To every season, there is a purpose…

Nobody is thinking of lake homes right now.  It’s no wonder… the temperatures are getting cooler and the days are getting shorter.  There seems to be a breeze kicking up (good for the sail boats, not so good for the power boats).

But this might be the perfect time to think about buying a home on the lake.  There are a few reasons:

  • Fall is not “rush out and get a lake home” time…
  • There is a reasonable level of lake inventory at most price levels and locations (keeping in mind the appropriate value level for lake homes)…
  • Interest rates are crazy low…. and we can’t know how long that will last…

People that make tons of money investing will tell you that stepping in when others are stepping out is one of the keys to investing.  That simply means that buying when others are selling and selling when others are buying tends to make for better investing… to a point.  This time of year there are a fair number of lake homes that the sellers have enjoyed their last summer in… and they don’t want to own them all winter to sell in the spring.

Is it time to take the plunge?

Is it time to take the plunge?

For the last couple of years, in the North Atlanta market, home inventories were stunningly low.  We went from 20 and 30 months of inventory five years ago to just 2 or 3 months a couple of years ago.  That has rebounded to a more sustainable 5 to 7 months lately… but at higher price points (where most lake homes are), that is a little higher.  That, coupled with the seasonality of lake homes, has made a buyer’s market for nice lake homes.  Not a bust down the doors buyer’s market, but the best opportunity we’ve seen in a few years.

I will be the last person to try to predict interest rates… but the economists keep guessing that they will be going up soon.  Of course, they have been saying that for the last year, but that is the exact kind of prediction that HAS to come true at some point.  We might still have 4% interest rates next spring, but I sure wouldn’t bet on it.

One thing I will bet one is that unless there is a major financial crash again, lake homes will be several percentage points higher next spring.  That might not seem like much, but 5% on a $600k home is $30,000.  That is some real coin.  So you can expect that similar homes will fetch $15,000 to $50,000 more when the season gets underway in April next year.

But there is one other thing…

Buy low and sell high

There is another stock market adage that should creep in to the picture…  Lake home prices are tied to water levels.  Of course, they are tied with bungee, but there is a correlation.  So, a good thing to keep in mind, if you have the opportunity is to buy (when the lake level is) low and sell (when the lake level is) high.

Right now the lake is at the lowest level it has been at since March 2, 2013.  It will go lower this winter, but if historical trends continue (and that is up to the Army Corps of Engineers), it will only drop another 2′ between now and November and then slowly refill… maybe starting in January.

 

Give Lane a call to talk about buying or selling YOUR lake home.