Howdy From Driggs, Idaho!

International

4 minute read

August 6, 2009

The lack of recent posts is mainly attributed to the still-lingering technical difficulties with my blog, but also because I’m trying to take a vacation!

Driggs, Idaho is a fantastic, rustic little town that almost nobody has heard of.

Here are my thoughts, of course, from a real estate perspective…

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I first came to Driggs, Idaho in 1998 during a family trip. 

I grew up skiing in Park City, Utah in the late 1980’s but as the 2002 Winter Olympics approached, the town of Park City became far too lah-dee-dah for our liking.  Each successive year, we would find that another t-shirt shop on Main Street had been replaced by yet another diamond store, and a few of our favorite restaurants had been replaced by either an art gallery or a fine-fur emporium.

Park City, Utah jumped the shark right after the 2002 Olympics, and during our last trip down there in 2004, I wanted to punch every single Nextel-walkie-talkie-using American I saw….but there were far too many!  Every chairlift ride was spoiled by some yuppie from Connecticut Nex-telling his friend, “Meet me at the grill for a Cafe Latte in ten, mm-kay?”

In 1998, my father purchased 14 acres of raw land in Victor, Idaho up on the mountain-side for a paltry sum.

I only wish I had his foresight…

During the last ten years, the towns of Victor and Driggs have seen a massive real estate boom and a massive real estate crash.

If you have no clue where Driggs is, you probably aren’t the only one.  However, I would bet that you’ve heard of Jackson, Wyoming (home to Harrison Ford and Dick Cheney among others) which is only 24 miles from Driggs, Idaho.

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Jackson, Wyoming is somewhat comparable to Park City, Utah only Park City has incorporated a little more of Aspen, Colorado into its culture whereas Jackson has kept some of its small-town feel and old-world charm.

At the height of the real estate boom in both Victor and Driggs, new houses were selling for upwards of $1,000,000.

Then came the crash.

My father purchased a house that had been listed as high as $999,000 in 2006 for a mere $375,000 in February of 2008.

There are hundreds and hundreds of stories just like his, but unfortunately, for every winner there must be a loser as well.

I’ve spent the last week golfing every day, and I met a girl at the pro-shop named Natalie Marlowe who works for Sage Realty in Driggs.  I’ve spent hours talking shop with Natalie as she is an expert in the local real estate market, and we swapped real estate stories – I telling her about multiple offer situations in Toronto where condos sell for 120% of the asking price, and she telling me how many people have lost their shirts in the real estate market here in Victor & Driggs.

As an example, I’ll use all the vacant lots of land that line the cart path on the golf course.

Here is a photo of a gorgeous new house that is for sale at the end of the strip for $499,000:

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See all that vacant land in front of the house?  Those are five identical 1/4-acre lots for sale, as seen in more detail below:

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Those 1/4-acre lots were originally purchased in 2006-07 for as much as $400,000.  Today, these range in price for as much as $414,000 and as little as $61,800.

Yes, you read that correctly.

As Natalie explained to me, some of these investors are just being stubborn and they’ve listed their $400,000 investments for $414,000.  All the while, the identical plot next to theirs is for sale for $200,000 by somebody who just wants to get half his money back.

Next to that 1/4-acre plot is another identical 1/4-acre plot for $150,000.

And finally, next to that one is another identical plot that was foreclosed on by the bank and is being offered for sale at $61,800.

None of these properties are moving.

The golf course itself was foreclosed on last year, and the new owner keeps it open only in attempts to sell real estate.  The course brings in $3,000 in revenue on a good day, but I rarely see another soul on the golf course while I’m blazing through 18 holes in just under two hours.

The entire town of Victor, Idaho seems to be on its knees.

And I personally believe that if the rest of the world knew that this place existed, the $900,000 houses would be selling for $900,000 again.

This town is an absolute paradise, and even if you can only get away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Toronto for a week, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven.

Imagine sitting on your front porch at night and seeing this:

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Or try looking out over the canyon during a horseback ride and seeing this:

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For all the people who go down to their Florida condos to sit at a pool and laze about all day long, I just can’t understand how that compares to fly-fishing, hiking, horseback-riding, white-water rafting, golfing, and watching the rodeo in Jackson, Wyoming in between trips to “Music on Main Street” every Thursday night in Driggs.

Oh, and Yellowstone National Park is only ninety-minutes away.

To each, their own, and I’m far from the authority on where to vacation or what to do in one’s downtime.

But I’m completely enthralled with the mid-west culture!  All it took was one $15 straw cowboy-hat and I think I fit right in:

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Are you thinking you might not be entertained by an authentic rodeo?  Trust me, you would!  I kinda just assume I would, since I was kicked out for taking one-too-many blurry photos of “Miss Teton County Fair” as seen below:

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Anyways…

For there to have been a real estate “boom” in Victor, Driggs, and Tetonia, there must have been some serious interest at one point from the vacationers, speculators, investors, developers, and residents alike.

Just as with any manic frenzy, there was a point where land and houses were being scooped up almost as fast as they could go on sale.

And now, you can’t sell a plot of land or a house to save your life!

Times are tough in Driggs, Idaho, but one person’s loss is another person’s gain.

In tomorrow’s post, I’d like to delve into some of the real estate currently listed for sale…

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Written By David Fleming

David Fleming is the author of Toronto Realty Blog, founded in 2007. He combined his passion for writing and real estate to create a space for honest information and two-way communication in a complex and dynamic market. David is a licensed Broker and the Broker of Record for Bosley – Toronto Realty Group

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2 Comments

  1. Calico Cate

    at 2:08 pm

    Your description makes Idaho sound like heaven on earth. The pictures are amazing – especially the one from your front porch. I’m looking forward to part 2 of your narrative.

    I feel sorry for all of the folks who’ve lost money in the real estate market though. It’ll be wonderful when this nasty recession is over and things can get back to relative normal-ness.

  2. Tommy

    at 2:38 pm

    Hey,

    First landed in Driggs in 1981, with my father and his buddy from the Korean War, Bill Schneider. We would fly in from Boise, Idaho, sometimes Lake Tahoe and sometimes from San Fran. I remember the snow bank always taller than the plane on both sides of the runway. We stayed at the Teton Tepe and would ski at Grand Targee. Sunday’s we would head on up to Wilson, Wyoming for a good time with the Cowboys and locals. Never drank, it was just fun being there. God bless you for posting this, brings a lot of good memories home.

Pick5 is a weekly series comparing and analyzing five residential properties based on price, style, location, and neighbourhood.

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