I have been receiving a number of hits on the web site recently by people performing searches for Wyoming Tax Benefits or some permutation of that phrase.  It may or may not be well known that those of us who call this place home enjoy a total lack of state income tax, no state business tax, no inheritance/estate taxes…the list goes on.

To that end, I’d like to share with you a letter I received from a VP of a locally owned bank recently, who does a much better job of lining out the tax advantages here in WYO than I ever could.  Enjoy…

Wyoming Tax Benefits Letter

…”Don’t play ball in the house!”  She also said, “If you haven’t anything nice to say about (insert name of friend/foe/ex-girlfriend/that nun who was my eighth grade teacher here), then don’t say anything at all!”  The obvious lack of recent posts to this blog that I’m certain you have noticed might indicate that the same could be said for the real estate market in Jackson Hole these days.  If that’s what you are thinking, the three of you would be only mostly correct.

As of this post, there are a total of 42 residential properties under contract, six of which are re-sales in older, established neighborhoods, ranging from $695,000 to $10,500,000.  The rest are new construction projects:  a condo-hotel at Teton Village, a new townhome development at Snow King, and the latest in urban living in Town.  We should see these begin to close (some possibly at renegotiated and lower prices) within the next few weeks.  We’ve also seen a large commercial center, listed by your humble servants at LiveJacksonHole.com, priced at $8,795,000 go under contract after JUST FIVE DAYS ON THE MARKET!  The moral of the story seems to be, if it makes sense, it will sell.  And believe it or not, there are several properties that make sense out there.

I’ll be back soon with a list of my top ten or so picks for best you’d-be-silly-not-to-make-a move-on-one-of-these-deals-out-there-right-now!  Until then, keep your stick on the ice.

The new tram opened for business this morning at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, marking the end of a nearly two-year project to make the top of our famous mountain accessible in a single nine-minute ride from the bottom of the resort.  It’s bigger, badder, and faster than the old tram, which now serves as a ticket kiosk at one of the not-so-reasonably-priced parking lots at Teton Village.  Kinda smacks of the retiree working as a greeter at Wal-Mart.

It’s no secret that the real estate business is not doing so well these days, but in order to demonstrate that it’s not quite dead, here’s the quick and dirty on what happened this week in the market:

Only ONE single-family home, priced at $1,375,000 and one vacant building site, priced at $499,000 have gone under contract so far this month.  Six homes closed ranging from $500K for a 1600 square foot condo to $4,685,000 for a 5800+ square foot home on 8.5 acres.  Last year, both of these would have sold for considerably more, further bolstering my position that there are some tremendous buys out there right now.  I’ll try to provide market updates on a more regular basis, but in the event you just cannot wait until I post them here, you’re always welcome to call me toll free at (877) 739-8136 for a live update.
Unless I have a flood of creative juice beforehand, this will be the last post of 2008.  My sincere thanks to all five of you who’ve read these rantings.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.  Let’s pray that 2009 is better economically than ‘08 was.

I was asked this question a few minutes ago by a colleague in her early 20s who is looking out for me in helping keep me up to speed on the current vernacular utilized by an ONLY SLIGHTLY younger generation.  Having just returned from a weekend in Las Vegas that was completely devoid of debauchery, I feared that news of my lack of exploits had already spread north to Jackson Hole, threatening to crush my reputation.  Ashley was actually asking me if I had skied the one and only top-to-bottom ski run open at the ski hill, which snakes down the mountain in a obviously lonely fashion.

The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, the official name of the ski hill in Teton Village, opened at the end of November to anemic crowds of mostly locals due to the fact that we’ve not really received an appreciable amount snowfall YET this winter.  Manmade snow is the only viable and skiable option, unless you care neither for the bottoms of your skis nor the integrity of your knees, and due to the sheer size of the mountain, there is really only one run out of over 100 that can be opened and skied upon without help from above.  I’m not overly concerned, as the quality and quantity of snow this early in the season is far from being at its peak.  Case in point:  last year at this same time, we had only slightly more snow on December 9th (Happy Birthday, Tuffy!), as evidenced by the fact I could drive my truck clear up to the top of a logging road to cut down my Christmas tree without requiring 4 wheel drive or a winch.  Then it began snowing on Christmas Day and really didn’t stop until mid-March.  Last year we ended up with well over 600″ of snowfall and the best and most frequent powder skiing most of us can remember.  Not to worry, the snow WILL come.

For those of you who’d like an update, the new aerial tram opens to the public on December 20th!!!  So, get your skis tuned, keep one eye on the snow conditions and the other eye on the airline websites.  Just like in our real estate market, there are a ton of great deals out there, if you know how to find them.  A last-minute ski vacation to our lovely corner of Wyoming might prove a whole lot easier on the wallet than you might think.

For those of you fortunate enough to live in Jackson Hole, you know what I’m talking about:  lately we’ve been blessed with warm temperatures (61 degrees feels absolutely glorious this time of year!), perfectly clear bluebird skies, and the kind of cool nights that make sleeping in all too easy to let happen.  Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end; we have sleet and freezing rain forecast for the weekend.  If today’s weather could be duplicated every day until Thanksgiving, I’d be a happy camper.

Tomorrow is Halloween, and I was thinking about dressing up as a fisherman on the last day of fishing season.  Reason being that fishing on Flat Creek on the National Elk Refuge closes until next August at sundown tomorrow.  The stretch flowing through the Refuge is the only fly-fishing-only water in the state of Wyoming, and I have to tell you, I’m never more satisfied after a day of going fishless than I am being handed the skunk by this little jewel of a spring creek.  Purists will tell you that this piece of water is only to be fished with dry flies, and while I enjoy stripping streamers for big trout, I’ve been brainwashed by those same purists into keeping only a selection of dries in my Flat Creek kit that I keep at the ready this time of year.  What do I have to show for my allegiance to this brand of fanaticism?  In four trips to Flat Creek the past few weeks, I’ve made precisely ZERO casts, because of an absence of bugs and rising trout. This is OK with me, because there’s so much more to the experience than just the trout.

During the month of October, elk begin to get pushed out of the high country, with some finding their way onto the Refuge, by a combination of snow, cold temperatures, and a disappearing food supply.  The number of elk on the refuge varies from year to year, but usually ranges between 8000 and 11000 animals.  It’s quite a kick to be standing in the creek looking for trout and hearing big bull elk bugling in an effort to try to make little elk.  Last year, I watched three adult wolves scoping out the elk herd looking for a meal! If you’re in Jackson Hole after fishing closes, a local concessionaire runs sleigh rides onto the Refuge, allowing the chance to see these amazing animals up close and personal.

Until the weather gets too cold to grip the fly rod, I’ll be taking every chance I get to spend time outdoors fishing for big brown trout on rivers around Jackson Hole.  With ski season and truly freezing temperatures still almost six weeks away, I think my chances of catching a few before hanging up the 5-weight for the year are good.

Hi Neil.