Purchasing Real Estate - Mountain Towns

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PVBSkier

New member
I Just found this forum and I have really enjoyed reading many of the recent posts.

As an avid Florida skier who makes 3-6 trips out west every year, and, with the recent downturn in real estate prices here in Florida and throughout the rest of the country, I am wondering if now is the time to begin looking to buy either a condo or home at a mountain resort or a nearby town? I cant help but wonder if the various mountain towns have been hard hit as well. With the extremely strong downturn in California real estate are you seeing many of these CA owners or other overstretched owners of second homes now attempting to get rid of their mountain homes? Financing of second homes is becoming harder and harder to qualify for and this should also put additional downward pressure on mountain home prices.

I have skiied almost all of the major resorts in Colorado and Utah. I live in Jacksonville area but often fly out of Orlando so ideally flying to these locations won't be too horribly expensive. I will probably eventually retire to the west but probably not until another 10 years or so. I am not looking to purchase, a so called "legacy home" (boy, I wonder who is the more creative marketers...Wall Street or Real estate brokers) but instead a 2-3 bedroom condo or home in the $350,000-$600,000 range.

As you can see from my desired price range, I obviously will not be able to purchase a home/condo in Aspen,Vail, Park City etc. Some towns that immediatley come to mind include the front range area such as Keystone/Frisco, Steamboat, the Ogden, UT area etc. I would greatly appreciate everyones thoughts on this topic. Thanks.
 
given your price range, you could do quite well and have a bunch of options in the benches area of slc off of wasatch blvd. the slc market doesn't and hasen't moved too much over the years so if yer not lookin to buy and sell to profit in a few years slc could be a great choice plus, i think there's a major airport nearby.
rog
 
Welcome to FTO Liftlines, PVBSkier! Good advice from icelantic. Really, your price range hardly rules out anything in the entire Salt Lake Valley -- that range can fetch you a 4,000 sf house here right near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. And as ice aptly points out, our status as a hub for Delta means that you have lots and lots of flight options from Orlando.

In general our real estate market hasn't had the bubble burst that other areas have, certainly not compared to Florida (by way of mention, we built in the Sarasota area in 2000, sold in 2003 at a handsome profit but would've made a killing if we could've held out another year...but then lost all appreciation if we'd waited yet another year more).

Some ski resort areas are going through real estate hell. The most notable example that comes to mind is Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, Idaho (Google for some recent articles on their horror story). Despite the bargain I'm not sure that I'd buy there right now, for the resort's future looks questionable. I'm sure that the lifts will keep spinning, but somebody's going to end up coming in and buying the place for cents on the dollar.
 
front range area such as Keystone/Frisco, Steamboat
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Not yet. Tons of places for sale up in Summit County and the foreclosure rate up there is nearly that of Denver all of a sudden... But vast majority of places for sale are basically sitting there with people refusing to lower pricing... so far. Another year from now might be a very different story if buyers don't show up (super slow summer sales season up there this year - as in crazy slow/low # of buyers).

Denver pricing is down a bit, but nothing like either coast. But then Denver metro pricing was never that crazy high/fast appreciation either (Boulder excepted).
 
ESMC's comments about Summit County sound like the higher end areas in SoCal. Outlying areas in SoCal were big in the subprime market and are going through foreclosure hell now.

But my mother's former condo in a premium area of Pasadena just sold for only 10% off the peak (630K for 1400sf). The more affluent property owners are not as much under pressure to sell. So they will be more likely to sit on their property than accept a perceived low price. I expect the other shoe to drop eventually and thus agree with ESMC to wait awhile for most ski area real estate.

These comments do not necessarily apply to SLC, where you should listen to the local advice on a market that is unique for many reasons discussed on these boards.
 
Ogden's downtown is a possibility if you're looking for a "downtown" experience. The advantages would be walking everywhere, to 25th street, the Junction, and to minor league baseball (we saw Tommy Lasorda fri night!). And Snowbasin is about 30 mins away.

Disadvantages include some of the deals falling through with the credit thing going on. MacCools Irish pub seems to be backing off moving in, which is bummin me out. Other posters may have more info about that. Rumor is that the condos are rather pricey too, but that may be a bit of Utah bias against Ogden. The downtown condo experience is more appealing to me coming from the East, but locals don't seem to think Ogden is worth it.

Anyway, condos have been on my mind as I slave away in our fixer-upper.
 
Thanks so much all for the input. The more I think about it, the better it seems to wait a bit longer. The bloom is off the rose and the mountain towns are about 18 months or so behind the rest of the country is terms of falling real estate prices. Maybe a year from now... who knows...maybe 35-50% off the peak prices being paid in 2006? Oh yea...I almost forgot...with capital gains taxes almost assuredly being increased in the near future (increasing from 15% to 20%, perhaps higher)...yet another reason to try to unload appreciated vaction home before the Bush tax cuts expire 12/31/2010.

Yes...2009 will be the time to strike.
 
FWIW, i wouldn't wait too long maybe 6 months being better than 18 because as soon as we get a new president things could change very quickly. i'm all about buying in an appreciating market swing as opposed to a downward or even flat for a few reasons that i won't get into right now. as far as resort markets being behind a bit, again as soon as we get a new leader those who own vacation homes will just sit on em till the market goes upward as most of those owners don't need to move them as they have the dough to hold on to em as they afforded to buy them in the first place. wait too long and you may pay for it.
rog
 
I don't think a new president will make a major difference on the economy in the immediate future. This recession is largely based on energy, and our need for a more modern energy infrastructure. I would imagine the housing market should be relatively weak for the better part of the next couple years. However, there is no harm in buying while a buyers market exist, and that will be guaranteed in 6 months.
 
vee shall see. gas prices have dropped 15% already steadily in the last 3 months. if gas prices keep falling and steady out will it be mccain? or, if prices jack up again, up, up, up, will it be obama? tough one to call as is the real estate market sometimes.
rog
 
icelanticskier":4kn5ec0f said:
vee shall see. gas prices have dropped 15% already steadily in the last 3 months. if gas prices keep falling and steady out will it be mccain? or, if prices jack up again, up, up, up, will it be obama? tough one to call as is the real estate market sometimes.
rog
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You think that the presidential race is responsible for the gas drop?? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Try reduced demand (reduction in American driving due to gas prices) and the mere prospect of drilling more. Speculation has ceased at least for now.
 
Bet on capital gains and dividend tax rates to go up in 2009. The Dems will not wait for the 2003 law to expire; they will change it right away once they have full control. So potential vacation home sellers who bought long ago should bail out this year.

Increased taxes should have a depressing effect on vacation real estate, but it will likely be very mild compared to the major changes of 1986 (removing accelerated depreciation, passive losses, etc).
 
icelanticskier":17m9wlb1 said:
Admin":17m9wlb1 said:
icelanticskier":17m9wlb1 said:
vee shall see. gas prices have dropped 15% already steadily in the last 3 months. if gas prices keep falling and steady out will it be mccain? or, if prices jack up again, up, up, up, will it be obama? tough one to call as is the real estate market sometimes.
rog
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You think that the presidential race is responsible for the gas drop?? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Try reduced demand (reduction in American driving due to gas prices) and the mere prospect of drilling more. Speculation has ceased at least for now.
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no. what i mean is that gas prices/trend could affect who is elected. lower prices at time of election=mccain takes over. soaring prices at time of election=obama takes over. reduced demand is obvious so why not just keep raising prices so that we can pay more for less?
rog
 
Oh, I strongly disagree. I believe that higher fuel prices will directly harm Obama, who is vehemently opposed to new drilling leases - unless he changes his mind on that, too. And don't forget that the election will take place right around the time folks are filling their home heating oil tanks.
 
Admin":3oqvd1yo said:
Oh, I strongly disagree. I believe that higher fuel prices will directly harm Obama, who is vehemently opposed to new drilling leases - unless he changes his mind on that, too. And don't forget that the election will take place right around the time folks are filling their home heating oil tanks.
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i respect your ideas on this but, if prices go down under republican rule then americans may want another republican in rule, money is money and if folks see more of it or sudden improvement under current rule then why change? and remember republican=decisions based on thought and democrat=decisions based on emotion. right coast rules! :lol:
rog
 
I'm inclined to agree with Admin on this one. Overall worsening economic conditions tend to help Obama. But the specific issue of high oil prices/more exploration is where McCain is viewed most favorably within his perceived weakness on economic issues.
 
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