It has been a beautiful fall. Temperatures were above average, and the colors were prettier than usual. Wolf Creek opened on Halloween with minimal snow, but they got a good dump of 20 inches over the past couple of days. We even got a couple inches here in town, but that will melt quickly. Even though most of the autumn leaves have fallen, there is still plenty of color in the woods. The hunters are still out there wearing their orange. Hunting season wraps up this weekend. The hunters always spend quite a bit of green in town as well, and the merchants are thankful for that.
In other local news, City Market had their Grand Re-Opening yesterday with lots of hoopla. They brought in some corporate bigwigs from out of town. I stopped by for the ceremony, and it was very well done. The store looks great after the big remodel.
I stopped in to talk with Clint Alley at the Chamber of Commerce a couple of days ago to see what’s new. He didn’t have much to report, but he did mention that there is something big in the works. It’s all top secret, and he couldn’t tell me anything now, but we should see something coming down the pike in the next couple of months. We’ll just have to wait and see.
As for real estate, there was not much change last month. We’ve sold the same number of homes this year as we did last year at the same time. One bright spot in the home market is the $500,000 to $750,000 range, which is up 73% over last year. Overall sales are up 19% thanks to strong townhome and vacant land sales. Townhome sales are up 40% and vacant land sales are up 35%, with inventory down across the board. Commercial sales are strong as well, with the total number of sales nearly tripling last year. We should see strong numbers going into the end of the year because pending sales are now at 102 versus 70 last year at the same time. Overall we’re seeing steady improvement, partly thanks to interest rates still in the 4% range. Building permits have increased. We’ve had 85 new home construction permits and 231 permits overall this year. Last year at this time we had 58 new home permits and 240 overall. This means the local contractors are building a few more brand new homes and a few less decks and sheds.
I’m looking forward to attending the national Real Estate conference next week in San Diego. I’m sure I’ll learn a few new things; I always pick up something at these conferences. It will also be nice to get out of town for a few days. I know my wife and I will enjoy San Diego.
The best news that happened in the last month is that I have a new granddaughter! My son, Patrick, and his wife, Laurie, had a beautiful little girl named Tatum. Her middle name is Olivia, so maybe we can call her Tatum O’Riley. That brings the grandkid total up to four. My daughter, Heather, has two boys, and my son, Patrick has two girls. All are doing well!
GRI, CRS
2011 & 2014 Realtor of the Year
Phone (970) 731-4065
Fax (970) 731-4068
Cell (970) 946-3856
Email: [email protected]
