Jan Skrentny

Two weeks ago, in October, I showed you sales in Lake Arrowhead and the news is good and bad.

Bad is that there were only 12 sales in that time period as opposed to 13 the previous week.
Good was that the middle range prices, $600,000 and up have seen more action.

The one high price home, located in Cedar Ridge &  pictured here, took a significant reduction to sell, as we’ve seen repeatedly in Cedar Ridge. Beautiful homes that are not in proximity to the lake are suffering more than any others as far as price point goes. Big view homes of average size in good condition with garages have slipped to low to mid-600,000. Most of the homes you see in the $600,000 were either near the lake or with lake views. Price reductions from asking price in this area were reasonable not like the 10% percent dips we were seeing this summer. Gated communities are still sought after.

But one of the biggest changes which hearkens back to the good old days is that there are a lot of buyers out there right now seriously looking. I call it the “holiday season” buyers. When the air gets crisp and the leaves turn colors and fall, buyers become mesmerized by the prospect of great Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years celebrations in climate unlike most of Southern California. I think we will see an active market through the New Year and if you have your home listed with us, do not be shy about adding tasteful holiday touches to the residence, it will only wet people’s appetites.

Also the first two low priced homes were fabulous buys for lake rights in good areas- click here to see all of them. Very few REOs or Short Sales this period which is always good to see as they the primary cause of price drops. Inventory is still high but come the first of the year a great number will drop off as most people want to keep their homes off the market during the messy months.

As you know the prices you see on the e-mail are the asking price not the sale prices. The homes you see, sold for these prices: $193,000, $190,000, $235,000. $360,000, $355,000, $360,000, $437,500, $525,000, $627,000, $640,000, $625,000, and $820,000.

If you have any questions feel free to give us a call – 909.908.8520.

Best wishes,
Jan Skrentny and Rowland Parker

Last week saw six houses sell in Arrowhead Woods. All were below original asking price and except for one they all sold for less than the e-mail attachment will attest to. The actual sales prices were $235,000, $238,000, $322,500, $360,000, $510,000 and $705,000. The last one sold for the more than asking. It is a lovely estate in Cedar Ridge that started out at $1,250,000 16 months ago. To see them please visit this link to rim.mlx.

The further from the lake the more price falls. Lake front, lake front gated communities and areas those adjacent to the lake like Tavern Bay and West Shore are holding price better than anything else. The Lake is what Lake Arrowhead is all about. Big view homes are also holding up fairly well but to get a large view you get further from the lake. Thus the conflict.

There were an increase in the number of houses going into escrow last week. Still, houses going into escrow and houses selling are not the same. Especially when those houses are Short Sales or REOs.

Owner owned homes will still command more because by and large they are in better shape and you can depend on the disclosures. Short sales take long, long, long and are full of silences and uncertainty. REO’s give no assurances of anything other than your inspections better be very good.

- Jan Skrentny

An old friend of mine asked me to come to the Northern Virginia to help them look for a new home in horse country.

As a licensed California Real Estate Agent, I can list and sell anywhere our diverse state. But I have no professional standing in Virginia except that I know the questions to ask to help my friend get the necessary information on HOA (Home Owner Association) rules, zoning, taxes, septic systems, water rights, construction codes, historic excavation sites, drainage, and, not to overlook, the best price for the property. Like agents in California, some of the Virginia agents we dealt with were very forthcoming with information while others only answered the questions they are asked.

In my opinion you’re better off with the former.

However, the point of this page is that at the same time I was in Northern Virginia, in Lake Arrowhead I had an escrow closing, two clients wanting to write offfers, another escrow running into some bumps, and one new client wanting to know information on property that had just come onto the market and I had not seen.

As I have written before, Prime Properties is a boutique agency. We have ten agents, all ten of whom I know well, especially their strengths – construction, landscaping, decorating, appraising, contracts, commercial property, repoes, dealings with banks, people skills. I am fortunate that I could pick between them for the qualities I needed most to help my clients even though I was physically not there.

Of course I was on the phone with my clients all the time but when they needed to view a property in person, submit an offer, investigate an inspection problem, get keys after a closing – I had skilled people to back me up; as I would back them up if the situation were reversed.