There have been 51 closed sales for waterfront in our North Idaho MLS region for the time period stated in the last year. While some are indeed secondary waterfront with no views of the river or lake, at least three that have fit this MLS search are on creeks.
Still, that leaves 42 closed sales with direct, boatable access and clear views of the water.
Click Here to View the Waterfront Sold Listings
Here are the overall stats:
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Another tidbit of info is that of these 51 sales, 14 were condos. Two notable points is that Seasons at Sandpoint has done very well at moving their inventory, and Pend Oreille River sales have been good.
Certainly there have been bargains, and the Third Street Condos have been at the favored spot of lowest priced. However, with the building of the Sand Creek Byway right across from Sand Creek, even with the cool asset of being able to boat out to the big Lake Pend Oreille those had to sell for less. The view has been compromised and the future holds 24/7 traffic for the condo owners.
Another interesting fact is that in years past, one could buy waterfront here for less than $500,000. Over the last four years I can't count the number of times I heard buyers claim they were going to wait until the market began to offer prices under $500,000 once again. Sure, in the last two years there have been a handful of sales in that range, but observing the homes sold, one clearly gets the picture that the magic price begins at half a million. Just look for yourself.
Will we get to that price range? Probably not. While much of the rest of the nation is still finding the bottom, we seem to be bumping along ours. Certainly there will continue to be bargains, but mostly, if you want waterfront in Bonner County, you will have to pony up. If you do find a great waterfront home under $500,000 then you better be prepared to snap it up.
This year we have seen fewer parcels and homes offered on the water. Clearly, if a seller can wait to sell, they should and they are.
Majestic Lake Pend Oreille
Another interesting occurrence has been from buyers who looked at homes several months ago and decided to wait for prices to go down. Now, they have come in a slower season expecting to see price drops only to find the homes they were interested in have sold. Darn.
Outlying areas have seen price reductions, but most want to be on the big river or big lake, with all of the deep water boating access that affords. The sales in these outer areas has been dismal. Quick access to town has been more important since the gigantic snow years of 2007 and 2008.
Still, sales, while not robust, are good. I specialize in water view and waterfront, and my sales over the last two years approaches three million. Believe me, while would like sales to be better, I am happy with the closings I have had.
Our company, Tomlinson Sandpoint Sotheby's International Realty, is doing better than any other company in the market. Our sales equal the combined sales of the next top three companies, and is always around a third of the market with just 15% of the REALTORS®.
Our strength is in sales over $1,000,000 and high-end real estate.
In fact, we are doing well enough that we bought the Sotheby's office in Coeur d'Alene. Our combined office is the tops in our entire market.
Anyway, waterfront is still what it always was. There is limited inventory, and price, while taking a break and even declining, is starting to show indications that it will start to appreciate again.
Seasons at Sandpoint as seen from Lake Pend Oreille
Gary Lirette, featured in Where To Retire magazine and host of the Tuesday noon local radio shows: North Idaho Business as well as North Idaho Arts.
E-mail Gary or call 208-610-1384
Read Gary's Blogs
Tomlinson Sandpoint Sotheby's International Realty
200 Main Street
Sandpoint, Idaho
208-255-3474
www.SandpointID.net - To learn all about Sandpoint and North Idaho
www.RealtySandpoint.com - For Sandpoint Realty
www.SkiSchweitzer.net - To visit Schweitzer Mountain's Community Web
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