As of 11/21/2009 Sold in the Moonridge Area 8/23/2009 - 11/21/2009 We had 52 closed sales in the Moonridge area for the past 90 days. There are 110 active Moonridge listings, and 27 pending in escrow. We have a 6.47 month supply of inventory at the current rate of sale. 12 of the 52 closed sales were Bank Owned and 5 were Short Sales. The price differential shown above tells us that the homes in Moonridge that are selling, sell very close to list price. This isn't surprising to me, price is the most important factor in this market. When a home is priced correctly it will sell, it's really that simple. Knowing what price to list at is by far the most important decision a seller must make. List price should be based on market conditions and not a sellers perception or need. Banks are maki... 11/21/2009

  Market Condition Report provided by "Chicago Title" Please call me if you would like to discuss the Real Estate Market here in the Big Bear Area. I can show you any home for sale in Big Bear. Search the Big Bear MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Search the Southern California MLS  (Multiple Listing Service) Steve Hirschler Associate, The Tim Wood Group Coldwell Banker Mountain Gallery 42153 Big Bear Blvd. P.O. BOX 6820 Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 stevehirschler@gmail.com 909 866-3481 EXT. 217 CELL 909 725-5889 Fax 909 866-3531 http://www.stevesellsbigbear.com Follow me on Twitter Subscribe to "Ask an Expert, Big Bear Real Estate Blog" 11/21/2009

Are you one of the many home owners who own a cabin in the Big Bear Valley?  Are you now in a place in your life where you need to sell your cabin in Big Bear as a Short Sale?  If you find yourself in this position, please make sure that you hire an experienced Real Estate agent to help you with your short sale.  If your agent doesn't have a lot of experience with the short sale process, you might end up in a situation like I am about to describe to you. At the end of June, I wrote a full price offer on a property in Big Bear that was being sold as a short sale.  Before writing the offer, I sat down with my client and explained how the short sale process works and how her patients would be tested during this process.  She felt very strong about this purchase so I called the listing agen... 11/14/2009

Current Residential Inventory Available 766 Last years inventory 10/2008 - 1078 Inventory is down 29% from last year   Residential Sales closed in the past 30 days - 78 Homes sold October 2008 - 73 Number of year to date closed residential sales - 681 Number of year to date closed residential sales 561 for the same period in 2008 +21.3%   Current Pending sales 154 39 of these are Bank owned 25%  That means  75% are not bank owned!   Bank Owned Homes 46 make up only 6% of the inventory available in Big Bear That means 94% of the homes available in Big Bear are not Bank Owned! 261 of the 681 sold this year were bank owned 38% 77 of the 561 sold last year were bank owned 13.7% What does all of this mean? There are less homes to choose from currently than there were a year ago. More homes ... 10/25/2009

The Home Inspection has always been pivotal point when buying a home in Big Bear Lake, CA.  The importance of this fairly inexpensive inspection has become even more important with the influx of the bank owned, REO properties.  When you buy a home in the Big Bear valley from a home owner, you normally get a set of disclosures.  But, when you buy a bank owned, REO home in Big Bear, you get very few, if any disclosure regarding the property.  This makes it even more important for buyer to do his investigations and to get a home inspection. So, what do you do when the buyer doesn't want to spend the money for the home inspection?  Here in Big Bear, the home inspection is not a required inspection, so how do you encourage the buyer to spend the money and get the inspection?  Perhaps the sto... 10/24/2009

I have been out of the office for over a week, laid up with health issues but was able to go in and work for a few hours yesterday.  I was just finishing up and getting ready to head home when I checked one last correspondence.  What I learned at that point made me the happiest Realtor in Big Bear.  I had just learned that one of the Short Sales that I've worked so hard on was approved!  Now, normally this would make me happy as it means another escrow, but this one has some special significance.  Here is why. About four months ago, I received an email from a lady who I had never met stating that she had heard that I was the best person to help her sell her house as a short sale in Big Bear Lake, CA.  I emailed her back and asked for a phone number so that I could interview her as too d... 10/11/2009

    Click here to see the details on these 13 homes. 9 of these homes were traditional sellers "69%", with a price differential of  77.24% of list price and 107 days on the market 4 of these homes were bank owned "31%", with a price differential of 100% of list price and 18 days on the market  Overpriced homes (over 90% of the listings) will sit with no activity until they lower the price to meet the market.   With 812 active listings on the market currently, the inventory has fallen about 8% in the past 30 days. I can show you any home for sale in Big Bear. Search the Big Bear MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Search the Southern California MLS  (Multiple Listing Service) Steve Hirschler Associate, The Tim Wood Group Coldwell Banker Mountain Gallery 42153 Big Bear Blvd. P.O. BOX 6820 Big... 09/26/2009

                                    YEAR 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 MonthlyTotals MonthlyRank 10 YearAverage 2009 2009 % of 10Year Average                                 JAN 125 125 158 130 194 163 128 139 77 44 1283 12 128 68 53% FEB 126 158 128 148 169 173 147 112 80 43 1284 11 128 69 54% MAR 183 174 168 187 197 219 186 118 99 59 1590 10 159 71 45% APR 159 169 150 213 227 238 170 131 81 65 1603 9 160 82 51% MAY 151 193 182 269 200 268 171 132 99 83 1748 7 175 80 46% JUN 161 198 207 224 199 246 188 148 78 85 1734 8 173 98 57% JUL 195 180 187 247 228 275 171 108 95 104 1790 4 179 96 54% AUG 191 256 264 292 246 263 198 159 106 90 2065 1 207 0 0% SEP 231 248 199 274 281 263 228 121 82 109 2036 2 204 0 0% OCT 188 270 224 302 227 236 199 123 77 101 1947 3 195 0 0% N... 09/07/2009

This past week I received multiple offers on one of my bank owned, REO properties in Big Bear.  The first offer to arrive was a full price offer with the buyer getting a loan.  The buyer was putting 20% down, was pre approved by a local lender in Big Bear, and showed proof of funds for the amount of money he was going to put down.  Generally speaking, that's a pretty strong offer.  The next offer to arrive was a cash offer for far less than the asking price.  If you were the asset manager of this REO property, what offer would you take? To make a long story short, the asset manager was much more interested in the cash offer than she was the offer with a loan.  After going back and forth with a couple of counter offers, the cash offer was accepted.  The asset manager could have received... 08/27/2009

Who would take over a real estate office in this market?  People with vision and the right system like Susan and Dan Bathurst, that's who.   When they bought an existing EXIT Realty franchise earlier this year, Susan and Dan had a vision of the kind of real estate brokerage they wanted EXIT Realty Welcome Home to become, as Arrissia Owen Turner of BigBearGrizzly.net reports: They found their dream in EXIT Realty. The customer-service oriented couple is revamping the offices with the help of their broker, Emily Dunn, offering what they describe as a general store-type office. "We want to present a more low-key atmosphere," Dan says. "I had the pleasure of meeting Dan and Susan at Broker/Owner Training earlier this year," said Susan Harrison, EXIT Realty Corp. International's Senior VP We... 08/27/2009

             The Big Bear Report  August 2009   A Monthly Review of the Big Bear Real Estate Market   Buyer activity in the Big Bear real estate market is showing signs of strengthening. Although typical for this time of year, both pending" and "closed" sales increased last month in nearly all sectors of our market. While land sales and commercial business    opportunity demand remain sub-normal, residential sales under $400,000 are the sector of the market that is getting the majority of attention. We are finding more and more sales coming from multiple bidders on bargain priced properties that push lower offers  upwards, thus creating a "bidding war". Multiple offers usually  signify a market in which prices are rising and buyers outnumber sellers. When the buying public perceives the... 08/05/2009

Click here to see the details on these 12 homes. 6 of these homes were traditional sellers "50%", with a price differential of  98.17% of list price and 190 days on the market 4 of these homes were bank owned "33.3%", with a price differential of 100.67% of list price and 32 days on the market 2 of these homes were short sales "16.6%", with a price differential of 101.47% of list price and 399 days on the market.  *As you can see, homes in the Big Bear area are still selling within 10% of the list price consistently. Buyers that want to purchase here will be disappointed if they expect to find homes selling for 25% or more off of list price. This also means that homes won't sell until the price gets close to market value. Overpriced homes (over 90% of the listings) will sit with no act... 07/26/2009

When you start your search for a second home in Big Bear you should spend some time looking at the different locations. Location drives land value and that is why the same house is worth more or less in different areas. Lakefront homes for example have higher land values. The current land value combined with the improvements (house) establishes value. That is why a home on the lake that is functionally obsolete will still have a high value of one million dollars if it is located in a deep water location with a view.  This also explains why a beautiful home in a less desirable area may be worth little more than the building costs, and sometimes less. Land has not been selling recently because construction costs are higher per square foot than the existing inventory pricing.  Most homes t... 07/11/2009

  The Big Bear Report     A Monthly Review of the Big Bear Real Estate Market  July 2009   For the first time in 10 months, the median home price in Southern California did not decline. The result of combining record low interest rates and the sharp decline in overall sales have given some real estate "experts" an indication that we may be close to hitting bottom. As I've mentioned in previous reports, no one can predict the bottom until we are on our way up.There are just too many variables, especially with the current administrations illusion on capitalism. My personal observation (along with many "down-the-hill" brokers) is that sales activity at prices below $500,000 has really picked up, but that the $500,000 and up range is very soft right now. A significant factor that affects ou... 07/07/2009

I think some buyers are going about the home search backwards. They seem to be caught up in the deal. Sure, the deal is important, but the biggest goal should be to purchase the right home in the right location. In the Big Bear Valley there are many different locations to look at homes. The areas, in no particular order, are: Big Bear Lake West     Big Bear Lake Central Big Bear Lake East (Eagle Point, Eagle Point Estates, Summit Estates) Fox Farm (Castle Glen and Eagle Mountain) Moonridge (High Timber Ranch) Fawnskin Whispering Forest Big Bear City Meadowbrook Erwin Lake Sugarloaf Lake Williams (Just click on any of these to see the google map of the neighborhood) Price is very important, but if the house is in the wrong location, you'll have a tough time selling it to the next guy. Th... 07/06/2009

Just recently, I wrote an offer on a bank owned property in the Big Bear valley for a client of mine. When I first me these clients, they were already pre-approved and ready to move forward once they found the home that they wanted. Well, it didn't take long for my clients to find the perfect cabin and we sat down to write an offer.  One of the requirements from the bank that was offering the property for sale was that the potential buyer needed to be pre-qualified through the listing bank. My clients were not very happy with the idea of having to go through the pre-qualification process once again, especially as they were pre-approved for far more than they were looking to spend.  Can the bank really require you to pre-qualify with them before they'll look at the offer?  The answer is ... 07/01/2009

Click here to see the details on these 14 homes. 11 of these homes were traditional sellers "78.5%", with a price differential of 100% of list price and 174 days on the market 1 of these homes were bank owned ".07%", with a price differential of 93% of list price and 17 days on the market 2 of these homs were short sales "28%", with a price differential of 100% of list price and 176 days on the market.  I can show you any home for sale in Big Bear. Search the Big Bear MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Search the Southern California MLS  (Multiple Listing Service) Steve Hirschler Associate, The Tim Wood Group Coldwell Banker Mountain Gallery 42153 Big Bear Blvd. P.O. BOX 6820 Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 stevehirschler@gmail.com 909 866-3481 EXT. 217 CELL 909 725-5889 Fax 909 866-3531 http://ww... 06/28/2009

As of this morning, we have 42 bank owned  homes (REO's) on the market, that's only 4.59% of the 915 active listings. Please call or email if you want to purchase a bank owned home in Big Bear, I will get you the best deal. I can show you any home for sale in Big Bear. Search the Big Bear MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Search the Southern California MLS  (Multiple Listing Service) Steve Hirschler Associate, The Tim Wood Group Coldwell Banker Mountain Gallery 42153 Big Bear Blvd. P.O. BOX 6820 Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 stevehirschler@gmail.com 909 866-3481 EXT. 217 CELL 909 725-5889 Fax 909 866-3531 http://www.stevesellsbigbear.com Follow me on Twitter Subscribe to "Ask an Expert, Big Bear Real Estate Blog"Previously posted on "Ask An Expert, Big Bear Real Estate" 06/28/2009

  JUST LISTED for $149,000.00   2096 Cedar Lane is  cute 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home located on a 8,000 square foot street to street lot. With the large lot, there is no problem with parking.  Bring your boat or RV and you will have no trouble finding parking. The entire 1400 square foot home has quality wood flooring throughout.  The only exceptions are the bedrooms.  The bedrooms have been carpeted with a top quality carpet.                            For more information on this home or any of my other listings, please email me at tony@tonycard.com or call me at    909 436 8043      06/19/2009

Click here to see the details on these 4 homes. All 4 of these homes were bank owned "100%" Price differential List/Sell was 98.87%! Average days on the market only 53! I can show you any home for sale in Big Bear. Search the Big Bear MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Search the Southern California MLS  (Multiple Listing Service) Steve Hirschler Associate, The Tim Wood Group Coldwell Banker Mountain Gallery 42153 Big Bear Blvd. P.O. BOX 6820 Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 stevehirschler@gmail.com 909 866-3481 EXT. 217 CELL 909 725-5889 Fax 909 866-3531 http://www.stevesellsbigbear.com Follow me on Twitter Subscribe to "Ask an Expert, Big Bear Real Estate Blog"Previously Posted on "Ask An Expert, Big Bear Real Estate" 06/16/2009