We're Skiing!

Deer Valley opened Saturday with 16 runs and ten lifts open. Not a bad start for opening weekend. While I have seen better conditions for opening day, I have also certainly seen much worse. On the runs that were open the coverage was quite excellent and the skiing was pretty fun. The weather turned quite cold last Friday and as the weekend progressed, steadily got colder which means that snow making has been going full-speed, nonstop since Friday. I expect by this weekend we will see at least two more lifts open and several more runs particularly over on the Northside area. That's the good news, but unfortunately it doesn't look like there's any significant snow in the forecast for at least a week.

As is customary, on Deer Valley's opening weekend, we had the Deer Valley Celebrity Classic Ski Race. This is a yearly event and is a fundraiser for support the Waterkeeper Alliance, a clean-water advocacy group. Though the celebrities that show up are not necessarily the most well-known, the fun is in watching our local celebrities. Phil and Steve Mahre, Heidi Voelker, AJ Kitt all former members of the US Ski Team. Watching them you can see that the competitive juices have not left.

It looks like plans are starting to come together for a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Olympic winter games that were held here in Park City. There is talk of once again closing Main Street to vehicles, making it a pedestrian-only event with music and other events commemorating the 2002 Winter Olympics that were such a success. As this event starts coming together, I'll certainly let you know of it. This would be an event to make plans to come out and partake in.

In part of my efforts to stay as current as I can on the market I am constantly going out and looking at what's new and what's good. Last week I toured two areas of Deer Valley, the first being Empire Pass and the second the Silver Lake area at mid-mountain Deer Valley. The first thing that struck me was how little there is available. We've been talking for years that in spite of all the condos that were on the market in Empire Pass nothing new was being built and it would not be long before there was a shortage of available product. Well, this time has come. However, one place that is available and struck me as being one of the better buys, is a penthouse unit in the Arrowleaf building in Empire Pass. This is a true ski-in/ski-out, top floor unit with vaulted ceilings and spectacular views of Deer Valley. The unit features large windows, is beautifully furnished, comes with the full Talisker Club membership, and is listed for $2 million. Of everything that I saw in Empire I feel that this one is probably the best unit available.

Photo courtesy of the PCMLS

In the Silver Lake area of Deer Valley, I feel from everything that I've seen the best condo available is a 3-bedroom Stag Lodge in the main building where you literally walk out your door and you're standing on the ski slopes. This unit is also beautifully furnished and updated, has large windows to take in the views, and is listed for $2.8 million. While these are my favorites and what I feel are the best buys in each area, there is certainly a wide variety of homes and condos to choose from.

Photo courtesy of the PCMLS

Ski season is here, the town is buzzing with anticipation, and rental condos are filling up for the season. So if you haven't already done it, book your vacation and feel free to either call or email me for the locals' inside information on ski conditions.

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.

Year In Review

This past Sunday was closing day for Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Resort, leaving only Snowbird, Alta and Brighton resorts still open. Both Alta and Brighton will be closing in the next couple of weeks and Snowbird will stay open through June and possibly into July. If it will stop snowing here in Park City, perhaps the local golf courses can dry out and we can move on to golf season. This is the 'ugly' time of year for the mountain resorts, no skiing, golf, hiking or mountain biking. Time to head South to warm beaches!

As I've been talking about for the last couple of weeks the first quarter stats have come out and are quite interesting. Before I get into the details, here is a little background info.The Park City Board of Realtors Multiple Listing System (MLS) divides our area into 24 separate areas in and the immediate vicinity of Park City. There are more areas which include the outlying communities but for what I'm talking about these are not important. Furthermore, for this report I am only looking at areas 1-10, which includes all areas within Park City's city limits including Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort and also includes the Canyons Resort which lies just outside the city limits.

Auction Season in Park City

Following the very successful auction of 8 high end condos in Empire Pass it seems auction fever has struck in Park City. Two new projects have just announced their intent to auction their remaining units.

Christmas Eve Day In Park City

It is a bright, sunny, beautiful and cold Christmas Eve day here in Park City. We have received about 5 inches of new snow this week, just enough to put a sugar-coating on the trees and homes. The joy of living in the mountains is that we get these crystal clear winter days with the deepest blue sky you have ever seen, unlike the Salt Lake valley where an inversion has set in and at best it is hazy and very foggy.


Visitors and skiers are in town, the shops are busy and the restaurants are full. The new snow and sunshine has everybody’s spirits up and in a Christmas mood. From my own observations and from speaking with my fellow agents, our visitors are once again looking at real estate. All reports that I have received are that open houses have been busy with people seriously looking to purchase.

The upcoming auction of 8 condos at the Silver Strike Lodge in Empire Pass at Deer Valley is creating quite a buzz around town. Silver Strike has been advertising in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal so most of our visitors have heard about it and are very curious as to what is going on. It talking with clients of mine who may potentially be bidding, we all feel that the 8 units will sell during this auction but will sell for lower prices then what the listing agent/developer/auction company are hoping for. As a result of the auction I have seen some sellers in Empire Pass dramatically reduce their prices significantly below their original purchase price. This is making for some excellent opportunities to pick up a ski-in/ski-out vacation condo at very favorable prices. I think that this next week and a half will be very telling for how real estate business is going to be this winter.

Sunny and I wish you the merriest of Christmas’s and a happy and very prosperous 2010….THINK SNOW!!

The Mountains are on Fire

The mountains are on fire with color right now. The oaks and maples are brilliant red and the aspens are just starting to turn gold. Contrasted against the deep blue sky when driving or walking around town everyone’s gaze is captivated by the scenery. This weekend looks to be the last warm weekend until next summer so we will all be outside enjoying a variety of activities.

In real estate news two new projects in Deer Valley are just about completed. The St. Regis in the Deer Crest area is scheduled to start closing on units later in October. The St. Regis is the first true five star hotel to be built in the area and we are all eagerly awaiting its opening. Another project in the Empire pass area of Deer Valley called Flagstaff will also be completed for the ski season. Now that it is nearing completion sales have picked up with three new transactions in the last two weeks. These were 3 bedroom units selling the $3 million range.

With the ski season rapidly approaching I am getting more calls for buyers looking to pick up a ski home for this year while prices are still low. We have an excellent selection of homes and condos both on and off the mountain and most sellers are still willing to negotiate on their prices. This is the perfect combination for buyers and the savvy ones are taking advantage.

Western Mountain Resorts

This past week I hosted a conference for real estate agents of the western ski resort communities in Jackson Hole Wyoming. We had representatives from Sun Valley, Idaho, McCall, Idaho, Park City, Utah, Vail, Colorado, Breckenridge, Colorado, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Winter Park, Colorado, Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Lake Tahoe, California. As president of the Western Mountain Resort Alliance my job among others was to moderate a panel discussion of all the resorts. Questions were asked of each representative about their current real estate markets, sales activity, prices, activity on new developments, and sales activity in their golf course communities.

While there were some striking differences between the resorts, the overall market activity was very similar. All of the resorts reported that sales numbers and dollar volume was down around 45-50% comparing this past ski season to the previous ski season. The big differences were apparent in average price and price per square foot in homes and condos sold. Vail grabbed everyone’s attention with new slope side condominium development’s selling for up to $2900 per square foot while Winter Park, CO said their new slope side development’s are selling for around $500 per square foot. Park City falls somewhere in the middle with new slope side development’s selling around a $1000 per square foot. However, Park City does show a penthouse condo in the Empire Pass area of Deer Valley under contract/pending at $1900 per square foot.

McCall, ID, home of Tamarack ski resort, reported that their prices have dropped low enough that nearly every property sold is receiving multiple offers. Several of the other resorts, particularly Breckenridge, are also experiencing a return of multiple offers being written for exceptional properties. Pretty much every resort is experiencing signs that the real estate market is turning for the better.

Near unanimous were the resorts reporting that home sales under $1.5 million and condo sales under $700,000 were the strongest parts of their market. Also unanimous was that vacant land sales were the weakest. The lack of land sales can be attributed to a lack of vacant land near the resorts and the unwillingness of lenders to make loans for undeveloped land.

We discussed at length how golf course communities were doing at each resort. Nearly unanimous was that vacant land and home sales in private golf course communities was extremely slow. Everyone felt that in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s too many golf course communities were developed and that there was just not enough demand for all the supply that came on the market. It appears to us that the resorts, in an effort to become a Four Seasons resort rather than just a winter resort, developed too many golf course communities. For instance, in the Vail area which encompasses an area from the Vail valley and continues west along I70 for about 70 miles there are now 13 golf courses and many of those are real estate communities also. That number got everyone’s attention until Park City announced that we now have 14 golf course communities in and around the immediate area. Jackson Hole only has 5 golf course communities. North Lake Tahoe has 4 golf course communities, all put in many years ago and now North Lake Tahoe is enforcing a moratorium on any new golf course communities. As a result the North Lake Tahoe communities have sold out of all developer product and re-sales are fairly strong. Perhaps the rest of the Western Resorts should pay attention to this lesson.

In final comments almost all of the representatives were optimistic that the increased activity we have seen in the last couple months will continue through the summer months and in to next year.

Christmas Week in Park City

It is Christmas week in Park City and the skiing is fabulous. Last week we received about 2 ½ feet of famous Utah powder and several more storms are forecast for this week. The town is all decked out in its finest and visitors are here. Christmas in the mountains is a magical time with snowy roofs, Christmas lights, and everyone with Christmas spirit.

This past Saturday, Deer Valley’s new Lady Morgan Express Lift opened with much fanfare and 200 acres of steep, untracked powder. The Lady Morgan Express Lift offers excellent black diamond skiing and of course, some wonderful groomed easy runs back to the Empire Lodge.

This week the new Flagstaff building in the Village at Empire Pass begins accepting reservations. Flagstaff is the newest development by East West Partners and will offer more common area and amenities than any of their previous buildings. As is typical in Empire Pass, Flagstaff will be directly on the Silver Buck ski run offering guests convenient ski-in/ski-out access. Flagstaff is expected to be completed for the 2009/2010 ski season. Silver Strike condominiums in Empire Pass are well under construction with completion expected during the summer of 2008. This building is about 50% sold out now and is being developed by the developers of the Ironwood townhouses and the Grand Lodge at the base of the Northside lift. There is a model open in the building and the finishes are as expected from this terrific developer.

It appears that we are in a cold and snowy pattern for this winter so this is the year to visit Park City, discover how easy we are to get to, and find out what everyone raves about when they talk about Utah snow. With ten ski resorts within an hour’s drive of Park City there is enough variety to keep even the most demanding skier entertained for a vacation here. Come experience Utah for yourself and of course when you are here, visit my office at mid-mountain Deer Valley and I’ll give you the local’s report on where to ski.

It's Snowing!

IT’S SNOWING IN PARK CITY! We received about a foot of snow over the weekend and the forecast is for continued snow with up to six feet in the next two weeks. Park City and the Canyons are both open with limited terrain and Deer Valley opens Saturday, December 8. With continued snow and cold weather, the resorts will be opening new terrain almost daily. Click on the ski resorts button the left side of this page for the most current and accurate conditions, or call me and I will give you a first-hand report on what is happening.

In real estate news, I attended a presentation for the new Flagstaff condominium project in Empire Pass. Flagstaff is the latest of the East West Partners developments at the base of the Silver Strike lift in Deer Valley. Flagstaff will consist of 37 two-, three-, and four-bedroom condominiums with over 5,000 square feet of gathering spaces for its guests. The gathering spaces will include a pub, the first in Empire Pass, a children’s center, and a gathering and relaxing room for adults. Prices start at $2,310,000 for a two-bedroom, $2,860,000 for a three-bedroom, and $5,000,000 for a four-bedroom plus loft. Reservations for this project will start on the 19th of December and East West is offering a 7% discount to the first seven buyers. If you would like more information on this development, any of the other new developments at the ski resorts, or excellent opportunities in the resale market, give me a call or stop by my office when you’re in town.

Snowmaking

While November has been uncharacteristically warm and dry, the weather finally turned cold last week, and all of the resorts are making snow. Snowmaking has been going on continuously since Tuesday, November 20, with Park City and the Canyons having opened last weekend. The forecast is for several small snowstorms to come through this week and continued quite cold. The cold weather is allowing the resorts to open more runs every few days. Snowbird and Alta have scheduled their opening for Friday, November 30.

All of the resorts are gearing up for the winter season with the new lift at Deer Valley fully operational and just waiting for Mother Nature’s cooperation. The Village at Empire Pass is looking very good with three condominium buildings completed and sold out, another under construction with a scheduled completion of next summer, and another having just broken ground. The homes and townhouses are mostly completed. This will be the first full season with this much completed and the members-only Tower Club open, which will give the Village the feel of a wonderful ski community. Bookings for this coming ski season are strong, particularly for all the holiday seasons, and we are all looking forward to a great ski season.

Fall Colors

What a weekend! Snow all day Saturday gave way to crystal blue skies on Sunday. The combination of dark blue sky, white mountaintops, the gold aspens and red maples made Sunday one of the prettiest days of the year. It seemed that the whole town was out hiking or biking on the trails. We have been receiving regular snowstorms this fall with more snow forecast for tonight and later this week. The high peaks are very white, and it looks like the snow is here for the year. This is creating a lot of excitement in town, and an added urgency for the ski resorts to finish up their projects. The new Lady Morgan Express Lift at Deer Valley is taking shape and looks like it will offer some excellent intermediate and advanced skiing. Everyone is talking about the new terrain and we are all eager to get up and explore it.

In real estate news, the new Empire Pass development at Deer Valley continues to be the shining star. The Grand Lodge at the base of the Northside Lift is completed and the wait was worthwhile as it is a beautiful building with the best ski access. There are a couple of resale opportunities in the Grand Lodge on the ski slope level with views up the mountain. New at the base of the Empire Lift, work is underway at a feverish pace for the new Montage Resort Spa. This is going to be a very high-end boutique hotel with over 30,000 square feet of spa area. While it is currently under construction, we do not anticipate that sales of the units to begin until the hotel is nearer to completion, in about two years.

In the Village at Empire, the Silver Strike building is nearing completion with about 12 units available. The new Flagstaff condominium building has just started construction with expected release of units in December. Construction has also begun on the new pool at the Talisker Tower Club.

Along with the spectacular colors and early season snows, there is a lot of excitement going on at the resorts and this is a wonderful time of year to come and see what’s going on!

Number One Again!

Each year in its October issue, SKI Magazine publishes rankings of the major ski areas in North America based on reader input. This year Deer Valley is once again rated the number one ski resort in North America. The poll is based on input from readers of SKI Magazine who answer a survey asking them to rate resorts that they have visited. Deer Valley was rated number one in 11 of the 18 categories surveyed. These included grooming, on-mountain food services, and guest services. While all the categories are important in the ranking we are especially proud of the guest services ranking. Since its inception, Deer Valley has strived to set the standard for guest services and remarkably, over the last 26 years, has maintained the standard. Guests coming to Deer Valley are always impressed by the friendliness and helpfulness of all the resort staff. From ski check attendants to lift operators, restaurant personnel to mountain hosts, Deer Valley hires with the expectation that their guests will be treated as if they were staying in a fine hotel. This commitment to service and quality of ski experience has proved to be a winning combination as Deer Valley’s skier numbers increase every year and it has been rated the number one North American ski resort three out of the last seven years.

This commitment to excellence has translated to booming real estate sales in Deer Valley. The new Empire Pass area has been exceedingly popular with most of the condominium buildings selling out prior to completion of construction. Empire Pass features a variety of ski-in/ski-out condominium buildings, townhouse condominiums, and single family homes. Last winter, the first phase of single family homes, The Paintbrush at the Village at Empire Pass, sold all of their 18 homesites. This winter, there is a new area of homes called Nakoma. There will be 16 homes built with direct ski-in/ski-out access to the new Lady Morgan Express chairlift. These homes will be around 5,000 square feet, of the quality expected of Deer Valley, and all will have spectacular views of the ski runs of Deer Valley and the town of Park City.

With fall quickly arriving, we had our first frost this morning. We are seeing an increase in buyers looking to pick up a ski condo for this winter. This past week we have seen several condominiums in both lower and upper Deer Valley have contracts accepted. Our fear for this winter is a lack of inventory. The number of condos listed for sale is about 25% less than we had at this time last year. While there still are some excellent opportunities, they are selling faster than new units are coming on the market.

September is one of the most beautiful months in Park City, with daytime temperatures in the mid 60’s to 70’s, and chilly nights. The fall leaves have started to turn, which makes hiking and biking the local mountains especially beautiful. This is a great time to come out and visit, to enjoy fall in the mountains, and to see what’s new at the ski resorts and real estate opportunities at the various resorts.

Miner's Day in Park City

This coming weekend of September 1, 2, and 3rd, while most of the country celebrates Labor Day weekend, here in Park City, we pay tribute to our mining history with “Miner’s Day” celebrations on Monday, September 3rd. This is another example of the small-town flavor of Park City, where we have our traditional parade down Main Street, then activities at City Park. These activities are topped off by the mucking and drilling contests.

These contests involve both and current and former miners from the area, who pit their skills against each other. The drilling competition involves a large block of granite rock in which the miners hoist a heavy and unwieldy pneumatic drill and see who can drill five holes in the smallest amount of time. The mucking competition involves a small ore-cart with a pneumatic scoop shovel attached to the front. This cart and scoop are on a railroad track and are controlled by the operator who moves the scoop into a pile of waste rock and dumps it into the cart behind. This is again a time competition to see who can fill the cart in the least amount of time. The mucking and drilling contests have become the highlight of the day and always draw a large crowd.

We have all been hearing the daily news about the difficulties with the mortgage industry and its effect on the housing market. Park City’s local lenders have been making a point of letting everyone know that because they have portfolio lenders, they are able to make loans on homes, condos and land here in the area. While we have seen some slowdown in the market because of the national news, vacation property is still desirable and Park City remains one of the most desirable resorts in the U.S.

All three ski areas have new home and condominium developments being completed for this upcoming ski season. These developments all have terrific ski access and come in a variety of product from townhouses to homes to multi-level condominium buildings and a little bit of vacant land for homesites. Deer Valley resort is just completing two new condominium buildings on the mountain. Arrowleaf B and the Grand Lodge, both in Empire Pass, are in the final completion stages. At Park City, two new condominium projects: the Lowell, located in the resort center at the base of the mountain, should be completed early this winter, and Silver Star, which is a new project with its own lift, is also being completed. The Canyons resort has several new condominium projects either under construction or about to break ground. With the new lift expansions at the Canyons, these will have very convenient ski access.

Miner’s Day weekend is the traditional end to summer and in Park City, the leaves have begun to change. With the shorter days and cooler nights, the red leaves of the maples are starting to dot the hillsides. This is a terrific time to come out and visit, enjoy the beautiful fall colors and see what’s new at the resorts. For the latest information on any of the new projects or resale condos, please give me a call.

The Greatest Snow on Earth

Snow, snow and more snow! Finally the snow gods have smiled upon us and we have received several feet of the Greatest Snow on Earth. Yesterday was a bluebird day with about a foot of fresh snow, and today it is once again snowing. Visitors to Park City, Deer Valley will be talking about this week of skiing for a long time.

I had the distinct pleasure of taking some clients skiing to Alta Resort last Friday for an Alta Powder experience. We had received several feet of snow prior to Friday and hit Alta during a classic Utah storm. It snowed all day at the rate of several inches an hour and we were able to ski Utah fluff all day.

Alta deserves its reputation as the powder capital of the world. Because of its unique location at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon and southeast of the Great Salt Lake storms sweep across the lake, picking up moisture, are funneled up Little Cottonwood Canyon and are forced up and over the crest of the Wasatch, dropping their moisture in copious amounts of Utah powder. A day of powder skiing at Alta is a MUST for all serious skiers. Alta is an easy hour’s drive from the wonderful historic town of Park City, with all of its restaurants, clubs, and activities. Park City/Deer Valley makes a perfect home base to travel to the many terrific resorts around Salt Lake City.

In real estate, the exciting news is that the Arrowleaf condominiums in the Empire Pass Village of Deer Valley are completed, and owners are taking occupancy of and enjoying their beautiful new ski-in/ski-out condos. Located near the base of the Silver Strike Lift, Arrowleaf offers convenient ski access, beautiful views, and access to the members-only Tower Club lounge. The Tower Club features direct ski access, a beautiful lounge for breakfast, lunch, or après ski, a weight/fitness room and an outdoor hot tub. Members of the Talisker Club have found this to be the perfect gathering spot to talk about their day of skiing at Deer Valley.

There are many exciting real estate possibilities in the new developments in and around town as well as some excellent buys on existing homes and condos. As the prices of real estate continue to rise in Park City, most owners have remodeled and updated their condos and homes to the standards expected by our visitors. For more information on what is available, what I would consider to be a good investment, or the new developments, contact me or call on my cell anytime at 435-640-5851.

President's Week Edition

President’s Week in Deer Valley is one to remember! We received about 5” of snow Thursday night with bright blue skies and incredible ski conditions Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The only thing that could have made it better was fresh powder and Monday morning, we woke up to 18” of Utah Fluff. Our visitors to Deer Valley and Park City will be talking about this weekend for many years.

While the President’s Week holiday is often the busiest of the year, even surpassing Christmas Week, Deer Valley limits its ticket sales so that lift lines rarely exceeded five minutes. Combine this with perfect weather and exceptional snow conditions, and you can easily see why so many people choose Deer Valley and Park City for their winter vacation.

The newest condominium building in Empire Pass, Arrowleaf A, is completed, and proud owners are experiencing the prestige and convenience of being right on the mountain in the heart of skiing. Surprisingly, the opportunities for owning one of the new residences in Empire Pass are diminishing at a much faster pace than we had imagined. The fortunate few who had the foresight to get in on the ground floor will be forever thankful for their agents who brought the opportunity to their attention.

While the focus may be on all of the new developments going on around town, we cannot forget the exceptional deals on existing condos near the Park City resort and Deer Valley resorts. Many of these condos have been remodeled, and offer a quality that will satisfy the most demanding visitor.

For information on the latest developments around the ski resorts, current snow conditions, up to the minute weather forecasts, or general information, please contact me.