Summer in the Mountains

After the wettest June on record the month of July arrived and with it came summer. Since the 1st of July the weather has been hot and sunny with just the occasional afternoon thunderstorm. As a result of the early rain and warm sunny days the mountains are a symphony of color. When out hiking, mountain biking, or even driving over some of the mountain passes, one can not help but be amazed by the array of flowers and all of the various colors. Both visitors and locals can’t stop talking about how beautiful the mountains are right now. Another welcomed benefit to the rain is that the hiking/biking trails are well packed down and not thick and dusty like in many years past. This is certainly a year to come out and see for your self how spectacular summertime in the mountains can be.

Last weekend Park City hosted its annual Food and Wine Classic. Friday was the Main Street Wine Stroll where vintners from around the world displayed for participants to sample. The event started on the plaza of the Town Lift right on lower Main Street and then continued to the top of Main Street where various restaurants and galleries hosted a stop. At each stop a group of vintners poured samples of their wine while the restaurant or gallery provided a delicious array of food. The event, always popular, was a huge success and my group finished off the evening with an outdoor dinner at a local restaurant (owned by Robert Redford) where Rich Wyman performed. Rich Wyman is a local recording star who frequently travels to Ireland and northern Europe for concerts. His music is both entertaining and exciting and at the end of his show we all toasted each other to a delightful evening in Park City. Visit www.richwyman.com for more info on this wonderful artist.

In Real Estate news the market turnaround that we first saw starting in March has continued through the month of June. We saw the number of real estate contracts written and accepted begin to increase in the month of March and each following month has been stronger than the previous month. While we are certainly still in a “buyers market”, I am beginning to detect a bit of urgency on the buyer’s side as the exceptional deals are being snatched up. Even though the news that we hear every day indicates that the nationwide real estate market has yet to bottom out, the western resorts are a different animal. For the past 18 months we have seen numerous buyers wanting to purchase a vacation home here in Park City but felt that they were better off waiting for the real estate market to correct itself. Now that the market correction seems to have occurred, this pent up demand is the driving force behind our market turnaround. The word about the continued monthly increase in sales has filtered down to our buyers who are seeing the writing on the wall. During this recent real estate downturn it is often said that no buyer wants to be the first to leap into the market but they but they certainly don’t to be last either.

While I would still say that the majority of transactions are in the $1 million and under price range we continue to see a number of purchases above $3 million also. An interesting home that has just come on the market is a 20,000 square foot home situated on 60 + acres near mid mountain Deer Valley and is listed for $55,000,000. While the home is spectacular the setting on over 60 wooded acres makes this a one of a kind property. For more information on this property type this link into your internet browser : http://pcmls.com/Pub/EmailView.asp?r=1298536824&s=PKC&t=PKC.
While this number appears astronomical, and it certainly is, an estate home in Aspen just sold for $40,000,000. As always, there are buyers willing to pay for the unique property that cannot be duplicated.

One of the unique attributes of Park City/Deer Valley is the amount of developable land not only directly on but high up on the mountain. Because most western ski resorts are on national forest land, we are unique in our ability to build ski homes directly on the upper elevations of the resorts.

This is the summer to visit us and when you do, take some time and let me show you what is so unique about Park City and Deer Valley.