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ASPEN — The worst recession to hit this country in the last century isn't all doom and gloom. In fact, many Americans are happier now than when their bank accounts were more flush, according to Dr. Jim Taylor, author of “The New Elite: Inside the Minds of the Truly Wealthy.”
Taylor was the keynote speaker at Friday's Aspen/Snowmass State of the Real Estate and Development Symposium, sponsored by BJ Adams & Company Real Estate.
Taylor's research focused on just four categories of citizens: Upper middle class, affluent, super-affluent and wealthy. But of late he has found Americans have increased their rate of savings, impulse buying is out of fashion, families are spending more time together and couples are making joint decisions on major purchases. He also claimed that along with declining net worth the divorce rate has fallen.
“We've gone up 14 points in household happiness last year,” Taylor said.
How this changing mindset affects the local economy was of interest to the capacity crowd of Realtors, second-home owners and just-plain interested citizens at the Doerr-Hosier Center. Taylor tempered the relative good news with some stark realities for anyone trying to sell a product in today's market.
“I'm not here to tell you it's over or that we see a sign it's over. It's not,” Taylor said about a recession that he believes rivals the “panic of 1873,” one that began with a credit lockout.
Wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a relative few. “There are roughly a thousand families in the U.S. buying extreme high-end properties right now,” he said. It helps that Aspen/Snowmass is considered a top destination and an extremely livable community; Taylor spoke of a “homeness that makes Aspen different from Vail.”
Because now more than ever, buyers are looking for deals and are willing to spend between $1.5 and $4 million if they find the right property. Yet it “has to represent a fundamental value. Then it has to resonate with the values they have as a human being,” he said.
As if real estate agents don't have enough challenges as it is, data offered by Adams and Company put some of the current decline in perspective when compared with recent record years.
Rapidly changing conditions have prompted plenty of introspection by the real estate world and beyond. BJ Adams said it would be “quite dangerous of us to choose to chill” and not react to market trends. She and her husband Michael Adams offered concrete advice on everything from timing, “don't buy to flip in a year,” to pricing properties with a realistic eye.
“Sixty-seven percent of currently active properties listed in 2006 and 2007 have not lowered their original asking price,” according to the firm's data.
“Wasn't the market stronger in 2006-07?” Adams asked rhetorically.
Those sellers who don't need to sell right now, probably shouldn't even try, as those additional listings are contributing to the current glut of inventory as well as a hefty multiple listing service book that weighs in at more than 3.5 lbs.
Taylor was the keynote speaker at Friday's Aspen/Snowmass State of the Real Estate and Development Symposium, sponsored by BJ Adams & Company Real Estate.
Taylor's research focused on just four categories of citizens: Upper middle class, affluent, super-affluent and wealthy. But of late he has found Americans have increased their rate of savings, impulse buying is out of fashion, families are spending more time together and couples are making joint decisions on major purchases. He also claimed that along with declining net worth the divorce rate has fallen.
“We've gone up 14 points in household happiness last year,” Taylor said.
How this changing mindset affects the local economy was of interest to the capacity crowd of Realtors, second-home owners and just-plain interested citizens at the Doerr-Hosier Center. Taylor tempered the relative good news with some stark realities for anyone trying to sell a product in today's market.
“I'm not here to tell you it's over or that we see a sign it's over. It's not,” Taylor said about a recession that he believes rivals the “panic of 1873,” one that began with a credit lockout.
Wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a relative few. “There are roughly a thousand families in the U.S. buying extreme high-end properties right now,” he said. It helps that Aspen/Snowmass is considered a top destination and an extremely livable community; Taylor spoke of a “homeness that makes Aspen different from Vail.”
Because now more than ever, buyers are looking for deals and are willing to spend between $1.5 and $4 million if they find the right property. Yet it “has to represent a fundamental value. Then it has to resonate with the values they have as a human being,” he said.
As if real estate agents don't have enough challenges as it is, data offered by Adams and Company put some of the current decline in perspective when compared with recent record years.
Rapidly changing conditions have prompted plenty of introspection by the real estate world and beyond. BJ Adams said it would be “quite dangerous of us to choose to chill” and not react to market trends. She and her husband Michael Adams offered concrete advice on everything from timing, “don't buy to flip in a year,” to pricing properties with a realistic eye.
“Sixty-seven percent of currently active properties listed in 2006 and 2007 have not lowered their original asking price,” according to the firm's data.
“Wasn't the market stronger in 2006-07?” Adams asked rhetorically.
Those sellers who don't need to sell right now, probably shouldn't even try, as those additional listings are contributing to the current glut of inventory as well as a hefty multiple listing service book that weighs in at more than 3.5 lbs.
What works in the long term
A panel comprised of experts who work in development, planning, lending as well as jobs ancillary to real estate also weighed in on the topic. Many agreed that what Aspen/Snowmass offers is unique and will serve the communities well in the long-term.Architect John Cottle, architect and principal with Cottle Carr Yaw Architects, said he has worked with “40 or so resort communities.”
“I'm more struck now by cultural and intellectual foundations and the power of the Aspen Idea. That is the value we should be going back to,” he said.
Cottle also spoke of a “class mentality in town” that is off-putting to prospective new residents. Others picked up on an “us versus them” sentiment or what appraiser Randy Gold said is a “pervasive attitude of rich bashing.”
Jody Cooper, home mortgage consultant with Wells Fargo, hearkened back to Jim Taylor's comments about some of the upsides of the economic downturn.
Her personal anecdote included more “family dinners and [time with] friends on the back deck.”
Said Cooper, “Negative for some is an opportunity for others,” as she reported how the lender has brought happiness to first-time buyers who qualified for loans.
“We are lending on condos and property here [though] it doesn't always seem like that,” she said.
What Dr. Taylor called “the new resourcefulness” has also brought green building and more reasonably sized homes back into vogue.
“Sustainability is going to get back in the front seat,” said Cottle, later adding, “For the first time in a long time, it's OK to do a smaller house.”
And maybe, just maybe, we'll become a kinder, gentler society. It certainly wouldn't hurt business, several panel members said.
“We're not in an era where free community Internet will make a difference but three people saying hello [to visitors or second-home owners] will,” said Dr. Taylor.
mosberger@snowmasssun.com
