Is it Too Early to Shop for a Park City Ski Vacation Home?

By Todd Anderson

May 06, 2014

It is just barely May, there are still snowflakes in the Park City, UT 10 day weather forecast and I haven’t even thought about taking out a pair of short pants; so is it too early to think about the 2014/2015 ski season and owning a home or condo in Park City?

My email inbox is trying to tell me that even though I haven’t tuned up my mountain bike or straightened out my golf swing that it is time to think about winter.

Season pass deals for next ski season are on sale now and with some great incentives to buy now. Adult season passes for Park City Mountain Resort start at $725 if purchased before May 15; after that they move to $815 (and up). Epic passes for Canyons Resort (and 10 other Vail Resorts run mountains) include two Buddy passes if you put down $49 toward the pass before May 26, 2015. Buying now also gets you the upcoming summer biking and hiking season at both resorts (scheduled to start June 12th at Canyons and May 23rd at Park City Mountain Resort).

On top of season ski pass deals in my email inbox, I’m already seeing messages from property management companies with deals on 2014/2015 winter bookings which include lift tickets or gift cards for those that plan early.

So how does this apply to Park City real estate? In the past 21 days (effectively the end of the ski season), there have been 20 ski vacation homes and condominiums that have gone under contract. There have also been 30 new listings of homes and condominiums we would consider to be in line with ski vacation ownership property. Three of these new 30 are already under contract!

The end of the season often brings a clean break for Buyers and Sellers when it comes to mountain vacation properties. The deals are out there and as the ski season gets closer, prices often times go up. If you are considering owning in Park City for the upcoming ski season, contact a resort real estate expert with YouInParkCity.com (888)968-4672 and start the process now.

Tags: deals, mountain, Park City, pass, property, Ski, Utah, vacation
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Are Buyers Paying Asking Price for Homes in Park City?

By Todd Anderson

Mar 13, 2012

How much off the list price can I expect to pay for Park City Real Estate?

We live in a time when everyone wants a deal and consequently people don’t want to pay the asking price for just about anything. Discounts flood our email in-boxes, coupons fill the mail and newspapers are delivery vehicles for weekly sale circulars. It has gotten to the point that we readily know that full price isn’t what we’ll pay in the end.

There are of course some exceptions; we know the price of an iPad will be the same wherever we buy it and there won’t be any discounts, and we don’t wait to go to Starbucks until the coffee is on sale.

What about houses and condominiums in Park City, UT? Are people paying full price or is everything on sale?

Over the past 90 days there have been 228 sales registered across the Park City MLS. Of these sales, 36 recorded at or above the asking price. Over 15% of the sales were full price or more. Moreover over half of the transactions recorded with a sales price of 95% or more of the asking price. In terms of a retail sale, a 5% off banner wouldn’t turn any heads. What happened to the big discounts? Only 39 of the 228 real estate sales in Park City were discounted by more than 10%.

This isn’t necessarily an indication that people are willing to pay full price, but rather that people are willing to pay for value. If full price is less than a comparable recent home sale and/or if the home or condo is better than other options or part of a limited supply, asking price can be a good value or deal.

Interestingly, not all of the sales that were not discounted moved quickly. Nearly half of the sales that show 5% or less discounting from their original price had been on the market for over 90 days.

Your YouInParkCity.com Group real estate professional can help you determine if a Park City or Deer Valley home or condominium is “on sale” and a value in our current market. Call us at (888)968-4672 or email info@youinparkcity.com to discuss current area home values.

Tags: buyers, condominiums, deals, homes, Park City, prices, Real Estate, UT, value
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Park City short sale update

By Todd Anderson

Jun 04, 2009

On June 2, 2009 KSL.com News reported that ‘short sales' are on the rise in Salt Lake City, UT. The report gives very few details and goes on to quote a few Realtors in Salt Lake City about the effects of short sales and whether or not they are good for a potential buyer. The overall report had very little information in terms of data, but it does note that 1 in 7 listings in Sandy, Utah (a suburb of Salt Lake City) is listed as a short sale. Information like this that goes out nationally (most of the news about Utah is delivered via Salt Lake City) gives people the idea that the news is applicable throughout the state including Park City and Deer Valley, Utah. Real estate is a very local commodity and it is impossible to make assumptions based on one neighborhood and imply that it is true across all neighborhoods. The number of short sales per active listing in the Park City area is less than one in 25. While there is a glut of homes on the market here in Park City, most homes are not a distressed sale. This is not to say that there are not any deals to be found in the Park City area. Many neighborhoods in the Park City real estate area are seeing prices of homes and condominiums fall by 20% off of their highs. There are also short sales in the Park City & Deer Valley real estate market, and they cover just about every price range including a short sale in the Colony at The Canyons Resort listed at $3.99M down to condominiums in the Kimball Junction area listed at $119K. Of the 50 or so short/distressed sale inventory in the Park City area, nine are listed at over $1M, and 20 are over $500K. Short sales are not the only way to purchase a property in Park City and Deer Valley at a bargain price, and the relatively few short sales in the area (1 in 25 versus 1 in 5 in Draper, UT) make them a longer and tougher process. Due to the fact that many owners in Park City have a lot of equity in their homes, the deal is often not a short sale, but just an owner taking a large loss. So when you are looking for a real estate deal in Park City, keep a focus on the end you are hoping for, whether it is a home to retire to, a weekend get-away, an investment or rental property. The deals are there, contact your YouInParkcity.com Keller Williams REALTOR® to find the one that is right for you.

Tags: bank owned, Buyer, deals, Deer Valley, distressed, downturn, foreclosure, housing, Keller Williams, KSL, market, Park City, property, Real Estate, Salt Lake City, seller, short sales, Utah
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Park City Short Sales

By Todd Anderson

Jan 18, 2009

The national and global economies have affected the Park City real estate market. We know that at our market peak, Buyers were coming to Park City to buy second homes and vacation property from all over the world. Loose lending standards made finding the money for a second home easy. Housing prices rose everywhere. Higher property values wherever the Buyer's home happened to be made for great equity to borrow against for the purchase vacation property. We know that all this has come to an end with the bursting of the housing bubble. Short sales and foreclosures are now a staple story item for the nightly news. Many boom cities have seen home values drop by 40% or more. Stories abound about the ability to purchase bank owned and distressed properties for truly pennies on the dollar compared to what they sold for just two years ago. In Park City, we're often asked by visitors where the deals are here. A recent look at the Park City area Board of REALTORS® multiple listing service showed 1871 active listings (653 single family homes, 798 condominiums and 420 parcels of vacant land). Of these, only 26 were listed as a short sale, bank owned or in foreclosure. That is less than 1½ percent of the total number for sale. National figures while the real estate market was booming put the "normal" foreclosure rate at around 3%. Does this mean that Park City has somehow not been affected by the national and global economic changes? No. Park City and Deer Valley real estate have been impacted by the global economic changes, just not to the extent of Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix and Southern California. The scarcity of land along with tough hillside builds and tight city regulations have meant that the housing boom did not leave Park City overbuilt. Changes in the market have occurred and prices have fallen from their peaks, but there appears to have not been the speculation and dependence on property appreciation to fund loans here that has lead to the demise of markets in other areas. The local economy in the Park City and Deer Valley area is only beginning to feel the pinch of the national and global economic downturn. I cannot remember previously seeing signs on Main St stating that restaurants are not hiring. A look through the local paper shows few job opportunities (in a "normal" winter, service and tourism industry jobs are abundant). We are starting to experience job losses. It is possible that the downturn may be just beginning here. Or it is possible that the effects of current low interest rates and the push for new jobs on a national level will turn everything around quickly and all our market will see is just a slight downturn. Only time will tell. All real estate is local. Are there deals to be found in Park City, Utah? Absolutely. Are there short sales, bank owned and distressed properties? Yes. Will you be able to find 5 homes in a row all in some state of foreclosure and buy them all up for a price that previously would buy one? No. Have the fundamentals of what makes Park City and Deer Valley a desirable place to live or vacation changed? Not at all! For more information on Buying or Selling homes, condominiums and land in the Park City and Deer Valley Utah area contact the YouInParkCity.com Group.

Tags: bank owned, Buyer, deals, Deer Valley, distressed, downturn, foreclosure, housing, market, Park City, property, Real Estate, seller, short sales
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Entry Level housing Deals in Park City

By Todd Anderson

Apr 21, 2008

The Park City housing market has seen change recently. The rocketing upward of prices has slowed and Park City is returning to a more normal real estate market. The effect of the changing market varies greatly depending on the price, neighborhood and subdivision. The entry level market appears to have been affected the least by the downward pricing pressure here in Park City, Utah. Finding a single family home in Park City that is under $400,000 is still very hard to do; the same goes for a truly affordable condominium. There are a number of factors keeping the entry level home pricing up while other Park City marketplaces flatten or fall. The economy of Park City and most of Utah is still strong. Job losses and cutbacks have not been a problem here, and the resorts are still enjoying strong tourism. The fact that the job market hasn't changed much means that people living in Park City aren't falling behind on mortgage payments and aren't being forced to sell their homes. The entry level tier of the housing market has the most resistance to falling prices. While no-one ever wants to take a loss on an investment, the people who scraped everything together to buy the home they live in truly can't afford and refuse to take a loss and start over. If these people aren't forced into selling their homes due to job-loss or some family tragedy, chances are they will just stay where they are until such time that the market changes or they have accumulated enough wealth to move upward within the area. People still want to live in and raise their families in Park City. Demand for housing, especially entry level housing has not changed much. There is a very strong service industry in Park City and the wages that coincide with these jobs dictates that entry level housing in Park City is what these workers can afford. The recent changes affecting credit and financing have made it harder to get loans, but in truth these were not the people that needed sub-prime loans anyway. Things do happen and people are forced into selling their homes at "rock bottom" prices at times in order to move them quickly, but there are few indicators that "the bottom is falling out" and that entry level pricing will fall dramatically in the near future. For more information regarding pricing in specific Park City real estate neighborhoods and/or subdivisions, visit http://www.youinparkcity.com/

Tags: buyers, condominiums, deals, entry level housing, homes, neighborhood, Park City, Real Estate, sellers, Utah
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