Buying a vacation home in Park City, Utah

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October 5, 2011

If you've long dreamt of owning a mountain house, country cottage or other second home to while away your leisure time, stop dreaming. With family incomes up, mortgage rates way down and resort-real-estate prices depressed because of worries about possible changes in the tax treatment of vacation get-aways, this may be the best time in years to hang out that "Home Sweet Second Home" sign on your new vacation home in Park City, Utah

Contrary to the popular image of a second home in Park City, UT as a luxury that only the rich can afford, a weekend or vacation retreat in the U.S. is within financial reach of many middle-class families. There are about 8.2 million second-home owners in this country, the National Association of Home Builders reports. According to a study by the Scott Company, a Kiawah Island, S.C., management consultant, the average value of all types of second homes nationwide is $125,500.

A lot of credit for the current buyer's market in second homes -- inadvertent though it might be -- goes to the Bush administration and its drive to simplify the tax code. Prices in many resort areas fell 10 to 20 percent after the White House proposed a limit on the deduction for mortgage interest paid on second dwellings. While there is no such cap in the only tax-reform bill approved thus far -- the one passed by the House of Representatives -- most resort prices have not recovered fully. Falling energy costs and the reappearance of single-digit mortgage rates have further widened the window of opportunity for buyers.

Also, the weaker dollar and the fear of terrorist attacks are deterring Americans from traveling abroad, making the purchase of a vacation home a more appealing option.

Location, always a key factor in the way real estate is priced, can count for even more when it comes to vacation homes in Park City, Utah

Experts say that the soundest investments in second homes are in Park City, Utah where the supply of housing is limited. New golf courses and lagoons will always ready to be created. Anything that's near something man-made has a lesser potential for appreciation than anything that is close to a God-given feature such as the beautiful Wasatch and Uintah mountains.

Access to recreational facilities is another consideration in how resort homes are priced. Park City has more than the worl famous ski resorts - the ice rink, the Olympic Sports park, the maintained bike trials are just a few. Many neighborhoods are jammed with extras such as golf courses, tennis courts, swimming pools, hot tubs and health clubs.

Shopping for a vacation home in Park City, Utah in many ways is no different from buying a principal residence. In either case, it's important to price comparable homes. If you're buying a condominium, it's crucial to scrutinize the condo association's operating budget. There should be funds set aside for capital repairs, for instance. Some condo owners may scrimp on improvements, figuring they will have unloaded their units before a structural problem -- say a leaky roof -- becomes evident.

Since access to recreation rather than shelter is the main reason that many people buy vacation homes, keep in mind that factors such as the size of bedrooms may not be as important as they are in your primary residence.

In the end, the kind of vacation home and setting in Park City, Utah you want will be limited by what you can afford. But if the experts are right, the current combination of choice and price may not recur for quite a long time.

There is a lot of free information available to you about buying, selling or investing in Park City, Utah real estate. For complete information about the Park City, UT real estate market including current homes for sale, property values and more please visit the most complete website online dedicated to everything Park City, Utah real estate. So please feel free to contact me with any of your mortgage questions and I will me more than glad to answer you queries. Call me on my cell at 801-518-4599 or email me at KathyO@KathyOHomes.com.