As of NOV 4th 2010:
MEDIAN PRICE in Salt Lake City for Single Family Homes is $220,140
AVERAGE PRICE in Salt Lake City for Single Family Homes is $261,020
The LOW sale in the past year was $37,000
The HIGH sale for a home in our market was $3,220,000
From Boom to BUST (i.e. 2005-2007 PEAK, 2008-2010 DOWN FALL) our market on average has dropped 25% in value.
The average price per foot for a home in SLC in NOV 2005 was $91.64 a foot. In NOV 2007 was $114.83 and now in NOV 2010
it is $86.89 a foot.
Here are some TIPS that are specific to SLC Market and or the sta
te of Utah as a whole:
# 1 Our high season for VOLUME is traditionally the months of May, June and August Sellers often MISS the selling market though
because they don’t get their home up for sale until July or AUG. REALLY if you want the best chance of selling at the high volume
time you have your home ready to sell by the end of FEB, get it on the market in March and be in your full blown marketing plan
by APRIL. That will assure you the best chance.
# 2 Our LOW sale month from a VOLUME standpoint is almost always traditionally NOVEMBER. NOV of 2008 was Salt Lake
City’s LOW month of the last 8 years with only 444 homes sold in the whole valley. Usually this month is also our first big SNOW
MONTH of the year where snow touches the valleys floors. Could be the holidays or could be the snow but one thing is for sure;
traditionally in SLC not many homes sale in NOV (it’s usually less than HALF the volume of the summer months).
# 3 Salt Lake City has 11 Ski resorts that are within 1 hour’s drive of the city (7 of which are 30 minutes or LESS!). This drives our
market. The Ski Town
areas such as Park City and Deer Valley especially experience their HIGH SALES during the ski season.
A typical ski year in these areas will increase sales 30% from the summer months and over 50% of the buyers will be from outside
the state of Utah.
# 4 The PRICING in the ski area markets, although still cheaper on average compared to Vail, Aspen, Jackson Hole etc., are
typically 100-130% the price of Salt Lake City homes. Don’t be surprised if you are paying more than double the price for the same
home in the ski towns as compared to the City homes.
# 5 There are still some “UNDISCOVERED†ski and recreation areas in Utah that pricing remains very, very cheap and you can have
all the amenities people pay high dollar for in Park City. One example is the town of Eden, Utah. There are 3 ski resorts in the area
(Powder Mountain which is the largest ACERAGE resort in the US and Snow Basin, a Sun Valley resort) are in this area.
Home prices remain even cheaper than Salt Lake City on average in this area! A very nice 2nd home or cabin can be bought very
close to the ski resorts for around $300,000. Eden is a ONE HOUR drive from Salt Lake International airport.
# 6 People traveling to Salt Lake City by plane almost always see the HUGE great salt lake water area first thing when they come
into the valley and they assume this is a wonderful recreation area (i.e. a nice and expensive real estate area of town). NOT TRUE!
There are hardly any homes in this area around the entire lake. The lake is VERY salty and has a specific odor that most don’t enjoy
. Also there are tons of mosquitoes and spiders and bugs that surround and infest the area. Therefore this is the most barren part of
the city and the housing that is in close proximity to the lake is some of the cheapest real estate in northern Utah.
# 7 The EAST bench of Salt Lake City was built out FIRST over the past century. Accordingly the east bench has OLDER homes,
more expensive homes traditionally and more developed neighborhoods than the west side of the valley. The East side of downtown
is Salt Lake City’s most expensive pricing and the price per foot goes down as you drive South and typically gets cheaper the further
you drive west as well. The Southwest end of the valley experienced a large BOOM in building over the last real estate bubble from
2004-2007. Accordingly there are some nice, new large home developments out there. The most popular is the Day Break
community which is the largest residential development in the United States right now that is still building!
# 8 Many visitors to Utah have the assumption that the entire city is make up of Mormons namely member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints. Because of this real estate professionals who are familiarizing new clients to Utah are often asked
where all the Polygamist communities are and or cult type areas. Shows like “Sister Wives†on TLC paint a false reality for people
when there think of Utah. The facts are that the LDS Church no longer practices polygamy and has not for MANY, MANY decades.
Furthermore the city of Salt Lake by population is LESS than 50% Mormon now in 2010. Salt Lake City is a diverse and robust
community with many faiths. However, there is still a large population of the Mormon Faith in Salt Lake City and because of their
beliefs the town experiences MANY benefits. Traditionally some of those benefits include; lower Crime rates, better education
statistics, many developed and beautiful parks, churches and shopping areas in SLC owned by the LDS Church and cleanliness of the
town. In many polls, Utah has been rated the best state to raise a family in.
# 9 Most homes in Utah have basements. The basement square footage IS considered part of the overall square footage when a
home is sold in Utah. Other states may ONLY consider ABOVE GRADE footage when selling a home. This is why the AVERAGE
home size in SLC is around 3000 square feet. Most homes that families live in the nice suburbs of Salt Lake are 4000 feet or
larger when total footage is considered.
# 10 Salt Lake City and Utah for that matter are still easy to get around in by car. The entire state can be driven from north to
south in 5 hours and from east to west in 4 hours. The furthest south suburb of the valley can still reach down town SLC in less
than an hour IN TRAFFIC. Visitors to Salt Lake City are often shocked that their commute times are cut in half when traveling a
certain distance. You can buy a home in the mountains by a ski resort and hiking and biking trails and work in the down town city
which may only be a 20 minute commute from your driveway!
# 11 Susan Poulin, one of my agents, suggests that you have your realtor discuss the advantages and disadvantages of making offers on
short sale properties. If you want to buy a home right away, a short sale may not be the best route to go. The process can be
frustrating and long. Currently in Utah 1/3rd of all homes for sale area SHORT SALES. We do NOT have a lot of BANK OWNED
homes at this time, just a lot of Short Sales.
# 12 Another important piece of information communicated by Susan Poulin is thatthe real estate market in Utah has been more stable than many other western
states, and appears to be rebounding fairly quickly in comparison. Utah has an inherently growing population so values might never
drop as dramatically as say, Nevada or California where the population and net migration numbers are more fluid.
# 13 Brad Miles, an
other one of my agents, suggests that a buyer pay attention to comps. Neighborhood values vary drastically, even houses within
a stone’s throw of each other. Use a realtor who has local market knowledge and will help you. Stats show you will more than likely
get a better deal using a realtor. Utah can have drastically different values that are in close proximity. For example there are high
end properties in Deer Valley ski area where one would pay $1000 a foot! Yet within the same county and a 10 minute drive you
could find a bank repo home in the area of Midway for $75 a square foot!
# 14 Another Mr. Miles tip.Newer doesn’t necessarily mean better value-especially in Utah.
# 15 Utah is a Split Closing state where buyer and seller may still elect to close the deal at different title companies.
Because of this Utah is one of the few states that when you SIGN the papers to buy your new home you USUALLY do NOT
get keys that same day.
In Utah it usually takes 24-48 hours to get Keys to your home after you sign. That is why our purchase
contract here has SETTLEMENT deadline as the day your sign the deal and CLOSING DEADLINE as the day you FUND
and RECORD it at the county. Our state contract gives all buyers 4 days to fund and record a deal from the date of settlement
by default.
# 16 The typical time to do a home purchase in Utah takes 40 days now. Plan on 40 days to own the home once you have negotiated
a deal. Unless buyer is paying cash and can close faster.
Jake Breen, MBA
Managing Broker
801-414-1852 (Cell)
mailto:[email protected]
web: http://utahcribs.com
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