It was a Christmas Season closing for the Big Bear lakefront property located at 248 Lagunita Lane. This sale marked the 35th lakefront home sale of 2012, well surpassing the mere 16 lakefront sales we saw in 2011.
Originally listed at $849,000 and price reducing over time to $695,000, this home sold for $650,000 after a whopping 1211 days on market closing at $232 per square foot.
This property is quite unique in that it includes 4 lakefront cabins totalling 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms on a 10,000 square foot lot. The location is at the end of Mallard Lagoon, a small canal-like cove, in a shallower water location and squeezed in tight amongst its neighbors. The cabins themselves had been partially remodeled but still in need of upgrades and improvements. The remodeling that had been done to these homes was sufficient at best, in my opinion.
Ultimately, this property was likely more attractive to those looking for rental cabins on the lake and likely more desirable to those with building and/or handyman skills.
With only 20 homes for sale on the lake at this point in time and with sales more than double last year's, it appears that the Big Bear lakefront real estate market has seen quite a turn around. Mortgage rates rose slightly this past week but are amazingly still staying below 3.5%! So long as the number of lakefront homes for sale stays low, buyer demand stays high, and interest rates stay in the 4% and under range, I think we may see price increases - maybe even significant ones - in 2013!