Fall Colors in Empire Pass, yesterday October 20, 2011.
By empiregroup
Oct 21, 2011
Fall Colors
By empiregroupOct 19, 2011
Here we are on the 19th of October and the colors are still spectacular. Driving down from Empire Pass this morning I just had to pull over and take a picture….nothing professional, but I hope you enjoy!! file://localhost/Users/Jim/Desktop/EmpirePassToday.jpg
Fall In Deer Valley, Utah
By empiregroupSep 27, 2011
If you think the fall season in Deer Valley is an “off season” you are greatly mistaken. The mountains are alive and bright in every color imaginable. Daily temperatures are in the 60’s and 70’s making it ideal to take a spectacular mountain bike ride, hike or to try your hand with a fly line in one of our local rivers.
As the temperatures drop the anticipation grows for an incredible ski season. Live Like a Local and perfect your “snow dance” to appease the snow gods. Deer Valley season passes are now on sale, hurry before the price goes up November 1st.
http://www.deerlocals.com/season-pass.html
If you our planning on visiting Deer Valley/Park City in the coming weeks give us call for the latest on how to Live Like a Local. Below is a link to a full calendar of fall events.
Hello world!
By empiregroupJan 05, 2011
Empire pass numbers
Empire pass has been a certainly been on of the most successful developments in the history of Park City/Deer Valley
Part of the success of Empire Pass has been the Talisker Club. You can get information on the Talisker Club at www.Taliskerclub.com
Everyone talks about the “down turn” in our market, and that has been the case. That said, the prices have adjusted in Empire Pass as evidenced by the sales in Empire Pass in 2010. If you add the condominium lodges, and the town home product together, we sold 45 units in 2010 both re-sales and new product.. We currently have 39 listed, including both developer units and re-sales.
What that means, is in a year where lending is easier, and people are more comfortable with the markets and in the recovery of the US Economy, we actually have LESS product to purchase! And the smart seller’s are offering their units at a reasonable price!
Adding to that, it will take at least 3 years for a new condominium lodges to be built. With scarcity may come price increases? At the very least, waiting to buy may mean you get a lesser product for more money. Empire Pass units are limited anyway, with most of the area already built. Ski in and out is a premium and there is not better buy than something in Empire Pass
The data would indicate we are past the bottom with respect to the pricing of Deer Valley properties. The area’s Master Plan is 97% built out and no new annexations or entitlements are allowed – ever. For the period January 1, 2009 through January 21, 2010, 85 condominiums sold throughout Deer Valley for a total of $171,000,000. For the same period 2010 – 2011, 127 sold for $240,700,000. That is a year over year increase of 49% in transactions and 41% in dollar volume. The latter does not reflect a reduction in pricing. Rather, in the latter half of 2009, the St. Regis was completed and the majority of its units closed escrow skewing the dollars to the high side given St. Regis’ pricing.
Real estate has no national market, with the possible exception of capitalization rates by asset class for commercial properties. On the residential side, it is very local and destination resorts, which typically have limited supply, appear to be recovering quite rapidly. Take a look at this attached Wall Street Journal article. This is largely regarding beach communities, but the trends here in Park City/Deer Valley are substantially similar. Here is that link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704482704576071984006994652.html?KEYWORDS=vacation+home+market+rises
Condo/hotels in the Park City/Deer Valley area typically have a front desk, concierge, bellman, shuttle vans, nightly maid service, meeting and conference space – essentially all elements that makes the property function like the full service hotel -- which they are. As a result of these services and amenities, these properties consistently outperform other properties in Park City/Deer Valley when looking at the net income as a percentage of purchase price. The bad news is that today, condo/hotel financing is for the most part nonexistent, so the pool of potential purchasers for these properties is quite small.
This is the 3rd time in the course of our collective careers that we’ve seen condo/hotel financing redlined by lenders. It really has nothing to do with destination resorts like Park City/Deer Valley, but rather comes about from abuses in places which are not destination resorts. Egregious developers use a condo/hotel structure to evade federal and state securities laws knowing it is easier to sell “real estate†rather than packaging the investments in a Limited Partnership or Limited Liability Company format. Then they don’t meet investment projections, investors form a class and sue the developer claiming they were sold unregistered securities, the deal goes bankrupt, the bank forecloses and the banks and regulators redline all condo hotels. In Park City/Deer Valley, condo/hotel loans are essentially the most secure if the borrower is underwritten properly as there is meaningful income generated from those in rental programs which helps service expenses.
So, as in the past, lenders will figure it out and condo/hotel financing will be back in the next year or two. When it is available, condo/hotels will once again be popular from an acquisitions standpoint and likely prices will increase as a direct result.
The data would indicate we are past the bottom with respect to the pricing of Deer Valley properties. The area’s Master Plan is 97% built out and no new annexations or entitlements are allowed – ever. For the period January 1, 2009 through January 21, 2010, 85 condominiums sold throughout Deer Valley for a total of $171,000,000. For the same period 2010 – 2011, 127 sold for $240,700,000. That is a year over year increase of 49% in transactions and 41% in dollar volume. The latter does not reflect a reduction in pricing. Rather, in the latter half of 2009, the St. Regis was completed and the majority of its units closed escrow skewing the dollars to the high side given St. Regis’ pricing.
Real estate has no national market, with the possible exception of capitalization rates by asset class for commercial properties. On the residential side, it is very local and destination resorts, which typically have limited supply, appear to be recovering quite rapidly. Take a look at this attached Wall Street Journal article. This is largely regarding beach communities, but the trends here in Park City/Deer Valley are substantially similar. Here is that link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704482704576071984006994652.html?KEYWORDS=vacation+home+market+rises