Stunning new listing in Melody Ranch — Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  This fabulous home is located at 1261 Melody Creek Lane, a highly desired subdivision just a few miles south of the Town of Jackson. 

Melody Ranch, just 4 miles south of the Town of Jackson, is a place of wide-open spaces, remarkable views and a strong sense of community.  While residents appreciate the development for its close proximity to town and its natural beauty, they also love the fact that it feels like a true neighborhood, a place where people have chosen to make as their year-round home in Jackson Hole.

1261 Melody Creek Lane is a wonderful, newer (2009) custom built home.  Every detail of this home was done with quality in mind.  Very few homes have been built to the standards that this home has in the neighborhood.  Highlights include full hydronic in-floor heating throughout the entire home fueled by natural gas.  5 bedrooms – 4 of which are suites which include full bathrooms.  One of which is a substantial master bedroom with views to the south, vaulted ceilings, access to a back deck, spacious master closet and an elegant master bathroom.  The entire first floor has beautiful skip sawn hickory flooring and the entire home is equipped with solid Alder doors and trim work.

This is a home that must be seen to be appreciated so call Christy and Garth Gillespie at Jackson Hole Sotheby’s to set up a showing.  We can be reached at 307-413-5243 or send us an email at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com. 

 ”A River Runs Through It” and a special one at that – The Hoback River.  The Hoback River was recently granted Wild and Scenic River status in 2009 and is one of the more beautiful area in the greater Teton County area.

Christy and I are honored to have been selected to market and sell this wonderful property.  The property itself is an incredible parcel of 11 acres and has an absolutely gorgeous 6,000- sq. ft. custom log home.  

The stone fireplace soars in the greatroom with cathedral ceilings looking towards the river mountains to the south.  The main level has a beautiful gourmet kitchen, executive office and dining room all centered around the great-room.  The main level also boasts the large master suite.  The upper level of the home has 2 spacious guestrooms and a full bathroom.  In the lower level we have a wonderful game room and 3 full bedrooms.

The 11 acres are perfect for a horse set up as 8 of the acres are a lush meadow.  The property comes with Wyoming Water Rights allowing for extensive irrigation.

It is hard to explain what an amazing opportunity this is for a potential buyer to have this type of property available.  The access to hunting and excellent fly fishing is almost impossible to duplicate in the Jackson Hole area.  The fly fishing alone allows for an angler to have almost 3 full miles of rarely fished cutthroat fishing.  Deep pools, rifles and runs provide variety and challenges for all types of fishermen.  There is excellent opportunities for floating the river in kayaks or a raft.  The National Forest is in view from every window.

The home is offered below replacement cost at $1,780,000.  Call the Gillespie Real Estate Team at 307-413-5243 or email us at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

Jackson Hole Real Estate Market update for April 2012.  We are selling a property just about everyday!  Last month the Jackson Hole real estate market had 26 closings for the month which included 21 residential properties and 5 vacant land parcels.  The 5 land deals were a welcome sight as we seem to have seen an increase of activity in this market segment.

The median residential sale price was close to $800,000 and the average listing price was $1,300,000.  The highest sale was not recorded but was listed for $7,995,000.  We saw a resurgence of “non-reported” sales as we saw 6 out of the 26 closed transactions (23%) report a $0 sales price.

Sales were scattered throughout the valley with 8 sales taking place in Wilson or Teton Village, 6 sales taking place “north of town” and 8 sales taking place in the Town of Jackson.  Average days on market were 261.  10 sales took place over $1 million.

Activity continues to hold pace as we have 61 pending transactions – 5 of which are vacant land.

For additional information on the Jackson Hole/Teton County Wyoming Real Estate Market please feel free to contact the Jackson Hole Experts – Garth and Christy Gillespie at 307-413-5243 or by email at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

The was an interesting article in Thursday’s Jackson Hole Daily, written by Tram Whitehurst.  The article helped explain an excellent opportunity for homeowners to receive cheap loans to improve home energy efficiency.

The program is initiated by the Jackson Hole Energy Sustainability Project allows homeowners in Teton County to upgrade things like old windows, insufficient insulation and could possibly be used to add solar panels to their homes.  The current loan limit is $7,500 but is expected to rise as more funds become avaialble. 

To qualify all you have to do is own a home or townhome, have good payment history, use electric and schedule a home audit by a Lower Valley employee.  Christy and I just went through this process this winter and it was a wonderful program.  We took advantage of repair credits (another Lower Valley program) verse the low interest loans and were suprised by so many areas that our home could use attention in bettering our energy efficiency. 

Homeowners who qualify and receive the loans have up to 5 years to repay.  To schedule a home audit simply call Lower Valley at 307-733-2446 or visit its website at www.lvenergy.com.

March and April of 2012 have started with a bang!  Major “transactions” have been taking place in Jackson Hole these past few months and we are really getting excited about the upcoming summer.  Since March 1^st we have had 47 closings with 15 of those over $1 million dollars!  Half of those have been over $2 million and of those there have been 4 transactions over $6 million.

The action is not stopping either.  There are currently 12 under contract over $1 million dollars.  The biggest surprise has to be the vacant land buyers on the high end.  Since April 20^th, 7 parcels have either sold or are under contract that were priced over $1 million.  On the high end side 2 parcels closed north of town in the Bar BC Ranch neighborhood that had listing prices of $6.5 and $8.9 million.  2 more properties just went “under contract” in the past week that are priced at $5 and $6.5 million?

Another observation is even though Teton Village and the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort have closed for the ski season properties at the village have really been selling.  A Granite Ridge Lodge, an older Teton Village home and a Four Season Resort property have all sold.  There is one Older Teton Village home under contract and 2 vacant land parcels in the Granite Ridge Subdivision.

This is great news for the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market.  As more information is gathered about these transactions we will post it.  If you need additional information on the Jackson Hole market please feel free to call us at 307-413-5243 or email us at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

Jackson Hole has many Vacation / Second Homeowners and we are seeing an increase in these type of buyers.  This graph was put together by the National Association of Realtors and the Wall Street Journal.  The graph explains that Vacation Home sales increase 7% from 2010 to 2011.  The Jackson real estate market mirrored this increase as properties priced over $1,000,000 had an increase of 7% over 2010 (100 in 2011 verse 97 in 2010). 

As for the increase in investment type properties I believe Jackson lagged this market in 2011 and we are seeing that increased action in 2012.  We have 40 pending transactions at the moment of properties listed under $500,000.

There are a good amount of second homes for sale in today’s market so we can only hope that this summer provides a flurry of activity for the second home seller.  The Jackson Hole Experts – Christy and Garth Gillespie – specialize in assisting the second home buyer.  More than 50% of our transactions take place “log distance” so if you would like more information on second homes in Jackson Hole please contact us at 307-413-5243 or by email at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

This is a great cover from one of the more trusted investment institutions – Barron’s.  The article explains how there is a belief that housing prices will remain rather flat for the year but by the beginning of 2013 we should start to see some appreciation in the housing market. 

What’s important here is that there is a general feeling that appreciation is going to start soon.  If you are on the fence about getting back into the housing market there are a lot of signs and people saying now is a good time to jump in.  Last week home mortgages hit another low but we should not expect rates to stay low like this ever.  If the economy and job market continues to improve we can hedge a bet that loan rates will slowly rise again.

To learn more about the real estate market and especially the Jackson Hole real estate market please call us, Christy and Garth Gillespie @ 307-413-5243 or send us an email at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

Day 2 of our informative real estate slides that are painting a pretty picture of the real estate market.  In todays snapshot we see Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon talking to his readers and listeners that he sees nothing but upward momentum in today’s real estate market.

It is interesting to see him predicting downward pressure on prices (due to foreclosures and short sales) but also signaling and bullish outlook on buying or investing in real estate.

Investors have been interested in the current real estate market due to the lower pricing.  But what we are starting to see is rent increases.  This will only add fuel to the fire so Christy and I believe lower end rental condos and townhomes along with multiunit properties are going to be the “hottest” market this summer.  The only thing we see that would block this momentum would be if a inventory becomes are to find….guess what happens then?  We may see some price increases by year end!

For more information on the Jackson Hole Homes for Sale contact The Gillespie Real Estate Team – Christy and Garth Gillespie at 307-413-5243 or email us at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

Over the next 3 days we will be showing you slides from different “experts” in the financial field.  It is very interesting to see how multiple groups in the financial world are all saying the same thing – Real Estate is getting stronger and it is time to invest.  This is great news and we can only hope that with improving real estate numbers and the industry jumping on board that our real estate market in the Jackson Hole and the nation will have much better news to report in 2012 than it did in 2011.

In Jackson Hole, investors and first time home/condo buyers are really starting to buy.  There are currently 60 pending transactions.  40 of those under contract properties are priced lower than $500,000!

We have been updating this graph for a few months and it has not changed much since the last one.  It does tell a go story as the market continues to build some strength.  12,575 houses, condos, townhomes sell EVERY day!  The chart also explains that almost 75% of all purchases are taking place with a bank involved.  Banks are lending!

Here in Jackson we seem to be seeing quite a bit more “showing” activity.  Under contracts have increased yet overall closing activity continues to lag (see next post).

To get a current update on the Jackson Hole Real Estate market please contact the Jackson Hole Experts, Garth and Christy Gillespie at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com or call us at 307-413-5243.