Has Summer Arrived?

After 4 weeks of rain every single day, the sun came out this afternoon. Could this really be the start of summer? While the calendar tells us summer starts this weekend you never really know living in the mountains. But based on the calendar Park City begins the summer season this Friday. We will be kicking off the summer with a dinner and Jazz Festival on Main Street Friday night. This is knows as “Savor the Summit” where we close Main Street to traffic and put tables end to end from the top of Main to the bottom of Main. Our local restaurants all participate with a special menu to serve. And several Jazz bands will be performing along Main Street while people dine. This is a great event and really gets everyone going!

Next week on Wednesday the free concerts begin at Deer Valley Resort. These occur every Wednesday through August and have become the social event of the week. Everyone gets lawn seating, brings their favorite beverage, dinner and music is def secondary to the party.

In real estate happenings May was a very strong month for sales (considering the economy) with the number of contracts written surpassing July, 2008. This was really good news and hopefully a start to a solid recovery of our real estate market. June typically begins the home selling season as most people prefer to wait until school is out to move their families. Right now buyers have an excellent selection of homes to choose from in all price ranges and when combined with the historically low interest rates, I am optimistic that the home buying season will be good. Historically resort condo sales do not pick up again until about August, when the approaching ski season rekindles interest. We should start to see interest in golf course property now that summer has arrived and with the competition among all of the golf course communities there are some opportunities that we may not see again for a long time (more on the golf courses next week).

Memorial Weekend

While the Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start of summer throughout the country, Park City and other Rocky Mountain Ski Resorts have some time yet before summer really begins. Summer really begins in the mountains around the middle of June at which time we rarely see anymore snow, until fall. As is very typical more Park City residents left town over the weekend for warmer locations than visitors arrived.

Much of the Memorial weekend was cool and rainy (no snow!) but Memorial Day turned out to be quite pleasant. This week temperatures are near 70 degrees with only a few puffy clouds around, a great time to get outdoors and enjoy the mountains. While temperatures in the upper 60’s to low 70’s does not sound particularly warm at an elevation of 7000 feet and thin air the intensity of the sun is much more than at sea level. In June and July, when temperatures are consistently in the 80’s and even approaching 90, the intensity of the sun makes it surprisingly hot. Fortunately, even during these “hot” months the nighttime temperatures drop into the 50’s to make sleeping very pleasant. No air conditioners needed.

Summer concerts and other outdoor events will start about the middle of June and that is our official start of summer. By the middle of June all of our local restaurants have reopened and the town is bustling with visitors and activities. This is the perfect time to visit the mountains.

On the economic side while our country is certainly not out of the woods yet, each day I hear some positive news. This was not the case 2 months ago when everything from the news emphasized how bad the economy was and little hope for a quick recovery. Whether or not you agree with the approach that President Obama has taken, his aggressive action appears to be turning the tide, at least in the short term. This appears to have translated to buyer confidence which has translated to an increase in purchase contracts being written. This morning’s news was that home sales across the country increased in April 2009. This is the first time that home sales have shown an increase for quite a long time. Many real estate analysts are coming out and saying that while there will still be area’s that are slow to recover, the U.S. Real Estate market may have bottomed out. Time will tell but it sure feels like that here in Park City.

National and Local Real Estate News

Real estate continues to be at the forefront of both national and local news. On the positive side, the National Association of Realtors reported that housing sales rose by 6% for the month of July. This is the third straight month that housing sales have increased. The down side is that the average sales price of a home continues to decrease and is about 6% lower this year than at the same time in 2007. What this indicates to me is that buyers are out there buying, but are looking for deals and, in many markets it is mostly foreclosures or short sales that are selling. On this thought, I saw a very interesting video clip from Good Morning America radio interviewing Donald Trump and his thoughts on real estate. Click on the link below to go to this video clip:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5576708

Whether you like or dislike Donald Trump, he should be respected for his real estate savvy, and he feels that now is the best time to buy. He goes on to say that he has not seen better opportunities to purchase real estate for at least 20 years. I feel that same way here in Park City in that there are more opportunities to pick up a “deal” than I have seen for many, many years. It appears that I am not alone with this thought as we are definitely seeing an increase in activity. I attribute this increase to buyers feeling that we may be close enough to the bottom of the market that now is a good time to buy and that while we are approaching winter, we are still far enough out that sellers are still negotiating. History has taught me that the closer we get to the opening of the ski resorts, the less flexible sellers become.

As I mentioned in last weeks blog, this past weekend was the Deer Valley Jazz Festival, and what a weekend it was. Perfect late summer mountain weather and fabulous music made for a memorable weekend. Everyone I talked to felt that if this was not The Best Festival, it was certainly right up there. It’s hard to believe that next weekend is Labor Day weekend, but fall is definitely in the air here. The nights have cooled off dramatically, with the occasional frost. I expect to see the first leaves changing in a week or so. With the arrival of fall, excitement starts building for the upcoming ski season and the resorts scramble to get all of their summer projects completed. Stay tuned for future articles detailing the improvements that each of the resorts has made for the ski season…

Music in the Mountains

Summertime, mountain resorts and music just seem to fit together, and Park City is no exception. During the summer evenings one can find a free music venue just about anywhere in town featuring an assortment of local musicians. New this year is the Sky Lodge at the bottom of Main Street. When the Sky Lodge opened last December and re-opened its restaurant Easy Street they had the foresight to include a wonderful outdoor seating area with a stage perfect for summer evenings. This has been a favorite place to relax on a weekend, have a nice glass of wine and listen to some wonderful local music. Mountain Town Stages is a local organization with the charter to put on free music events around town and the local areas. Mountain Town Stages is the driving force behind the Wednesday free concerts. These concerts first started in the early 90s in City Park. By 2004 they had become so popular that they outgrew the park and moved to Deer Valley Resort. These Wednesday concerts are the highlight of the week and a place for everyone to get together, listen to some fun music and catch up with friends that we may not see for the rest of the week. If you are here during the summer months, this is a must attend event.

In real estate news, I was looking at the latest statistics provided by the Park City Board of Realtors comparing 2007 and 2008. Through June 30th in 2007 the Park City Board of Realtors has recorded 1,235 closed transactions. For the same time frame in 2008 the number dropped to 711 closed transactions. Interestingly enough, the average sold price for these sales went from $815,085 in 2007 to $869,919 in 2008. This would seem to indicate that the average value of a property increased about 5% last year. As with all stats, these numbers can be misleading and this is one of them. While it is true that the average sold price has increased, it is due to a significant number of sales being new construction at or near the ski resorts. Because of land cost and construction costs, newly built homes and condos are more expensive than existing homes and condos. The reality is that existing homes and condo prices are at best, flat from last year and, in more cases than not, down slightly. Since we know that all trends, whether up or down, do change over time this is an excellent time to purchase. Yesterday I was with a past client who had purchased a vacation home this past December. He could have lamented the fact that had he waited, he might have gotten a better deal. But instead was thrilled that he purchased when he did. His feeling was that not only did he get his home at a good price, but he had the advantage of being able to use it this last ski season. He mentioned that he had many friends come out this past winter and stay with him and commented on how lucky he was to have a place here.

All of the factors that have contributed to our growing Real Estate Market are still in place in spite of the weakening economy. We are an easy to reach and very desirable 2nd home community with a wide variety of real estate opportunities. This has not changed, and the desire to own real estate here is as strong as ever. Don’t let the scare headlines from the media prevent you from pursuing your dream of a 2nd or vacation home in whatever area you are interested in.

Big Changes at the Canyons

The big news this week is that American Ski Corporation the owner of The Canyons resort here in PC, has sold the ski resort to Talisker Group. Talisker is a Toronto-based real estate development company that is developing the new Empire Pass area at Deer Valley as well as the Tuhaye golf course. This is exciting in that Talisker will bring an influx of money and renewed energy to the Canyons. For several years now, American Ski Corporation has been struggling financially, which left the Canyons resort in limbo. There is tremendous development potential at the Canyons, but ASC did not have the funds to realize this. While Talisker has not and is not a ski area operator, the bet around town is that Vail resorts will take over the day-to-day operations of the resort. Tune in for more details on this.

Summer is in full swing here, with music and art festivals weekly. The mountain trails are full of hikers and bikers, the golf courses are running at capacity, and the various pools around town are full. Come out, enjoy the cool mountain summers, and find out about exciting opportunities at the Canyons resort, Deer Valley, and Park City resorts.