Retirement for those that don't believe in retiring.
I never thought of Park City as a "retirement community" - that term has always brought to mind silver haired people relaxing in lawn chairs with palm trees in the background. Recently I've realized what a strong trend retirement or more accurately "active retirement" is in shaping the Park City real estate market. How could a ski resort high in the mountains in a state with the youngest demographic in the country be a magnet for people contemplating retirement?
- First of all, the definition of "retirement" is way dated. What used to mean living on a pension after a long career with a big company, is now moving to the financial independence gained from business or asset ownership or high level business management that makes possible the pursuit of goals other than more money at any age.
- Pre-retirees are generally identified as 50-64 year old's, but increasingly successful entrepreneurs, professional athletes, or other professionals who can choose to end their active careers at a much earlier age expand that definition. These people fit the profile of visitors who have been recreating in Park City in increasing numbers for the past 50 years.
Relatively few of past Park City newcomers were investors - full-time residents were mainly looking to enjoy their life and raise their families. Investors who did purchase nightly rental condominiums experienced a variety of results. The 2008 recession was a difficult time for luxury nightly rental condominiums, but after years of seeing little new construction, today's market see's new nightly rental product which has many advantages over older projects (see "That New Car Smell" uncategorized post dtd 5/9/17 & part 2 dtd 5/12/17). It is notable that many of the original nightly rental condominiums are being remodeled and converted to full time residences, but few of these situations result in being retirement homes for the former landlords.
There are so many reasons why people wanting to live here and own primary or second single family homes are dominating the current Park City real estate market, that I have decided to focus future posts on those benefits that are unique to Park City. The real estate choices facing potential new residents are much different for the pre-retiree than for the young family or the investor.