Taylor Made Vacations & Sales - Deep Creek Lake Blog

Deep Creek Lake Wisp Resort Winter Sports

Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor

Deep Creek Lake Wisp Resort Winter Sports. Okay folks; get your minds centered at the task at hand. Feel the cold winter, accept the cold winter, love the cold winter! After you get in the winter spirit, turn your focus toward Deep Creek Lake and Wisp Resort and get ready for the winter sports to begin. We have had steady flow of snowfall for the last week and conditions are improving at Wisp Resort. Wisp has had the snowmaking canons firing around the clock for the last couple of weeks to ensure that they have a solid base of snow to get the season started. As I look out my window from Long and Foster across the lake, my vision of the ski slopes is impaired because of the amount of snow we are getting at the moment. It is forecasted to keep coming down for the next few days, and then on and off for the next 10 days. Load up the car and the family, set your GPS for Wisp Resort and spend the next couple of weeks of the holiday season enjoying impressive powder. See you on the slopes.

Deep Creek Lake WVU Fans

September 4, 2010 and we get out first cool fall-like morning,

waking up to 50 degree temperatures and the start of college football season. There are a lot of West Virginia University fans here at Deep Creek Lake and I’m pretty confident that I’m at the top of the list of passionate football fans.

I started going to the WVU games when I was 4 years old and haven’t missed a season in 27 seasons. My sweet grandmother would stitch me really cute Mountaineer cheerleading outfits and I would chant as loud as I could cheering on my team.

I have many exciting football-based memories with my friends and family. We traditionally show up 3-4 hours before the game and get our tailgating groove on with a huge clan of WVU fans. Morgantown is a hardcore football town that shows immense pride in their beloved team.

As I pack up the car this morning with my tailgating gear my stomach already stirs with excitement in anticipation of hearing the Mountaineer Marching Band blasting out Mylan Puskar stadium, and the Mountain man mascot firing a shot out of his period rifle leading the team on the field! LETS GO MOUNTAINEERS!!!!!

Kayaking on Deep Creek Lake

I’m not afraid to be the broken record here at Deep Creek Lake by yet again bragging about perfect temperatures here at the lake. Seriously! You can’t make this stuff up! Late summer mornings on the lake are ideal for your recreation of choice or just kick off your shoes and take a load off.

Here’s a thought…Go rent yourself a Kayak, find yourself a nice glassy shoreline and round up your sweetheart to go for a lazy adventure. Come on people, this is a sport that you don’t have to be a triathlon champ or a muscle head to enjoy. Gently dip your paddle in peaceful DCL and get yourself a nice chill glide going. Take notice of the amazing views that you may have passed before too quickly on a boat. Kayaking is a great way to absorb new things around the lake that you have overlooked before. More importantly it’s a great way to calm your mind while having a delightful experience. Don’t put if off any longer. Come enjoy this special time of the year when the crowds have thinned down and the lake is perfect for this fantastic sport.

Real estate market looking up at Deep Creek Lake

Real estate market looking up at Deep Creek Lake. YES, this statment is proving to be true! There have been 17 residential sales thus far in 2010, with sales prices ranging anywhere from $80,000-825,000. On top of that, there are 32 additional residential properties that are under contract or pending sale with asking prices of $42,900-2,250,000. This is potentially 49 sales for the 1st quarter of 2010. Nothing to shrug off considering the low consumer confidence we’ve seen over the last 18 months.

For comparison, there were 18 home sales during the same time last year ( 1/1/09-3/1/09), 32 sales in 2008, 49 sales in 2007 and 67 sales in 2006. Our average list price to sales price ratio is still 91%, which is considerably good when looking at the nation’s averages. (Source for # of units sold: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, MRIS)

Deep Creek Lake’s real estate source

Real estate market looking up at Deep Creek Lake — Real Estate expert Betsy Spiker Holcomb

Real Estate information from Deep Creek Lake

We’ve made it through the first 36-48” we received at Deep Creek Lake this weekend and now we’re bearing down for the next 12-20” coming tonight and tomorrow. Having been housebound for a day, I was able to catch up on some market tidbits and interesting facts recently released by The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR®).

NAR® has recently released a book that outlines the buying habits of the previous year, 2009. What we have believed over the past year is now official…90% of buyers use the internet to search for real estate. Although these statistics are geared toward a primary residence homebuyer rather than a second homebuyer, the tactics are still the same for any buyer. This information is helpful in ‘moving with the market’ and adapting your business plan to meet the wishes of your target market.

47% of recent homebuyers were first-time.
21% of recent homebuyers were single women.
Typical homebuyer searched for 12 weeks and saw 12 homes before buying.
Recent sellers sold their home for 95% of asking price and 60% had reduced the price at least once.
42% of recent sellers offered incentives in terms of warranties and closing help.
Sources recent buyers used in home search: 90% internet, 87% agent, 59% yard sign.
Most frequently used sources by buyers: 76% internet, 68% agent, 24% yard sign.
“Most useful” information for buyers was found: 81% agent, 77% internet, 42% yard sign, 2% newspaper.
Buyers found the home they purchased using: 36% agent, 36% internet, 12% yard sign, 2% newspaper.
Website features buyers found “very useful”: 84% photos, 82% detailed information, 63% virtual tours, 46% agent contact information, 43% interactive maps, 40% neighborhood information.
What buyers want most from real estate agents: 46% finding home, 16% negotiating terms, 13% negotiating price, 9% help with paperwork, 8% comps.
What buyers considered benefits of using an agent: 63% understand process, 53% pointing out unnoticed features/faults, 42% negotiate terms, 41% improve knowledge of search area, 41% improved list of vendors, 20% expanded buyers search area, 18% narrowed buyers search area.
Number of agents interviewed by buyer: 66% one, 19% two, 10% three.
“Most important” factors for buyer agent selection: 98% honesty/integrity, 95% knowledge of purchase process, 93% responsiveness, 92% market knowledge, 84% negotiating skills, 83% people skills.
Methods used to find agent: 40% referral, 24% used agent used previously, 5% met agent at an open house, 3% saw contact information on yard sign or open house sign, 1% calendar, magnet, etc.
“Most important” factors for listing agent selection: 22% pricing help, 21% find a buyer, 19% marketing help, 19% selling home within specific timeframe, 10% find ways to fix-up home so it will sell for more.
85% of all FSBOs had an agent bring the buyer.
FSBO vs Agent Assisted Sales Price: FSBO $172,000, Agent Assisted $215,000
(Source: National Association of REALTORS®)

As always, feel free to contact me anytime concerning Deep Creek Lake or Garrett County real estate 301.616.5022. With the upcoming President’s Day holiday and the fresh powder, it’s the perfect opportunity to visit Deep Creek Lake, Maryland for a long weekend and take on Wisp Ski Resort’s 30+ trails.

Real Estate information from Deep Creek Lake — Wisp Resort

Nor-Easter-Deep Creek Lake to OBX

Nor-Easter

This Thanksgiving I packed up the family and hit the highway for the seven hour drive from Deep Creek Lake, MD to Kill Devil Hills, NC. The news was out that a devastating Nor-Easter had pounded the mid-eastern coastline for a week prior to me leaving, and some areas along the ocean would never be the same. A Nor-Easter is a powerful low pressure system that rotates counter clock wise off the coastline and whose leading north east winds cut in the beaches with the fury of a huge saw. The water level along beach communities rises 3-5 feet above normal which causes damaging flooding and massive erosion to oceanfront properties. The system stalls for days and sometimes weeks and wipes out fragile sandbars that serve as a protection barrier for the beaches.

After arriving at the beach it was hard not to notice the amount of debris left behind by the storm. There were wooden decks and walkways shredded and splintered into thousands of pieces and left floating up and down the seaboard in the violent waves crashing on the beach. Some homes crumbled into the water from the brute force of Mother Nature never to be built again. The cleanup work is immense and septic trucks work around the clock to pump out property in flood zones. This creates a secondary problem because most of these areas are over septic fields plagued with bacteria’s. This water is then pumped into the ocean making it a more dangerous place to be for fall surfers who are chasing the storms dying energy.

I talked to my mother who lives inland in Virginia Beach and who has weathered storms there for 30 + years. She said she cannot remember any storm, hurricanes included, that has caused this much damage. It does give us all a reason to be thankful for having family and friends to lean on during such a draining event.

Category: Taylor Made Vacations & Sales

Deep Creek Lake Wisp Resort Winter Sports

Deep Creek Lake WVU Fans

Kayaking on Deep Creek Lake

Real estate market looking up at Deep Creek Lake

Real Estate information from Deep Creek Lake

Nor-Easter-Deep Creek Lake to OBX

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Deep Creek Media

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