If have be dreaming of buying a home in the mountains, then now is the time. There are a lot of great deals on all kinds of properties, but the key is knowing where to look. The reason that it can be difficult to know where to find deals on mountain real estate is because the best deals are actually kind of surprising. Here is a closer look at how mountain real estate was affected during the prior housing market nightmare and where you can find the best deals on mountain real estate today.

There Are Still Resort Areas That Could Face Bankruptcy

While mountain real estate in general has started to rebound, there are still a lot of to-be resort areas that were being built during the housing boom that are still technically on the market. The problem is that they could soon be in bankruptcy court. Make sure that where you buy mountain real estate, that it is somewhere fairly established, especially if its primarily driven by tourism.

The Most Well Known Resort Towns Still Don’t Have Any Deals

During the housing bust, mountain towns that were already established and world-class resorts didn’t suffer all that much because there was still a steady stream of loyal customers. For example, Vail, CO actually increased in 2008 whereas nearby Avon, CO saw the average home drop more than 35 percent.

Where to Find Deals On Mountain Real Estate

If you want to live near a world-class resort or established mountain town, then the first place to start searching is the surrounding satellite towns. These towns didn’t fare nearly as well and across the board saw a lot of price drops. This is particularly true if you are looking for a mid-ranged home. These are the homes that simply don’t have many prospective buyers right now. The extremely cheap homes and very expensive mansions are still doing fairly well on the market and are definitely not where you will find the best deals.

Regardless of where in the country you, there are two ways to get a great deal on mountain real estate. The first is to find a motivated seller and the second is to simply wait it out and hunt for foreclosures Motivated sellers come in many shapes and forms and definitely offer you the best possible solution. In most cases, they are selling their property to get enough money to keep up with their primary mortgage (as most mountain real estate is the second home or vacation home). The other reason they may be in a hurry to sell is because if they don’t, they will end up in foreclosure Many sellers don’t mind losing big on the home as long as it keeps a foreclosure off of their record.

If you don’t want to deal with sellers directly or don’t really mind the area in which you buy your property, then foreclosure sales are a great deal. In most cases, they are sold for whatever amount is left on the mortgage from the previous owner. If they bought the home in the early 2000′s, they will have already been paying on it for nearly a decade.

There are a lot of great opportunities available as long as you know where to find deals on mountain real estate.  Keep mind there are plenty of people with ski jobs looking for seasonal rental properties.