Bank owned moving quickly in Eagle County

Sales of bank-owned properties and “short” sales are driving the county's down valley real estate market.

In the lower valley, and especially in Gypsum, there are some bargains available. One bank-owned property is worth more than $180,000 on the county's property-tax rolls. It's on the market at $104,900. An older single-family, one-bedroom home there is listed for less than $90,000.

There were 132 completed real estate sales in the county in September, the highest one-month total since October of 2008. But three years ago, those sales totaled more than $165.3 million. The total for September of this year was just less than $83 million. In fact, September's sales volume was only 35 percent of the total recorded in September of 2010 on 18 fewer sales.

Bank-owned property — about 20 percent of September's total — seems to be moving pretty quickly.

In the Vail Multiple Listing System there are currently a total of 29 Bank owned properties listed for sale as of 11/10/2011. Bank owned can be a perceived value but Buyers should also consider there is value in regular properties for sale.