REAL ESTATE: The Riley Report

Hello From Beautiful Pagosa Country!

It’s a beautiful spring morning. The snow is all gone except for up on the mountain peaks. The rivers are running at their peak flows, ideal for rafting and kayaking. Unfortunately, we did not get as much snow as usual last winter. The snowpack in our mountains is currently at 72% of median for this time of year. The lack of spring rains is not helping the situation.

This moisture problem is creating a new financial problem in our area. A lot of the insurance companies are pulling out of the region. After 30 years using the same insurance company without making any claims, I was recently informed that they will no longer insure my home. I’m not an isolated case. My brother owns a fourplex in the area, and he called all over the place before he found someone who would insure his property. I’ve been calling around to multiple insurance companies, and it looks like the companies who are staying are raising their rates dramatically – probably 30% or more. If you own a home in Pagosa, you might contact your insurance company to find out whether they intend to continue your coverage.

The lack of insurance carriers combined with higher insurance costs is one of several issues we are facing. Taxes have gone up dramatically in the past year. I met with the County Treasurer yesterday to get a better grasp of the increase. The increase is approximately 36% since your last bill. It is expected that the county will take in $33,465,988 this year versus last year’s $24,631,752. Another cost increase is for Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation (PAWSD). If you are building a new home today which will hook up to both water and sewer, the cost just went up from approximately $9,000 a couple months ago to $32,000 today. Water bills are also going up substantially. This increase is intended to help pay for a new sewer plant. The last increase is the cost of mortgage rates which are above 7% compared to 3% a few years ago.

So what’s the good news? Even with all these cost increases, Pagosa is still much more affordable than most other mountain resort communities. Pagosa is a beautiful place to live and the people are friendly. After living here for 41 years and counting, there’s no place I’d rather live.

Now for the latest real estate news. The total number of real estate sales this year is up 20%. We’ve had 171 sales compared to 142 last year. Home sales are down 9%, with 64 this year versus 70 last year. Condos and townhome sales are up 100% with 16 this year versus 8 last year. Vacant land sales are up 42%, with 84 this year versus 59 last year.

Home sales were down across most categories with a couple exceptions. The range of $400K-$500K was up just slightly, and the range above $1,000,000 was up 63% with 13 sales so far this year compared to 8 last year. Some good news is that real estate inventory is up 26% across the board, with 479 properties currently available compared to 355 last year at this time. Home inventory is up 44%, condo and townhome inventory is up 220%, and land inventory is up 24%. In general, we are seeing an improving real estate market.

We still see a lot of cash buyers coming in from out of town. If you need to get a mortgage, rates have been fluctuating above 7%. They were up as high as 7.5% a couple weeks ago. Today a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is averaging 7.16%, and a 15-year is at 6.64%.

At the beginning of the year, we thought interest rates would start to come down by July, but it looks like it will be the end of the year or the beginning of 2025 if inflation is still a problem for the Fed, and they are holding tight on higher rates for longer.

So long for now. Enjoy watching the spring flowers popping up all over, and pray for rain!