Green Real Estate in Idaho

So, several weeks ago, January 7th to be exact, an interesting article by Deborah Orr was published by Forbes about the 25 weakest housing markets in the US. Surprising to some, Boise was named in this list, but as you may imagine, there is more to the story.

Firstly, as I am sure many of you do as well, I spend some time now and again looking around in print and online publications to see what kind of press Boise, the Treasure Valley, and Idaho are getting at any given time. For the most part, the last few years have been especially good media wise when it comes to Idaho and real estate in general. Favorable climate, affordable housing and cost of living, along with a growing economy and abundant recreation/outdoor activities were some of the items featured in these stories. Some online commentators have speculated that we’re perfectly content to bathe in the good press but unable to accept the bad. The problem however is that this article doesn’t seem to have much substance.

Outlined in the beginning are the criteria used to identify potential areas.

To find them, we asked Moody’s Economy.com to compile a list of the country’s real estate markets that are furthest from recovery. Moody’s looked at the country’s Census-defined metro areas–including metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas–with populations over 500,000 and prepared forecasts through 2011. They then compared them with prices in the second quarter of 2008, the latest figures available, to calculate how far prices will likely fall before reaching bottom.

My biggest issue with the article is that Ms. Orr and or Moody’s (where the data came from) seem to think that Boise is a big second home market, lumping us in with Salt Lake and Provo UT as major declining ski home sales areas. Wait… What?? No one buys ski homes here in Boise or the “Boise Metro Area”. The one exception to this “No one buys ski homes in Boise” rule I suppose could be someone who buys their PRIMARY home in Boise and happens to ski. The census map of what is the Boise Metro Area is HUGE. Here locally, the Boise Metro Area (in discussing real estate) is generally accepted as Ada & Canyon County (Boise, Eagle, Meridian, Kuna, Nampa, Caldwell, Star, etc).

Tamarack, Brundage, and Sun Valley are all within a few hours drive and the skiing is fantastic. To say that these areas with such fantastic skiing are a part of the Boise Metro Area, when considering real estate, is an extreme reach. To lump their housing issues into ours is downright laughable. Tamarack and Brundage (McCall) are served by a completely separate MLS (Multiple Listing Service). They are indeed resort communities with some year round residents, but like Sun Valley, the bulk of the market is in second home sales.

Now, as a REALTOR here in the Treasure Valley I would like to point out that I am not a member of either of these outside MLS organizations, but as an Idaho native I’m fairly confident saying that McCall/Sun Valley are mostly second home markets and are probably hurting badly for buyers.

While we continue to explore the chaos and confusion that is the economic turmoil of today it would seem normal and even expected for second home markets to suffer. Tightening mortgage requirements, economic uncertainty, rising unemployment and employment uncertainty cause consumers to seriously re-think their spending habits and jumping into a half million dollar mortgage on a second home is probably the last thing on their minds.  In the end, I suppose that the article is “accurate” because they are focused on the “Metro Area”, but the problem remains that the communities that are hurting the most (second home markets) are so far removed geographically that they really don’t play any part in the real estate market in the heart of the Treasure Valley here in Idaho.

Real Estate markets are getting enough negative press these days for issues, going out of your way to make up issues to throw fuel on the fire seems irresponsible to me.  You can check out the full article here.