Localism: Park City, UT

Market Update....last week in August

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:33:30 -0500

Tonight Rob and I are attending the Gipsy Kings concert at Deer Valley as the second to last chance to take part in the St. Regis Big Stars Bright Nights concert series. It's going to be a blast!

And don't forget to check out our new blog layout and the new newsletter button we put at the top of the sidebar...if you give us your email address we'll give you our little newsletter and you know what that includes?....it includes coupons for local businesses here in Park City such as Chloe Lane and Jean Louis...thank us later!

During the past 5 days we have seen 63 properties come on the market, 24 go under contract, 18 close escrow. The high notes are:

NEWLY ACTIVE:
-2 sky lodge units at $375,000 and $399,000; both 3 bedroom, fractions (one-eighth ownership)
-Silver Star ski in/ski out at Park City Mountain Resort at $2.625m; 4bd/5ba, 3689sq ft, $711psf....the price per sq ft is not too bad, but we'll see what happens to some of the flippers.
-Short Sale in Old Town on Park Ave for $698,000; 3bd/2ba, 1582 sq ft, $441psf....If you are looking at a condo around this price point, this could be right up you alley...with no HOA fees.
-Deer Lake Village in Lower Deer Valley at $840,000; 2bd/3ba, 1728 sq ft, $486psf.
-Chatham Hills home at $1.628m; 4bd/5ba, 4089sq ft, $398psf....I like this neighbor for being in town and having great value for the convenience and views!
-2 Glenwild lots at $925,000 and $800,000 inventory is increasing on the lot front.
-Promontory lot at $379,000....good deals are all around at Promontory.

PRICE CHANGE:
-Poison Creek Mercantile condo in Old Town down $300,000 to $1.695m; 3bd/3ba, 2209 sq ft, $767psf...now it is priced about right! Great building and location too!!!
-Old Town home down $200,000 to $995,000; 3bd/3ba, 2388 sq ft, $417 psf...not a bad deal for this location.
-In The Trees condo in Deer Valley down $100,000 (in just 25 days) to $1.299m; 4bd/4ba, 2415 sq ft, $537psf....make an offer on this one, it looks like they could go lower and you get good rentals here.
-2 Glenwild lots down $100,000 and $200,000 both to $790,000.
-Mountain Ranch Estates home down $735,000 (over about a year) to $2,100,000; 7bd/7ba, 7670 sq ft, $274psf...they are probably at their bottom line on this one. It is a nice home, but has some odd features...but for a steal it could be right.
-Promontory home down about $2m! This is a must go!!! at $3.5m; 6bd/6ba, 10007 sq ft, $350psf....if you are in this price point this home could be the deal.

PENDING:
-Sky Lodge unit at $267,000; 2bd/2ba, 1260 sq ft, one-eighth ownership...good price for this buyer!
-Old Town home at $2.9m; 5bd/6ba, 3465 sq ft, $837psf....they did not get anywhere close to this... as it was supposed to be auctioned, but maybe someone came in a took it before hand. I believe the auction was to start in the mid-$1m's
-Deer Valley home at $2.495m; 5bd/6ba, 4960 sq ft, $503psf....Deer Valley has had good activity since the spring!
-Thaynes Canyon home at $997,000; 4bd/3ba, 2820 sq ft, $354psf...they got aggressive and lowered the price on this one a few times and got it off the market pretty quick....good buy for the right guy.
-Old Town home at $1.19m; 3bd/3ba, 1766 sq ft, $674 sq ft....good to see some activity on the end of Old Town by the Resort. Things have been slow down there.

CLOSED:
-Grand Lodge unit at Empire Pass in Deer Valley for $3.5m; 5bd/6ba, 3264 sq ft, $1072psf....Always over $1000psf in Empire and they have had a relatively active summer.
-Promontory lot at $800,000.....a little activity in these times out there is great news! I think people "in the know" still believe in the development.
-Old Town home at $1.312m; 4bd/5ba, 2591 sq ft, $608 psf....they priced these newly constructed homes to move and they moved them well.

Donald Trump and Park City Real Estate

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:12:24 -0500

A recent video on the web shows an interview by Hilarie Barsky of Good Morning America Now speaking with Donald Trump about the real estate market. Mr. Trump is quoted as saying that the time to buy is now through next year and that those who don't may be wishing they had in the future. Trump feels that we are currently at "about the bottom of the market".

We see and hear reports pointing in all directions about which way the market is going. Mr. Trump may have some good insights, but can he call the bottom of the market? Only time will tell. He also states in the interview that "the country is obviously in big trouble" and that the banks have failed the people. Buying while home prices are down is good if you can find a way to finance it, and time will probably show that Trump seeing buying signals now was a good call.

How does all of this relate to the Park City market? The President of the Park City Board of Realtors recently said that prices in the Park City area are holding steady while inventories are on the rise. Economics 101 tells us that this can't last and the likely solution to drive up demand is to lower prices. Recent sales in the Park City, UT area indicate that prices are falling. The YouInParkCity.com group feels that most of the homes that have sold recently represent aggressively priced houses and condominiums that were a true value. We have recently added a Park City Best Buys page to our website. In its first week, 2 of the 12 properties we identified were put under contract. We will continue to update the site with Park City homes we think are a strong value and monitor the results. The Park City market may not have reached its true bottom, but we are seeing some great values.

A couple of other things from the Donald Trump interview do ring true in the Park City market. Mr. Trump states that real estate is a local business and that you need to know what you are doing. This idea has been a common theme in the www.YouInParkCity.com/blog. We know what we are doing and we are here to help you with your Park City real estate needs.

To see the Donald Trump interview go to: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5576708 or search ABC News Donald Trump 8/13/2008.

Posted by Todd Anderson :: YouInParkCity.com Blog 8/26/2008

Park City Summers Take the Cake

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:40:45 -0500

Rob and I just got back from a great trip to Southern California for the wedding of our good friends Brian and Brittney. Brian is that friend of ours who provides most of the great scenic photos we post here. Brittney is his new lovely bride. Brittney and I met while working at Chloe Lane, a local boutique here in Park City which sells the most forward, fun and stylish clothing in the entire state of Utah.

We had a great time in Laguna Beach where they held the amazing wedding of the century on the sprawling lawn of the St. Regis Monarch Beach. The cliffs and beaches which make up the coast in that part of California are breathtaking. Rob and I thoroughly enjoyed our time there, lazing on the beach and partying it up with Brian and Brittney's families....There was one thing that really struck us both though as we headed to the airport to fly back to Salt Lake City and come home to Park City....even in one of the most desirable locations in the country....even while spending time at a top rated exclusive resort...we couldn't help but realize that Park City still remains our favorite place to be.

It's a terrific realization to come to that you live in a place, so wonderful, so scenic, so happy and full of interesting, open-minded people that even when you go to a place like Laguna Beach, California...you still can look around at the end of a weekend and say to yourself, "yeah, this is pretty nice...but Park City is one hundred times better and I can't wait to get back there!".

Rob and I love writing this blog and sharing the goings on in the Park City Real Estate Market. We also love sharing local events and news with other local readers and people who are interested in this unique and wonderful place we call home. Park City's breezy, dry summers with eighty degree weather and green mountain scenes are the ingredients for the best May through August months I've ever had. No Chicago summer at the Lake Michigan beach or Orange County Pacific surf getaway can even come close to the perfect setting and fabulous community of friends that Park City has offered us....and I just had to share this point with our readers....

So - if you're interested in judging for yourself just how splendiforous Park City summers can be, you still have time. Book a trip to Park City ASAP and make a point to let Rob and I know you're coming....we'll be happy to show you around! There are still plenty of great concerts to take-in at the Deer Valley Amphitheater (Gipsy Kings and Bob Dylan to name a couple) and we are happy to provide some good locally available wine suggestions or restaurant deals to any of our friendly readers....

Speaking of friendly readers...and getting back to that terrific store I mentioned at the beginning of this post - Chloe Lane - don't forget to check out www.mychloelane.com for your own Chloe Shopping Experience from where ever you are...I'm friends with the fashionable owners of that store and I hear that there are some coupons offers I'll be able to offer to our readers very soon....I'll keep you updated!

That's all I have for today...check back tomorrow and hopefully Rob will have one of his handy Real Estate Updates for you!

New Study shows Air Pollution RISING in Park City

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:20:55 -0500

Park City has always been known as a great resort community with CLEAN mountain air! A new study, however, shows that Park City's air pollution is on the rise. Summit county residents need to get on board to nip this problem in the but before it becomes worse. Salt Lake City has some of the worst winter air quality, and Park City residents need to take steps to prevent our great community from getting the same problem that Salt Lake has.

CLICK here for the story from KSL.

A great way to help is to get involved with UTAH MOM'S FOR CLEAN AIR who are coming together to help improve the air quality throughout the state of Utah.

As always, please feel free to comment with questions, or if you have anything to add!

Park City Marathon - Are you going to be there?

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:49:40 -0500

On Saturday August 23rd Park City will hold its 12th annual Park City Marathon. It will be the same beautiful scenic course as last year with its 8 mile down hill finish. Along the way there will be plenty of entertainment for the runners and the spectators as there will be 3 bands at different parts of the course. They will be playing music all day. The three bands are the Taiko Drum Troupe(to keep you on your running rhythm at mile 13), John Boy's Mule (little bit of bluegrass at mile 20) and The Best (adding some rock at mile 23). In addition to the entertainment along the course there will be first aid booths, as well as fruit and water stations available for all the runners. Also a great bonus, the race has decided to go green this year. Everything that is used on race day will be recycled. The half marathon is already filled up, but there are still about 100 spots left in the full marathon. So if you are feeling up to the challenge, you will want to register right away. You can do that here. If you are not up for the run, you should still check out this great Park City event. Come support the runners and just enjoy the day and entertainment. More information can be found here.