Going to skiing paradise is going to Brian Head, Utah.  Brian Head features two terrain parks.  One park is for beginners and one for intermediates.  Around October 11, 2008 season passes are sold through November 22, 2008 which is anticipated opening day for winter season. 

The Snow Tube Park is another paradise where you can go down one of the six lanes and jump on the surface lift to go back to the top of the park.  This is fun for all ages.  You can race each other down the six lanes.  Kids will enjoy this while having fun on the snow.

Anticipation of opening is November 22, 2008 until closing April 12, 2009 and open everyday.   Night tubing is open during the Christmas holiday, but not on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day or New Years Eve.  There will be no night tubing on Sunday of Martin Luther King weekend or Sunday night of Presidents weekend.  Night tubing closes on March 21.  Office parties, birthday parties, church function, or corporate meetings can plan for special after hour’s snow tubing sessions through Brian Head Snow Tubing Group Sales Office.

Something beautiful that happens at Brian Head is the night skiing.  The skiing and snowboarding continues after hours at resort’s Navajo Lodge and Learning Center.  Night skiing and snowboarding is open on Friday and Saturday evenings at the resort’s Pioneer Chairlift #6.  Seeing the skiers and snowboarders coming down the mountain at night looks so beautiful.

Brian Head in the summer is also a beautiful place to be.  The Mountain Bike Park and Activity Center have announced the opening of a new trail segment.  It is known as Stef’s Steps and contains manmade and natural elements.  Included in these are a medium plank drop, the park’s largest log drop and several sick natural drops.  Direct access is provided to Malicious Woods and its banked S-turn and the Tropfen des Todes and this segment is rated as a Black Diamond for experts only.  (Information from Brian Head Mountain.)

The Brian Head Utah summer season was from June 28, 2008 to September 28, 2008.  During that season one of the favorite past times was to play Disc Golf.  Brian Head was happy to offer Utah’s highest, longest alpine disc (Frisbee) golf course.  Starting at 11.000 feet with a total course distance of 10,000 feet, this course is 18 holes and each hole is a par 3.  Access is available by hiking or weekend chairlift for free.  Frisbee’s and scorecard are rented or purchased at the Activity Center.  It is suggested that you come prepared for Alpine conditions.  This includes sunscreen, sunglasses, water and hiking shoes.  And don’t forget the cooler temperatures at higher altitudes, so bring a light jacket and/or rain jacket.  Plan on taking two to two and a half hours to finish the course.

Visiting Brian Head Utah will make it grow on you and all you’ll remember is the beauty that you saw, so then you’ll want to move there.  Summer or winter the beauty will call for you to come back and come back until you finally come back and stay there.

A couple just had a home repossessed and immediately went to another state and got a new mortgage on a brand new constructed home.  Now they can’t make the payments on the new mortgage and have filed bankruptcy.  This is one of many cases that helped put the country into this financial situation.

Job losses and defaults on the mortgage payments lead to foreclosure.  Treasure Secretary, Henry Paulson, said on the day he announced the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seizure, “The housing correction possess the biggest risk to our economy.  Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us.”

After the take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the government, four top executives of Fannie Mae resigned.  Chief Business Officer Peter Niculescu, Executive Vice-President and General Counsel Beth Wilkinson, Executive Vice-President and Chief Information Officer Rahul Merchant, and Senior Vice-President for Government and Industry Relations Duane Duncan.

It is hoped that the $700 billion dollar bail out by the government will put housing back on track and that mortgages will fall back in place.  Unfortunately there is no guarantee that this will get better, and it looks like it will only get worse at this point.  Hearings will be held on the bail out by both parties.

“We are certainly taking credit and squeezing it tighter and tighter,” said Kevin Giddis, managing director of investment bank Morgan Keegan.  “Housing needs buyers.  Buyers need credit.”

It’s not as easy now to purchase a home.  The easiness is what put our country into this mess. 

According to the Associated Press, the housing downturn has depressed overall economic activity and pushed the country close to a recession.  Thousand of construction jobs have been lost, contributing to an economic slowdown that has pushed the unemployment rate to a five year high of 6.1% in August.  New home construction is at a 17 year low.

After the bail out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came American International Group (AIG) rescue which gave them time to sell off assets to repay their loan in a quiet and orderly manor. 

It is hoped that all this paper work back and forth will help put the housing market back on track.  It won’t happen overnight, but will take awhile to see where the optional housing market belongs and where the financial market comes in.  It will be a long time before real estate prices head high again.

On a 30 year fixed starting in the middle of last week, interest rates started to climb past the 6.26%.  At one minute housing is affordable and the next minute you can’t afford the payments.

#1 – Clean.   Hire a cleaning crew to come to your home.  I know you are the best cleaner in the world and you don’t want to spend the money but I promise you they will find things you overlook because you see your home every day.  In fact, I suggest having a cleaning crew come back weekly to touch up while you are selling your home.  You may want to also have a professional window cleaning company come clean your windows inside and out.  Your home must sparkle! 

 #2 – Fix.  You need to fix that leaking faucet or broken tile.   I know these are minor repairs but buyers see these and in the back of there minds think you don’t upkeep your home.  Buyers see minor problems and assume you have bigger hidden problems.  Take the time to fix these issues!     

#3 – Eliminate Clutter.  Take half of all your items and put them in storage!   I know this may seem crazy but it works.  Buyers want to imagin themselves in your home not look at your personal memories.  Rent a storage unit for 30 dollars a month and fill it up with 1/2 of your homes content.  #4 – Executive Neutral.  Neutral colors sell.  It’s a fact.  I know this can be extremely boring but this is what buyers want to see.  Remember they may not have a little girl so your daughters pink room needs to be repainted.  I have seen many buyers walk away from homes they otherwise loved because the kids bedrooms were painted bright colors or had race cars.  You may be thinking thats only a $100 dollar can of paint but buyers are thinking about the time and effort that will be required and that is the last thing you want on there minds when they are already having to move thier entire lifes to a new home.  Take the time, spend the money and reap the rewards.  You wouldn’t sell a car without washing, detailing, and ”preping it” so why would you not take the time with a home.     

#5 – De-personalize.  Remove objects that your potential buyers won’t be able to identify with.  The other day I showed a home and it had a ton of political items inside the home.  The buyers were extremely turned off by these items and they wanted to move on without really considering the home.  You want to remove these items and place them in your storage unit before buyers see them.  Remember buying a home is an emotional decision, and you want potential buyers to make an emotional connection with your home by being able to “see” themselves in it.

If you follow these simple steps you WILL sell your home faster and for more money.   These items are even more important know that we have moved to a buyers market.  

If you are considering selling a home please call me.  Sam Dodd for more great tips for selling your home. 

I just wanted to write really quickly and wish everyone a Merry Christmas from the Southern Utah Real Estate team. We had a great year and we only have you all to thank for it. This year has seen some big changes but things are starting to shake out and everyone seems to be extremely happy. So anyways I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I may even get some guest authors such as other agents, mortgage brokers, tax attorneys and others involved in the real estate market. If anyone has information they would like to see on the website that isn’t currently shown please email and let me know I will do my best to make sure it is added.

Soon we will be starting our Cedar Springs Community. It will be 330 homes ranging in price from the low 100′s up to right around 200 thousand. The community will have a pool, a club house with weight room, movie theater, and party room. We will also have walking trails, and two playgrounds.

There is a whole political side to this which I will try to stay out of.

Benifits
1. Reliable service – Since I worked at the Cedar City Airport while both Skywest and Mesa Airlines serviced flights I can say that Skywest was my more reliable then Mesa. They also had the advantage of being able to bus people to St. George if they had problems in Cedar City.
2. Larger Planes – Skywest flys 30 Passangers planes with a flight attendant and bathroom while Mesa only flew a 19 passanger plane with no in flight service.
3. Local Roots – Skywest has deep roots in our community, it will be a lot easier for Skywest to come back then it was for Mesa to start in a hostile enviroment.
4. Customer Service – This one is self explanitory.

Negatives -
1. Cost – Not only are flights more expensive with Skywest the amount the government subsidizes is also higher.
2. Connections – Skywest has contracted to do 2 flights a day to Salt Lake City. Mesa was flying to Pheonix, Salt Lake and Las Vegas. This makes connecting with Skywest much harder and also increases cost as Salt Lake is typically an expensive airport to fly out of.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels

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