Navigating the real estate market was already intimidating, but in this uncertain time, we all have even more questions about how to do it. Vince Malta who is president of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has channeled his 43 years of experience to offer advice about buying and selling in this strange new environment. We are sharing the top four questions of the article, click here to read all twenty-five.
This week we are reviewing the top questions of home Buyers and Sellers during these changing times, outside activities that give space and some great alternatives to the top national parks.
1. Is now a good time to buy? Every person who dreams of owning a home has to answer that question individually based on a variety of factors — ranging from their personal financial picture to what’s available in their market to how long they plan to stay in one place.
While searching for and buying a home during the COVID-19 pandemic presents some challenges, with mortgage interest rates at an all-time low, for some it may be an ideal time to buy. Thankfully, the real estate industry has quickly adapted to the current circumstances and is leveraging technology that allows buyers to continue their home search virtually and close transactions using safety precautions or remote online notarization.
One of the biggest challenges buyers have faced in the last several years is a shortage of inventory. With the health crisis and stay-at-home orders, some sellers have pulled out of the market or delayed listing their properties, which only exacerbates the inventory challenge.
2. Is now a good time to refinance? Historical data, going back 50 years, shows that mortgage interest rates have never been lower. So, it sure sounds like a good time to consider refinancing, but this is a question to discuss with a lender or qualified financial planner.
If you do decide to refinance, be prepared: Lenders I’ve talked to are managing a high volume of applications, so you’ll need patience — along with outstanding credit. More than 2 million borrowers have sought forbearance on their mortgage payments as a result of the current situation. Some lenders have responded by tightening credit standards, including raising minimum credit scores. So make sure your financial house is in order, you’re continuing to pay bills on time, and you’re keeping debt manageable.
3. What is the best place to find information about how COVID-19 is affecting the home-buying process in my area? Realtors® can provide insights into how your local market is affected by COVID-19 and can help you understand how stay-at home orders, and other local, state and federal government actions and recommendations, are impacting the home-buying process.
4. Is it currently more of a buyer’s or seller’s market? Is COVID-19 shifting these? Every market is different, so it’s a good idea to speak with a Realtor to learn what’s going on in your area. That said, in the past few years, many areas have been experiencing inventory shortages, in part due to insufficient home building and increased tenure in home. On a national basis, a thriving economy combined with low interest rates and limited inventory have led to 97 straight months of home price increases. Generally, low inventory and increasing prices indicate a seller’s market, but historic low interest rates have helped keep homes affordable for buyers in most markets.
NAR data shows Realtors® are experiencing significant slowdowns in their business as a result of COVID-19, but that hasn’t necessarily shifted the market to a buyer’s market. In fact, the national median existing-home price for all housing types in March was $280,600, up 8% from March 2019.
To read the entire article "Everything You Need To Know About Buying and Selling a Home in This Pandemic" - click here.
The Middle Provo River is one of Utah’s finest blue-ribbon fisheries, stretching from Jordanelle to Deer Creek Reservoirs. Great public access is only a 15-minute drive from Park City. Take UT-224 out of Park City to US Hwy 40 East, travel nine miles, and turn right at the light at River Road. Two fisherman’s access areas are right there (one on the right, one on the left) with parking, portable restrooms, and lots of other fishers to swap tales with. You’ll catch brown, cutthroat, and rainbow trout on this beautiful, braided section of river, with lots of easy spots to fish from shore or by shallow wading (depending on water flow). Flies and lures only. Best bets: PMDs, caddis in the evenings, and grasshoppers in late summer.
Then visit Back 40 Ranch House Grill and take in the beautiful, pastoral views of the Heber/Midway Valley while sipping nothing but the water from their own artesian aquifer, but … with so many farm-to-table, locally sourced ingredients, you’d be remiss if you didn’t order, say, the smoked jalapeño cheddar burger made with beef from the Circle Bar Ranch two pastures away and artisan cheddar from nearby Heber Valley Cheese.
Each summer, Jans Mountain Outfitters hosts, beginner fly-casting lessons at the ponds at lower Deer Valley (next to the gazebo). You don’t need a reservation, but call ahead to confirm and let them know you’re coming so they can bring enough rods (bring your own if you have one). Typically, you’ll end up with a group of 8 to 10 new anglers perfecting their “10 o’clock, 2 o’clock” casting technique. Then, book a guided trip with the fine folks at Jans or Trout Bum 2 for a true fly-fishing experience on a local river.
Then visit Deer Valley Grocery Café. Sit on the outside deck and check out the duckies and stand-up paddleboarders floating by. DVGC also carries gourmet to-go items if you want to pack a picnic. 2250 Deer Valley Dr, 435.615.2400, deervalley.com
Known as an “urban fishery” since the Weber River runs parallel to I-84 and I-80, a lot of the Weber is private access only, but anglers can enjoy several nice stretches of tailwater with lots of brown trout and mountain whitefish. Try the Creamery Lane access in Coalville (20 minutes from Park City). From I-80 east, take exit 162. Travel west on Icy Springs Road (SR-280) for 0.2 miles. Turn left and travel south on the frontage road that parallels I-80 for approximately 1.3 miles. Cross over Hobson Lane and continue traveling south on the frontage road for an additional 1.4 miles to reach this access point. Flies and lures only.
Follow with the family-friendly Taggart’s Grill is located in a log house nestled in a beautiful canyon between Morgan and Henefer. Taggart’s doesn’t take reservations, so expect a bit of a well-worth-it wait.
Before You Go you need a License to Fish. Anyone older than 12 must purchase a license to fish in Utah. Purchase one at any of our local fly-fishing shops, Walmart, by downloading the Utah Hunting and Fishing NICUSA app, or online at wildlife.utah.gov. Nonresident three-day license, $24; Utah residents, $16.
Find Fishing Buddies- Join High Country Fly Fishers (highcountryflyfishers.com), the local chapter of the national Trout Unlimited organization, and be privy to monthly activities including fly-tying classes, guest speakers, women’s-only events, group fishing outings, social hours, conservation activities, and more.We wrap up this week's blog with a snippet of the The Salt Lake Tribune's article, 11 great alternatives to the top national parks. The glories of the national park system draw hundreds of millions of visitors each year, even in normal times. But in this upside-down year, with the pandemic still limiting much travel in and outside the United States, it’s likely that the National Park Service’s 419 sites, 62 with a “national park” designation, will attract even more people looking to get away.
For potential park-goers who wish to avoid these crowds (and this season, who doesn’t?), one strategy is to skip the Grand Canyon, the Great Smoky Mountains and the other top 10 parks that typically receive the majority of visitors. There are alternatives that are still awe-inspiring for your summer and fall fresh-air retreats, ones that offer many of the Top Ten’s sights, sounds, wildlife and activities.
South Carolina Congaree, instead of Great Smoky Mountains - Congaree, a park named after the original Native American inhabitants, was created in central South Carolina to preserve 15 different species of trees that are the tallest such specimens anywhere. These includes the most statuesque loblolly pine in the world, towering 167 feet above the surrounding tupelo forest. Tree lovers know Congaree, with only 159,445 visitors last year, as the Redwoods of the East — this year it’s worth forgetting about nearby Great Smoky Mountains and its 12 million-plus visitors.
Arizona Petrified Forest, instead of the Grand Canyon - In east-central Arizona, 110 miles from Flagstaff, the Petrified Forest adjoins the Painted Desert, 7,500 square miles of badlands and hills tinted lavender and red by Triassic Age strata. The annual visitation of this park is one-tenth that of the nearby Grand Canyon. The Petrified Forest, a drive-through park, holds the greatest and most spectacular concentration of fossilized, coniferous tree logs in the world. Once a lush and subtropical climate, the forest of 200-foot-tall trees was buried by volcanic ash and preserved 225 million years ago.
Utah Canyonlands, instead of Arches - Instead of ogling the sandstone formations in traffic-jammed Arches, opt for a wilderness desert experience amid the reddened Wingate sandstone in Canyonlands. Canyonlands is southwest of the tourist mecca of Moab, Utah. Most visitors take the Island in the Sky scenic drive out to spectacular overlooks, but otherwise the 527-square-mile park has few roads.
Minnesota Voyageurs National Park, instead of Glacier Bay - If you haven’t seen the Northern Lights, never mind Alaska. Instead, grab a camera and a paddle and head to Voyageurs National Park, named after the French Canadian canoeists who plied these waters three centuries ago. This park of lakes is 40% water and adjoins another 10,000 square miles of aquatic wilderness. Its remoteness, flanking the Canadian border in northern Minnesota, enables incredible stargazing opportunities all year long and an estimated 200 nights of Northern Lights (even in summer).
Colorado Great Sand Dunes or Black Canyon, instead of Rocky Mountain - Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve features the highest dunes on the continent, towering 755 feet above the surrounding trails. These are set in an otherworldly catchment basin, below the 14,000-foot high Sangre de Cristo Mountains, some 200 miles south of Denver. All trails and most of the campgrounds are now open, along with overnight backcountry access, but the visitor center remains closed.
Texas Big Bend or the Guadalupe Mountains, instead of a trip to Mexico - This park in West Texas, which opened for day use June 1, lies along the namesake curl of the Rio Grande, marking the Mexican border. At this renowned dark-sky park, you can count more than 2,000 stars — 10 times the number typically seen above most cities — surrounding the canvas of the Milky Way. During the days, especially when temperatures cool in the fall and early winter, enjoy 150 miles of trails throughout the park. You might be joined by a bird watcher or two, who roam Big Bend’s 1,200 square miles to spot more than 400 avian species, more than in any national park.
Nevada Great Basin, instead of the Grand Circle - The “Grand Circle” marketing campaign pushed Utah’s national parks to record-setting visitations in recent years, but Great Basin — a few miles over the border in eastern Nevada — got left out of the loop. The 121-square-mile park is named after the enormous basin it sits in (spanning nearly all of Nevada, it is 20 times larger than the park), which pulls all water underground so that it can’t reach the ocean and other waterways.
California Lassen Volcanic, instead of Yellowstone or Yosemite - In place of the crowded Yellowstone geysers or Yosemite mountains, a panorama of wildflowers, volcanic peaks and steaming fumaroles can be seen at Lassen Volcanic, 180 miles north of Sacramento. The 30-mile park highway reopened in late May, along with most of the trails and overnight backcountry camping. The still-smoking, glacier-clad Lassen Peak is one of only two volcanoes in the contiguous 48 states that erupted in the 20th century (Mount St. Helens erupted 40 years ago last month). Today, more than 100 years after magma first flowed from the Lassen Peak, amateur volcanologists can delight in finding the remains of the four types of volcanoes: shield, cinder cone, strato and plug.
Washington state North Cascades, instead of Mount Rainier - Although still emerging from snow banks and currently open for only day use, North Cascades is typically one of the less-visited parks of the entire parks system, seeing less than 3% of Mount Rainier’s yearly traffic. Adjoining the Canadian border, 120 miles northeast of Seattle, this wilderness has only 6 miles of internal roads — all unpaved — and stretches over 1,000 square miles. It boasts 312 glaciers (12 times Mount Rainier’s), as well as more than 500 lakes and a lush carpet of old-growth evergreens. From its dry ponderosa pines in the east to the temperate rain forest in the west, this is landscape of tremendous biodiversity.
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