West Bubble Deflates: Tamarack Bankrupt

With the bankruptcy filing of the newest mountain resort and second home community in the U.S., Tamarack in Donnelly, Idaho, investors and owners wonder if the sound they hear is the air being let out of the West's luxury real estate bubble. The owners say dominoes started to fall last summer, but the key was the threat of foreclosure by Credit Suisse on a $262 million loan. Then a loan from the French bank Societe Generale (that the one where a rogue trader lost $7 billion) failed to come through. Tamarack is four years old and 90 % of the condos in its village have been sold, says the Idaho Statesman, but if they are not finished by Dec. 31, buyers can cancel their contracts.

A Sleeper From Sunset

McCall, Idaho? Never heard of it? That's why it's a sleeper. Sunset magazine has chosen it as one of its top choices for a second home. The mag calls it "an alternative to better-known and more expensive Sun Valley." It should be noted that McCall is also nowhere near Sun Valley. Specifically mentioned: Blackhawk, an "an environmentally aware development situated along the Payette River" which has home sites starting at less than $200,000.