McCall Real Estate Company now a Coldwell Banker Affiliate

McCall Real Estate is now a Coldwell Banker and Tomlinson Real Estate Group affiliate!

The Tomlinson Real Estate Group, based in Couer d'Alene, Idaho is a regional powerhouse in Idaho and Washington. With a 70 year tenure in the region and the addition of the McCall Real Estate Company, Tomlinson Real Estate Group is now ranked as the largest brokerage operating in Idaho.

Coldwell Banker is well known throughout the Pacific Northwest for its high standards of service excellence and internationally through it's acclaimed Previews International marketing program for luxury homes.

While McCall Real Estate has enjoyed the dominant market position in the McCall area, our new affiliation as Coldwell Banker McCall Real Estate will provide enhanced exposure world wide of our listing inventory of McCall area properties to national and international buyers of real estate in the McCall - Donnelly - Tamarack Resort areas.

McCall Real Estate Off to a Good Start

A strong buyer's market persists in McCall but sales are off to a decent start for 2008.

There are currently 279 single family/condominiums and fractional share properties listed for sale with 180 listings priced under $500,000, 69 between $500,000 and $1,000,000 and 30 properties are priced over $1,000,000. The selection is good in the McCall Real Estate market making this a great time to consider purchasing a vacation home or rental home.

What is selling?

Since January 1, 2008 in the McCall real estate market, 22 single family and condominium properties have closed compared to 16 properties for the comparable period one year ago. The median closing price to date is $275,000 with an average of 212 days on the market for the period ending March 14, 2008, and closing prices are averaging 92.8% of the most recent list price. For the period ending March 14, 2007 the 16 sales registered a median sold price of $331,250 with an average of 140 days on the market with closing prices averaging 95.4% of the most recent list price.

NOTE: days on market are calculated according to the current listing number. Many properities are relisted so the "list date" is freshened up which can distort this statistic.

Pending sales show what is selling currently - what appeals to the current pool of buyers and what is priced appropriately. Of the 10 pending sales in the McCall real estate market alone, 6 sales are listed under $310,000, with four pending sales in the $385,000 to $549,500 price range. Four of the ten properties are condominiums or townhomes.

We are seeing more and more well qualified buyers coming into McCall to explore good buying opportunites. While the inventory count is high, astute buyers remain cautious and look for a risk premium in their offering prices to cushion any further price deteriorations in our market. And the market is confusing, since many homes are priced over market while some are priced right on the money and represent good values.

Unique Homes Features McCall as Emerging Market

We were excited to see McCall, Idaho and Tamarack Resort mentioned in the March 2008 edition of Unique Homes as one of "The Next Best Places" - 18 Emerging Markets".

Unique Homes is the premier magazine for luxury real estate, reaching a highly targeted international audience of affluent individuals, real estate professionals and developers. The magazine has a distribution of 50,000 worldwide to consumers in all 50 states and 80 countries as well as to upscale locations such as five star hotels, country clubs and private jet facilities.

The publication's web site, Uniquehomes.com, is one of the most comprehensive luxury real estate sites on the web, showcasing exceptional homes and estates and feature articles to 90,000 unique visitors per issue.

The March article mentions that expectations about what is "luxury" to an increasing number of millionaires and billionaires has undergone a dramatic shift over the last ten years. Mountain panoramas and an authentic lifestyle are of more and more interest to the affluent consumer.

These assertions are not surprising. We hear about a longing for "quality of lifestyle" from every buyer we meet and it doesn't matter how much they're making or how much they have. That is what drives them to McCall.

Buyers Report

Why might now be the time to buy real estate in McCall?

1. Demographics: Market Size of Baby Boomers - The numbers are staggering. The baby boomers (born from 1946-1964) just turned 62 and account for 30% of the population. We have just the beginning of 80 million boomers starting to think about where they want to live after retirement. There are those who want to live a more active retirement than in the past who know that the lifestyle of the city will be less appealing as time passes. Mountain environments and lifestyles will be one of many that boomers will seek. Whether you fall into this age group or not, the market size of this demographic will result in competition for scarce properties, particularly in the intermountain area of the U.S.

2. Relative Value of McCall properties remain attractive compared to other Mountain Resort Towns . The Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance (RMRA) consists of eleven mountain resort second home destination locations located throughout the Rocky Mountain States. RMRA shares information on real estate sales prices and other issues. Here are the 2006 year end average prices for homes, land and condominiums for each participating resort member. The 2007 statistics will be out in a couple months and we'll publish those as they are available.

1. Aspen $1,531,000
2. Telluride $1,232,662
3. Jackson Hole $1,126,614
4. Vail $922,128
5. Sun Valley $775,100
6. Whistler $756,964
7. Park City $691,328
8. Steamboat $430,011
9. Summit County $369,733(Keystone , Breckenridge , Copper)
10. Winter Park $320,443
11. McCall $306,933

3. Second home resort markets don't act like primary home markets - Buying a property while prices are sliding is not an easy decision but if your goal is to retire in the next ten years now may be the time to put your plan in motion. Here's why. Prices won't decline forever and they will almost be certain to be higher in 10 years. In 2006 sales of primary residences declined while vacation/retirement home sales increased 5%. Waterfront resort properties, spectacular view properties - the kinds of properties you dream of for retirement - will rise the fastest because of their scarcity. Right now you have time to compare and research the market and have bargaining power when you find something of interest.

4. Strong momentum in upper end properties and commercial developments -Even though the residential market has slowed and inventories are plentiful, Payette Lake deeded properties have sold quickly and commercial development in McCall downtown is strong (Alpine Village, Hotel McCall expansion, Legacy Park renovation).

As well, Tamarack Resort has experienced very strong sell through conversion in recent offerings. With respect to Tamarack Resort, the "Elan Collection" just purchased a $17 million building site next to the Tamarack Express lift for 60 condominium private residence club ski in-ski out properties. The Elan Tamarack purchase is further validation that Tamarack Resort is attracting investment and resort developers in the industry. Developer David Disick of Park City is considered a pioneer in the private residence club market having developed the Franz Klammer Lodge in Telluride. In another strong performance, Tamarack recently sold out the second phase of the Lake Wing at Osprey Meadows with seventeen condominiums for $16.5 million.

5. City of McCall fiscal issues behind us. It looks like we are moving past the stranglehold the J-Ditch (sewage treatment) $6 million judgement has had on the City of McCall. The latest proposal to finance payment of this judgment is a sewer rate hike to pay off bonds to retire the financial obligations relating to the judgement. Seems citizens, city council members, business leaders are on the same page to get it done and focus on all the other important growth issues facing McCall.