Big News in Park City

Big news in Park City this week is that President Bush is coming into town Wednesday and Thursday on a fund-raising trip for the Republican Party. President Bush will be staying at the home of Mitt Romney in Lower Deer Valley. I’ve heard that there will be at least one protest rally here in town, so it should be an interesting couple of days.

The Memorial Day holiday has come and gone, which for everywhere except for the mountains, is the start of the summer season. Not untypical, it rained and snowed all weekend here. Snowbird Ski Resort is still open on weekends and last Friday skiers were enjoying 17 inches of new snow in mid-winter conditions. Snowbird still has a base of 116” at mid-mountain. My guess is that in the high country the snow will not completely go away before the start of the next season.

In talking with my fellow Realtors in the other Rocky Mountain Resorts everyone feels that there is a disconnect between buyers and sellers. As I have mentioned in the past, many of our buyers are coming from markets that have been strongly affected by either the real estate or economic downturn and are expecting that the western ski resorts are in the same position. In the majority of the cases, however, our sellers are not in an anxious position, do not need to sell, and can afford to hold onto their properties until prices climb again. The unfortunate part of all of this is that buyers are not getting the properties that they want even though, by comparison, today’s prices are bargains. What I am afraid is going to happen is that in the not-too-distant future the market is going to rebound (we are already seeing signs of that), and today’s prices will be a thing of the past. A great quote is, “Quality of time remaining.” Meaning, how much is your time worth to have the property that you want now and enjoying it with your family? Unless the purchase is strictly for an investment it is important to understand that the time spent with our families spending quality time together does have a monetary value and should not be overlooked.