By: Melissa McCue

Late in 2012 the California Association of Realtors released their Annual Housing Market Survey, one finding in particular that caught my eye was that nearly 30% of all buyers in California paid all cash for home purchases. That was triple the number of the year of 2001, when only about 9% of buyers paid cash. Of course, these numbers piqued my interest as to how the Big Bear area would compare to the state level.

It turns out that Big Bear was slightly above the state numbers, with 35% of home sales being cash deals in 2012. It makes perfect sense that with the tightening of conventional lending, there would be an increase in cash deals. However, cash sales spiked at 32.4% in 2009 (see graph below), at a time when the market was only in its second year of the downturn. That same year, the median home price in the Big Bear area dropped by   -16.60%, then again by -6.87% in 2010 and finally by -16.56% in 2011 before we saw an increase in median pricing of 3.63% in 2012.

Over the years, many investors and second home owners have placed their money in the Big Bear real estate market, either in hopes of realizing investment goals or because of lifestyle choices. Either way, it is encouraging to see that buyers have chosen to invest their cash here, even in a down market, when it is generally accepted that any return on investment would be long term. 

The decision to purchase a vacation home is not always driven primarily by numbers, if so,  home owners in the Big Bear area would be focused on cash flow positive investment property with low vacancy rates. Instead, I live on a street where the large majority of houses are intentionally left vacant and are therefore cash flow negative.  Second home buyers consider not just monetary investment, but also lifestyle, because it has inherent “value”. It’s “price” vs. “value” and while both are important, second home buyers do not always weigh them equally when purchasing. Next time that you think of buying or selling in the Big Bear area, remember that we are a unique market, where financial decisions can be strongly tied in with lifestyle choices. Having a real estate agent that understands this market is important and I make it my business to do just that. Call me at (909) 855-4898.

By: Melissa McCue

Recently I took advantage of a warm spring day and joined in on a Nature Walk at the Big Bear Discovery Center. The naturalist that lead the tour, Joe, was a fountain of knowledge and at the beginning of the tour jokingly said that there would be a quiz at the end. Memories of school days must have scared my mind into sharp attention because I retained more information than I expected. Here is a bit that I can pass on to you, although I reserve the right to blame any false information on rusty test taking skills.

• Yellow Rabbitbrush or Chrysothamnus Viscidiflorous (ok, I looked up the scientific name but I promise the rest is all from memory) is so named because it is one of the only plants that rabbits won’t eat!
• If you smell the bark of a Jeffrey pine when it has been warmed by the sun, the aroma of vanilla will greet you. Now during hikes I sniff the bark of trees, I feel silly but I can’t stop!
• The San Bernardino mountains have an estimated population of 350 - 400 California black bears and has no grizzly bears. California grizzly bears did once roam our valley but the last of them were killed off long ago, at which point the California black bear was introduced into the area.
• The bats that inhabit our valley are “microbats” and feed primarily on insects, thus making themselves invaluable to those of us humans that aren’t fond of insects!
• The bright green lichen that is seen on dead branches throughout the forest is a combination of algae and fungus. (See the picture above)
• Manzanita means “little apple” in Spanish. The small red berries that grow on Manzanita bushes are edible, but I was assured that they definitely don’t taste like apples.

I promise I learned and retained a lot more but since I am out of space you will just have to get over to the Discovery Center and go on a tour. Happy Trails!