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August 19–Tourism and construction are in fast-forward in Mammoth. As the construction crane for the Village 80/50 project comes down a larger more impressive one swings into action on the Westin Monache project. Significant condominium construction is occurring on both golf courses as Snowcreek Phase 6 (The Lodges) infills towards the Catholic Church and Old Mammoth Road and the Solstice project (Intrawest) is taking shape in Sierra Star. Little condo projects and new homes are popping up all over the place. The Village is finally seeing some life due to special events and some new food service tenants. The news out of the airport has taken a 180-degree turn in the past couple of months, highlighted by a favorable ruling from the Appeals Court. Now we need to wait for the completion of the new environmental documents and the completion of that process. And there is plenty of water everywhere. The lakes and creeks are full and wonderful summer rainstorms have kept everything green. And the Mammoth Community Water District says we have enough water for build out–as long as we cut back on sod a little.
The potential sale of the Ski Area continues to be the buzz with no real concrete information in the pipeline the last 30 days. Rumors were that the announcement would be made this weekend as Mammoth celebrates Dave McCoy's 90th birthday. I'll be out to sea so I won't know but the odds are it is a little premature to be discussing the particulars. Whatever does happen I think we can be assured it will launch Mammoth into an interesting new era. Name brand hotel operators like Westin, St. Regis, Pan Pacific, etc., wouldn't be lining up here if they didn't have the confidence that the transition was going to make a profound difference. Look for a significant spread in SKI Magazine on Mammoth in the coming months. It should create even more national and international attention.
So what's the market doing? Inventory numbers have made their traditional move upward and if we really are in traditional selling cycle (my thoughts) we will probably peak out in the next couple of weeks. The volume of property showings has risen dramatically and sales have jumped in the past week to ten days. Once the kids are back in school and the "empty nesters" come to town after Labor Day, I would expect that showing and selling activity to rise.
What has been hot? The Crowley Lake area has been the best seller of late. But that is no surprise after a 600-inch winter. Even long time second home owners get tired of snow after a winter like that. Residential lots in Mammoth have finally started to sell in all price ranges, but there are only a few left under $600,000 worth owning–and they real are "not making any more." At least not too many more and they definitely won't be cheap. A hot part of the Mammoth market has been quality homes of recent vintage in the 3,000 square foot +/- range with sale prices in the $1.4K to $1.6K range. Other hot sellers in the past couple of weeks have been larger Village units, mostly the 3 bedroom units in the $1.3K price range. This kind of activity tells me that the higher end of the market here in Mammoth is where the strength is.
If you have any concerns about any real estate bubble in Mammoth, I refer you to the Real Estate Times Labor Day issue. My regular Q & A column addresses that topic. That column can also be found here on this website, but the Real Estate Times can be found all over town and it has lots of pretty pictures. The Mammoth Lakes Board of Realtors® is in the process of converting to a new Multiple Listing Service. Once it is fully operational (should be soon), the public will be able to access a live, online, fully up-to-date resource of properties in the Mammoth area through any website of a participating broker. No more stale information, no exclusions, etc., basically no nonsense for the consumer. Now the consumer will have to learn how to decipher it all.
Meanwhile, the next few months are going to get very interesting.
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