This has a lot to do with homes you see sitting on the market. Especially at the higher price points buyers can have it all and there is more to it than a nice house

I got burnt one time back in the 80's and it taught me a very valuable lesson, never follow the crowd, you don't want to be late to the party.
Experience tells me this party is, to use an old man expression, "long in the tooth".

Florida real estate is a mess right now with condo re-assessments and homeowners insurance availability,
Just sayin’…

Sorry-double post…I am on a plane right now to…Florida!
WiFi is kind of wonky.

Yes there is a slowdown. Our personal experience.
 

We would like to chime in here as a couple that has had their Winnipesaukee lakefront condo on the market now for a little over 2 months. Yes we think the market is definitely soft and yes prices are coming down. We have now lowered the price of our place 110K. 50K, then another 50K, and now just another 10K. Granted our original listing price could be considered high but you have to start somewhere. Obviously we want as much as we can get and of course buyers want to pay as little as possible. We think everyone gets that. Based on what our place has to offer, 2 years ago we probably would have gotten our original asking price. Today that's not the case.

Although we have had interest, we have yet to have anyone make an offer. We suspect buyers are sitting on the sidelines taking a wait and see approach. Especially for 2nd vacation homes. We thought we were priced aggressively especially compared to anything else in our price range with similar amenities. Even more so after the first 50K price reduction. We thought someone wouldn't be able to pass this up. Wrong. Next 50K reduction more interest but still nothing. Now we're another 10K down and waiting to see what happens. We know someone will eventually come along and be able to see the value in what we're offering. But who knows how long it will take.

There's something to our disadvantage as an HOA waterfront property that most wouldn't realize when exploring valuations. The boat slip is not figured into the value of the property, neither is the jet ski lift. This, in our opinion, is huge. It makes us seem overpriced. To buy an equivalent slip would be around 200K today not to mention the added bonus of a jet ski lift. Although you have these dedicated spots they are not figured into your tax bill which is a huge bonus. They are part of the associations property and actually not individually "owned".

The lake level at this time is also a problem. Our place has a deck that sits right over the water and we can usually dock our kayaks there. But not now. With the water being down about 2ft it is now a sandbar. No rain we believe has had an impact at least with waterfront sales.

So there you have it from our personal experience thus far. Yes, there is a slowdown. And also according to our realtors, few places have been gone under contract over the last few months.

They rebuild the houses.

Building and renovation hasn't slowed a bit.

But they can't change the location. And unlike a few years ago where they bought anything and if a better location opened they would trade up; they now know that even if that location opens up... selling the current one that you bought in a rush for fear of losing out may sit on the market for a long time.

Yes, most costal properties and housing are feeling the pressure of intelligent buyers who no longer will pay for garbage just to be near the water.


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You’re doing what many say “chasing your tail”. Determine your bottom line price to sell and lower it. Markets not getting any better soon and with winter approaching you will be holding it.


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Thank you for your reply. Yes you are probably correct. We're pretty much at the bottom and have resigned to the fact we may have to be here for another year or more. No big deal.

Winnipesaukee is still very enjoyable. We do love our place just looking for new adventures in the latter part of life after having been here for 26 years.

Everything that we're looking at is folks chasing their tails too. We're certainly not desperate and definitely have the best deal on the lake for what it is by far.

If buyers don't exist unless you're giving something away then that's the way it is.

It's good that you're not desperate!
If we can stay out of a recession sales may get back to normal in another year or so, but that's a big if.
There are different forces at work today, investors have banded together to buy prime properties for cash and rent them out on internet rental sites. But even though they have no mortgages, if we have a recession each investor faces their own financial struggles. if one investor gets in financial trouble the others inherit the carrying costs which can cause a distress sale.
Instead of banks folding you will have personal investors folding.

We don't know where this is, or if it is a primary residence. I'd look into leasing it for a year or two. When I look at condos online, I review the history. Price drops like you describe tell me others have looked and walked away, so I shouldn't even bother to look. Price drops in short time frames emphasize this appearance. It wasn't long ago that 90-180 days on market was common. This also has the markings of an agent who gave you a high listing price to get the listing. Condos that are in demand often sell through the HOA newletter, nothing ever shows up on the public marketplace. How did you choose the agent you ended up with? What other sales have there been in your complex? Which agen? Just thinking--no need for answers here..

If you've been here 26 years, aren't you making an absolute killing on your place? Maybe in that context, what you perceive as a low price is not giving something away?

Could this be the property? https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...=srp-list-card

Normal Loan...
 

It's a "brick and mortar" bank loan, written in 2016.

:look:

We live here full time. Sold a larger house and downsized 6 years ago. Unfortunately we would not be making a killing as a replacement residence will cost as much if not more for us to be able to live the same lifestyle elsewhere. Yes of course prices have gone up since 1998. But a "killing" we wish.

Yes that's it. It's only a 6 unit association on the water. All of us here consider it the best HOA on the lake. We live here year round.

Others here like us are older and are planning their retirement elsewhere. We feel we've been pretty aggressive and can't find any other property that comes close for what we have to offer. We consider our unit the best here with the most privacy too.

We would love to know if there is a better waterfront deal than ours (across the street on Weirs Blvd doesn't count). Hence our conclusion that yes there is a slowdown.

Although there may be a slowdown. We don't think it's a shutdown. Winnipesaukee is a gem. We do love it here. Otherwise we wouldn't have stayed for 26 years. We've done the lake and New England all our life. We simply want to explore elsewhere and experience some new adventures while we can with whatever time we have left. Winter is tiring when you're older.

I agree that since you have to replace the condo you are in a tough spot, bummer. I hope you did well with the sale a few years ago. Good luck with the sale/relo

My parents owned that property from 1979 to 1986. Capri Cottages. My parents purchased it from Yvonne and Yvette Duhamel. (I loved their first names!) When my parents converted them to condominiums, they sold the four units along the north side of the property for $64,500 per unit! How things have changed!

That's funny. I have a vintage postcard when the places were pink! It's certainly not the 80's and we do miss those days.

When my family purchased the property in 1979, my dad, who is a painting contractor, painted the main house and five units mint green. Not sure whether that was a better choice than hot pink, but I know as a 14 year old boy I was grateful that I did not live in a pink house!

Back in the days when Prescott's Store was across the street.

Absolutely. And when you went there for ice cream, you hoped one of the young kids would serve you, not Mr. Tilton! He was a nice man but stingy doling out ice cream!

Was that seasonal property when purchased in 1979...? Is it seasonal property now or has it been made into year 'round property.

Seems to me like any property would be of far more value if it were able to be utilized year 'round.

Amen.

I chose not to live in NH due to cold winters and opted to live in the Pacific NW, in Portland: no regrets.

Alas, real estate prices are high but seem to be falling a bit, but there are lots of choices.

As for waterfront, think...rivers, not lakes, for the most part, or ocean front.

A lovely part of the USA to visit and live, if it floats your boat.

Bon Voyage.

Is it me or does it seem like double the tax assessed value or something around there has been the norm for listing prices? I wonder if appraisals aren't coming back high enough to fund the loans people are looking to take?

I don't know if people are serious about second homes at this time.

When people are struggling, they are going to save their primary home first, even if it means selling off the vacation home at a loss.

I think we are seeing investors pulling back from the market. They have been jumping into market over the past few years because of high rental rates and quick price appreciation.
Now that it's slowing down, it should get back to a more normal market. Unfortunately, that means future prices will reflect this correction.

There's also a lot to be said about the decline in the Airbnb and VRBO industry, which will impact that whole investor/available inventory piece.

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Plus the actions cities and towns are taking to reign in daily rentals.

Yes, it was a seasonal property. At that time (1986) there wasn't the demand like there is now to convert seasonal properties to year 'round properties. It would have taken quite a bit of investment since each cottage was relatively rudimentary. Also, water and sewer would have required updating. Very expensive upgrades. Others that sold at that time, such as Whispering Pines and eventually the Christmas Island cottages, were sold as seasonal properties.

I agree about investors. I was ready to buy vacation/investments a couple of years ago and backed off. Now I see those places for sale witrh price drops. Many buyers thought they were buying a second home and they would pay for it with short term rental income. They didn't think of themselves as investors and probably many were too eager to buy. Now, or soon, real investores will be buyhing the dip. Making a down payment with a HELOC adds to the problem whem it means the second home/investment may be close to a 90% loan instead of the 70%+ that is common for invewstment real estate.

Many of the prime properties were bought by groups of investors with cash hoping to get the rental income and price appreciation. I know many of my son's friends bought into these real estate investment groups. We'll see how this all shakes out if prices drop and rentals slow down.
My son almost bought into one of these and I steered him away from them.
I took advice given to me by a smart uncle long ago and passed it on to him, "partners are for dancing"!

When we purchased in 1998 three of the six units were still mint green including ours. We did the windows, door, insulation, siding, etc. when we got it. They were all still seasonal back then too. You can still see the green when you open the shed to our outside electrical meter.

This place has gone through a radical transformation since the old days. They're all year round and 3 out of the 6 units live here full time including us.

Another thing about our HOA is that we don't allow rentals. That could be a turn off for some. Being a small family association we're not interested in renters taking over and destroying our peaceful place. It's happened in the past and that's definitely an ongoing problem elsewhere. Especially during bike week.

All units here are year round and 3 of the 6 owners live here full time.

The assessed value of our particular property does not include the value of the private boat slip or jet ski location. That makes a huge difference! The benefit is that your taxes do not reflect that extra 200K+ in value.

An assessment would most likely be on the unit itself as the dock is owned by the association. Most of these places are cash deals.

There's a definite spectrum across the amount of time people will be renting a recently purchased place from 100% to 0%. The closer a buyer is to 100%, the more sensitive they are to market conditions.

My earlier posts were all around people with 0% rental time, and I think this group is growing as the lake becomes more expensive in general. Of course, I don't really know. We can see that fewer places are for sale than there were 10 years ago. But I wonder how the number of rental opportunities had changed?

I just realized that you purchased the property from our family's very good friends. I will let Jim know that it's for sale. He'd get a kick out of what it looks like now!

It's a small world. Jim is a great guy! We remember him well. We still have the original for sale by owner sign he had in the window. We were just driving by and stopped in to take a look. The rest is history. We couldn't pass up such a beautiful place. If we remember he moved down the street to the four seasons after he sold to us. We're guessing if the place was year round like it is today he never would have left.

I think one of the major problems you are facing--market conditions aside--is that the physical constraints of your home, (i.e., size), proximity to a busy road, and shallowness of that cove even in a non-drought year, severely limits your pool of potential buyers. You obviously can't change these physical factors, but have you had a conversation with your RE agent about strategies/ideas to market around these, other than price?

A wise person told me many years ago that before buying a property, think about who would buy it when you go to sell it in the future. Will it appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers? If not, you may be stuck.

Unfortunately, "the market" can be an unforgiving beast. We've been in this boat before as well, when we sold our house in CT to move back to MA in 2014. House was on the market for 9 months, and we eventually took a $400K haircut from our purchase price to be able to move on with our lives. The only saving grace was that RE prices in MA had declined too, so we were able to find a similar house and have a similar mortgage payment as we did in CT.