See a Movie and Sub for Santa With Us

This year, we're combining our movie premiere event with our Sub for Santa event. Be sure to bring a gift card to the Gateway Megaplex Theater on December 17th!

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Today I’d like to extend a special invitation to you for a very special holiday event that we are holding very soon: our movie premiere and Sub for Santa Event.

This year, Santa’s making a list, checking it twice, and you’re invited to this movie event, whether you’ve been naughty or nice! We’re having a movie premiere party with a twist to help fulfill a child’s Christmas wish.

We’re very excited about our movie premiere event this year. We’ve decided to take all of our friends and clients to see Star Wars: Rogue One! Opening weekend is Saturday, December 17th at the Gateway Megaplex Theaters at 5 p.m. Give us a call or send us an email to let us know that you’re coming because seats are first come, first served. The movie will fill up fast, so be sure to RSVP as soon as you can to get your tickets!

In addition, every year we hold our Sub for Santa event, and this year, we have decided to continue this event in conjunction with our movie premiere party.

Here’s how it works: every year we pick certain families and children in need from our local community and help provide a merry Christmas to those who are less fortunate. We ask all of our friends, family, and clients to help us support these families and we’re always blown away by the generosity that they show for this event.

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We’ve decided to take all of our friends and clients to see Star Wars: Rogue One.

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We’re asking all of you to bring a Walmart or Target gift card or a gift to the movie premiere and help a family in need. This has been a wonderful blessing in my life, and I know it could be a great blessing in yours as well.

This is going to be a great event, and I’m eager to catch up with all of you and enjoy your company. The Sub for Santa event is our priority this year, so anything you can give to help us put this event on would be greatly appreciated.

Every year I say the same thing: this year has been better than the last. Once again, I mean it this year and would like to sincerely thank you all for your business and your support. I look forward to seeing you all at this great event on December 17th!

In the meantime, if you have any other questions about real estate in the Utah area, please don’t hesitate to give our team a call or send us an email. We’d be happy to help you!

We Know a Way You Can Brighten Someone Else’s Christmas...

Our annual Sub for Santa event is back, and you can help us help local families in need this holiday season.

Selling your Wasatch Front home? Get a free home value report

Buying a Wasatch Front home? Click here for full MLS access

As we once again head into the holiday season, we’re reminded of what we’re thankful for and what the true meaning of Christmas is.

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Every year we’re blown away at the support we receive.

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As many of you already know, our team does an annual Sub for Santa event each year during the holiday season to give back to those in our community who need a little extra help to have a merry Christmas. It’s that time again, so we humbly ask you to provide your support for this event by donating what you can to those in need.

If you’re interested in participating, drop us an email at spencer@utahcribs.com. We’re also looking for referrals for local families who need a hand. If you’re not able to donate extra clothing or other items, we also welcome gift cards from places such as Walmart or Target.

Year in, year out, we’re blown away at the magnitude of support that the community gives to this event. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us by phone or email. Have a very merry Christmas!

Worried About the Election?

Recently we've received questions from clients wanting to sell because of the election. We're breaking down the factors surrounding our market that should really impact your decision to sell your house.

Selling your Wasatch Front home? Get a free home value report

Buying a Wasatch Front home? Click here for full MLS access

We've received a lot of questions lately about the election. Here at Utah Cribs, we sell real estate — we never talk politics. However, one day, we had four different people email us who were thinking about selling their property and were wondering if the election would have an effect on the real estate market.

No one has a crystal ball, but I can give you some facts that back up the answer that I gave these clients.

For starters, we've seen three years of rapid appreciation of single-family homes here in Salt Lake. When the market bottomed out in 2008, the decline lasted until 2012. Now, though, we've bounced out of the recession; Utah was a national leader in single-family home appreciation. It only took nine quarters for us to get back to a median price and all-time high that was set prior to the recession.

So what has happened over these last three years?

As appreciation rose by double digits, home values went up, and we had low inventory. It has been a pretty extreme seller's market. Many brokers are still talking about this, but it is old news. The sky is not falling, but the market has started to slow. We're not so sure that the election is the cause.

Here are the facts:

One year ago, the median price for a single-family home in Salt Lake County was $280,000, and currently, the median price is $301,000. This means home values have gone up nearly 7% in the past year, which is still rapid appreciation, but it's not as strong as we saw from 2012 to 2013 or even 2013 to 2014. Right now, it really depends on price.

As I told one of the clients who asked about the election, the price range in which you're looking has a big impact. For example, single-family homes priced $400,000 and under are still selling strong; median days on market is still just 14 days. The appreciation for homes in that price range has gone up nearly 10% over the last year. On the other hand, homes priced $700,000 and over have only appreciated just 3.4% over the past year with an average of 82 days on market. Simply put, the "hotness" of your home and its appreciation really depends on the price bracket that it's in.

The sky is not falling; the market is just slowing down.

We can also look to units sold to see that the market is slowing. In the third quarter last year, 4,957 single-family homes sold in Salt Lake County. In the third quarter of this year, 4,915 sold. I know this is a tiny difference, but it's a downturn. We haven't seen a quarterly downturn in units sold in Salt Lake County in three years.

To reiterate, the sky is not falling and it's not even a market correction. However, there is a slowdown, and I feel that this year it's more significant that a normal seasonal slowdown. It could be the election and it could be buyers holding their breath to see the results. Think about the big picture, though; should you sell your house because of the results of a presidential election?

In our professional opinion, the answer is no.

If that's your only reason to sell, I say forget about it. If you sold right now, what else are you going to go buy? If after the election perhaps we see some median price downturn, your house will decrease in value, but whatever else you're going to buy will go down in the same percentage brackets. It's a wash! Don't just sell or get scared because of what could happen nationally.

Here in Utah, we're still in an extremely strong market. There are a lot of microeconomic factors in our market that are among the best in the nation. Make your decision based on facts!

If you have any more questions about our market or you're thinking about selling at this time, give me a call or send me an email today. I'd be happy to talk you through it based on your personal situation.