Miners Day in Park City

Where has the summer gone that this weekend is already Labor Day, or as it is known in Park City, Miners Day. This is the weekend Park City celebrates its mining heritage with a funky small-town parade down Main Street, followed by music, food and games in the City Park and the ever-popular Mucking and Drilling Contest.

Now you may be wonder just what the heck is a mucking and drilling contest. This is a throwback to the mining days and there are two separate contests: the first, the drilling, is where former and current miners compete to see who can drill three holes in a slab of granite in the shortest amount of time using the old pneumatic drills. Best described as contraptions, these drills are about five feet long and weigh up to 70 pounds, are horrendously noisy, and will vibrate your eye teeth out of your mouth. Watching the miners pick up this piece of machinery, set it against the wall of granite and quickly drill a hole in a precise location is truly amazing. What comes next, however, is the mucking. Mucking is a term used by the silver miners for getting rid of the waste rock in the mine of which there is plenty. To do this another contraption is used which consists of an ore cart on a rail (again pneumatic driven) and with a pneumatic-powered bucket on the front. So the miner/contestant runs the cart forward on the track to the pile of muck, scoops up a bucket full which then is lifted up and over the top and drops in the ore cart. The part of the ore cart with the bucket is on a hinge which can swivel left or right or straight. So the miner is constantly angling the bucket to pick up the most amount of muck and then has to get it straight so it drops straight into the cart. The contest is to see who can fill the cart with the most muck in the smallest amount of time. As you can see, we are easily amused here in Park City. So that is Labor Day/Miners Day in Park City which will of course include the mandatory barbecues and a sad farewell to summer which feels like it just started yesterday.

In real estate news, probably the biggest news coming up that will have the most affect on buyers is that on October 1, conforming loan limits change from about $729,000 to close to $600,000. The affect that this will have on our market remains to be seen but it could be fairly significant. The gist of this change is that prior to October 1, purchases with a loan amount up to around $729,000 are available at the lower conforming rate, and now after October 1, any loan amounts over the new $600K limit will have to be jumbo loans which traditionally come at a cost of at least half a percent. The National Association of Realtors, bankers and lenders are lobbying hard to get Congress to extend this to at least the end of the year. Let's hope they are successful as this will allow buyers to continue purchasing and save significant amounts of money during the course of their loan.

Fall is one of the prettiest time of the year in the mountains with warm sunny days and cool evenings. If possible, make plans to visit for the fall colors which normally reach their peak mid-September to early October.

Summer Heat Wave

Well I suppose better late than never, but hot weather finally got hot here, and by hot I mean in the mid-80s, although Salt Lake has been approaching 100 degrees each day these past few weeks. Fortunately it’s short-lived and next week is supposed to cool off into the high 70s, to low 80s. As we have been saying for the past 2 months, each morning when we get up, "just another boringly beautiful day in Park City". Summer is rapidly winding down but music continues. This coming weekend, Leo Kottke is performing at our local Egyptian Theatre and this should be a great show that I’m looking forward to seeing.

In real estate news, I’ve been running some numbers on some different developments in Park City, and what is particularly striking to me is Empire Pass in Deer Valley. For the past few years we’ve had anywhere from 50-80 units for sale at any given time but in looking at it yesterday, there are only 20 condos for sale in all of Empire Pass. While this may seem like a lot, there were over 40 condos sold last winter and nothing new is being built. There are three more building pads available in Empire but nothing is started and even if they were to break ground today it would be two years before anything was developed. For sometime now we’ve been saying watch out in Empire Pass as what looks like an unlimited supply of condos will quickly run out and once again, buyers will be left saying, "Why didn’t I...?"

Just a short blog today as I am off taking clients to golf at Tuhaye on a beautiful summer afternoon. Hope you are enjoying your summer and plan to ski park City this winter.

July vs. July Sales and YTD Real Estate Comparison

As I've mentioned in previous posts, real estate sales for the first half of 2011 have been up over the same period of 2010 and this trend is continuing. Year-to-date sales (through July), for single-family homes are up 23% from 349 in 2010 to 430 in 2011. Comparing July to July, there were 58 sales of single-family homes in 2010, compared to 67 sales in 2011 or an increase of over 15%. Year-to-date average sold price is up 4.2%, $852,820 in 2010 to $888,601, 2011. July to July averages are more dramatic as average sold prices increased 32.4%: $688,534 in 2010 to $911,958 in 2011. While the number of sales has been increasing, the number of new listings of single-family homes continues to decline. In July, 2010, there were 219 new homes listed but only 165 listed in July 2011, a decline of 24.7%.

Condo sales show a mixed trend. Number of sales year-to-date have increased 10.6% from 293 in 2010 to 324 in 2011, but average sold price continues to decline from $943,085 to $603,026 in 2011 for a decrease of 32%. As with single-family homes, the number of new condos listed has also continued to decline, from 757 in 2010 to 623 in 2011, or a decrease of 17.7%. Comparing July to July, the number of sales has increased 34.6% from 26 in 2010 to 35 in 2011 but average sold price was dramatic: $817,942 in 2010 to $335,287 in 2011 for a decrease of 59%. Again, like single-family homes, the number of listings is down 18% July vs. July, from 92 new condo listings in 2010 to 77 in 2011.

So what does this all mean? Buyers are here and they are buying. However, buyers are very price-sensitive and only buying what they perceive to be deals. With inventory continuing to decline, the better properties are going away faster than they are being replaced. Does this equate to be the right time to buy? Low prices, dwindling inventory and low interest rates: resort real estate has always been popular and now it appears buyers are back in the market. If you've always wanted that vacation home, whether it be the mountains, beach, or golf course community, this might be the right time for you to purchase. To paraphrase my favorite ski film photographer Warren Miller: if you don't buy your vacation home this year, you'll just be that much older when you do.

While summer is still here in the mountains, a hint of fall has definitely arrived. Days are noticeably shorter and mornings are cooler. If you have not already done so, it is time to start getting in shape for ski season.

Blue Skies, Wildflowers, and Cool Nights

As I mentioned last week the Park City Arts Festival was held this past weekend and was a huge success. The weather couldn't have been better. Bright blue skies, temps in the high 70s to low 80s, and not a cloud to dampen the spirits. Arts Fest is such a great time with Main Street Park City turned into one big art show, with vendors from all over the country: artists from Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Washington, Arizona, California and many others that I can't recall. Each displaying their unique wares. The festival over the years has become so popular that artists start applying for entry early during the winter, then by spring the Kimball Arts Center--who is the sponsor--makes their determination as to who will be allowed to participate in that year's festival. All the artists that I spoke with said that the festival was very profitable for them and most have participated for many years.

Unique to the Rocky Mountains, the weather starts cooling off in August. Daytime temperatures are not as high, evenings are a little cooler, and this summer has been a little cooler than usual. Salt Lake City, which is about 3,000 feet below us in elevation, has yet to hit 100 degrees, and if they haven't by now it's doubtful that they will this year. It's not uncommon during the hot month of July for Park City to get a few days at or near 90, but not this year. With the late start of summer and all the rain, the mountain flowers are still in full bloom and absolutely spectacular.

Nothing real exciting in real estate news this week. Sales continue to be brisk but will be very interested to see what if any effect the government's mess with the economy will cause. With the stock market in a freefall for the last two weeks I'll be very interested to see if this makes buyers more inclined to put their money in the safety of real estate or just afraid to do anything. Needless to say, here in the resorts, where our economy is so tied to both the US and world economies, we are just a little nervous right now and wishing that the politicians in Washington DC would get their act together and quit creating these crises. The next month should be very telling, so come back and let's see what happens.

This coming Saturday the Utah Symphony will be performing under the stars at Deer Valley and will be featuring the music of Queen. I'm really looking forward to this show. It should be a delightful evening and I'll be very interested to see who the symphony brings in for the main performers for Queen.

Here it is the second week of August and we are actually starting to think about the upcoming winter. Next month I'll give a wrap-up of what improvements the resorts have made this summer and what to expect for the upcoming ski season. In the meantime, enjoy your summer and start getting in shape for ski season!

August in the Mountains

So, it's August 1. How did that happen so quickly when summer only came a month ago? Oh well, the joy of living in the mountains at 7,000 feet. This summer has been cool and rainy, much like the summers were when I first arrived in the '80's. Could it be that we have turned a corner and the drought cycle is over? Time will tell but the mountains are so green right now and the wildflowers are so vibrant that it is absolutely spectacular.

This coming weekend is the annual Park City Arts Festival, a summer highlight. It starts off Friday night with what has traditionally become Local's Night, where admission is free, most all the vendors have set up and all the PC locals come up to preview what's going on, drink wine, have dinner on main street and catch up with friends before the crowds arrive. The Art Festival traditionally brings 100,000 visitors to PC over the weekend. A great event in town, the merchants and innkeepers are happy, and once again the people-watching is amazing, and the exhibitors continue to amaze festival goers.. August is thunderstorm season in the mountains and not uncommon to have afternoon thunderstorms come during the arts festival with all the vendors scrambling to secure their wares and hold the tents down during the storm. This year, while it has been very stormy for the past few weeks the forecast for the weekend is to be dry warm and sunny. Terrific for the festival, merchants, and festival goers. Tune in next week for photos from this years' arts festival.