Local Area And Real Estate News

Park City Home Buying by the Foot

By Todd Anderson
Feb 19, 2014

Park City home buyers and sellers often consider the home’s dollar per square foot price when setting the home or condominiums’ price or making an offer. How much should attention should a buyer be paying to the dollar per square foot price when considering a home?

 

Dollars per square foot is only a useful number if you are comparing two homes or condominiums that are identical. The problem here is that it doesn’t matter if it is a Park City Home or a New York City home, no two homes are identical. Even two side by side homes by the same builder will likely have differences. Views can be different, neighbors will be different, access may be different, the distance to an amenity (pool, hot tub, ski run, gym, front desk, elevator, etc.) will be different. Wear and tear on an older home as well as how the previous owner handled maintenance will make the homes different.

 

Things to consider when looking at a dollar per square foot price: Park City Real Estate by the square footIs the calculation made using the total square feet or the finished square feet? An unfinished basement or room can add greatly to the total square feet thus lowering the dollar per square foot value, but how much value does it add to the home?

 

Are the finishes the same for the properties you are comparing? Are the base and case stain grade or paint grade? Are the doors solid or hollow? Are the countertops custom slab or something you can buy at Home Depot? Are the appliances “professional grade” or not? Is the flooring real wood or laminate, travertine or ceramic tile? All of these items while serving the same purpose come at dramatically different prices and thus impact the dollar per square foot value of the home. If two homes are different sizes, where does the difference lie? Does one have a theater room that the other doesn’t, or does it have an extra bedroom and bathroom? Is the size difference extra space in each room? And how does that change the way you feel about the home? Sometimes bigger makes rooms just too big while at other times it adds value. Sometimes the extra space you may buy with the lower price per square foot is unusable space or space you just don’t need to heat and maintain. The square foot of the home calculation does not take the lot size into account; nor does it consider views and open space.

 

When comparing two Park City homes, it is important that you are making true apple to apple comparatives. Our three ski areas are not equal, Old Town is not the same as Kimball Junction and Park Meadows is not the same as Silver Springs.

 

For assistance in determining the value of your home or condominium and to better understand the values of homes and condominiums in Park City, Utah contact a local realty professional with the YouInParkCity.com Group (888)968-4672.

 

Ski Resort Real Estate: Park City or Vail

By Todd Anderson
Nov 13, 2011

The Western Mountain Resort Alliance is composed of 13 destination ski resort area Boards of REALTORS®. The alliance was founded on the idea that while the resorts vary geographically, they share many of the same real estate and development issues due to their vacation resort status. The alliance publishes quarterly sales statistics for the various destination ski areas.

 

While we here in Park City, UT believe that our resort community offers some of the best recreational opportunities and easiest access of any Western North American Ski Resort, a look at what can be purchased in other resort towns can be very informative.

 

Park City, UT VS. Town of Vail, CO

 

Having spent 10 years in Vail, CO, I am jaded to believe that it is the resort with most in common to Park City. In terms of total available inventory if we exclude vacant land, the two areas are almost identical although the single family homes versus condominiums is reversed with Park City having nearly double the number of single family homes on the market as Vail. The number of units sold in the two towns shows Park City’s sales being up 18% in unit volume for the first three quarters of 2011 while Vail’s sales were relatively flat. Available inventory is down in both Park City and Vail versus 2010. The average sales price in Park City saw a 10% decline while Vail registered a 25% decline versus the same period last year.

 

Another interesting comparison stat between Park City and Vail is the median sales prices. Park City area single family home sales saw a median price (half above and half below) of nearly $550K while Vail shows $400K. Conversely, condominium sales median pricing shows Vail at $480K and Park City at $325. Average sales prices for both single family homes and condominiums are considerably higher in Vail than in Park City.

 

Maybe Park City and Vail don’t have as much in common as I thought in terms of real estate and the associated values. This likely has a lot to do with the differences in terms of Park City having been an old mining town that developed ski resorts versus Vail having been a ski resort that developed into a town.

 

For in-depth neighborhood by neighborhood real estate information about Park City, UT, contact a realty professional with the YouInParkCity.com Group at (888)968-4672.

 
 
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