Featured – Kristina Watkins, Summit Sotheby's International Realty

June 6, 2017June 6, 2017

Goldener Hirsch Residences, pt VIII

They are getting very close to finalizing many of the details. It’s a condo hotel project (like St. Regis or Stein Eriksen Lodge), which adds another layer of details to iron out. For instance, they need to select who the property manager will be, and once that’s done they can make decisions about common areas and rentals and operations, and once that’s figured out that will inform the final unit sales pricing. New construction is always a lot of moving parts.

In addition to the property management component, the architect and interior designer are finishing the design and renderings for the common areas and the definition of the condos below the rooftop pool area. They are hoping to get all of these things figured out because they want to avoid anything other than subtle changes between reservation and contract.

They’re now thinking early July for a product release, and by that time they hope to have a draft copy of the CC&Rs, bylaws, condo hotel Rules and Regulations. At the product release they plan to have everything ready: here are the units, here is the price schedule, here are the finishes and furniture. Then they are considering a period of 3 weeks for you to review all the info. At the end of those 3 weeks they plan to start accepting reservations.

A lot of the dirt work has been done; here is what the parcels look like today:

If you are interested in this project, let me know right away. Where we don’t know exactly what the reservation process will entail, I want to make certain you have every opportunity possible to own in this exclusive development.

The marketing is also a fluid concept; this link will always bring you to the most recent version of the sales brochure (but right now it hasn’t been updated since March 1).

Click here to sign up for updates as soon as they’re released.

June 6, 2017June 8, 2017

June 2017 Newsletter

I mean, what else would you call walking into other people’s houses that aren’t for sale? Like 12 of them? But June 24 is a very special day, the day of the Park City Historic Home Tour! Buy a ticket from the booth at the Town Lift Plaza that day or online now and visit an exclusive selection of historic homes in Old Town. Fascinating history, gorgeous design ranging from original to Alpine Modern. And what a beautiful time to be in Park City!

In our sales meeting, we each get to pitch our new listings. During this meeting…

Click here to read more

May 31, 2017June 7, 2017

Park City Open House Tour: 6/7/17 In Town

Open house tour day! Here is the interactive tour with photos and maps:

View Interactive Tour

Remember that all the open houses will show up on this list if you’re not careful, so be sure and note the date and times on the left side of each listing or click the drop down menu in top middle of the page under my contact info and select today’s date. Also attached are printable reports for this week only if you’d prefer. Let me know if you have any questions or see anything you’re interested in.

PDF: Open_House_Client_Tour

Want to receive the tour schedule in your inbox every week? Click here to sign up.

April 24, 2017April 25, 2017

Park City Statistics: 1st Quarter 2017

Just came out of our Year over Year Period Comparison Report — 12 Month Rolling and as usual, more information than I can digest at one time. Here are some initial observations from the committee:

Watch out when looking at Upper Deer Valley’s condo sales, price appears to be up over 130% but that is because Stein Eriksen Residences began to close.

Trends suggest that the number of sales in the first quarter is always low; the number of sales this quarter is up 22% in number of sales over last year, so we might expect the next three quarters to increase as well.

Anything in the Kamas valley that is reasonably priced is under contract in under 2 weeks. There is also a huge rental demand.

What was perceived as far away is no longer perceived as such. Red Ledges is a terrific value. The competition for Empire Pass is Promontory. Buyers are younger (heyooooooo) and looking for gated communities with lots of amenities.

Single family home sales in Old Town is very stable, but just because some condos are listed at $1,100/sq ft (and not selling) doesn’t mean every Old Town house is–or even many of them are–worth $1,100/sq ft.

Lower Deer Valley condos were hot, now it’s houses and a continuation of what we saw last quarter. People see the value and there is some flipping happening.

One of our local lenders, Rick Klein, compiles an excellent report that includes this fabulous graph (which does have some formatting issues).

If you list a condo in area 1-9 (Old Town to Park Meadows), for under the median sales price of $705,000, the stats show the absorption rate at 3.4 months. If you list for over that median, the stats show the absorption rate shooting up to 14.3 months. For single family homes in areas 1-9, if you list under the median price of $1,850,000 the stats show your absorption rate at 4 months. Whereas over that median price the stats show the absorption rate changes to 16.7 months.

For areas from 10-23 (Canyons out to Jordanelle), for condos up to the median price of $484,615 the stats show 1.5 months, and over the median price the stats show an absorption rate of 5.7 months. For single family homes up to the median price of $982,000 the stats show an absorption rate of 1.9 months, and over that median, the stats show an absorption rate of 10.1 months. (Absorption rate is calculated by taking the number of properties sold per month and dividing that out by the number of properties on the market.)

March 21, 2017March 21, 2017

Wasatch Springs: New townhomes starting in the $450s

Exciting new project coming online just outside of town. One of the things we’ve been struggling with is a shortage of properties under $700k. These thirty townhouses start in the $450,000s, built by Holmes Homes, and are being pitched as filling the gap in the market. 3-4 bedrooms, 2-car garages, nice floorplans, all the upgrades are built into the price so all you choose is your color scheme. One of the floorplans does have an optional finished or unfinished basement, which is a nice touch. The development team also mentioned they are focusing on keeping the HOA dues low (around $200 a month), which reflects a concern many of us have about how much those dues actually add to the monthly cost of ownership. These are in the same area as the Retreat at Jordanelle, Park’s Edge, and the Stock Building Supply facility.

As of right now, 5 of the 10 units in this phase are reserved. It only takes $1,000 to reserve a unit, so if you’re interested, let’s pick a unit and get a reservation in LIKE RIGHT NOW.

When you get to the site plan, B1 and D3 were reserved this morning.

Here is the official brochure:

February 3, 2017February 3, 2017

6 Eagle Ct: Ski house video walkthrough

This is a walkthrough video of an excellent house in the American Flag subdivision of Deer Valley, in Park City, Utah. Tremendous views, very comfortable as-is or good potential for a remodel.

This home is listed by colleagues of mine at Summit Sotheby’s International Realty, but I’d love to represent you as a buyer! As long as this house is listed, the details can be found here: http://kristinawatkins.summitsothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/280-l-916-kcg67x/american-flag-home-with-sweeping-views-park-city-ut-84060

October 25, 2016October 31, 2016

Vaguely Borgish: my LG Bluetooth Headset

I am a real estate agent which means I take 7,000 phone calls a day. Scrolling through my Recents is enough to give my thumb a cramp. I also drive, walk, type and text every minute I’m awake, I can’t spend my life with one hand holding my phone on my ear. My elbow would rot and fall off. I also CANNOT suffer having a earpiece sitting in my ear. It’s been a personal problem since they came out and I know people love them and if you have one and love it then terrific. Every time I’ve worn one the urge to punch myself in the face is overwhelming.

A colleague introduced me to the ways of the neck headset (neckset?) and forever I am chang-ed. (Christine’s is different, the earpieces pull out of the ends, it’s more rigid, and it’s a very pretty color.) It’s like casual Borg meets the Secret Service. I tuck the whole thing into my collar and the wires stick up a little but who cares? It’s comfortable and bluetooth and NOT ON MY FREAKING EAR. The LG TonePro Bluetooth headset.

The earpieces magnet into the ends of the headset. The speakers are somewhere in those pointy bits too. It’s been months and I still haven’t bothered to figure the buttons out. Forward is on, backwards is off I think, there’s a volume and a next/previous. Word of warning: if you push the answer/hang up button in some sequence you will either answer/hang up, summon Siri, or call the last person you talked to. Which is only a minor inconvenience in most cases, “Whoops, hi sorry, didn’t mean to call you back.”

However. If you ended your call in a less than savory manner, and then yanked the earpiece from your ear and started complaining about how that person smelled, rest assured, they can hear you with crystal clarity and you aren’t yet aware of the war you’ve just started.

I also use it when I’m working in the yard or going to the gym. The yard is because weedwackers are loud and angry. The gym is because the gym is one of the places I wouldn’t be sad to see fall into a giant sinkhole, so I use it there to listen to ebooks. And I only listen to fun, descriptive books that I know I will love. If I had to listen to a businessy book club book I may as well eat a bowl of glass shards. So the last one I downloaded was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, narrated by Stephen Fry (who narrated the movie).

I’m seeing them more and more often now, particularly on service technicians and construction workers, which makes perfect sense. Keep your phone on your person someplace safe while you’re working, but you can still answer calls or use Siri by just touching the headset which is safely around your neck. Plus they hold a charge for quite a while; I just plug mine in at night with all my other devices and it’s ready to go in the morning.

*This post features affiliate links; please see below for the Affiliate Links Disclaimer.

October 20, 2016February 23, 2017

Oh the Arts, and also Crafts: 4275 Quarry Mountain Rd

I love me a good Arts and Crafts house. And shy of a full A&C restoration I will settle for a good handful of the correct elements and thoughtful furniture. Add that to a sprawling estate and my little heart goes pitter patter. Allow me to introduce 4275 Quarry Mountain Road*, listed by a colleague of mine at Summit Sotheby’s International Realty.

Here is the video. Here is the virtual tour. Here is the features list. Here is the MLS report and current pricing. Peruse at your leisure, I promise you won’t be disappointed. But let me walk you through what I love best about this house.

The entrance is grand and square and has a water feature running down each side of the walkway. The gutters draw water and ice down copper chains to a copper trough. Also red-trimmed windows, shake siding, and stained glass door and two sidelites. THE BALANCE SLAYS ME.

The main house and guest house sit on approx. 2.3 acres, which as you can see are flat and beautifully landscaped and surrounded by absurdly beautiful mountains. I should point out that there is no great drive to get here: this property is in town, one of only 36 parcels in the gated Quarry Mountain Ranch, which is off of Hwy 224/Park Ave/the main drag into and out of town. This house is 6 minutes from the Canyons Village at Park City Resort. SIX.

I like the lights over the island in the kitchen. I like the drawer and cabinet pulls. I like the tree motif in the tile above the window.

The house is an interesting mix of Arts & Crafts-inspired design and more opulent decor. This fireplace separates a bar area from a dining area, and this whole hall is in the neighborhood of 60 feet long.

This is the bar and sitting area on the other side of the fireplace, and LOOK AT THOSE CABINETS. I’m not certain if that is Sapele or Bubinga but the figure in that wood is is something most often reserved for fine furniture. I think that’s one of the main takeaways in this house: demand nothing less than excellent.

But it is still comfortable, and cozy. The A&C-inspired inlays on the chairs and bed matter. Though furniture is sometimes included and sometimes not included, it is important to the overall staging and character of your home. That is what people feel when they walk through and consider buying, so make good decisions. These are good decisions.

Stained glass? A+. Can you play “Floor or Ceiling?” in most of the rooms? Good.

Between the two buildings, I really like the way the roof isn’t always on posts into the deck area.

And where it is, the beams? They are glorious.

A+++.

*Home featured is 4275 Quarry Mountain Road, listed by a colleague of mine at Summit Sotheby’s International Realty. Photos taken by our superstar team of professional photographers at SSIR.