Rick Evans - Sandpoint Idaho Real Estate Waterfront, Ski, and Resort Property

We took our 11 month old son on his first camping trip this past weekend, something I've been looking forward to since he was born last summer. Green Bay is one of my favorite spots in the area. Its just a 20 minute drive from Sandpoint, just a few miles past Garfield Bay. There are some great campsites off the beach, with incredible views of the Green Monarchs across Lake Pend Oreille. The well known Mineral Point trails start here, offering some of the best hiking and mountain biking in the region.

We met up with several other couples with young kids, and ended up connecting with other friends that happened to be camping next to us.

Friday afternoon the guys and I reserved our camp sites (Green Bay is completely free, first come for sites). We ended up with way more space than we needed, so it was nice to spread out. A few of us went mountain biking which is always a blast on these trails which literally start from the campground and wind up and down along the Lake.

Friday evening was spent enjoying a great sunset, hanging out around the fire and cooking some fantastic dinner (almost anything tastes great when you are outside somehow). My wife rigged a great high-chair for Trace, setting him up on top of our cooler to eat, which he loved. All the kids stayed up well past their normal bedtimes, but we actually got our little guy to sleep about as good as he does at home. We bought the big tent and set up his pac-n-play next to us, which worked great.

Saturday was probably the warmest and nicest day of the year, and we spent all of it just hanging out and playing on the beach. One of our friends brought paddle boats which were perfect for the little kids. Another brought his canoe, which I took out for an hour paddle to Garfield Bay and back. ANother buddy had his ski boat and took turns pulling everyone on the ski and wakeboard. A rarety at this big part of the Lake, the winds completely died down and we had glassy water in front of Green Bay.

The coolest part of this weekend was seeing how much fun my son had living outdoors for a couple days. Green Bay is a stone beach (most of which are too big to swallow fortunately). So Trace and all the kids had endless entertainment just tossing the stones around. Believe it or not - noone got hurt! We put Trace in his raft and pushed him around in the Lake, which he also loved. Basically our kid had a grin on his face for two days straight. What more can a Dad ask for!

For more photos of Green Bay and Mineral Point, visit www.SandpointResortRealty.com and view the photo links from the Sandpoint section. Or email Rick@SandpointResortRealty.com and I'll forward you links.

I finally played the new Jack Nicklaus designed golf course at The Idaho Club this past week. First off let me say that with all the activities I love in Sandpoint and North Idaho, I just don't find much time for golf anymore. So my skills aren't quite there these days, as you might tell by this golf swing.

The golf course was absolutely gorgeous, probably one of the more scenic courses I've seen in the Northwest. It was in really nice condition, although the greens played much slower than they appeared. As with most Nicklaus designs, there was rarely a straightforward drive or put. The greens were really tough to read and it seemed most of them were in a trough so that we found ourselves chipping or putting from above the hole all the time. In fact this may very well have been the toughest course I've ever played. You almost never have a flat lie, and there had to be 5 or 6 tee shots where you had to clear 200+ yards just to reach the start of the fairway. The holes typically narrowed considerably for the approach to the green, and of course there were tons of deep Nicklaus trademark sand traps.

So all in all this is an outstanding course for a single digit or below handicap. Its a really fun course if you can just take in the scenery and appreciate the challenge. For the average or part time golfer, most of whom you'll find at a resort course, this would definitely not be my every day choice. I don't think I could afford the golf balls I would need.

The supply of property in Bonner County continues to grow, with 3226 total listings in the Multiple Listing Service as of June 1, 2009.

There have been a total of 237 residential sales since the first of this year, most of which have been in the $200s and $300s price range. This is due in large part no doubt to the excellent financing that is available for first time buyers and anyone in the conforming loan range (under $417,000).

Since the first of the year, there have been 2093 new residential listings. This equates to 5 years of inventory at the current pace of sales. 11% of the listings are currently selling, with the balance expiring before they sell.

I like to break out the figures for Sandpoint specifically, focusing on residential without the land. We all know there is a ton of land on the market today, and some exceptional buys in comparison to years past.

From what I have seen and experienced, good properties that are priced realistically are selling reasonably quickly, particularly in the lower price range. Above $400 or so however there have been 663 listings of which 102 have sold. That's 15.38% at an average price of $289,000. The average list to sale price is actually 94.17%, which is somewhat surprising and shows that the homes getting sold are only discounting 6% from the final list price. Keep in mind this takes into account the final list price rather than the original list price. I have seen many occasions where a property was listed for awhile at a higher price, then a substantial price drop led to a quick sale.

For the price point above $500,000, there have only been 12 sales in Sandpoint since the first of the year out of 170 total listings! I believe 5 of these have taken place at Schweitzer, which really shows you how few buyers there are right now in the upper price ranges. This is great news from a buyer's standpoint, as a cash buyer looking for waterfront or other luxury property is truly in the driver's seat.

'Talk Dirt to Me' is Dover Bay's first Home & Garden Show, taking place throughout Dover Bay Resort this Saturday, June 6. This is an outdoor event that will take place from 11a to 5p, centered around Dover Bay's waterfront Marina Village.

There will be classes from KXLY Garden Expert Phyllis Stephens, an All Seasons Garden & Floral demonstration on editable landscapes, the first annual Rusty Tiller Sailing Race, kayak and canoe demos, food and all sorts of vendors. My friend Arthur's band, 'Bright Moments', will be playing near the Dover Cafe, a fun band playing lively jazz.

Each of the neighborhoods at Dover Bay will also hold an open house, where you can enter to win prizes at each location. We have a fantastic prize to give away at the Parkside Bungalows (the new homes located on the right side of Dover Parkway on the corner of Lakeshore Drive). The prize is a float plane flight for 4 people over Lake Pend Oreille, from Sandpoint Seaplane which is based out of the Dover Bay Marina.

This is sure to be a great event. Come by and see me at the Parkside Bungalows.

When my family and I decided to relocate to Sandpoint, Idaho, one of the considerations we had was in moving and investing in a region that had solid real estate fundamentals with a long term value proposition. In comparison to other places we had considered, such as McCall, Idaho, and Bend, Oregon, we certainly felt very confident in our Sandpoint decision. This is a place that has some of the finest natural amenities on the planet, with a hip and cultural progressive community, yet with very reasonable real estate pricing and supply relative to other resort destinations.

Within Sandpoint we found that Dover Bay had perhaps the strongest underlying fundamentals of any of the resort communities in the North Idaho area. This is why I personally decided to represent Dover Bay property as a Realtor, and also to live in Dover Bay Resort full time.

The following quote comes from Ralph Sletager, founder and owner of Dover Bay Development:

"We can't foresee the future; however, Dover Bay features "irreplaceable natural amenities

...there's that segment of our society that will always value waking up to a view of the water,

and being able to have direct access to their own stretch of beach. We've taken a finite

commodity, waterfront property, and enhanced what Mother Nature provided. Sales during the

down economy have been steady. We're confident that trend will continue and accelerate at

the economy gets back on track and people get their financial confidence back."

Based on everything we have experienced with Dover Bay, I can personally vouch for the above and go forward with the utmost confidence on the future of Dover and Sandpoint.