Big Bear Cabins -- Looking at the Listings

Here in Big Bear, virtually everything is called a cabin.  But, for the purposes of this blog post, let's limit ourselves to single-family homes located in the Big Bear Valley.  As of June 4, 2008, there were 1183 active listings for cabins in Big Bear.  Looking at how those listings are distributed is quite interesting.  Almost half the cabins listed are in the main vacation rental areas of our valley: Big Bear Lake, Moonridge and Fox Farm.

Over one quarter of the listings were small cabins, less than 1,000 square feet and almost half of the listings were of modest size, between 1,000 and 1900 square feet.  Only about a quarter of the cabins listed were larger than 1900 square feet.

Big Bear Cabins -- Finding the Value

Now, here's the really interesting information.  Of 1183 residential listings, we found 99 "good deals."  We analyzed recent sales over the past 6 months by area to determine an average sold price per square foot for each major area in the Big Bear Valley.  Then, we compared the listing prices with these sold prices and chose good deals to be those properties listed 20% or more below the recent average sold price per square foot.  So, of the total inventory of Big Bear cabins, 8.4% of the listings are below market.  A disproportionate amount of these "good deals" are in Big Bear Lake and are between 1000 and 1900 square feet.  So, moderately sized cabins in a heavily weighted vacation rental area.

Some of these, of course, are priced well below market for a reason.  Some are in a sub-par location or in disrepair.  On the same note, some of the higher priced properties deserve that high price tag because they are in a stellar location or have a fantastic view or exceptional vacation rental income.

So, while we can analyze the numbers and create fancy metrics of valuation, nothing replaces the knowledge of a well-informed local realtor.  To learn more about Big Bear Cabins, visit the Big Bear Cabins page on my website devoted to Big Bear Real Estate -- www.RealEstate-BigBear.com.

I look forward to hearing from you with any questions and am happy to provide insight on the locations and condition of these properties. The answers are just a phone call or email away. Until next time…good hunting!