About Iron County, UT

Darcy and I are helping another Agent in the office with her clients while she is on vacation. It is a lot of fun, it almost feels like it did a couple of years ago when everyone was so busy that they just did real estate. We ended up writing offers on two houses today, finding out at the time that one of the properties may have a multiple offer situation. Talking to the rest of the agents in the office, they too have noticed that things seem to be picking up and going in the right direction.

I hope that people are beginning to understand that real estate is still a good investment for the long haul, especially right now in most markets. With prices being down from a couple of years ago.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend! and last but certainly not least Happy Easter!

As another cold storm blows through the area this weekend, reminding us that it is still officially winter. I got thinking, time is running out on those that wish to take advantage of skiing at Brian Head. The last report I got was that the skiing ends on April 15. That means a month left to take advantage of the great snow at Brian Head. Hopefully, they will get some new, fresh snow this weekend. There are a lot of condos for sale in the Brian Head area. Brian Head itsself is a year round resort, with many great summer activities to go along with the winter skiing.

It is located at the top of the mountain, with alpine settings that are gorgeous year round. Come up and ski, and maybe look at buying a little piece of Heaven while you're here! Give us a call, we would love to assist you!

It is late and I shouldn't even look at stories about the housing market on MSN, but it is kind of like passing the scene of a car wreck, you know you shouldn't but you slow down and look anyway. I guess that it's human nature to possess tha morbid curiosity. In skimming through the story on MSN (my version of slowing down to look, not stopping and staring), they said in the article that at least the housing market isn't as bad as it was in the Great Depression.

I would hope not! I hope that we never see things come to a halt like they did during the depression. There are people losing their homes now, but not in the percentages like the Great Depression and values haven't dropped th 88% that the MSN story quoted them dropping in 1933. As one of the links it does have an article pointing out a slide show of the most affordable housing markets. (I didn't look at it, no gore factor there.) The article pointed out that this housing slump, correction, recession whatever you call it is not accompanied by a large surge in unemployment, we are seeing some rise in unemployment, but only after the slump was well entrenched.

What this means to the future? I don't know, I don't know if anyone does. The only thing that is certain, is that if you are looking to buy, and planning on staying at least 5 years, it is a great time to buy! Have a great weekend!

Is anyone else getting sick of the daily price changes at the gas pumps? I wish that the stock market went up that fast! The daily price change is really getting old. I know that are prices here in Cedar City are actually a little below the national average, but that is counter balanced by the fact that our wages are about 80% of the national average.

It wouldn't be such a big deal to me if the big oil companies weren't posting record profits each and every quarter. I could almost accept the cost per barrel is up were it not for that fact. If the economy is going bad, I think that we can directly point a finger at big oil. Gas prices never drop as quickly as the cost of crude oil, but is sure rises as the cost per barrel go up. And they say that the Real Estate and Mortgage industries need more oversight! Sorry, just had to rant for a little bit, before I take out that 2nd mortgage to refill the Camry's gas tank!

I think of the impact that baseball has had on Cedar City, Utah, I think of all of the youngsters growing up playing baseball. The skills that they learn carry over into life. Teamwork comes to mind first and foremost, the baseball diamond is the place where you can be as great as you want to be. It also teaches that hard work and dedication pay off with improved ability. It also teaches humility, even the best hitters only hit the ball about 1/3 of the time.

But in Cedar City we have great Little League facilities. With two diamonds dedicated to just Little League Baseball, each summer we host tournaments, all star games, and the Utah Summer Games. The Utah Summer games is an Olympic styled competition that draws competitors from all over not just Utah. We also enjoy great softball leagues for all ages, also a part of the Summer Games. These events bring in revenue by bringing people to stay at the hotels, eating at the restaurants, and shopping at the stores. We also have great Little Leagues, that are well attended and highly competitive.

We are a long way removed from a Professional Baseball Team. The Las Vegas 51's are the Dodgers AAA Team, in Salt Lake City, The Salt Lake Bees are the Angels AAA team. The Orem Owls are nearly as close as the Las Vegas team, they are a Rookie League Team for the Angels. The nearest is Las Vegas which is approximately 175 miles away. So it is a little amazing that our little league is a successful and well supported is it is.

Cedar City has benefitted greatly from baseball, just the values that it teaches young people could honestly fill a book, not to mention the way that a community benefits from those values and skills as these young people grow into adulthood and lead the community. Cedar City also benefits from the financial dollars that baseball and softball bring in. An interesting rumor to me is that Southern Utah University is in the process of building a new baseball stadium!