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| Feature |
The Private Resort Home Market: An Investment Outlook
John Ferry Additional Research by Daniel DelRe
06/01/2005
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Bird recommends buying a high-end resort home
only if it appeals primarily as a lifestyle choice rather than an investment.
The more you use your resort homes, and the more enjoyment they bring, the more
they are inherently worth—to you, if not to the market. This value may not
enhance the house’s price on paper, but if it increases its value to you, then
it will have gone some way toward your having made a sound investment.
“First
and foremost we will only buy if we love the area, we love the house and it has
the type of lifestyle we like,” Sugarman explains. “I’m not really worried about
a fall in the price in the long term because, in the long term, this is the
place I want to be,” Sigourney adds. “When things flatten, I’m not going to feel
that loss, so it will just be theoretical.”
 The growing number of affluent individuals in the United States will offset
any potential for downward pressure on valuations in the second home
and,
eventually, the high-end resort home markets, according to
developers. “The
demographic factor is like a freight train,” says
Peter Forsch, president of Big
Sky, Mont.-based Spanish Peaks.
“Statistically, we have several more years of
increasing numbers of
people reaching the age where there is the highest
propensity to buy a
second home. Then it’s just a matter of all of us out here
competing on
who has got the perfect product.”
Forsch’s peers echo his view.
“Those basic demographic facts are one of the primary reasons why I’m
doing
this,” notes veteran developer John Fair of Denver, who is
currently building
the Paraiso del Mar resort at La Paz in Mexico.
“That demographic trend is so
overwhelming as a 15- or 20-year trend
that the demand that will be created for
second homes in high-quality,
desirable locations is undeniable.”
John Ferry is a senior correspondent for Worth. john.ferry@blueyonder.co.uk
Additional Information
Pursuing
the Crown Jewels
 A Winter
Retreat
 What
Happens in Vegas
 Liquid
Assets
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