A RARE look at Jackson Hole Real Estate

The Jackson Hole Real Estate market has seen a +/- 95% decrease in sales volume  over the last three months when compared to 2007.   

Teton County has seen 13 closings from January 1st through March 17th.  

104 New Listings

Closings and Pendings of note:

Town of Jackson -

The 25,699 sqft  Buffalo Junction commercial building closed at $8,200,000 It was listed at $8,700,000

Teton Village

2200 Sq foot Moose creek stand-alone townhome listed originally for $2,100,000 closed at $1,479,000

2200 sq foot Granite Ridge cabin went under contract at a reduced list price of $1,895,000

Click the link below to see all of the closed properties.
http://www.flexmls.com/link.html?opartf0wl3g,10,1

 This link is valid until 4/16/2009.

Here is the data of our current year to dates real estate activity

If you have any questions about the real estate market please give us a call

 If there is any additional data or information you would like please feel free to email me at rick@rarejh.com

Expect to find no fluff here. The promise I make is that I work specifically for my clients best interest and not my own. My focus is not on todays commission for myself, but rather, earning the trust of my clients and guiding them in making informed decisions.

Currently, my take of the Jackson Hole Market is that we are experiencing a lull due to sellers being slow to drop prices and buyers not finding value. What you will find  in the following charts is data based statistics from the last two years, my summary of the numbers followed by my forecast. The forecast is purely based on two decades of following the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market.

As a whole, I do not think the prices in Jackson and Teton County reflect the reality that is about to hit. Though, there are occasional exceptions. It isthese exceptions that I will focus on finding for my clients.

The trend is pointing towards distressed sellers. The combination of the national economy falling into a deep recession, tight credit markets, and loss of wealth has started and will continue to force property owners to sell.

This is information that I have personally compiled. If there are other statistics you would like to see please email me.

Owner – Broker
Rick Armstrong

Jackson Hole Avalanche came down from the headwall and hits Coulior Restaurant at the top of the gondola at the western mountain resort town of Jackson Wy.  At about 9:20am, just prior to the mountain openening to the public an avalanche occured on the south east face of the head wall at approximately 9400 ft   in elevation.  The specifics of the size of the crown line of the avalanche are not available at this time.    What is for certain is that the avalanche was a result of warming tempatures, increased snow load and a notorious ice/rain crust from November located close to the ground on all aspects at elevations above 7600 ft.       

The avalanche is reported to have blown out many of the windows of the Coulior Restaurant causing some damage to the three year old building.   No one was thought to be killed or injured in the avalanch at this time.

I did a more detailed market report for the 1 year period from May ‘07 to May ‘08  to check it our go to  Jackson Hole Real Estate Market report
The summation is that prices are continuing upward here  with the median price up, the average sold price up, average time on market is 2 days longer .   Inventory has risen 9.86%.

We have recieved almost 4 and a half feet of snow over the last week.  The skiing  at Jackson Hole Mountain resort is unbelievable.   As I look at the forecast it is expected to continue as three storms have lined up to the west of us.  The skiing really is fantastic.

The Jackson Hole real estate market has not slowed at all.  The highest closed property during December 2007 was a 4800 square foot house just north of Teton Village which closed at $7,300,000 just $300,000 below asking price.

As for property in the town of Jackson – A 3700 sq ft home on a town lot (.17 acre) closed for 1,695,000 at full asking price.

Wilson -Wyoming real estate during the Christmas month saw the highest closing at $1,410,000 with at 97% of asking price.    There are very few properties available in Wilson at this time.

Each day that I search the Jackson Hole MLS  for new listings I continue to be dismayed by the lack of new inventory.

Jackson Hole Art & Entertainment :   This week was the opening of nationwide theatrical release of Steep  – it is a historical documentary on the history of Extreme Skiing produced by late news anchor Peter Jennings production company. It is dedicated to both Peter Jenniongs and Doug Coombs.    It features many of the great big mountain skiers of the past.   It also has commentary by Dave Miller the Rare Properties agent and myself.

If you would like to know more about what is happening here give me a call at (307)733-TRAM .

Hi everyone,
We continue to have a great ski report here as the Jackson hole snow keeps pilling up.

Here is my basic market report for the 2007 season – email me for the detailed report.
 

If you want to know how the Jackson Hole real estate market is holding up. Here is my simple summation.  If you want my detailed report email me and I will send you all of the numbers and break downs. 

This is my market analysis taken from the local data .  This is private information not to be shared unless it goes through me. 

We continue to push upward – with the laws of supply and demand working in the favor of the current homeowner in Jackson.  

My summation.  

The Percent of list price achieved is mixed but mostly up across the board.

Sales volume is almost identical with last year (currently -2%)

Number of Listings (Inventory) down -14!

Average Sales Price up 13%

We have yet to feel the effect of the national housing problem.

Why?  I believe that the amount of bad credit issued in Jackson is minimal and this is not an overly speculative market. 

People buy in Jackson Hole  because they want to be here.

Cheers,

Rick Armstrong

Jackson Hole Mountain Winter and summer resort lived up to it’s reputation as the big one today. The skiing was awesome today with deep light powder conditions on all aspects. Time to book your airline tickets to Jackson Hole ! The new 100 person tram is on track for completion. Just one of the new things going on in Teton Village. The realestate market is showing record numbers in sales due to the new Teton Village master plan and Golf course.The holiday is upon us and ski area has a festive feeling !

It is a beautiful day with blue skies here in Jackson Hole.  Temperatures this morning were a chilly 3 degrees when we hopped on the Gondola at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.  Locals brave such rigid temperatures because it keeps the snow nice! 

The gondola ride brought us up through the “sea of dreams”.  This is a local term for the visual delight you receive when there is a temperature inversion (cold in the valley and warmer up top).  This creates a cloud bank over the valley floor.  As you rise in elevation, the clouds burn away to a brilliantly clear horizon.   From the top of the ski resort you see a beautiful cloud carpet and it is sunny skies up top!  Truly something all should experience while skiing JH Mountain Resort! 

The skiing today was amazing!  The top chair opened which meant that Rendesvous Bowl was open for skiing and it was POWDER!  Snow covered smiles showed that fun was had by all!

Mid morning (après ski) we are back in the office.  We are busy staying current with Jackson Hole real estate.  The buzz of the holidays is beginning to flow through the town.  Snow, skiing, Santa and a home in Jackson Hole…….. it really is the perfect life!

Don’t miss the Teton Village real estate open house this week, December 13, 2007 from 10am to 1pm.  Give us a ring if you would like to join us on tour.  It will be fun!  

Please let us know if you have any questions, as we are here to help you keep your eye on the Jackson Hole real estate market.  We are a team dedicated to assisting you to find the property you are looking for here in Jackson.  We are delighted to show you around and get you acquainted with the valley, homes for sale, activities, and the priceless lifestyle of Jackson Hole!

Happy Holidays!
RARE Properties

What’s happening For Teton Couty and Jackson Hole Real Estate- What a sweet day! A little rain storm rolled through last night. Flowers are booming and the air smells fresh. Looking over the last 1/2 year in Jackson Hole real estate I am somewhat astonished. If you were to read USA Todays reports on the home market you would think that it must be leveling off here. It has not been the case. The low end of the market, meaning properties under $700,000 (somewhat bewildering that I call that the “low end”) are flying off the shelf. We have seen a total number of sales decreasing while the overall dollar of sales region wide is $11,000,000 higher than last year. What does this mean? It means that the price is still going up.

In Teton Village real estate we saw both two of the highest price transactions ever for single family homes. The first was the $11,900,000 Ski In/out Granite Ridge House that was on the market for less than 35 days that sold for $11,500,000 and the the other listed listed at 12,890,000 sold at an undisclosed price. We also saw a Four Seasons top of the line unit sold at an undisclosed price but I know it to be in the $4.8 to 4.9 region. Currently there are only 19 condos on the active market in Teton Village.

For single family homes in Teton Village there are only 4 (yes that’s right 4) active single family homes on the market . One is a tear-down ski in/out listed at $3.450,000 one of the others is 100 acres listed at $37,500,000 . Not a lot of options.

The Town of Jackson Real estate market is ultra low on inventory as well. Total units on the market is 37. 18 Homes and 19 Condos.
The Lowest priced unit is priced at $512,000!!! it is a 2br 2 bath 1018 sqft townhome in downtown Jackson. The Lowest priced single family home is a $798,000 home 4Br 2 bath 2000+square foot home also in central downtown Jackson. A 3700 sqaure foot home just went under contract with an asking price of $1,695,000.

Average price for on sold single Family homes so far this year is $815,000

Average Sales Price for Sold Condos $415,000 up from $395k in2006

I have piles of data and tables – If you would like my private news letter please email me at info@rarejh.com and I will build you statistics on whatever you want to know about.

Cheers, Rick Armstrong

Welcome to my first installment of A RARE Point of View.   This is the place to come to find out what is going on with the Real Estate Market in the Jackson Hole region.  It is where I will consistently update you on notable current events from around the region. 

As a start and to give myself a little credibility (or maybe not) here is my story. 

I moved to Jackson Hole in December 1988.  My intent was to become a professional skier and Jackson Hole would be my training ground.  Why Jackson?  In my opinion- It is absolutely the best in North America – period.  With its 4100ft sustained vertical rise and an average snowfall of 350 plus inches I felt that I could gain the skills to make an impression and the film companies would follow.    The only problem with my equation -  I had no resources.   I had just spent all of my savings on College tuition and new ski equipment.    So I took a job waiting tables at night at the Wort Hotel.  It allowed me ski every day and I made just enough to get by on.   

A couple of years went by until one winter morning heavy snow fell in town.  My car had been buried  by the plow truck and to save time I decided to hitchhike to Teton Village.  I stood on the road and it wasn’t long until I was picked up by a guy named Bob in an old pickup.   We cruised northward down the snow covered village road in route to what should be a great day of skiing.  As we started getting close he asked my name and I replied “Rick” he looked somewhat startled and then asked if I was “the crazy skier Rick who had been jumping off of everything?” and I said “probably”. 

 It was that moment that I realized I had just caught a ride with one of the best ski photographers on earth and one of my heroes - Bob Woodall (Check out his magazine  http://www.focusproductions.com/HTML/fpi_master3.htm ).   He then told me that there was a film company in town (Steve Winters Productions -now Matchstick Productions) and they were wanting to see if I would film with them.  He was on his way to meet them and he would get me on the early tram for the shoot.  I was in, the skies cleared to a crystal blue and the rest is history.  

It was this day that Bob dubbed me “Sick Rick” which is the moniker that I carry to this day (not much I can do about it) .  The shoot was the catalyst that catapulted me into my lifelong goal of being a professional skier.  We had multiple images published and the film was a success.   I have since been in over 50 ski movies and films, I have had hundreds of images published, I have been on billboards in Times Square and most importantly I have gotten to travel around the world.  (Here is my North Face bio   http://www.thenorthface.com/na/athletes/athletes-RA.html ).     

So what does a skier know about real estate?       I have been buying and selling real estate for 15 years and it has been my source of income for that time.  I am constantly looking over the market, assessing the values and making decisions based on that knowledge.   My initial introduction to real estate came from my rancher grandfather.  He instilled in me the thought “There is always going to be more people , but there is never going to be more land.”   I still believe that to be true (more on that later).    I also make an attempt to look at every property that comes on the Jackson Hole market.  By doing this I am able to give my clients a first hand opinion about the properties.  I know the Jackson Hole market and I continue to personally invest in it.    Additionally, I also monitor the National real estate market and specifically evaluate seven other relevant markets  on an ongoing basis – Aspen and Telluride, Colorado,  the Hawaiian Islands,  San Francisco, CA,  New York City, New York  and Park City Utah.       

To conclude my intro.   Check out this UTUBE video – It is  3+ minutes long.  This gives my view on the world.   I am featured at 00:27 and 2:53 also skiing throughout.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEw7q_po9Q  .  

Thanks for coming by - hopefully you will find it informative and relevant.   I will make every attempt to be factual and accurate.  But I am shooting off the hip and I will pontificate with opinions -  which are exactly that  – my opinions. 

Cheers and Live Well,

Rick Armstrong Owner / Broker

RARE Properties of Jackson Hole

307-733-8726

email  rick@rarejh.com  (please email me with any stories, comments or suggestions)