teton valley Archives - Teton Realty Blog

When is the best time to shop for Real Estate in the Teton Valley?

May 2, 2023 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

The best time to shop for real estate in the Teton Valley is totally dependent on a number of factors, as well as the context of the question. When do we typically see most new inventory come to the market? When are sellers usually most inclined to negotiate? I’ll do my best to break these questions down by the numbers using historical data, but I have to first clarify; The best time to purchase real estate in the Teton Valley is when the property you are looking for comes available. I can’t stress enough in our small market the lack of inventory and new listings at any given time. Choices are always limited, particularly when it comes to specialty properties like those with property features like creeks, streams or rolling terrain – as well as homes with guest homes, unique features, or special locations. Buyer should always be in the habit of monitoring the market closely, and jumping on opportunities when they meet one’s needs. That does not mean that buyers need to jump on the first thing that they see, however.

Land

Historical data has been fairly consistent. May and June have been the biggest months for new listings every year looking back to 2018 (and beyond) with the exception of 2020, which I’ll toss out as a result of The pandemic. Listings almost always begin to ramp up in April, and numbers for new listings begin falling in September. Here again, it doesn’t mean that one should not pursue a purchase during any given month. If a listing comes available that meets a specific set of criteria that has been difficult to find, it should be pursued if the price is right and you intend to close on a property within a set timeline. When it comes to the listing / sales price ratio, the data isn’t quite as definitive. However, it seems to point to sellers being more negotiable during the off-season months, particularly October, November and December. Usually an increase in supply decreases demand, but Teton Valley’s peak tourism season is the Summer months, effectively increasing the demand along with the new supply.

Homes

Residential trends seem to trail land trends by about 1 month. Most new listings come to market late Spring and early Summer, with June and July historically being the peak months for the greatest number of new listings coming to market. New inventory once again dwindles during the off-season months, particularly late Fall and early Winter. Historic trends have shown that new listings tend to pick up once again through the Winter peak season, though new listings are far fewer than Spring/Summer. Once again, the data is not as conclusive when it comes to the listing price / sales price ratio with residential properties, but there does seem to be a trend that shows more negotiation during the offseason months, like we were able to see with land sales.

Summary
The data points to more options and greater inventory during the Spring and early Summer months, with more opportunity for negotiation during the offseason, particularly late Fall and early Winter in both market sectors. Source: Teton Board of Realtors – Teton Valley, ID & Alta, WY

Land Inspections

June 13, 2020 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

I’m not sure if it’s how busy things are or the increase in the number of land transactions equating to an increase of things I haven’t seen before, but I sure have seen an uptick of strange inspection findings. Over the course of my career, I’ve bumped into town parcels without connectivity to a sewer line, sinkholes because of buried cars, a number of buried fuel tanks, concerns over oil spills, hillside geotechnical concerns and more. As one might expect, I’ve also run the gamut with discussions on radon, bugs, covenants and restrictions, easements and so on. However, lately, I’ve even bumped into a few more. Bedrock preventing a typical septic install, extraordinary deep wells and artesian wells and springs are a few examples. One thing is for sure (although not as geographically interesting as Yellowstone), Teton Valley has some diverse terrain with nuances that one may not normally consider. I suppose it all depends on what one might be used to in terms of the nuances of their area, but even I would not have predicted bedrock in areas of the Teton Valley.

The above being said, it’s important to do your research. Remember that as agents, we are not experts in geography, terrain, practicing law, interpreting title and so forth. Real estate agents negotiate real estate transactions, and that includes negotiating due diligence and inspection periods for buyers to better understand and research the property they intend to buy.

Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to plan for every situation that may arise when purchasing land with plans to build. One of the benefits (although not a guarantee) of purchasing a pre-existing home is the fact that many of the potential problems either did not arise, or have been resolved. Another tip to consider when buying land is purchasing in a subdivision. Although I have bumped into properties within subdivisions that still had special wetland requirements or septic problems, it’s less likely. With the growing demand for properties that are not in a subdivision, it’s important to also consider the fact that subdivisions have likely already been through a preliminary set of county or city required engineering reports, soil testing and so on.

The moral of the story, and the theme for many of my articles is; do your research!

November ’18 Market Stats

December 16, 2018 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

For November 2018’s Teton Market Update, I compared Teton Valley sales stats compared to November of 2017. In a nutshell, sales are down 24% from one year ago, while dollar volume is only down 18%. My interpretation of this was that supply remains low, which is driving prices up. This is consistent with the data for 2018 vs 2017, the average sales price in Nov. ’18 was around 350k, while Nov. ’17 was about 5% less. Sales volume is down due to inventory levels (as mentioned) which is likely because of high construction costs, which has been the trend for the past few years.

Victor, ID seems to be building a healthy supply, so we’ll see if these numbers switch places in the coming months.

August ’16 Market Stats

September 5, 2016 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Looking towards Winter 2017, Looking back on this time last year:

Teton Valley saw continued growth and increasing prices for residential and residential land throughout the spring and summer 2016 season. The 2016 season brought 107 sales with the average price coming in around $350,000 (including Alta, WY). While the 2015 Spring and Summer season brought 114 sales, the average sales price was about 9% lower with an average around $320,000. The increased average and the lower number of sales indicate lower supply, which we anticipate will continue through the upcoming Winter 2017 season.

With regards to land sales, the 2016 Summer season brought 102 sales with an average price of $88,000 whereas the 2015 season brought only 92 sales with an average price of $73,000, showing increasing prices at about 7% compared to last season, and a 10% increase in the number of sales. The supply is not limited such as with residential, though buyers and investors are looking to building to solve the housing supply and rental market crunch. Therefore we anticipate prices continue to rise, and the number of sales continue to grow each year, eating into current inventory.

August 2016:

August 2016 reached new heights when compared to recent history. For the first time since 2007, the single family residential average sales price for the month was well over 400,000. Even the median price was in excess of 300,000, at 335,000.

The single family residential isn’t the only sector in the spotlight, building sites breached the 100,000 mark with an average sales price of 111,855, this is nearly twice the average sales price we saw in August of 2015.

Rental Market

Though the inventory is low and the real estate market is feeling the effects (both good and bad), nothing’s feeling the crunch quite like the rental market. The transition season has been all but nonexistent for the past several years, and the end of the 2016 Summer season is no exception. Vacancies are few and far between, and demand is as high as ever. With very little new construction for dedicated housing, we do not anticipate much relief for the transitional Workforce. As the residential Market continues to improve due to lack of inventory and home ownership costs increasing, this will only compound the issue for those residing in the area.

Recent Testimonials