By: Mike Kennedy April 3rd, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Real Estate

The Deep Creek Lake Maryland area was just recently named “Best Four Season Spot” by Forbes Magazine. The article appeared yesterday in the online edition of Forbes and quoted our own Railey Realty salesperson Adam Cowgill. The article’s “In Depth” slideshow also displays one of our lakefront homes for sale, listed by Jon Bell - a $3.3 million custom home on Paradise Point Road.

Very rarely does the Deep Creek Lake real estate market get the national media attention it deserves. It’s nice to finally see a respected media company such as Forbes take notice of the Deep Creek Lake/Garrett County area and favorably compare us to such bigger named resort areas as Lake Tahoe, Bal Harbour Florida, Telluride, the Hamptons, and Hawaii.

By: Mike Kennedy March 14th, 2008 Category: 1031 Tax Deferred Exchanges, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate

This past week the IRS released a ruling that finally addresses some of the questions surrounding vacation and second homes and how they can qualify as a safe harbor in a 1031 tax deferred exchange. A 1031 tax deferred exchange is very common at Deep Creek Lake because of the mixture of homes that make up our market - a majority of vacation homes around the lake are used strictly for personal use on weekends, holidays, and summers - but we also have many homes where the owners will use the property for their own personal enjoyment and also rent it out as a vacation rental.

Previously, their has been a lot of grey area on this subject - the questions most asked were “How much personal use is too much if I want my property to qualify?” and “How long do I have to hold this property before it qualifies?”

With this ruling the IRS now says that if you own a vacation home and have some personal use in it, you should own it for at least two years before an exchange, rent it out at fair market value for at least 14 days in each of the 2 years, and limit personal use to 14 days or 10% of the days rented, whichever is greater. If you follow these guidelines and standards, the IRS states they will not challenge whether or not your property qualifies for a 1031 exchange.

The bottom line is that this is pretty good news for certain people looking to buy or sell a second home at Deep Creek Lake. This ruling can provide much more flexibility to someone down the road looking to change locations. For example, someone who now owns condo in Ocean City - uses it occasionally and has followed the rules above - can now sell that property, pay no taxes on any gain, and then buy something at Deep Creek Lake. However, it must be pointed out that the replacement property would also have to meet the standards above and a few other rules as well to qualify.

Disclaimer - as always this post should not be construed as any type of tax or legal advice. Consult with your CPA or Tax Attorney regarding for further explanation on these types of transactions.

By: Mike Kennedy March 11th, 2008 Category: Uncategorized

Since our blog is mostly about real estate happenings in and around the Deep Creek Lake area, we wanted to tell you about another blog that reports on all the other things happening and going on at the lake that aren’t necessarily real estate related. This new blog is called The Deep Creek Blog and is authored by Becky Sciullo. Becky’s family has owned lake property for many years and she has spent her whole life vacationing at Deep Creek.

She does a great job reporting all the local news, happenings, things-to-do, and events that are going on in the Deep Creek Lake area. For second home owners who only come up on weekends, her blog is great way to stay current with everything that is happening in Garrett County.

On a side note, her father paints and produces some incredible art work of the different scenes found in and around Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County. You can view his work here. How many of you remember Thayer’s Barn, the old Glendale Bridge, and Cabin Lodge? I can remember the old Glendale Bridge and the fact that it was “one way” only! You had to pull your car up to the entrance, look down to make sure no one else was coming the other way, and then you could go. Thayer’s Barn and Cabin Lodge were before my time, but I’m fairly certain Thayer’s Barn burnt down and was located where the Creamery is now along Route 219.

By: Mike Kennedy March 1st, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Wisp Ski Resort

Some more quality exposure for Deep Creek Lake and Wisp Ski Resort. It’s nice to see the area getting the attention of a national publication and a Baltimore television station as of late. Here is a link to an article about the area that appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of Luxury Living Magazine.

It is interesting to note that the author of the article lives in Park City, Utah - which is another resort area with a much larger ski area than the Wisp. The author really has nothing but good things to say about the area and favorably compares the lifestyle and activities offered at Deep Creek Lake to those found at the larger western resorts. 

The author does touch on a few real estate items in the article. She notes that a brand new home at Deep Creek Lake that costs $1.3 million would be considered a “steal” in Park City - where $1.3 million would only you buy a 2 bedroom fixer upper. Sure Park City and some of the other bigger resorts are larger than the Wisp - but Deep Creek Lake is much more accessible and easy to get to for someone from Baltimore, Washington D.C., or Pittsburgh.

We have many clients who own vacation homes here and in other resort areas - and speaking with them they always tell us they spend more time here at their Deep Creek Lake house than at their other vacation homes in other resort areas. When you factor in ease of accessibility, the lifestyle offered, and what you can get for the money - there is no doubt buying a second home at Deep Creek Lake is a great value compared to other resort areas.

By: Mike Kennedy February 28th, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Activities, Deep Creek Lake Area Things To Do, Wisp Ski Resort

Deep Creek Lake and Wisp Ski Resort were featured this morning in this short video segment that aired on WBAL Channel 11’s newscast. WBAL is Baltimore’s NBC affiliate.