HOUSING HOPES

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As March came to a close we look behind us and wave at our legislators and say ‘Buh-bye’ for another year. There were a record number of bills presented by our elected officials-1,015 were introduced during this past session. This is the fourth year in a row that saw such a huge number of bills flow across their desks at the state capital and 541 actually passed.

What I paid attention to were housing bills, since predictions are from some experts that we’ll need 200,000+ housing units in the state in the next 30 years.  We all know is we’re facing a ongoing housing shortage, but maybe there’s some light to this dark topic with the  few bills that passed. HB492 will reportedly help make a dent in our low inventory, specifically to help local governments pay for infrastructure and allow for new roads and water/sewer lines to be installed. The adage “If you build it, they will come” is true, as you can’t have a new housing subdivision without basic improvements to the land.

Another bill (SB284) requires cities in our state to allow ADU’s (detached accessory dwelling units) on lots at least 11,000 sq. ft. To give you an idea of what that looks like, a small home in the Avenues of Salt Lake takes up about .06 of an acre-about 2600 sq. ft. You might notice on real estate listings for homes for sale in the Avenues that if a home is listed with .09 acres, it probably doesn’t have room for either a garage or an ADU. However, if you head to the west side or south end of the valley there are many subdivisions with .50 or 1.0 acre lots-that’s about 22,000-44,000 sq. ft and plenty of room to add a tiny home.

In 2019 the state passed into law that St. George and all cities in the state were mandated by Senate Bill 34 that they must allow ADU’s in residential areas. Current city codes there allow for ADU’s up to 800 sq. ft in a side or rear yard with some restrictions on how close the structure is to lot lines and height of the building. Given the high number of seniors and retirees in Washington County, this is a great addition to the housing shortage where adult children and many seniors can’t afford high rents or home prices there. Over the years demand has grown exponentially of local builders in Dixie to offer homes with mother-in-law apartments or tiny homes in the rear yards called ‘casita’s’ and they have tried to keep up with demand as St. George and surrounding towns keep growing and growing.

According to Utahadubuilders.com, a free-standing ADU in Utah costs between $200-400,000 to build. It’s interesting that during WWII housing was at an even greater premium in this state and local officials would knock on doors to see if any part of the home could be rented (rooms, unfinished basements, etc.). It’s how we got so many illegal (now) mother-in-law apartments here!

Artsy Fartsy

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There’s TWO new museums coming to our capitol city. I believe I have mentioned before that I’m very excited for the grand opening of the Museum of Utah that will be housed in a new building that’s almost finished, located behind the actual state capitol building at 450 N State Street.

The grand opening will be June 27th and it’s Utah’s first state history museum and will celebrate our unique history, culture and art through world class exhibits, programming and community spaces. The building is six floors, and the top four are dedicated to the museum displays and the first two floors are legislative offices. It’s an extension of the Utah Historical Society and although the place isn’t open yet, the museum store is Monday-Thursday 9AM to 8 PM and Friday-Sunday 9AM to 6 PM full of books, stuffies, flags, shirts, cards, etc.  They just acquired the iconic Mormon Meteor III land speed racer (think Salt Flats) that was commissioned by legendary driver Ab Jenkins and it will be on display in time for the grand opening.

The second museum is the Salt Lake Art Museum, which is being touted as the city’s first new fine art gallery in three decades. It is going into the historic B’nai Israel Temple, the oldest synagogue in the state as the first permanent Jewish house of worship in Utah…built before the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Although the building hasn’t been used for religious services since the 1970’s it has seen other tenants like a café, offices and even a school. The structure was designed by a German architect who modeled the Salt Lake building after a synagogue in Berlin, Philip Meyer. Sadly, Meyer died in a Nazi death camp in 1943. He was related to Frederick Auerbach, the co-founder of the historic but now defunct Auerbach’s department store that competed with ZCMI department store in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The SLAM (249 S. 400 E.) will open in July, this summer. The first event will celebrate the architect Richard Kletting, famous for designing the Utah Capitol Building, the Oquirrh School, the first Saltair Resort Pavillion, Utah’s first fire-proof building (The Mcintyre Building), the Fisher Mansion and Carriage House, the first Salt Palace, various religious buildings in the state, four of the University of Utah Circle buildings, and the Territorial Insane Asylum to name a few!  He was also born in Germany and was one of 16 children, moved to Paris where he learned design there. He migrated to the U.S. in 1883 and his first project in Utah was at the University of Deseret (the U of U).

The new owner of the Synagogue is Michah Christensen who notes that he’s half-Jewish and half-Mormon pioneer by descent and that his great grandfather was a member of the congregation. He purchased the building for $3 mil and plans to build a seven-story, 113-unit apartment complex behind and next to the building.

 

FREE BUS SERVICE

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Utah Transit Authority operates buses, TRAX and Front Runner in Box Elder, Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, and Weber Counties, from Brigham City to Santaquin and west to Grantsville and was created in March of 1970 to provide public transportation services to a growing population here. The UTA took over routes and services from the former Salt Lake City lines which started up in 1953 and used buses built in the 1950’s and painted them light blue and white with a red belt rail.

Funding was the biggest challenge to getting public transportation growth here and it wasn’t until 1973 that our Legislature took profits from liquor store sales to fund the buses. In that year, Davis and Weber County transportation services joined up with Ogden coming on board in 1974 and then Utah County joining in 1984. Monies from sales taxes were thrown into the pot and soon annual ridership reached 600,000 passengers.  Note too that bus service to Snowbird and Alta came in the late ‘70s and it cost a more 25-cents per ride. TRAX (light rail) service opened in 1999 and ran along the first tracks from Salt Lake City to Sandy and back and have expanded in virtually all directions since then.

Here’s what most people don’t know about our public transportation in Salt Lake City: there is a FREE fare zone in the downtown area that has been in place for 40 years!  UTA doesn’t advertise this fact much, and in my opinion should be on signs placed around downtown and printed on flyers handed out to all conventioneers. Simply Google UTA Free Fare Zone (images) and you’ll see the map or go onto rideutah.com and see it here.

Working downtown I see many conventioneers trucking along our sidewalks in the hot summer sun, sporting their badges around their necks as they encounter our huge city blocks from their hotels located within several blocks of the convention center. And, have you ever tried to park by or near the state capitol building during the 45 days of our legislature? Yike!  Yet, anyone can hope on a UTA bus that goes from downtown up there and back.

If you begin your ride in the Free Fare Zone but plan to exit outside of it, you will have to buy a ticket, and if you board outside the zone and travel into it you will have to provide proof of payment if asked. And if you use your electronic fare card, you must tap it on or off depending on your trip.

Fares are $2.50, some fares could be $5 for express bus and ski buses, a day pass is $5 and a monthly pass is $85. Next time you think you don’t want to walk so much, hop on a bus or TRAX downtown-easy peasy. And hey, UTA…ADVERTISE THIS and get more fans of public transportation here!

 

 

House Porn

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Here it is, the end of on hell of a year. There’s so much commentary out there about what went wrong in the world and this country I don’t need to add my two cents worth to the negativity. Instead, how about we venture into some year end house porn and see what the highest sales in real estate this year were!

Per the Wasatch Front MLS, the highest sale in Utah was in January in Park City of a 14,595 sq. ft home with 7BR/11BA and a four car garage on 5.76 acres in the White Pine Canyon subdivision. At a cash sales price of $27,875,000 it topped all records of $1,909 per square foot. Amenities inside included a fitness room with a morning bar, pickleball/basketball court, wellness massage room and high end finishes like an Onyx slab entry door and shinnoki oak wall finishes, and outside a covered outdoor BBQ kitchen and dining space, heated outdoor pool and hot tub, fully heated decks, walkways and driveway. It was listed by Engle & Volkers and sold by Summit Sotheby’s.  There were two other estates in the same subdivision that sold this year: 15,078 sq. ft w/ 8 BR/10 BA for $25,787,514 (over list) by Berkshire Hathaway and another for $26,600,000  also with around 15,000 sq. ft, 5 BR, 8 BA listed by Berkshire Hathaway and sold by Engel & Volkers. The other highest sale was at Marcella at Deer Valley East Village for $18,400,000, with 8000 sq. ft, 6BR/9BA, listed by Berkshire Hathaway and sold by Summit Sotheby’s.

The most expensive home sale I could find in the country was a beachfront compound in Naples, Florida for $133 million. That area is an ultra-luxury market that has low property taxes and excellent privacy, and two properties (one on each side) also sold, making the hat trick of three sales for $225 million. The highest sale ever of a residential transaction that I could find was for a penthouse along Central Park in Manhattan for $238 million in 2019.

In Salt Lake County, a 11,438 sq. ft. home with 4BR/9BA just closed escrow this month for $11,100,000 in Olympus Cove. The buyer and seller were represented by Summit Sotheby’s. Washington County had a sale of $7,300,000 in Westgage Hills of a 9,000 square foot home with 5BR/8BA listed by ERA Brokers Consolidated. In Davis County the high sale’s price was $4,588,000 in Shepard Heights in Farmington with 10,363 sq. ft., 6BR/10 BA listed and sold by Summit Sotheby’s, and in Utah County a home sold for $10,365,000 in October in Old Orchard Estates, listed by Summit Sotheby’s and sold by Real Broker, LLC.

With one of the biggest concerns of 2025 being housing affordability, it looks like the rich aren’t suffering too much here in the state, but when the average Joe or Jane working 40 hours per week can’t afford a two bedroom home here or in the U.S., the market looks bleak for 2026.

Rare Earth

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When I was a tween I was fascinated by dendrochronology. Basically, I loved to count the tree rings on a log to determine the age of the tree and what the tree survived during its lifetime.  Unlike today’s helicopter parents, ours would push us out the door after breakfast and tell us to come home by dinner. My little brother and I were constantly digging around the neighborhood in the hopes of finding pirate treasure (albeit not living near an ocean). I also loved geology and archeology and enjoyed rock hunting.

Nowadays, all the world wide buzz is on rare earth minerals (REE’s), but I only recently learned what some were: cesium, halloysite, gallium, germanium, lanthanum, rubidium and yttrium are examples of the stuff and countries go to war over who has the resources of these minerals.  Apparently, you need these to create computer chips, magnets in electric vehicles, phosphors for your computer, TV and phone screens, fluorescent lights, MRI imaging, blue light in LCDs and energy-efficient light bulbs. If I wanted to go rock hunting I might find several of these inorganic materials right here in Utah, specifically about 20 miles south of the Utah County’s Silicon Slopes area.

Given that Trump has been threatening China on and off for with massive kinds of tariffs, China has threatened to cut off access to these natural occurring deposits of which they claim to have the worlds largest supplies within their borders. Local Utahns are wondering if they’ve hit proverbial gold if they can find REE’s in their back yards. For example, cesium sells for $2,600-3,000 per ounce, rubidium for $1,000 to $3,000 per ounce, germanium $150-200 an ounce, and yttrium for $60-70 an ounce.  Gold is now up to $4,400-$4,500 per ounce and silver has been rising and is now overing around $80 per ounce. Economy watchers have noticed as of late that China has been selling off its U.S. investments in things like U.S. Treasury Bills and investing in the silver and gold markets, trading dollars for metals. Both China and Japan have been the major investors in TBills along with Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett’s company that began buying up the BH stock in the 1960’s).  That company’s stock is valued currently at around $750,000 per share, the highest price stock right now in the NYSE.

Washington County is famous for germanium production around the Apex Mine in the Beaver Dam Mountains but Utah County is now drawing investors and national attention in and around the Silicon Ridge mine at the southern end of Utah lake. The clay-like dirt around there holds 16 REE’s which could have an impact on the ever growing need for them in computing and AI technology. I’m a little too old to go prospecting these days but you can bet folks are wondering what money might be in their backyard dirt.

PROTECTING HISTORY

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Last summer the Salt Lake City Counsel enacted a legislative intent to explore available options for a street sign program that designates a recognized historic district in the city.  For example, if you live east on Laird Avenue, the street sign would said LAIRD AVE and either ‘local historic district’ or ‘local historic district/Yalecrest Neighborhood’. Salt Lake City has 14 historic districts, including The Avenues, Capitol Hill, Central City, South Temple, Yalecrest, and University, plus smaller local ones within Yalecrest (like Normandie Circle, Harvard Heights) and others like City Creek/Memory Grove, Exchange Place, Liberty Wells, and Fort Douglas.  We created this to preserve distinct architectural styles and historical development from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These districts are designated by the City Council and/or are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

As a volunteer Planning and Zoning Commissioner for eight years, I found that many home buyers had no clue that their home was in one of the 14 local historic districts. They would do things to their property that weren’t allowed under the protection rules for the districts, like putting up vinyl fencing, installing vinyl windows vs wood frame windows, painting exterior brick or masonry, etc. The point is to ensure compatibility with the homes’ historic character and the surrounding properties. After much discussion and meetings, we were able to require title companies to state on title reports that the property is in a historic district. Thus, no excuse for changing the exterior of the property and saying to enforcement officials “Oh, I didn’t know it was in a Historic District!”

Back in the 1960’s and ‘70s, homes in areas like The Avenues that were many decades old were being torn down like crazy. Locals stepped up and worked with City officials to create rules and regulations to protect these precious properties, much to the distaste of flippers who often wanted to opt for cheaper upgrades to a property rather than protect the exteriors.  FYI-you can basically do whatever you’d like inside your home if you live in a historic neighborhood, as it’s the exteriors we’re attempting to protect. I recall one public hearing for Historic Landmarks Commission (I’m now on my second term serving the City in Landmarks) where a property was flagged in Capitol Hill for having painted the brushed brick exterior.  The owners has recently purchased the home and thought it was lovely, but had no idea it was not in compliance with local ordinances. It was going to cost a fortune to remove the paint.

City Council has been asking for feedback, and eventually street signs in historic neighborhoods will soon advertise you’re in a precious area of our town. For a lookup map go to www.slc.gov/historic-preservation/historic-districts-and-buildings/local-historic-districts/

 

Park It!

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Salt Lake City has over 100 public parks, with the official city website listing various types… like regional, community, neighborhood, and mini-(or pocket) parks, totaling around 100+ green spaces. The city manages different park sizes, from large ones like Liberty Park (80 acres) to smaller neighborhood spots, and includes many amenities like playgrounds, fields, and trails.

The oldest park is of course, Liberty Park, created in 1881 when the City bought the land from Brigham Young’s estate for $27,000. In the early 1900’s the ‘City Beautiful’ movement emerged which called for “well-planned urban spaces that could improve the civic and moral character of their residents”. In the early 1900’s greenhouses were added to grow plants for the park, and then came the zoo, tennis courts, picnic areas, etc. The Chase Mill located in the middle of the park was given to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers as a ‘Relic Hall’ and in the 30’s the Aviary was build in the original Zoo area, followed then by a swimming pool, bathhouses and tennis courts on the west side of the park.

The biggest park in the City is Sugarhouse Park, which has massive history as a beet sugar processing plant, a state prison, with Highland High being built at the east part of the land, and now a popular green space for humans, dogs and ducks.

The City just completed an upgrade to the old Raging Waters/ Seven Peaks water park at 1375 W. 1700 South. The beloved 17-acres waterpark in the Glendale neighborhood was famous for having the first wave pool in the state (the ‘Wild Wave’), and was only the third such pool in the country.  There were water slides for littles and adults and picnic areas. In the summer they showed movies on a big outdoor screen where you could float and watch Jaws with your friends and family. It closed due to competition, broken equipment and vandalism in 2018. The cost to replace the pools and slides was $20mil but the City reached out to neighbors and found out that folks wanted a safe and welcoming gathering space, providing access to nature, recreational opportunities, improvement of natural resources, and connection the Jordan River to neighboring parks.

Phase One is officially open and offers an all abilities playground, basketball courts for kids and adults, walking paths, shaded canopies, a native wetland, open lawns, a food truck promenade for community events and 12 pickleball courts. This first phase meets the Sustainable SITES Initiative and is the first in the state to receive the designation of Gold. Further development plans for a skating ribbon and rink, public art, sledding hills, interactive water features, a skatepark, pump track, event stage, boardwalks and a kayak/canoe launching area. The second phase will be complete in 2028, but drive by now…it’s already a popular place for Glendale folks and the rest of us to play!

Uh Oh, Zillow!

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The most accurate real estate listing sites will always be in the local multiple listing sites (MLS), as this is where data begins. When I meet with a seller(s) to ‘list’ their home, that means the property will then be entered into the MLS system which is a public website for folks to see listings for land, homes, condos and multi-unit properties. Few commercial properties are put on an MLS for public view but may appear just on that firm’s website. But not all websites for real estate firms are great. Most will have a link to MLS listings for all companies who have listings in their local MLS, bio’s of their agents and broker and possibly helpful hints to buy and sell, links to favorite vendors, etc. The system has been around since the late 1800’s. It really got a serious start in San Diego in 1885, when real estate brokers shared listing info via runners who took horses, trolleys, and later cars to deliver info back and forth between brokerages.

Fast forward to the early 2000’s when some execs at Expedia created the real estate company Zillow, with the intent to provide property data and give instant home evaluations called ‘Zestimates’. A few years after launching the site it created the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace and then started and stopped their ‘iBuying’ program where they would purchase your home online. The real estate market was smokin’ hot in 2018 when the company made online offers to home owners but found that soon turned into a big losing part of the brand and was shut down as the market became soft. Their website remains full of information but as a top selling broker, I can say that Zillow Zestimates are notoriously wrong and I’m constantly hearing both complaints about that from clients or am having to give clients the real data that shows their property isn’t worth the millions of dollars that Zestimate gave them.

Zillow right now is in big trouble with the Feds. A new class action lawsuit claims that Zillow eavesdrops on client communications to catch their Zillow agents who have recommend lenders that aren’t part of the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, requires its special ‘Flex’ agents to meet quotas and cherry picks highly qualified buyers for mortgages but offers higher loan interest rates and inaccurate disclosures. These would be RESPA violations wherein Zillow (according to the lawsuit) is “illegally both giving and receiving a thing of value related to referrals and receiving payments that is not in exchange for completing the property transaction.” The complaint has been amended after a separate class action suit accuses the real estate firm of using kickbacks to boost its mortgage. There are also accusations that defendants have made claiming RICO violations, in that the company runs a criminal enterprise of sorts of fraud, extortion, etc.

We shall see what happens with these lawsuits in the coming new year. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

HOARDERS

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Oh, the things I’ve seen inside homes here in Utah, having sold thousands of homes here in Utah in almost 42 years!  Many of my clients have parents that are moving to assisted living or have passed and before the property can go to market it often has to be cleaned out. Folks who lived through WWII were encouraged to recycle. Goods like foods (sugar, meat, butter, coffee) were being culled to send to troops around the world and items like pots, razor blades and even bobby pins and paper clips were donated to the war cause to melt down and repurpose for bullets, guns, helmets, tanks, etc. The mentality for many Americans was it was patriotic to support the troops in any way possible, but the downside was many people turned into hoarders.

I have helped families clean out basements that were full of 30-40 year old food storage bins (full of wheat and worms), full boxes of old toothpaste tubes (they used to be metal) and empty lipstick containers, and the massive piles of National Geographics, Look and/or Life Magazines and unopened packets of nylons, panty hose (silk and nylon was needed for parachutes, so civilian use was restricted).

What I have learned about hoarders is that they have extreme attachments to things and get stressed at the thought of donating or throwing out items. Hoarding can also be a sign of intense depression and is an actual medical disorder.

My friend, Linda Hilton, has a company called ‘Sorting Through’, and during January of every year she sends out a daily nudge to throw out or donate items in the house. It’s a really gently email. For example, on January one, she encourages us to ‘find an empty cardboard box’.  Hell, that’s not hard. I’ll admit I save boxes, and sure, I can recycle a few. Today’s instruction: “Look through your spices. Find the one you haven’t used for years and toss it out. Don’t Like Cajun seasoning? Toss it too! BONUS: Throw away a recipe you cut out from a magazine (10 years ago?) and never made.”

Linda assists hoarders and people downsizing for a living and has even more stories than I do. I remember one client I referred to her several years ago who had a beautiful mansion near Pepperwood-a large, newer and expensive home. The owner told me before arriving that the basement was unfinished, but when I got there, I had to catch my breath as the basement was full of clothing racks with massive amounts of dresses, coats, blouses, etc. that had never been worn and still had their tags on them.  It took almost a month for Linda to help the owner patiently and carefully go through every item and although it cost them a lot for the service (Linda probably spent 100 hours over there), the home was ready to sell and of course, sold quickly.

If you think you’re a hoarder, Google “Swedish Death Cleaning” for suggestions as to how to start your process of cleaning out and cleaning up.

Hamburger Helper

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I am definitely a foodie. My mother was a food columnist, my grandmother one of the first women to cook on television, both aunts were food stylists for major magazines and the Betty Crocker company, and my uncle and his wife had a very famous chefs store in NYC that catered to folks like Julia Childs and James Beard. I grew up cooking but whoa, in college I was poor and ate ten cents a pack ramen and forty cents a box of Hamburger Helper. Yeah, the meat cost extra but ground turkey had become a thing and was super cheap to add as a protein.

The Today Show recently reported on the ‘Hamburger Helper Index’ which basically says when the sales of the product go up that indicates our economy is in trouble. Well, Hamburger Helper, the cost-effective comfort food, is seeing a surge in popularity, highlighted by the economic pressures consumers are facing at the dinner table. A box of the stuff now costs around $2.50 and there are over 40 varieties of Hamburger Helper products, including beef, chicken, and tuna options, in a wide range of flavors and pasta or rice shapes (the exact numbers can vary as new flavors are introduced and others are discontinued).

It also got noticed recently on the TV series ‘The Bear’, when the chef Sydney helped a teenager elevate a box of the stuff by adding onions, heavy cream, freshly grated cheese and finished it with toasted panko breadcrumbs for texture. Yum! That show may have sparked more interest in the product as sales have increased this year by 14.9%. People are looking for cheaper food options-I know I am. Hell, every time I buy a single bag of groceries the charge is close to $100 or more!

There’s also an informal economic indicator called the “cardboard box index” which uses box production and shipments as a measure of consumer spending and overall economic health. According to the Monday Morning Economist, almost every product we buy spends time inside a box. Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan even followed the index when he held the post from 1987 to 2006.  Over the past few months several U.S. box makers have announced closures or cutbacks, with an estimate of 9% of box production set to shut down, putting thousands of workers out of jobs. Fewer orders = weaker demand =leading to recession.

How to survive? Try more budget meats. I love the carniceria at Rancho Markets for deals. Split your ground beef with canned beans or lentils. Don’t add meat and instead break an egg or two over the pan of noodlely goodness, cover it and cook til done. Add cheap nutritional yeast for a savory flavor, cottage cheese for the lasagna box. Yeah, Hamburger Helper is not the healthiest alternative (have you read the ingredients?) but it’s cheap, done in 20 minutes and tastes okay! I’ll admit that I bought a box last week and I ate every bit of it. Dinner was under $8 for two of us. Winning!