I lived in the Lehigh Valley (PA) for 22 years and owned a vacation home in the western Poconos many years ago. My favorite eatery is Piggy's in the Big Boulder area ;-)

There are lots of details about the HOAs in the Poconos that out-of-state buyers would love to read about ... plenty of good content for the astute blogger there!

I am in the same market at Lake Texoma on the Texas - Okalhoma border. My marketing includes websites that deal with vacation homes, provide the extra things for customers such as handing out a vendor list of local craftmen, and do all the running around for the customer. I also provide community info like eateries, shops, hardware stores, etc. I just started a blog, not very good yet, called http://texomatalk.com,  with the intent of providing activities and events in my area. Folks in this area seem to appreciate the extra mile.

Bill

Yes, I think there are a lot of second home markets out there that were somewhat immune to the "real estate bust" over the last couple years. I say somewhat because they were affected by the daily barrage of bad real estate news in the media. And, many of these areas are mainly located within a 3 hour drive of a major urban center. In these urban centers home prices  did take a hit, causing homeowners to lose equity, and leaving them in a less viable position to buy a vacation home.

That said, most of the vacation areas were not prey to large scale sub-prime lending, and foreclosures are not at all common. In my local area, the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire, and Western Maine, sales are starting to rebound, and there are many bargains available. It appears as though the resort condo market is about to bottom out, as sales in that sector are particularly strong, and inventory is quickly working down.

We are in the Vacation Home Market in Cabo San Lucas and have found a definate slowing in the market due to the crisis in the U..S.  We are finding that the news in the U.S. is affecting the mindset of the buyer if not their pocketbook.  Therefore, we are directing a lot of attention to the Canadian and Mexican market where the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso are strong.

Barbara Cooperman

Cortez Pacifico

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

How about sharing successful advertising for second homes?  Luxury Magazines and most print seems to be more for the sellers and does not produce buyers. Strong presence a must. What else has drawn inquiries?

While I maintain Vacation Home Mall, I'm also the marketing manager/webmaster for a real estate firm in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We're currently adding a page for international buyers to our site since it's a double discount for many of them. One, their currency has gone up against the USD, and two, vacation homes and condos have lower prices than a couple years ago.

If you have a strong web presence, I take it you already have your listings going to Trulia, Propsmart, Craigslist and the like? EscapeHomes.com is also good because you can use their content editor to create a custom look, and add links back to the listing, your home page, or even a page dedicated to a specific type of vacation home such as golf homes, lake homes, beach homes, etc.

Also, it a terrific time for buyers that want to upgrade. While they may get less for their current vacation home, they'll save more when the buy a more upscale home. And, if they're looking for a new home, it's even better. This is probably the best time to buy a new vacation home because they're not selling as quickly, and costs for building materials are soaring. When the market normalizes, new homes are going to cost considerably more than they're selling for right now.

If you're selling in a high range home or condo development, you may want to get a list of owners in a mid range development through the tax rolls and bring these points to their attention. Maybe many are a bit jittery, but some, who can afford to move up, should be aware of the opportunities that are available right now.

I have been selling resort/vacation homes in the Lake Texoma area for 8 years. I am a broker and vacation home specialist.. Resort home buyers are very different. They are here on vacation or just visiting for the weekend. Most everyone is looking for a bargain, but in this area there are none. You have to convince them of that first. The successes we have come from advertising more and better than the other agencies. I personally have 4 websites other than or Coldwell Banker site and our MLS. We also are  the only agency that uses flyers at all homes. But, the main thing we do is concierge service. We treat the buyer like he is the only customer we have both before the sale and after. We have received a lot of referrals based on this activity.

Hope this helps anyone selling resort homes.

Bill Ptomey/Broker