About Vilas County, WI

WWW.VACATIONLANDPROPERTY.COM

Trout Lake...one of Boulder Junction and Northern Wisconsin's most highly sought after lake. This property can be your for just a little more than a song and a dance. This property consists of two-hundred feet of sugar sand swimming frontage and over three acres of privacy on a dead end road. The property is currently being used as a resort as it has for over fifty years. There are three cabins and a duplex that could make for an excellent family retreat or to keep running as a resort. Many opportunities exist. Only $1,450,000.00 Can be seen by appointment only. Call today for your private viewing.

NEIL (715) 367-7270 NPLUISTER@CHARTER.NET WWW.VACATIONLANDPROPERTY.COM

Steady as it goes. When you look at the past 4 years of unit listings and sales in Vilas and Oneida Counties, we have never seen a period where unit sales remained so regular as the past 6 months. May had sales of 128 units, June 123, July 119, August 130, September 121, and October 122 units. The problem with this is we normally see a spike during these months. The last 4 Octobers saw 172 units in 2007, 224 in 2006, 223 in 2005 and 241 in 2004. So, our unit sales are off 29% from 2007. Unit sales are off 45% from 2006.

One would think that with the economy the way it is, that listing activity would be up. The Northwoods' is unique in that many of our Sellers can choose not to participate in a sluggish market. That is reflected in October listing activity with 243 listings versus 365 listings in 2007. Previous years saw 374 units in 2006, and 352 units in 2005.

The Northwoods market is not unique in that we are hurting. Most recreational markets like Maine, Minnesota, and Montana are in similar markets. We still live in a very desirable area that will recover, when the economy perks up.

On this chart, we track the average selling price of homes on and off water in Vilas and Oneida Counties. We have seen softness in the numbers of active buyers but have we seen reduction in the values? On the surface, we can look at reductions in both Vilas and Oneida County off-water. The reductions are 12.5% in off-water in Vilas, and 4.2% in Oneida. Waterfront values have actually risen 1.6% in Oneida.

Waterfront home values in Vilas are off by 9.8%. While this is obviously not good news, further investigation reveals that 2007 saw the sale of one lakefront home over $10M. If one were to take that single sale out of the 2007 values, that brings the average sales dollar to $396,745. That compares with the average sale price of $394,851 or down .47%.

What does this all mean? It's hard to tell but the figures suggest that there are not a lot of buyers in the market but that values are not falling drastically. The real question is what will happen to values in the future? I have no idea other than I would anticipate any change in value to be minimal in comparison to what is happening on Wall Street these days. Contrary to popular belief, Northwoods' real estate is stable.

WWW.VACATIONLANDPROPERTY.COM

Fence Lake homes, waterfront properties and vacant land for sale. Check out my completely updated web site that allows you to search the entire Fence Lake Chain. You can search by lake, town or price very easy by just a few clicks. I specialize in providing professional service to buyers and sellers for waterfront homes throughout Northern Wisconsin. I help buyers and sellers make an informed decision. For any questions please contact me at your conveneince.

NEIL PLUISTER (715) 367-7270 NEIL@VACATIONLANDPROPERTY.COM

Labor Day 2008 has come and gone; one of the warmest and sunniest on record. Simply gorgeous weather for those who came for the final summer hurrah to the Northwoods. Sales figures through August 2008 are now in hand for our Minocqua office. The year-to-date results are the softest we’ve seen in many years. Our record sales year of 2005 was 69% stronger than this year, as we’ve had a total volume of just $29.56 million so far in 2008. For comparison, 2005 volume through August was $94.26 million. Recent accepted contracts have had a tough time getting to closing, with several lenders being more reluctant to lend on recreational and waterfront property than in years past. Three pending closings with Team Rondello are stalled over lender issues as of this date, which is unprecedented. The market still remains in a challenging phase, and we remain committed to marketing properties every day.