Springtime

Spring has often been described as a battle between winter and summer. No where is this more true than here in the mountains. Last Saturday was a picture perfect day with record high temperatures in the 60’s and yesterday we received 28 inches of new snow at Alta. Spring is the time of the year where one day you are skiing in a turtleneck and windbreaker and the next day hat, goggles and full winter gear. This is what makes spring skiing so fun.

For the past year I have been saying that we may be looking back to this time as the opportunity to have purchased resort real estate at bargain prices. With the stock market slowly heading upward for the past two weeks and news reports that new housing starts were up in Feb and sales of existing homes were very strong, this prophecy may be becoming true. While it certainly continues to be a buyers market here in Park City as well as the other western ski resorts, I have definitely seen an increase in activity. Here in Park City I have seen the number of contracts written and accepted slowly increase. I have also been receiving calls much more frequently to show my listings and for information regarding them. While we certainly have not turned the corner to becoming a sellers market, we very well may be nearing the bottom of this buyers market. One of the signs that we may be nearing the bottom is that I am seeing a large increase in purchases by investors. These investors have been sitting on the side lines waiting for the right moment and their move tells me that this is the right time to purchase. Time will tell. But with the extremely low interest rates, a good selection of properties on the market, and sellers willing to negotiate, we could be looking back to this spring and saying “Why didn’t I purchase then?”

All three of the park city ski resorts, Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons are scheduled to close on April 12th. With just 2 and ½ weeks left to our ski season come out visit us and take advantage of these days.