Thursday, July 27, 2006

Boomers Are Buying Second Homes

“Boomers Are Buying Second Homes”

Greetings!

Our summer continues to heat up both from a weather and real estate sales perspective; activity has been pretty brisk.

Earlier this year it was reported by a real estate trade association that American baby boomers bought a record number of second homes for vacation and investment last year, it amounted to nearly 40% of total homes sales in 2005. Interestingly about 33% of 2005 vacation home purchases occurred in the Midwest, followed by 30% in the South, 20% in the West and 17% in the Northeast.

In our local school district sales of “waterfront homes/cabins” per the MLS have increased by approximately 5% for the trailing 12 months over the previous 12 month period from ’04-’05. This “boomer trend” is unlikely to reverse soon even though there has been a broader housing slowdown; baby boomers are at the peak of their earning potential so they should continue to drive second-home sales. Part of this is due to the fact that interest rates have remained tolerable (for those of us who remember the double digit years!) and people want to diversify their investments and enjoy the use of it as well.

Have a wonderful weekend; our forecast is for more warm summer temperatures. If you are in the area the Lumberjack World Championships are being held this weekend right here in Hayward, home of ‘world class events”.

Life is Good!

Gary A. Nathan
Summer has really heated up in Hayward; our days have had temperatures in the 80-95 degree range and not much in the way of clouds or rain. Wednesday night was the most spectacular on the lake this year, the moon was full and orange, the sky filled with stars and the lake was like glass. It was a great night for star gazing and satellite tracking. My wife commented that we live in paradise.

The real estate market has heated up as well; the phones are ringing, showings are up, deals are flowing and closings are happening. This morning I spoke with all three title companies in Hayward and two of the three indicated closings were either up or consistent with the same period last year. From my perspective I think our real estate market is steady, growing and normal for our area. In early writings I indicated that our local real estate market typically does not suffer from the severe changes one might see in the coastal areas or larger metro markets.

Most would say that the overall national real estate market is in a moderate and orderly cooling trend; in comparison and from my perspective our market is in a steady and orderly warm trend. We don’t sizzle hot and we don’t get froze out (well, in January it does get pretty cold here), our little piece of paradise has remained pretty comfortable.

Have a wonderful weekend; yours truly is going to head for the lake and a family reunion. Forecast is for sunny, hot and challenging fishing.

Enjoy, Life is Good!