It's Still A Great Time to Buy and Sell in the Western Poconos

With interest rates holding at 4.2% to 4.875% for a 30 year loan, it is a great time to buy a home.  Purchases of a primary residences tend to be FHA financing and more often than not, include up to 6%  seller assist.  This means that the seller is giving up to 6% from their net proceeds to the buyer to help with the buyer’s closing costs.  And quite often, without the assist, a buyer can’t qualify for the loan.  

Our area benefits with both primary and vacation home buyers.  We are seeing mature people making a purchase with the intention of perhaps retiring here at some point.  Older buyers may be buying to be closer to the family for the later years of their life. The Poconos are a great location – living in a resort setting yet only being an hour or two away from family.  The vacation home buyers continue to look for the full package of community amenities.  And our wide range of options in the resort communities make our area an attractive spot for the vacation home buyers. 

What kind of sales activity are our vacation/resort communities seeing this year?  For our comparison, we are looking at the last 12 months ending in July of 2018 compared to the last 12 months ending in July of 2017. Four of the largest subdivisions in Tobyhanna Township include Arrowhead Lakes, Locust Lake Village, Lake Naomi and Emerald Lakes.  Both Arrowhead Lakes and Emerald Lakes spill over into adjoining townships.  For the purpose of this comparison,  they get thrown into the Tobyhanna “basket.”  Sales in Arrowhead Lakes are up only by 5 units compared to last year although Arrowhead has the most closed units with 149.  Locust Lake Village sales are down from 69 units last year to 52 units this year.  However, this year double the number of houses sold over $400,000 with the top price being $839,500.  Last year’s highest price was $575,000.   Lake Naomi units are up 12.5%.  And Emerald Lakes units are up 10.5% over the prior year. 

As we continue to see higher prices and more units close, it’s satisfying to have sellers realize more value and walk away with more money in their pockets; especially after such a long time of having to “give the home away” or experience a huge loss. 

If you are interested in learning how much your home can sell for in the market you can look at online sites including Zillow.com.    But the best way is to have a professional analysis done by a Realtor. The Realtor will give you a range of value.  There is no cost for this service.  Another option is to hire a licensed real estate appraiser.  The cost for an appraisal is in the $350-$450 range.