,000                      April 04

$435,000                       Dec 04

$630,000                       June 05

Current List Price         $ 1,199,000

Thayerville Area of Lake (near Uno’s)

Sold Price                   Transfer Date

$217,000                         Dec 81

$421,250                         Sept 02

Current List Price         $699,000

McHenry Condominium

$125,100                         May 88

$145,500                         April 97

Current List Price      $409,999

Southern Lake  Condominium

$164,750                          Jan 90

Current List Price      $ 375,000

McHenry Condominium

$117,000                          May 92

$160,000                          May 04

$210,000                          Sept 05

Current List Price      $ 217,000

So what does all this say?

The number of homes sold has decreased this year, but we are holding value.  Now I know we are all talking about and hearing about all these price adjustments and decreases.  Yes, we are seeing sellers drop prices, BUT, we are holding value. Home owners are not making as much on the re-sale of their property but they still have not dipped below the value they paid originally.

Remember buyers turn into owners and potentially one day they turn into a seller. That is when everyone wants to know that they made a purchase that has held value.   Deep Creek Lake has historically proven over and over again that it’s a great value purchase.  Considering the conditions the real estate market has seen nationally isn’t it great to know that there is somewhere in this great country that when you buy property, even in huge downturn markets, that you can and will hold value!

So, whether you buy now or buy later (as many happy home owners at Deep Creek Lake have done over the years) our history is strong on value oriented lakefront property.

Now there is a reason to purchase lakefront at Deep Creek Lake.  I think we all wish our 401K and IRA stock accounts had held value like Deep Creek Lake!!! Give us a call or drop us an e-mail - we’ll show you how to buy a vacation property in a market that has proven itself over time!

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 February 14th, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Market Update, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate

Like most other resort markets around the country the Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County Maryland real estate market for the year ending in 2007 can be summed up in the following sentence…..Total Number of Sales Down, Average Sold Price Up.

So the question then becomes - Was Deep Creek Lake a good real estate market in 2007 or not? The answer really depends on who you ask - if you already own property here your value went up again in 2007 so their answer would be that it’s still a very good market…if you ask someone who tried to sell their property last year you would probably get a mixed reaction - most still ended up selling for what they wanted but it certainly took a little longer to get there….if you ask any local Realtor they would probably tell you the market stinks - of course they would be saying that because less sales equaled less money in their pockets last year - or in simple terms, bad for us - not so bad for our current clients, still good for past clients.

Below is a snapshot of what occurred in our market in 2007;

                                     No. of Homes Sold          Avg. Sold Price

                                   2006               2007         2006              2007

Deep Creek Lake        308                 215        $537,498      $559,168

All of Garrett County   510                 374        $396,499      $400,460

(Includes DCL)

It’s important to note that the Deep Creek Lake numbers above include everything residential in nature - homes, town homes, condos, and a few fractional ownership sales we had. It also includes a wide variety of different locations and settings within the lake market - lakefront properties, lake access properties, lake view properties, Wisp Ski Resort properties, and properties that have no access to the lake but are just in the general vicinity. Those different types of properties can vary greatly in value.

The big question we get asked now - Is it a good time to buy at Deep Creek Lake?

For those of you thinking about buying we truly believe now is probably as good of a time as there is to seriously consider buying in this area. The fundamentals are still very much in place for future appreciation - but we probably won’t see the extremely high appreciation rates we saw earlier this decade. That’s for sure.

Why is it still a good time to buy? The main factor is inventory - if our inventory of lakefront and lake access homes remains low into the future - which it should because the entire lake is almost fully developed now - prices should continue up. There is no reason to believe our inventory will ever get that high on and around the lake - there are only a few parcels left that could possibly be developed. If you talk to anyone who has been around this market their entire life they would probably concur that prices have always gone up at Deep Creek Lake - ever since it’s inception in 1925. It’s very hard to go back in history and find a time that real estate values ever went down at Deep Creek Lake.

When will the number of sales start to go back up again? It’s hard to say really - the experts predict we won’t see a positive trend in the number sales until 2009 at the earliest. From what we’ve seen so far, 2008 is starting off a lot like 2007 did. We have our normal amount of potential buyers who want to buy a vacation home for personal use and have the means to do it - it seems we lost that group of people who were buying for speculation, quick flipping, and who might have been stretching themselves financially to make it happen. Those people seemed to have disappeared over the last year or so. The national media has made a lot people think that buying real estate is a bad thing to do right now - this situation won’t change until the perception shifts back to real estate being the “cool” or “in” thing to do again. But the smart buyers are the ones buying now - before things heat back up.

Some other interesting real estate happenings that occurred in our market in 2007 -

• A new record sold price for a lakefront home was set in 2007 - a new construction spec house in The Reserve at Holy Cross sold for $2,830,000.
• Two homes sold for over $2 Million in 2007 - in 2006 only one home sold for over $2 Million in this market.
• In 2007 there were 22 homes that sold for $1 Million or more - in 2006 there were 30 homes that sold for over $1 Million.