Travis Rockefeller in the Big Hole Mountains

For those of you who haven’t had the chance to visit this wonderful place, you should!  We know you would fall in love with the area like we have.  From snowmobiling to alpine skiing, there are winter activities to suit every age.  Grand Targhee Resort has an average of 500+ inches of snow per year, and plenty of space.  There’s plenty of nordic skiing throughout the area, and the scenery is spectacular.  If you want to plan a visit before investing in the great opportunities we have in the area, please visit our rental site at TVR Management.

There are several misconceptions regarding community property in Idaho, we hope this past article from the Post Register helps answer questions that you may have.

A married person holds property as either community property (spouse has equal ownership) or separate property (spouse has no ownership). Separate property is the property that is owned at the time of marriage plus gifts and inheritances received at any time.  If separate property is sold or traded the money or the new property received for it will remain separate.  Everything else is community property.

“Co-mingling” of community and separate property may make the separate property lose its identity.  Good records are important to prove that separate property actually stayed separate, and did not in fact turn into community property.  Idaho is one of only three states that have the unusual law that all earnings on separate property are community property.  This can create unintentional co-mingling.

Remember, as of July 2008, if a clause is entered in a warranty deed, (or perhaps quitclaim deed) for a community property home, that property would not have to go through probate if a spouse passes.

We would highly encourage you to contact your attorney regarding estate planning and further details about community property.

The staff and Realtors at Teton Valley Realty would like to wish you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend.

It looks like it’s official!  The homebuyer tax credit has been extended to April 30, 2010.  The $8,000 tax credit is available to all first time homebuyers (meaning the purchaser has not owned a home in the past three years) who make up to $75,000 for a single person or $150,000 for a married couple.

The new, big change to this legislation is the addition of the tax credit to homeowners.  Up to $6,500 will be given in the form of a tax credit to all homeowners who have occupied their primary residence 5 consecutive years in the past 8 years.  The income limits are $125,000 for a single person and $225,000 for a married couple.  This means that homeowners can now sell their homes and purchase a new home, while also receiving the advantage of the tax credit.  There is a ceiling on the amount a home can sell for . . . $800,000.  Any sales above this ceiling will not qualify.  The new home being purchased can also have a lower value than the home sold.

For more information, please contact our agents by following this link.

TVR would like to extend warm congratulations to Sales Associate, William “Bill” Fay and his wife Jennifer!  They welcomed their first child, Claire on August 18!  Congratulations Bill and Jennifer!

Teton Valley is a wonderful place to live and play, let our TVR agents help you find your place here.

This Yahoo! finance article indicates that the worst is behind us in this volatile housing market.  One thing can certainly be said for the Teton Valley area, there are some great deals now!

“The freefall is over,” says Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

–West

For years Las Vegas symbolized the boom, as mile after mile of desert gave way to three-bedroom homes and swimming pools. Then came the crash and it symbolized something else: a decade of speculation and excess.  Now, Las Vegas is one of the hottest housing markets in the region again. This city has always profited from others’ misfortune, and the same can be said of the current housing market. In Clark County, Nev., home to Sin City, one in every 11 homes had received at least one foreclosure-related notice in June, according to RealtyTrac. The glut of deeply discounted foreclosures has almost doubled sales activity for most of this year.  “In January the market was busy, and since that time, it’s gone a little haywire,” says Brad Snyder, an agent with ZipRealty in Las Vegas. “There’s (sales) activity now that we haven’t seen even since ‘04.”

The situation is similar in California’s Riverside, San Joaquin and San Bernardino counties, where one out of every 14 homes was in foreclosure.  After falling 18 percent in the second half of 2008, monthly home prices were flat in the first half of this year, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Markets like these have seen a surge this year in all-cash buyers, many of them investors, scooping up the sharply discounted properties. It’s not uncommon to see multiple offers on a single property, and that’s helped slow the rate of price declines a little. The demand also has helped whittle down the inventory of homes for sale to the lowest level since the boom.  “We have seen such a steep decline in supply right now, that when a home comes on the market it’s first day there could be seven or eight or 10 people there in a matter of hours,” Snyder says.

To lure buyers away from foreclosures, homebuilders have slashed prices or are simply tearing down vacant homes. New home sales jumped almost 59 percent in the first half of the year, while construction in these grossly overbuilt markets slid 12 percent.

In the Pacific Northwest and states such as Utah, by contrast, housing markets are on a different timer than the rest of the West. Home sales and values held up better and longer while markets in the Southwest were already in decline. These markets also haven’t seen as many foreclosures wreaking havoc with home prices.

States in the region: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

Data compares June vs. January and June 2008:

Home resales: down 1 percent, up 12 percent

Median price: $214,800, flat, down 25 percent

New home sales: up 59 percent, down 10 percent

New home construction: down 12 percent, down 42 percent

Mortgage delinquencies as of March: 12 percent

Regional outlook: The recession remains the region’s wild card. Unemployment is at 10.2 percent in the West, but that could go higher if the economy worsens. If that happens, expect more foreclosures and a slower turnaround.

TVR would like to extend a warm congratulations agent and property manager David Slivinski and his wife Audrey! On July 28th, they welcomed their first son, Liam. Congratulations!

The 2nd Annual Tin Cup Challenge, hosted by the Teton Valley Community Foundation was an incredible success this year!  As of Saturday morning, more than $250,000 has been raised for local non-profit organizations!  Donations are accepted until July 24, 2009, so there’s still time!  If you would like to donate, follow this link!

Our sales associates, Alison Drumheller (with son Nicholas) and Mandy Rockefeller (with dog Isabella) took part in this wonderful community event and urge all who can donate in these tough economic times to give what you can.

Alison Drumheller and Mandy Rockefeller (with dog Isabella center) at the finish line of the Tin Cup Challenge 2009.