Underwear Runners Strike Salt Lake

This past Saturday the big protest in Salt Lake, was, as only Utah can have it, about 3,000 people stripping down to their underwear (nudity was not allowed of course) and running en masse to the State Capitol in a protest of Utah's overbearing morality laws. If this will actually have any effect on the Legislature and its opinions is doubtful but it certainly is humorous. Way to go, Utah: throw caution to the wind and take chances.

On a much more positive note, the fall colors are absolutely astounding. It seems that they're changing by the minute. The weather for the past week just doesn't get any better. Temps in the low 70s, bright blue skies, the maples are bright red and the aspens are just beginning to turn. I took a drive this past weekend up in the mountains and it was truly breathtaking. If you ever get a chance to come out and see the fall colors in the Rockies, forget New England: this is where you need to be. As I mentioned a moment ago, the aspens are just starting to turn so we've only got another 3 weeks of peak colors. Yes it's been a little late this year which I suspect it's due to the wet spring and summer.

In real estate news, there's nothing really exciting to report. Sales continue to be quiets strong for this time of the year. In looking at what's selling, its still all over the board from the very low condos in the $100,000 range to the multi-million dollar homes and condos. I have noticed that multiple offers are occurring more frequently on well-priced properties again in all price ranges. The stock market continues its dizzying roller-coaster ride but seems to be holding about where it was 3 years ago. It seems if it goes above this point it doesn't stay for long and comes back down, and the same is true if it drops below the 3-year average: doesn't stay long and comes back up. What this means for real estate: I haven't a clue. So far it doesn't seem to be having a strongly negative effect but I think this winter is going to be very telling.

Forecast is for storms to start rolling through next weekend and into the following week, so this may be the first significant sign of winter approaching. So continue the leg-strengthening exercises, get your core muscles strong, and I look forward to seeing you on the slopes this season.

Fall Colors

As you've heard me say many times, September is the best month in Park City. Bright blue skies, chilly nights, warm days and COLORS! It is amazing the difference since last Monday. Almost all the maples have turned and the aspens are beginning to turn as well. It is truly a magical time to be in the mountains.

Last Sunday was our annual fall classic, the Tour de Suds bike race. This is a mountain bike race from City Park in Park City to the top of Guardsman's Pass, which divides the Park City side of the Wasatch mountains and the Salt Lake city side, 7 1/2 miles in length and 2,700 vertical feet. So named "Tour de Suds" as it originally started at the Brew Pub on Main St, rode to the top and back down for what else, brews! This has developed into an annual event with most riders dressing in some sort of wacky costume. Other than that it's pretty quiet in town these days. Most music is done, all festivals but the Park Silly Sunday Markets are done and the restaurants are empty.

In real estate news, probably the thing affecting us the most is the erratic economy: one day stocks are up 300 points, the next down 400 and so the yo-yo goes. In looking at August 2010 versus August 2011 it's clear the uncertainty in the US and world economies is having an effect. Home sales for August 2010 were basically flat: 73 in 2010 compared with 75 in 2011. However the average sales price was down 12.6% from $755,900 in 2010 to $660,700 in 2011. Number of condo sales was up slightly: 37 in 2010 compared to 44 in 2011, for a 18.9% increase. But the average sold price increased quite dramatically, up 70%: $502,900 in 2010 to $854,000 in 2011. While this would appear to be great news, in looking at the numbers, the average sales price was skewed by five sales in Empire Canyon of Deer Valley with average sales price of almost $3.5M compared to 2 sales in 2010 with average sales prices of $2.5M and one sale in St. Regis in Deer Crest with a price of $3.2M where in August 2010 no sales in St. Regis. Another area that helped skew the prices was lower Deer Valley, 2 sales in August 2010 with average sales price of $894,500 and 3 sales in August 2011 with average sales price of $1,715,00, or up almost 92%. What this does show is that all aspects of the market are selling and high-end buyers are not afraid to jump in right now.

Last weekend was cold, rainy, and our first forecast with the snow level in it (albeit at 10,000 feet); a sure sign winter is on its way. So continue your ski workouts and let's go skiing when you're in town!

Fall Has Arrived

There is one tree on the Park City Resort that gives up way too easy and is the first tree to turn every fall. This past weekend I notice it has changed colors and is bright red in a sea of green on the resort. I've informed the other trees to hang on and don't give up so quickly but I'm afraid fall is here. This weekend was cool--actually chilly--and quite rainy. A perfect weekend for tennis and football. On Saturday, went out to Rockport Reservoir, one of the local reservoirs here, to attend a blues festival. While the music was terrific, the weather was not. Driving out, we encountered severe lightning, high winds and heavy rain. While at the festival site it was only light rain, the temperature was in the low 50s and it really wasn't very pleasant for sitting outside listening to music. But that's fall in the mountains and we just get used to it.

The other news over the weekend is that La Nina has returned! For skiers this is generally good news as a La Nina weather pattern typically means that the Pacific northwest through northern California and the northern and central Rockies tend to be wetter and colder than normal. Bad news is that the southwest (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) tends to be warmer and drier than normal. The same pattern that we saw last winter that brought record snows to Utah and record drought to Texas.

In real estate news real estate continues to be quite active. In looking at our MLS sales, as of today, 9/12, there are 20 homes within the Park City limits with contracts pending on them waiting to close. Of these homes, the least expensive home under contract has a list price of $638,000 and the most expensive is a ski-in/ski-out in the Bald Eagle community of Deer Valley with a list price of $7,250,000. Of the 20 homes with contracts pending, 6 have a list price over $2,000,000.

As of today and inside the city limits there are 44 condos with contracts pending on them with the low price of $125,000 up to the high of $6,250,000. Included in this are about 10 condos in the St. Regis hotel in Deer Valley that have been under contract for quite some time and are still waiting to close. What this does show is that there is a lot of activity going on right now and it covers the full range of prices. When I talk to most buyers and sellers, I am always asked what is selling. And when I show them statistics such as these they are usually quite surprised as their guess would have been only the lower price range would be selling. Another thing that I take from these statistics is that the buyers are out there and are looking in all price ranges and are ready to purchase if the property is right for their needs and they feel it is properly priced for today's market.

Hopefully we will have our traditional Indian summer here but I am seeing signs of the aspens starting to turn. I would expect by early October we should be pretty close to peak colors. With all the rain that we've had, I believe that the colors will be particularly vibrant this year, so if you've never seen fall in the mountains, this may be a great year to do it. And be sure to stop in and say hello if you are in town, particularly to see which restaurants are open and what events are going on.

All's Quiet in Park City (and we're above water!)

So Labor Day has come and gone and with it most of the summer visitors. While September and October are my personal favorite time of the year, still warm days but not too hot, and cool nights, with kids back in school most everyone has left. September is the change of seasons month. We had our first two mornings of frost last week but the daytime temperatures are still up in the low 70s. Looking around, the leaves on the trees are definitely getting old, and you can just barely start to see some signs of the leaves turning. It will really be the end of September/first part of October before we start to see big changes in the leaves. But the turn is starting and snow can fall at any time now.

While the summer visitors have left. Real estate tends to not slow down as much in the fall as it does in the spring. Like the changing of the seasons, September/October is also the change of the real estate season, where during the summer months our focus tends to be on single-family homes and more full-time residential sales, now we make the switch to vacation properties. September and October tend to be relatively busy as people are looking to pick up their ski home or condo early enough to allow themselves to close on the purchase and customize the property prior to the ski season. This is a great time of the year to be in the market for properties as vacancy rates are very low so it is easy to get in to see properties, and sellers tend to still be more eager to sell than they are during the height of the ski season.

While we can--and will--see snow any time now, the days in between the storms tend to be very delightful. Fall is a wonderful time to visit where you see the trees turning colors and as we get later in the fall, the higher peaks covered in snow. This makes for quite the contrast and a great time to be up here enjoying the fall weather.

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.