Local Scoop

About Lake Havasu AZ

Lake Havasu Arizona real estate makes a great winter playground, summer getaway, investment opportunity or full time home base. Located on the Colorado River, the western boundary between CA and AZ, Lake Havasu is approx. 150 miles from Las Vegas, NV and 200 miles from Phoenix, AZ. Property values in Lake Havasu have gone up tremendously in the past several years and have proven to be well worth the initial investment.

There are several new building oportunities in the Lake Havasu area, including Havasu Foothills Estates, Sailing Hawks Village, Vista Del Lago Estates, and the Villas at River Ranch to name a few. The new mall is still under construction, with new stores opening. Called "The Shops at Lake Havasu," it is located on the north side of the city close to the airport. J C Penney's, Dillard's, and PetSmart have opened their doors as well as the new Super WalMart. The new movie theatre opened the week of 12/15; American Eagle Outfitters, Aeropostle and Famous Footwear are now open as well with others coming soon. Yea, the new Michael's craft store opened the weekend of May 2nd to crowds of anxious shoppers! Close by is a brand new Chase Bank and McDonald's, and the new auto mall is open. There are new residential developments on the island as well, and the industrial park should be coming in the near future. Located on the I-40 corridor will be a new Wal-Mart distribution center, and Chrysler bought the Ford Proving Grounds off of I-40.

Lake Havasu boasts near-perfect weather which makes our location so attractive for many different events. Lake Havasu is host to the Skat-Trak World Championships (professional personal watercraft tour), the Relics and Rods Run to the Sun (a specialty street rod car show), the Winterblast Western Pyrotechnics Convention and Fireworks Show in February, the Senior Pro Rodeo in January, and many Bass Fishing Tournaments, just to name a few. There is something to do every weekend in Lake Havasu! If you would like to know more about local events, click on the Havasu Happenings button for a current calendar.

Many local realtors feel as though the market may have hit bottom. While about 50% of the homes sold are foreclosure homes, it is a great time for those who could not afford to purchase a home in the past to do so now. The first time home buyer credit was just signed into law and also provides a new option available to existing home owners for a $6,500 credit. As Gary Keller says in a recent Outfront publication regarding media claims about the state of the housing market, "Anyone who says this is an awful time to buy a house is showing their lack of understanding about how real estate buying (or selling) works. To begin with, residential real estate is simply not a national market product. It is a local one. Saying from a national position that this is either a good time or a bad time to buy real estate is like saying the national forecast for the U.S. today is 92 degrees. It is an irrelevant and useless perspective. Real estate is a local market product and the only thing that matters is what is happening in your local market." Lake Havasu will always be a vacation destination, close enough to get here quickly, but far enough away from the big city hustle and bustle.

Real Estate in Lake Havasu is an ever-changing event. In January of 2010, the median single family sales price was $150,050. There were 112 single family home sales, the highest priced home sold for $695,000, the lowest priced home sold for $37,000. Average single family sales price for January was $176,365. Days on the market averaged 129. Compare that to December of 09 when the highest priced home sold for $843,500, and the lowest priced home sold for $55,200. Avg. home sales price for Dec. was $195,445. Median home price for Dec. was $155,050. The condo market held steady in November with 10 units closing escrow. The high condo sales price in Jan. was $150,000 and the low price was $37,000. Our winter season is in full swing and with the Canadian dollar as good as it is, we expect a good selling season to our winter visitors. However, the prices of single family homes are so attractive at the present time, that buyers are leaning more towards the purchase of a single family residence rather than condos with an association fee. We will see if that continues with our snowbird population. The current inventory of single family homes on the market is around 699, the lowest number in months, less than a 6 mos. supply. The inventory has been steadily decreasing in the preceding months, great news for our sellers and creating a bit more urgency for buyers! There are some great deals to find in Lake Havasu at the current time. You may not see prices like this again! And with interest rates at lows not seen in years, you can't afford NOT to buy! Donna Blanchette is an experienced realtor with over 15 years in the Lake Havasu real estate field.

For knowledgeable service in the Lake Havasu AZ real estate market, contact Donna directly at 928-486-8770 or toll free 888-530-8162.