Good thing I dodged the road closure last week caused by the presidential motorcade! It was quite a scene along Kearns Blvd, where Marine One-the President's Helicopter-landed near the Treasure Mountain Middle School in Park City Wednesday afternoon.

President Bush was Greeted by a Mixed Crowd in Park City, Utah

Crowds lined the presidential motorcade route. Many cheered and gave the President the "Thumbs-Up" as the motorcade passed, but others held signs and flipped the President "The Bird" for his unpopular policies.

Here's the rest of the story about President Bush's visit to Park City, Utah.

One of the most commonly asked question a Park City REALTOR® gets asked is "how is the market?" We've written about this before in the YouInParkCity.com blog, but we think it deserves to be said again. "It really depends on where you are and what you are trying to accomplish in terms of buying, selling or investing, but most important is the idea that all real estate is local.

We've noticed some recent Park City numbers that reinforce this point on a local neighborhood level. The Silver Springs real estate area in Park City, Utah currently has 19 active single family home listings. During the month of May, 7 single family homes were put under contract and 1 sale closed (given the average under contract / pended times, the others should close in June). This represents quite a lot of activity in this neighborhood. So the answer to the "how's the market?" question could be "great" or "hot".

To the contrary, we can look at the available homes, new pending sales and closed transactions for the Promontory neighborhood in Park City: There are currently 63 active single family home listings in this real estate area, zero went pending in the month of May and only 3 have gone pending this year. So, the answer to the "how's the market?" question might be "tough", "slow", or "a Buyer's market".

These two real estate markets are both part of Park City real estate and tell very different stories. The idea that all real estate is local can be narrowed even further than this may suggest. It may be the perfect view of the ski run, access to a great running trail, or proximity to a local school that makes a home "perfect". These limiting factors bring about scarcity and drive demand.

The "perfect home" that you want may be represented by only a few possibilities in a given neighborhood, and the fact that one is currently available may make it the right time to buy.

"How is the market?" is really determined by what is available in a given local area. Think of this in terms not only of a state, county, or city, but down to specific neighborhoods and even streets and which side of a particular street.

For information regarding your present or future home in the Park City area; contact www.YouInParkCity.com .

Data mentioned herein was taken from the Park City MLS on May, 30, 2008 deemed accurate and reliable, but not guaranteed.

Park City Real Estate Market First Quarter 2008 results are in.

Utah and Park City have been some of the last areas to feel the decline of the U.S. real estate market. Recent Board of Realtor statistics show that Park City real estate prices have held steady during the first quarter of 2008. During the first quarter, the number of listings has doubled and actual number of sales have fallen 45%. Single family homes sales fell from 209 in the first quarter 2007 to 113 first quarter 2008. Condo sales fell from 247 to 136 in 2008.

While all these numbers can be very discouraging, you must look at each area independently. Many of the larger developments have seen sales decline, while some of the established areas sales have held steady. Several areas like Jeremy Ranch, Pinebrook and Silver Spring that have the ability to attract buyers who want to live in the Park City area but commute to Salt Lake City as well as those who want to live here for the skiing, hiking biking and golf have shown great resilience to the recent market changes.

For Buyers, things have never been better. There are more choices today than ever before (note the increased inventory mentioned earlier). Financing is currently very attractive for qualified buyers (current interest rates remain very low). Additionally, the maximum conforming loans limits have recently been increased to $749,750 for Summit County. These new limits will revert back to the old limits at year's end.

Sellers today, on the other hand, do need to be realistic and flexible in their pricing expectations. While the market has softened, we have found that properties that have been priced to reflect today's market have been selling. The average "Days on Market" of sales have been less than 45 days recently for Mike and Ken's listings with www.YouInParkCity.com

Experts suggest that while Park City and the state of Utah were some of the last real estate markets to feel the decline and are projected to be on of the first to recover and that declines will not be as sharp as many other areas in the nation.

Short sale and foreclosure property always seem to catch people's attention. The idea of really getting a "steal" on property peaks investor and home-buyer interest. While a short sale can be a great deal, there are a few things to consider before you go searching for that "steal".

First we should define a short sale. A short sale is a sale of property in which the sale price is less than the value of the loans against the property. Short sales can be initiated by the seller (property owner), but must be approved by the parties with loans which are using the property as collateral. The purpose of the short sale is to try and sell the home before it is foreclosed upon (lenders tend to lose more money in a foreclosure sale than a short sale).

The parties on the selling side are losing money in the deal. The seller is losing whatever equity they had in the property (unless they got in with some type of "exotic" loan with no money down or cash out at the original loan origination (in this event the seller may not be losing real money, but is still damaging their credit)). The lien-holders are losing whatever money that was their original loan less the sale price. Secondary lien-holders stand to lose nearly all of their loan amounts. All of these parties have to agree to take their losses. None of them wants the loss and few of them want to admit they made a bad loan. The loss that a 1^st mortgage holder is willing to accept is generally about 20%-40% (they usually stand to lose as much as 60% in a foreclosure). Second or junior lien-holders also have to approve the sale. If in anyone's judgment the sale price is too low, they can refuse or send a counter-offer back to the Buyer.

Timing may be the most confusing and frustrating issues that short sales present. Unlike a normal offer and acceptance type of negotiation, once the offer has been accepted by the seller, the contract must be approved by all parties holding liens on the property. These parties do not respond in a timely manner. There is often quite a bit of bureaucratic "red tape" to get through in approving a short sale and just finding the correct representatives that can approve the sale can be very frustrating. And while this process may take months (this is not an exaggeration) for the "third parties" to get approval back to the buyer, they will then ask for a closing within days.

This timing issue means that as a Buyer, you need to keep from getting emotionally attached to the property and have no need to move quickly into owning the property. On the other hand, the Buyer needs to be able to move very quickly through their due diligence, evaluations and approvals as the third parties may ask for the sale to close within 10 days of their approval (in a "normal" sale this would be a 25-30 day process).

Another curve that is thrown into the short sale is that the seller can (and will) keep marketing the home while the Buyer's offer is awaiting approval in hopes of another or better offers. So it may be months before you find out that your offer was bettered by someone else and you should have been trying to find something else instead.

Buying a home can be very stressful and buying a home in a short sale situation is even more stressful. That being said, there are some short sale properties available in the Park City area (though not nearly as many as in areas where the housing market is "depressed") and they may represent a good value for the Buyer. If you want to know more about the short sale process and whether it is an option that works for your Park City real estate needs, contact us at www.YouInParkCity.com

Both nationally and here in Utah, the real estate market is receiving a lot of media attention as inventory has been climbing and prices have been decreasing. Both factors are signaling that we are moving towards a buyers market.

People often ask if this is true in our Utah real estate market. Although, we have been shielded a bit, fairing much better than that displayed in much of the national real estate statistics, we are still moving away from being within a true seller's market. Periodically, the average Utah prices, increases, and decreases have been featured in this blog. If you are interested in reading on that kind of detail, please visit some of my other posts.

For today though, I am answering a question that I often get, which is, "Is it really a buyers market in Utah and what does it mean?"

Well it does mean some of what I have already listed above

•- Rising housing inventory in Utah

•- Decreasing home prices

•- Good Interest rates both nationally and locally

•- And negotiations in favor of the Utah buyer

I have included some statistics below which show how over the last couple of years the real estate negotiating process has been moving in favor of the buyer. The percentages are based on the sale price relative to the list price. This is a sure sign that we are moving towards a buyer's market, as well as showing that it is a great time to buy. Buyers have great negotiating power right now!

Percentages based on sales transactions between January and April of the corresponding years.

Sale Price as Compared to List Price

• Salt Lake County, Utah - Sales Up 0.28% - Average Sale Price $287,119
• Utah County, Utah - Sales Down 3.37% - Average Sales Price $265,056
• Wasatch County, Utah - Sales Up 25.26% - Average Sales Price $483,726
• Davis County, Utah - Sales Up 5.58% - Average Sales Price $254,862
• Park City, Utah - Sales Down 6.99% - Average Sales Price $1,127,138

As a whole the real estate market in the state of Utah had a 1.2% decline in the number of sales as compared to Quarter 1 2007. But overall, as you can see from the numbers above, the majority of our area communities are still hanging in there despite the historical decline. For more information about what these real estate statistics may mean for you if trying to buy and sell, please feel free to give me a call. I'd love to give you an analysis of where you would fit into the current Utah real estate market.

It's nearly May, and the weather is finally starting to get nice here in Park City! Today, it is sunny, and nearly 70 degrees outside, a BIG change from the snow we had last week!!

There is so much great stuff to do here in Park City in the summer! It is not nearly as crowded, Winter is our big tourist time, so there are locals specials all over!! there are TONS of 2 for 1 coupons in the local newspaper for dining at some awesome restaurants, and specials on just about everything else too!

Park City Resort has some very fun summer activities, including Horseback Riding, The Alpine Coaster and Alpine Slide, The Zip ride, and much more! Check out their website for more!

Deer Valley is home to the Mountain Town Stages summer concert series, which is SO much fun in the summer! On Wednesday afternoons, there are free concerts. You can bring chairs or a blanket, a cooler, and enjoy!

The Canyons hosts free concerts on Saturday afternoons too, and they have the Farmer's Market every Wednesday in their lower parking lot!!

The Park City area is also home to over 400 MILES of trails for hiking, biking, and more! So if you're considering a mountain trip this summer, Park City should be at the top of your list! For links to all of these and more, please visit http://jparkcity.com/activities.htm

Summer is also a great time to find some incredible bargains on real estate, and you can stay in a beautiful condo for not too much money per night! It's a very fun vacation for a family in the summer, and a great time to look at all that Park City has to offer!

As always, Please feel free to comment with questions or anything to add!

It's nearly May, and the weather is finally starting to get nice here in Park City! Today, it is sunny, and nearly 70 degrees outside, a BIG change from the snow we had last week!!

There is so much great stuff to do here in Park City in the summer! It is not nearly as crowded, Winter is our big tourist time, so there are locals specials all over!! there are TONS of 2 for 1 coupons in the local newspaper for dining at some awesome restaurants, and specials on just about everything else too!

Park City Resort has some very fun summer activities, including Horseback Riding, The Alpine Coaster and Alpine Slide, The Zip ride, and much more! Check out their website for more!

Deer Valley is home to the Mountain Town Stages summer concert series, which is SO much fun in the summer! On Wednesday afternoons, there are free concerts. You can bring chairs or a blanket, a cooler, and enjoy!

The Canyons hosts free concerts on Saturday afternoons too, and they have the Farmer's Market every Wednesday in their lower parking lot!!

The Park City area is also home to over 400 MILES of trails for hiking, biking, and more! So if you're considering a mountain trip this summer, Park City should be at the top of your list! For links to all of these and more, please visit http://jparkcity.com/activities.htm

Summer is also a great time to find some incredible bargains on real estate, and you can stay in a beautiful condo for not too much money per night! It's a very fun vacation for a family in the summer, and a great time to look at all that Park City has to offer!

As always, Please feel free to comment with questions or anything to add!

The number of houses and condos sold dropped a whopping 45 percent in the first quarter of 2008, versus the first quarter of 2007! But despite the slump in volume, house prices held pretty steady, and the overall, median prices only dipped slightly. Sellers are becoming more and more flexible though, and there has never been a better time for locals to make a lateral move within our market.

There was an article published in this Saturday's Park Record which gives a pretty good picture of our market here right now - We're definitely weathering this lending and real estate storm much better than a lot of other areas.

http://www.jparkcity.com/parkrecordarticle1.htm

A few more tips for the Utah Buyer. If you find you still have more questions about how to approach a short sale or foreclosure, please just give me a call, I'd love to help!

•· As we discussed in the last short sale blog, negotiating a short sale property in the Utah real estate market can be time consuming. So use the help of an experienced Utah real estate agent and give the seller's lender a deadline. If the lender doesn't get back to you within the given time frame, take a look around the market and see what else is out there that may be a suitable house for you and your family. You may end up finding another property for sale that you like; there is a great deal of inventory available in this Utah real estate market. If not, you can go back to the bank and see if any progress has been made on the offer or re-submit another offer to purchase the short sale.

•· Reserve the right to inspect the property. Even though most lenders will not re-negotiate after an offer has been accepted on the Utah property, you can still put a condition in your real estate offer to purchase that allows you to walk away from the real estate transaction if you find some material defects that you are not willing to live with considering the initial negotiated price. Also, during this inspection process, be sure to hire a qualified home inspector and Utah realtor to help sort out the potential problems with the property.

•· Work closely with your lender on this purchase. Make sure they are aware that the property you are purchasing is a short sale and ensure they do not have any special paperwork or documentation requirements in order to close the loan.

•· Enjoy your new Utah home and make it your own!