The Peak of Mountain Lifestyle
Jackson Hole’s Wonders do Wonders for Real Estate
Publisher: Golfweek
Date: July 1, 2006
If you arrive on the practice range at 3 Creek Ranch at just the right time of the morning, you might find the staff doing something odd: using a tape measure to ensure that each hitting stall is precisely the same size. Eyeballing it simply won’t do.
Watching this, 3 Creek’s director of golf, Billy Cleveland, an Alabaman who bears more than a passing resemblance to Ben Crenshaw, gives an aw-shucks shrug. When asking your property owners – including recent purchaser Tiger Woods – to make at least mid-seven figures investments in land, homes and club memberships, you have to take care of the little things.
Mother Nature already took care of the big things here. Jackson Hole and surrounding Teton County are defined by the area’s natural wonders: the Snake River, Bridger-Teton and Targhee national forests and, of course, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, the latter named for the peak that towers over the valley and serves as this region’s North Star. The attractions not only create an extraordinary landscape, but also serve as a natural barrier to the supply of housing, helping drive up prices.
…one statistic supersedes all others: 97 percent. That’s how much land is publicly owned in Teton County, and the remaining limited supply contributed mightily to the run-up in housing prices. During the 1990s, the county’s median single-family home price grew 174 percent, the fourth-highest increase in the country. The top 10 gainers on that list were all from the mountainous, western states of Montana, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
Enter developments like 3 Creek Ranch, located on the outskirts of Jackson…Residents at 3 Creek have private fishing on site on the Spring, Cody and Blue Crane creeks. In addition, fishing coordinator Jim Brungardt is on staff to lead expeditions to exotic locales. Roger Smith, the resident naturalist who holds a masters degree in wildlife biology, leads regular seminars, runs a raptor rehabilitation program for wounded birds of prey and helps residents gain a better appreciation of the region’s natural wonders.
Suffice it to say, if you’re only interested in playing 36 holes a day and sipping martinis on the clubhouse balcony, you’re probably not going to buy at 3 Creek or Snake River.
Nor will you buy there without a fair amount of discretionary cash. Todd Domenico, 3 Creek’s sales and marketing director, notes that about two-thirds of buyers pay cash. At 3 Creek, cabin lots of less than an acre easily exceed $1 million, and larger estate lots can approach $5.5 million. Sales are brisk; about half of the 136 homesites on the 710-acre property have been purchased.
"To be able to couple private golf with the private fishing so close to Jackson has been an absolute home run," Domenico said.
Why Wyoming?
Some factors driving the state’s real estate boom:
- No personal income tax
- No corporate income tax
- No capital gains tax
- No inheritance tax
- Right to work state
- Third-lowest gas tax in U.S.
- Health care costs 22 percent below the national average
- Electricity costs 34 percent below the national average
- Internet economy
|