American presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt were active practitioners of conservationism, dedicating thousands of miles of territory in the West as reserves and parks. They were particularly generous with the Wyoming frontier.

Grant signed into law the bill that created the first national park - Yellowstone, famous for its star attraction, the geyser Old Faithful. The park is 2.2 million acres, 97 percent of which remains undeveloped. Most of the park is wilderness, but it is Wyoming's main source of tourism. Once covered by ocean, Wyoming also offers terrific dinosaur and fish fossils on display at local museums.

Remember Devil's Tower in the 1978 movie "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind?" where the friendly aliens landed? It's in Wyoming, too. Roosevelt designated it as the nation's first national monument.

Those two attractions and more make Wyoming a hiking, climbing, horseback-riding, camping heaven for vacationers, and it has its share of toney winter sport resorts, too.

Across the state, homes are selling, as visitors become residents.

In Cheyenne, at the edge of the High Plains near the Rocky Mountains, homes are appreciating. Says Realtor Joe Prunty, "In the calendar year 2001 here in Cheyenne we experienced a solid 5% market appreciation. Our market is fast and strong. Homes that are prepared to sell will go quickly if properly priced."

"Cheyenne is a fantastic place to raise a family," invites Realtor Connie Webb. "Our market has had a gradual increase over the past few years. A lot of new homes have been built, and we are seeing a number of new businesses calling Cheyenne home. One of the newest is the Lowe's Distribution Center and their new retail store.

Adds Webb, "Our rental market is great. Many investors are now buying rental homes.Homes on an average are selling at about 98% of listed price. Houses are selling quickly at this time, and we do not have a large inventory."

Casper, Wyoming is experiencing a housing shortage, according to Realtor Debbir Eberspecher. "Casper is experiencing a tight market right now, with there being more buyers than sellers. Homes that are very clean and in good condition are normally selling quickly, if they are priced correctly to begin with. Even with the shortage of homes on the market, sellers are not able to get extremely high prices, as the buyers are not normally willing to pay the high price, and will just wait for another home to come available. Now is a good time for the buyers with interest rates still low."

Jackson Hole, a popular ski resort area, is returning to a near normal market, report Realtors.

"We still consider it to be a buyers market as compared to a year ago, but properties that are priced correctly are selling quickly," says Realtors Chad and Dianne Budge. "The average list price for the first four months of the year 2001 was right at $1,000,000. Currently the average listing price is $829,000 for the same four months of 2002. The average time it takes to sell for this same period has increased approximately 30 days to 163 days."

The Budges explain, "Buyers are coming back to the high-end market to look and some offers are being made. There still remains an overabundance of inventory above $5,000,000, but that inventory is slowing getting sold or taken off the market. The Four Seasons has started construction at Teton Village and offered seven penthouses for sale five of which are already under contract. The mid-range ($400,000-$1,000,000) has a steady stream of buyers looking, and sales are increasing. Any home that is priced correctly below $400,000 is selling close to full price and in a short period of time. Low interest rates have kept this area of the market fueled. Condos and town homes still seem to be a hot ticket for second home and vacation homebuyers with lots of showing activity and sales activity.

Vacant land sales are increasing from a low last year. There are still many opportunities for buyers who want to build. We are experiencing an increase in building activity, but are not at last year's numbers. The local architects and builders are reporting an increase, but again not at the same numbers as last year. Overall, we feel the real estate market in Jackson Hole has stabilized. There are some excellent values available which has kept buyer activity strong and seller response has been reasonable.

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Published: June 4, 2002

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