We are quite fortunate in the Yampa Valley to have not experienced the volume of short sales and foreclosures that so many have experienced across the nation. Total short sales and foreclosures constitute less than 2% of our market. The name short sale is definitely an oxymoron since nothing about the process is short.
Land Title Company has just released the February sales numbers and found that total sales volume for the month of February 2010 is 267% over the volume from February 2009. Year to date volume is up 228% compared to the same period in 2009. Units Sold are up 165% from February 2010 compared to February 2009.
This points out that there are still significant issues with current lending. The problem started when, as a knee jerk reaction, Congress bailed out financial institutions toward the end of 2008 with billions of dollars (the taxpayers) of interest free money. The hope was to inject this money into the economy via a variety of loans. Because there were no regulations in place as to how the bail out money was to be spent, the financial institutions simply took the money and deposited them into government backed bonds paying 3% interest.
Although many of these institutions have paid back some or most of the funds we, the consumer, are still feeling the effects of the unavailable money. In the Steamboat Springs Condominium market we are seeing a real catch 22. This is a product that, in our market, is the only housing available for first time homebuyer’s who are trying to take advantage of the tax credit. However, since they cannot get financing they also cannot take advantage of the tax credit.
