Ouray County Colorado May Market Update--Good Deals Go Fast!

Although I work out of my real estate office in Montrose, CO, I also live in Ridgway, Ouray County, Colorado, a county with a population of less than 5,000. I get the occasional listing or buyer looking in this area, which alway pleases me, since I love living here so much. This past May Day, as I worked from my beautiful home with the spectacular view of the Cimarron Mountains, I thought I'd take a look at the residential active and sold listings for Ouray County on our MLS.

I found 262 such listings, of which 28 sold in the last 6 months. That represents less than 11% of the inventory. Of the active listings, prices range from $99,000 to $7,995,000. Average asking price is $603,916, and median asking price, $408,000. Average days on the market is 332 (and counting).

Of the sold listings, the prices ranged from $99,000 to $770,000. The average sale price was $306,579, and median sale price, $260,000. Average days on market was 225.

Out of the 262 listings, 17 are bank-owned (foreclosures), which represents less than 7% of the total market. Of these 17 listings, 10 sold within the last 6 months, ranging in sale prices from $148,000 to $328,000. Those 10 sales out of the total of 28 sales means that almost 36% of the sales were foreclsoures.

Of the 7 active foreclosure listings, 3 are under contract ranging in asking price from $144,900 to $292,500. The 4 remaining active listings not under contract range in price from $155,000 to $450,000. The latter started out with an original price of $750,000!

Clearly, what is moving in Ouray County are the real bargains (i.e., bank-owned) or more relatively affordable homes for Ouray County, i.e., close to $300,000 and under. While it is a great time to buy in Ouray County, in fact, there is not a whole lot of bargain or affordable inventory. Such inventory that exists goes quickly. So, if you're thinking of buying in Ouray County, you will need to keep a close eye on the market and move quickly to take advnatage of these good deals.

Do you live in Ouray County? Are you buying or selling? Let us know what your experiences have been like in this market

Ninah

P.S. Do you recognize this photo? It's in Ouray County. If you've never seen this in person, you may have seen it in the original John Wayne movie, True Grit.