We survived another Sundance

By parkcitynews
Jan 31, 2012

Well, the Sundance Film Festival ended this Sunday and we have reclaimed our town. From everything that I have heard, 2012 Sundance was a success with many films selling, the weather cooperated by snowing heavily, and I think everyone generally had a good time. So now on to the next event, which begins this week. This coming Wednesday we kick off the start of the annual FIS Freestyle World Cup with a street concert on Main Street and a commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of the 2002 winter Olympics. There will be a lot of celebration with former Olympic athletes, big screen TVs showing highlights of the Olympics, pin trading tents and everyone telling their favorite Olympic stories. Then Thursday, Friday and Saturday is the World Cup Freestyle at Deer Valley. Thursday being qualifying, Friday evening under the lights will be a men's and women's aerial competition, and then Saturday night under the nights will be the premier event: the dual mogul competition. This is where skiers to go head-to-head down a very steep mogul field and are judged on time, techniques and form on two jumps in the middle of the mogul field. Come back next week for photos of this event.

Great video: Building the World Cup Courses at Deer Valley Resort

In real estate news I did a couple of searches and found some pretty interesting numbers. For this ski season, which would be From Christmas through the end of January, here in Silver Lake in mid-mountain Deer Valley, 11 homes and condos have sold, ranging in price for a low of $550,000 to just over $3,000,000 for condos, and a high of over $7,500,000 for homes. What's really interesting is that during the same time period last year there were zero sales for homes or condos in Silver Lake. Another interesting report that I pulled up was in an area called Park Meadows--which tends to be a full-time residential community--in 2011 over 60 homes sold. And there are currently only about 30 homes listed for sale. This is the first time in many years that we have seen less than a years' inventory available in any area of Park City. Everything that I'm looking at is indicating that the fourth quarter of 2011 is up substantially over the fourth quarter of any year going back to 2008. As I have mentioned in the past I feel that this is a combination of three things: prices are low, inventory is down thus creating some urgency, and the economy has certainly made a dramatic recovery since the fourth quarter of 2008. From just watching and listening to agents in my small office (only seven of us) I am observing a lot of activity with agents writing offers and having offers presented on their listings. This is really terrific news for everybody in Park City, RE agents, sellers and buyers alike, and we all hope that this is the start of a good trend.

While this certainly is not a snow year like it was last year, we have over a four-foot base of snow and the skiing is absolutely delightful. One benefit to a year like this is that the temperatures are milder, mostly in the 20s and 30s, and we have more bright sunshiny days than we've had for a while. So as always when you come out for your ski trip, give me a call or stop in my office for my pick of the best skiing, dining, and activities.

Sundance is Happening

By parkcitynews
Jan 25, 2012

So after all the hoopla last week of all the storms arriving it started off as a big ho-hum. Between Wednesday and Friday we received a measly 14 inches of heavy wet snow. While to some that may seem like a lot, remember we are a ski town and were hoping for multiple feet of snow. Then Saturday came and the storm arrived in full force. A full-on old-fashioned Utah blizzard all day and well into the night and left us with 28 inches of our famous Utah powder. Needless to say, the skiing Sunday morning was incredible. Many of the bowls at Deer Valley that had not opened all year opened on Sunday with nearly four feet of new snow and with soft snow all the way to the bottom, no bumps, and a crystal clear bluebird day, the skiing was epic. And of course every powderhound in Park City was out. The frequently heard comment on the chair was "I could have gone to a Sundance Party last night or gotten up early this morning for first tracks. I chose the latter."

Monday afternoon at Deer Valley

Monday afternoon at Silver Lake, Deer Valley

So the Sundance Film Festival started last Thursday right during the start of the snow and was quite comical on Saturday during the blizzard. Understand that during a normal busy day during the ski season, all the cars are parked at the ski resorts and the mountain is busy with skiers enjoying themselves. During Sundance, no one is skiing, everyone is scurrying back and forth between films so the streets are clogged with Sundance traffic. Now throw in a good old-fashioned blizzard, lots of two-wheel drive cars with no snow tires, and drivers who don't understand driving in the snow...well, you can picture the results. While Sundance will continue for another week, the first weekend is really the busiest. All of the Hollywood stars are here for the opening shows, presentations and parties, and all the Salt Lake star-watchers come up to see and be seen. It's all quite entertaining and certainly worth a visit here, if for nothing else just to see what a crazy place our town can get turned into.

We nearly got run over by people with cameras! Must have been a star up the street.

As I mentioned last week, I just returned from Sun Valley where we held our annual meeting for the Western Mountain Resort Alliance. One of the primary purposes of WMRA is the distribution and discussion of real estate market conditions and activity throughout the western ski resorts. The trend that I've been reporting on all year has continued with every resort showing a decrease in the number of listings. Steamboat, Sun Valley and Lake Tahoe showed the smallest decreases at 3, 4, and 5%, respectively, and with the remaining resorts showing a decrease in the number of listings between 12 and 22%. During the same timeframe all of the resorts showed a strong increase in number of units sold with Vail and Lake Tahoe showing the smallest increase at 2 and 5%, respectively, while the remaining resorts showed an increase in number of units sold between 18 and 31%. For total dollar volume sold four of the member resorts reported an increase in dollar volume sold: Whistler 9%, Park City 6%, Steamboat 7%, and Big Sky a whopping 41%; and four resorts showing a decrease in dollar volume sold: Sun Valley -4%, Vail -19%, Tahoe -9% and Teton -4%.

Two things jump out with these numbers. And that is for the resorts that showed a decrease in dollar volume sold but an increase in number of units sold one of three things are occurring: either prices are continuing to fall in those resorts, buyers are purchasing less expensive properties or a combination of the two. For instance Vail showed a 2% increase in number of sales, a 19% decrease in total volume sold and a 25% decrease in the median sales price. Park City showed an 18% increase in number of units sold, a 6% increase in total volume sold and a 13% decrease in median sales price. Here in Park City I am not seeing that a home or condo was worth 13% less in 2011 than in 2010. So I feel that this is more a factor of what people are purchasing. In talking with the agents from the other resorts everyone was very pleased with Christmas traffic and most were reporting the return of the high-dollar buyer. Interestingly the high-dollar buyer here in Park City is the $5-10 million range, and in Vail it's $15-20 million. All a matter of where you live.

So the snow is here! Skiing is fabulous and Sundance will be over next week. So plan your ski vacation and let me show you around our wonderful ski town of Park City.

Contact Dennis Hanlon, Park City Real Estate Agent

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