![]() Stephan said interest rates have scared away “maybe one or two” buyers, but for the most part, business is brisk with a combination of cash offers and financing. “(And) I have five or six inland lake listings coming up in the next little bit they just probably won’t (come available) until May or June.” “I know there’s quite a few (homes) that are going to be coming on the market, we’re just waiting for those sellers to pull the trigger,” Stephan said. Last year at this time, they’d closed on 34 home sales.Ĭurrently, according to, there are about 93 homes for sale in Oscoda County and under 70 in Alpena County, with about 27 of those listed by Stephan’s Real Estate One offices. According to the Real Estate One Northeast office in Oscoda, so far this year, their agents made 20 sales, with another three or four expected to close by the end of the month. She said it’s still very much a seller’s market in her territory, with more buyers than there are listings, and many offers coming in over asking price.Īccording to the Northern Great Lakes Multiple Listing Service, the average home price in her area in March was just more than $150,000, about $10,000 higher than the previous spring.įewer listings this year mean fewer closings. Most of the vacation home buyers in her area come from metro Detroit, Lansing and to a lesser degree, Grand Rapids. Lori Stephan is broker-owner at Real Estate One of Alpena and Real Estate One Northeast in Oscoda and Tawas. Credit: Real Estate One Northeast Alpena, Oscoda, Tawas This all-brick Victorian with a guest house, main house and lookout tower overlooking Lake Huron is for sale for $995,000 at 5582 N. ![]() “We are actually building inventory faster than we did last year, so that’s promising,” he said. At his office, though, he’s encouraged that it’s up 2% year over year, thanks to new construction. Heath said that marketwide, the new listing volume in the first quarter compared to last spring is down about 19%. And there are only about 30 residential properties available to buy in the whole county, which has a population of just less than 26,000 residents. There are about 10 active listings in Otsego County that Heath would consider “vacation home” candidates, ranging anywhere from $150,000 to $600,000 in prime areas. Our inventory started going down about eight years ago, but it was modest drops until around 2019 or ‘20, when (the decrease) started to really accelerate,” he said. “For years now, we’ve had a shortage, and it just keeps getting worse and worse. And for buyers looking for lakefront property, as of April 25, there was only one listing available on an all-sports lake in Otsego County across all 12 lakes in the area that allow power boats. Inventory is “extremely short” this spring compared to past years at this time, he said. This compares to a “typical” average increase of 3% in pre-pandemic years, he said. Heath said the median home price this spring in his territory is about $230,000, compared to $206,000 last year, an increase of 11.6%. Outside Michigan, they typically come from Ohio, Indiana and southern Ontario, Canada. He said most of the county’s vacation home buyers - which make up about 35% to 40% of his market - hail from Oakland County, followed by the Lansing area and Washtenaw County, which includes Ann Arbor. Mike Heath is a broker with Coldwell Banker Schmidt in Gaylord who sells homes across Otsego County, with prices that have ranged from $54,000 to $1.5 million in the past two years. Credit: Coldwell Banker Schmidt Indian River Gaylord This home for sale for $245,000 at 11747 Fascination Drive on Guthrie Lake in Frederic, near Gaylord, is one of only 10 active listings in Otsego County that Realtor Mike Heath would consider a vacation home. Here’s a look at what real estate agents in various Michigan vacation home hot spots report. “Lake home buyers often pay cash, particularly if they have a second home, so mortgage availability and rates have little to no impact.” “Mortgage interest rates remain virtually meaningless for lake real estate, other than influencing general real estate market perception,” he wrote in the report. ![]() Keep up with all things West Michigan business.
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