Vacation-home market faces long road to recovery

This is an interesting article I saw the other day, looks like a continued buyers market here in Angel Fire also...

By Rob Reuteman, CNBC.comPosted 5/8/2011 2:00 PM

The buyers' market for vacation homes is likely to continue for years, with activity largely limited to buyers with enough cash to circumvent a tighter, post-recession lending environment.

Thirty-six percent of all vacation-home buyers in 2010 did not use a mortgage — versus 29 percent the year before — while more than half of them financed less that 70 percent of the purchase price, according to the National Association of Realtors. Of those who bought a second home as a rental investment, 59 percent paid cash.

"Mortgage lending in the past three years has been pretty rough, with much higher underwriting standards," says Paul Bishop, NAR's vice president for research. "People drawn into the market at this point are buyers with substantial cash, or people not dealing with a mortgage. If your credit is strong and you put down a sizeable down payment, lenders are more interested."

Vacation homes remain the hardest-hit sector of the U.S. real estate market.... Read the rest of the article at the link above.