If you're Glen Beck you're hoarding gold and lining up food insurance against the onrushing apocalypse. If you're Sara Palin you're stocking up on tea bags and counting the days until the next presidential election. But if you're hoping to buy or sell a piece of Mammoth real estate what do you do?
As reported earlier in The Flash condo and home sales both jumped in the first half of this year. Since most were purchased as second homes or investment properties the government tax rebates for primary residences bore little responsibility for this surge. Likewise, the cooling off of third quarter sales can not be blamed on the expiration of these tax incentives.
The number of condos sold rose less than 3% in the July to October quarter just ended over the same quarter in 2009, while the median condo price slumped 8.6% to $265,000. Condo transactions attributed to short sales or REO's surged from 19% in quarter three of '09 to 49% in this year's third quarter.
Eleven homes were sold in the third quarter of this year, off 52% from the 23 homes sold in the 3rd quarter of 2009. REO's held steady at about a fourth of homes sold in Mammoth.
Expectations of a continued stream of bank repossessions have been clouded by questions regarding the propriety of the foreclosure process. Attorney's general in all 50 states are investigating. Accounts of thousands of documents being signed by speed reading clerks in a single day suggests that vast numbers of foreclosures need to be reviewed, some rescinded. We'll know more about the flow of foreclosures in a few weeks. Stay tuned.
