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Existing-Home Sales to Stabilize Before
Upturn in Second Half of 2008
Sustained
increases could start in next few months
(From NAR Website)
Little change is expected in
existing-home sales over the next few months, before
improving notably during the second half of the year,
according to the latest forecast by the National
Association of Realtors®.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist,
said the market will come into clearer focus this
summer. “Existing home sales could start to show a
sustained increase within a few months, unless there are
some additional economic problems or excessive
inflationary pressure,” he said. “We’re looking for
essentially stable sales in the near term, before higher
mortgage loan limits translate into more sales in
high-cost markets. The wider access to affordable credit
should increase sales activity notably this summer as
pent-up demand begins to be met.” Read more at the NAR
Website
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So Close and Yet So
Far
Lake Arrowhead
will lure you (From the Bend Weekly
News)
It has pretended
to be Switzerland, Sweden and the Adirondacks and very
few are the wiser. Its crystal-clear skies, snow-capped
peaks and azure blue lake could place it in any of those
locations, but in truth it lies in the Far West.
Lake Arrowhead,
just a two-hour drive from Los Angeles, is an alpine
resort that has beckoned West Coast residents for more
than 100 years. Hollywood began filming it in 1911,
setting "Heidi" there in 1937 with Shirley Temple; "I'll
Take Sweden" with Bob Hope, Tuesday Weld and Frankie
Avalon in 1960; and the 1998 remake of "The Parent Trap"
with Lindsay Lohan. Read more at the Bend Weekly
News
Top
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Cool Off in Fresh Mountain
Temps
Beat the
Heat in Lake Arrowhead (From the Destert
Sun)
The air was chilled, like
opening a refrigerator.
Lanky pine trees gave a
morning stretch.
Sunshine quick-stepped over
water.
It's difficult to believe the
oasis of Lake Arrowhead is just over an hour northwest
of the desert. It doesn't seem geographically
possible.
But somehow, it
is.
I went to the lake to cool
off when temperatures in the desert were particularly
brutal. My trip was just two days, but that was all I
needed to breathe deeper and sleep better and feel
centered again. Read
more at the Desert Sun
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Road Repair Ahead
Cal Trans to
repair 2005 damage of Hwy 173 (From the
Mountain News)
Highway 173
between Arbon Road and Grass Valley Road in Lake
Arrowhead has been closed due to slip outs since
2005.
But CalTrans has recently received word
federal funds have been approved to make the necessary
repairs and reopen the roadway.
“We
have some really good news,” CalTrans spokesperson Terri
Kasinga stated. “The environmental documents have been
approved and we should be going out to bid in a few
months with construction to start by
mid-summer.”
Road construction consultant Jack
Immel from Blue Jay got involved in working with
CalTrans to reopen the short stretch of roadway that was
used extensively during the Old Fire by residents who
were evacuating the mountain. Highway 173 just past the
shooting range is California’s only state-designated
highway that is unpaved. Read
more at the Mountain
News
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New Tax Deduction created for Mortgage
Insurance
Total savings of
$91 million for some Home Buyers (From
BankRate.com)
Mortgage
insurance will be
tax-deductible in 2007. For some homeowners, the new law
means it will cheaper to get mortgage insurance instead
of getting piggyback loans.
The 109th Congress passed
the tax law in its final hours. Hundreds of thousands of
homeowners will save a total of $91 million when they
file their tax returns in 2008, according to estimates
prepared by the mortgage insurance industry.
"This is really going to
help close to a million Americans who will buy a home
next year using mortgage insurance," says Kevin
Schneider, president of U.S. mortgage insurance business
for Genworth Financial.
Bottom line for
consumers: Don't get a piggyback loan without taking a
serious look at mortgage insurance, because mortgage
insurance is likely to be cheaper in the long run, and
it might even cost less in the short run.
Read more at
BankRate.com
Top
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Mountain drive very
elevating
Rim of the World
Hwy a Scenic Wonder of the West (From the
SB Sun)
A lot of people don't have mountains as handy as
ours, where we can flee during the brutal heat of
summer.
We are lucky that way.
And we are luckier still, because we are the only
people on the planet who have the magnificent Rim of the
World Drive, which gets us in a hurry to all the
beckoning resorts of the San Bernardino Mountains.
Rim of the World Drive, which not only is a great
treasure of the Inland Empire but one of the scenic
wonders of the American West, is the subject of a new
book set for release on Monday.
"Rim of the World Drive" (Arcadia, $19.99) is by
Roger G. Hatheway, past president of the Rim of the
World Historical Society and author of the long-running
"Mountain Mileposts" column for mountain
newspapers. Read more at the SB
Sun
Top
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Resorts Changed
Landscape
Challanges
overcome to attract Mountain Visitors (From
the SB Sun)
The prosperity of
Southern California's 1880s land boom and the creation
of Big Bear Lake in 1884 ushered in an era that
transformed the San Bernardino Mountains from a
commercial logging region into a major tourist
destination.
The hardworking settlers of the San
Bernardino Valley would finally have an opportunity to
relax and enjoy their nearby mountains.
In 1888, Gus Knight Jr. and John
Metcalf, a pair of enterprising Bear Valley cattlemen,
formed a partnership to build Knight's Hotel, the area's
first mountain resort. By May 1888, all 30 of the rooms
planned for the hotel were booked and cots were added to
increase the sleeping capacity.
From the beginning, the resorts were
limited by a lack of good transportation into the
mountains. Knight and Metcalf took matters into their
own hands in 1892 when they built the Bear Valley Wagon
Road, a rough patchwork of new and existing roads.
Although the road was a major improvement over the old
logging and burro routes, it still took a day and a half
by stage to reach Bear Valley from Redlands. Read More at
the SB Sun
Top
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Santa's
Village lives in memory
Monument to the concept of
Christmas (From the Daily
Bulletin)
SKYFOREST - On the Rim of the World,
between Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs, a giant
candy cane looms behind stacked timber like a ghost of
Christmas past.
Santa's Village was the image of the
North Pole as reflected in the mirror of Southern
California-style marketing. Opened in 1955 - the same
year as Disneyland - the amusement park was advertised
during cartoon shows as a mountain getaway for children
growing up in asphalt suburbs.
"I went as a kid. I went with my
nieces and nephews," reminisced 38-year-old Theresa
Maile, who now works as Rim Family Services' office
manager. "Everything smelled good. Everything tasted
good. It was like a little fantasy land." Read
more at the Daily Bulletin
Top
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Remote peak worth the long journey
up
Monument peak a
tough climb (From the SB
Sun)
There are many fascinating historic
sites in San Bernardino County to explore.
Sometimes, however, it takes a bit
of effort to find them. One of the most interesting -
and toughest to get to - is Monument Peak.
The monument commemorates the
arrival of the Rev. Francisco Garces - the first known
missionary explorer to cross the San Bernardino
Mountains (in 1776) and Jedediah Smith, the first Anglo
to reach California overland (in 1826).
The route these men followed was the
ancient Mohave Indian Trail, which climbed from the west
fork of the Mojave River up Sawpit Canyon to the crest
(where the monument is), then descended the ridge
between Cable and Devil canyons to the San Bernardino
Valley.
Today, it's a fire break that descends the steep ridge,
obliterating all signs of the prehistoric pathway.
Read more from the SB
Sun
Top
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Rim of the World Drive still
moves
Highway History-
(From the San Bernardino Sun)
When the early settlers rushed to Southern
California in search of gold and new land, the rugged
San Bernardino Mountains stood as a daunting barrier to
the coastal plains. But when the settlements in the San
Bernardino Valley began to take hold, these same
mountains became an essential source of water, lumber
and eventually recreation.
The remote and rugged nature of the San Bernardino
Mountains proved to be the biggest lure and barrier to
opening the range to the enjoyment of the general
public. For decades, precipitous logging roads were the
only way into the mountains. Even into the early 1900s,
only the bravest "flatlanders" attempted the trek by
early automobiles. Read more at the SB
Sun
Top
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Lake Arrowhead Real Estate
Trends
In May '08, the median selling price of a
home sold in Arrowhead Woods rose 4% from last
year. Also in May, unit home sales for
Arrowhead Woods fell 24% from the same period last
year. May's median selling
price was up 4% and unit Home
sales were flat over April
'08.
View Arrowhead Woods Twelve
Month History
View
Arrowhead Woods Home Sales since
2000
In
the surrounding mountain communities, unit Home
sales rose 18% in May '08 compared
to May '07. Twenty-six homes sold in the
surrounding communities this March compared
to 22 last year. March's median selling price
in these areas fell to $192,400 from Mach
'07's $253,750, a 24% decrease. Also, the May
median selling price fell 7% and unit Home sales
rose 85% from April '08.
Reminder- This is a small
market. The selling price of one or two homes can
skew the numbers greatly.
|
Arrowhead
Woods |
Mar '08 |
Apr '08 |
May '08 |
May '07 |
| Homes
Sold |
16 |
19 |
19 |
25 |
| Median Sale
$$ |
$562,500 |
$450,000 |
$470,000 |
$450,000 |
| Median List
$$ |
$590,000 |
$469,000 |
$497,500 |
$469,900 |
| Avg. Days on
Market |
202 |
147 |
164 |
165 |
| Homes
Listed |
62 |
78 |
94 |
45 |
| Arrowhead Lakefronts |
Mar '08 |
Apr '08 |
May '08 |
May '07 |
| Homes
Sold |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
| Median Sale
$$ |
$2,312,500 |
NA |
$680,000 |
$2,100,000 |
| Median List
$$ |
$2,600,000 |
NA |
$699,000 |
$2,200,000 |
| Avg. Days on
Market |
241 |
NA |
16 |
105 |
| Homes
Listed |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
|
Mar. '08 Home Sales by
Price Ranges |
Homes
Listed |
Homes
Sold |
Avg. Days On
Market |
| $100K-$199k |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| $200K-$299K |
8 |
1 |
5 |
| $300K-$399K |
22 |
4 |
163 |
| $400K-$499K |
21 |
5 |
80 |
| $500K-$599K |
9 |
3 |
177 |
| $600K-$699K |
11 |
1 |
16 |
| $700K-$799K |
6 |
2 |
491 |
| $800K-$899K |
6 |
1 |
20 |
| $900K-$999K |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| $1.0M-$1.9M |
9 |
3 |
229 |
| $2.0M-$2.9M |
2 |
0 |
172 |
| $3.0M and
up |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Data gathered from the RIMAOR
MLS. All infromation believed to be correct, but
is not warranted.
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Upcoming Area
Events
June-
Weekends- Summer Concert
Series- Lake Arrowhead Village (Download Concert
Schedule)
Tuesdays and Fridays- Classic
Movie Nights- Lake Arrowhead
Resort
Fridays- Farmer's Market- Lake Arrowhead
Village
Saturdays- Wings 'n Things- Wildhaven
Ranch Rehabilitation Center &
Sanctuary
Saturdays- Skyquest Program- MSAS
Astronomy Village
7-8- Antique and Wooden Boat and
Woody Car Show- Lake Arrowhead
Village
14- Forest Fesitval- Blue Jay
Village
21-22- Rotary Art and Wine Show-
Tavern Bay Beach Club
28-29- Home Improvement Show- Lake Arrowhead
Village
24-26- Memorial Day Celebration-
Lake Arrowhead
Village
30- Farmer's Market- Lake Arrowhead
Village
31- Pinewood Derby- Mt.
Calvary Lutheran Church
All
events subject to change without
notice.
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