By: Melissa McCue

As is to be expected, I am continually asked questions about the health of the local real estate market. Rather than just giving the static, “The market is great!” response, I prefer to have concrete information to share because it gives my clients a clear and accurate picture of the market rather than just a vague idea or “feeling”. Many times the information that I compile is time consuming because most systems that offer automated market statistics just don’t pinpoint the exact information that I’m after. So I find myself exporting information from the local multiple listing service and diving into spreadsheets until I reach a point of clarity.

Every time that I sit down to begin that task, I wonder whether the outcome will be favorable to the market. Fortunately, of late, the outcome has consistently and increasingly been good, and the 1st Quarter of 2013 is no exception. The most striking result in this short term look at the numbers is that compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, our median price is up close to double digits,  at 9.68%. Just a few months ago when I gathered the 2012 year end numbers, the median price was up just 3.63%.

Equally interesting, is that the number of sales in Q1 of 2013 are up 16.06% as compared to Q1 of 2012. One could look at this a slow in demand from the 2012 year end numbers, which showed a year over year increase of 28.6% in the number of sales.  If I had to make an educated guess about the reasons for that, it would be two fold; first, short term numbers can show temporary increases and decreases that change over the longer term. Secondly, our inventory continues to be dismally low. There are many buyers that are well qualified and serious about buying but just cannot find a home to purchase. It is not uncommon for buyers to schedule showings on multiple properties and then have one or more of the top picks go into escrow before they actually make it up here. This shows that the good houses are selling quickly! 
Melissa McCue (909) 855-4898.          

By: Melissa McCue

There are many wonderful hiking and biking trails in the Big Bear valley and I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to enjoy many of them. No matter how often I have visited these various trails, I find that I am continually struck with their beauty.  Since last fall, it has been my great pleasure to become involved, in a small way, with an effort to build a brand new trail, one that I count amongst the most beautiful that our valley has to offer. 

The new Skyline Trail runs parallel to the upper portion of forest road 2N10. It is fairly close to the road but maintains a distance adequate to feel the quite comfort of being away from it all. What is remarkable about this trail is the sheer beauty of the view.

The scene that unfolds before the eyes overtakes the mind in all its pull towards continual forward momentum and practically wills the viewer to simply stop, and take it all in. The bright blue sky and fresh air, the miles upon miles of trees,  the snow capped San Gorgonio mountains and a forest teeming with life and vitality that it imbues into the viewer. 

As you can tell, I am completely taken in by this wonderful new trail. My only complaint is that my experience of the trail has been limited by its incomplete state. Of the 15 miles that will eventually comprise the trail, there are a mere 3 miles that have been fully completed. The  Big Bear Trails Foundation, the organization responsible for this beautiful trail, has worked hard to obtain funding as well as a volunteer work force to put in much needed “sweat equity”.  

Please consider joining in on the effort to work towards completing this trail by lending your time to it. The Big Bear Trails Foundation has scheduled trail build days twice a month on the 3rd Sunday and the Wednesday that proceeds it. The work is light and the company is top notch! For more information visit www.trailsfoundation.org 

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!