Local Area And Real Estate News

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.

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.

Future Looks Good for Utah & Park City

By Todd Anderson
Aug 29, 2008

          New census estimates shows that Utah has the youngest population in the country.  This bodes well for the real estate industry because of the demand for housing this growing population will require.           Census figures show that nearly one third of Utah's population is under the age of 18, and one tenth is under age 5.  The facts that Utah has a large population of women in childbearing years, and that they have more children than average, result in a younger total population.           University of Utah research economist Pam Perlich also adds that the State of Utah's economy has been strong in recent years, usually ranking in the top ten percent nationally.  This means that more jobs are available keeping the young people in State and even attracting younger families to Utah for jobs that are available.           A young population and strong economy also supports the State's largest industry......tourism and recreation.  This brings us to the long-term benefits that a growing population, strong economy, and growing dependence on tourism and recreation have on the strength of the real estate market in the Utah resort areas, and specifically Park City.           For now, Park City's future growth may be dependent on the continued success of the Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort, and The Canyons ski areas, but Park City has other reasons to attract home buyers.  Among these are: a hospital set to open in 2009 that will attract new professionals, the new home of the U. S. Ski and Snowboard Association, more than 1500 registered business, 250 retail stores, a new high school building, and the proximity to Salt Lake City and an international airport.           For current market information on vacation homes or investment properties in the Park City area, use the "Contact Us" button on the top of the web page.  You can expect a response within hours from one of the http://www.youinparkcity.com/  real estate experts.     Submitted by Ken Drummet, 8/29/2008

 
 
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