I don't normally like to post this many posts in one day, but there is a really cool activity planned tonight.  It is called Fight Like a Girl.  When I was a kid this was a politically incorrect thing to say to other boys usually with the word you preceding the fight like a girl.  This is much better!  This is a benefit for 4 different pediatric cancer patients.  There are very few causes more valid than anything to do with Children fighting cancer! 

The activity is at 7 PM at the Heritage Center (105 N 100 East).  Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for children under 8 at the door.  If you buy your tickets early they are $5.  For more information you can email: crystal_cardon@hotmail.com or by calling 435-233-0229.

The Cedar City Real Estate Market has some great smaller subdivisions.  Cove Ridge is one of those, it doesn’t have a lot homes, but the homes that are there are really nice ones.  Cove Ridge is staying in the same general area of town as the two Black Rock Subdivisions.  Cove Ridge is comprised of what I would call move up style homes. Cove Ridge is a subdivision that is still relatively new, and is a nice area with some great mountain views.

This is a very nice subdivision built in the early 2000's. There is currently 1 home listed for sale on our MLS in the Cove Ridge Subdivision for $249,900.

Market Update 2/13/2012:  There are currently no homes listed in the Multiple Listing Services.  In the past 12 months there have been 2 homes sell.  One home sold at $114,000 and the other sold at $178,500.  There are currently no building lots for sale.

Cove Ridge really is a great asset in the Cedar City Real Estate Market, it is in a prime location with some great homes! 

Here are some photos:

Cove Ridge Home with Valley Views.

Another Home in the Cove Ridge Subdivision featuring more Mountain Views.

Santa Fe Style Home in the Cove Ridge Subdivision

I have mentioned before that the Cedar City Real Estate Market has a few subdivisions with detached single family units mixed in with twin homes or duplex styled homes.  The Terraces at Black Rock is another of those mixed subdivision in Cedar City.  It is a newer subdivision built in 2005.  It is another subdivision that saw a lot of sales to investors initially.  It is on the East edge of the Black Rock Subdivision. 

There is currently only one of the twin home units listed for sale in our MLS, listed at $110,000. 

Market Update 1/13/2012:  There are currently no homes listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service.  In the past 12 months there have also been no homes sell in the Terraces at Black Rock subdivision.  There are no building lots for sale in the Terraces at Black Rock. 

This has turned out to be one of the more stable subdivisions in the Cedar City Real Estate Market.  It is still one of the more desirable subdivisions for home time buyers and investors alike. 

Here are some photos:

Single Family Detached home in the Terraces at Black Rock Subdivision

One set of twin homes in the Terraces at Black Rock Subdivision

A set of single story twin homes in the Black Rock Subdivision

Many of you know, I love Sports, much to Darcy's chagrin.  I will say that I used to really prefer college basketball to the NBA, but in the era of the one year and done with college, I just have a hard time following it.  Those who know me, know that for the most part I am a "homer", meaning I cheer for the local team, in our case the Utah Jazz.  I will be honest, we have been so busy the past month or so, that I have done most of my Sports following online.  I just haven't had the time to sit down and catch an entire game, pro or college.

I would be living on the dark side of the Sports Moon, if there is such a place, if I hadn't heard of the New York Knicks Guard Jeremy Lin.  Unheralded and virtually unrecruited after a great High School career.  He chose to play at Harvard, for those who don't know, Ivy League Schools do not have athletic scholarships, so he had to pay his way or get grants and other types of scholarships to go to college and play basketball.  After a good career at Harvard, no one was knocking at his door, nor calling his name on NBA Draft Day.

He signed a pro contract with the Golden State Warriors and saw very limited playing time as a rookie.  He played well when he had the opportunity, he just didn't have a lot of opportunities.  After being released by his hometown team, he ended up on the New York Knicks.  After a stint in the NBA Development League he returned to the NBA and was impressive in his first game back.  The Knicks finally saw fit to start him 4 games ago, after that game coming off the bench.  All that has happened in the 5 games that Jeremy Lin has had substantial playing time is that the Knicks have won all 5 games.

In the 4 games that he has started, which are the first 4 starts of his career, all he has done is win and score.  In fact, he has scored more points in his first 4 starts than ANY Player since the NBA and ABA merged in the 1970's.  In case there are some that may be missing the significance of this feat, check out some of the players that have had their first 4 starts since the merger. Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Le Bron James, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquile O Neal, even the#2 scorer in NBA history Karl Malone. 

Sports fans will tell you that 4 or 5 games don't make a career, and that time will tell if Jeremy Lin will still be used in the same sentence as those All Time NBA greats, but what a great story!  To a young man that didn't sacrifice his dream even when it appeared that no one wanted to even give him a chance at the collegiate level, let alone the NBA! 

To me, the moral of the story is, hold on to your dreams!  Learn how to do things the right way, don't allow set backs to derail your progress, listen to good coaches and above all Never Give Up!  It will be interesting if Jeremy can sustain what he has started, I for one hope that he does!  It is a great example to all of us, young and old!  Jeremy, keep up the Linsanity!!!!

Zion National Park, one of my favorite places!

This past Ground Hog Day as have all other ground hog days in my lifetime was special.  You see I have a Dear Aunt whose birthday just happens to be February 2nd.  She was as much a Grandmother to me as she was an Aunt, I am sure that many of us have an Aunt or someone like my Aunt Golda.  Aunt Golda passed away a few years ago, but the reality is for the most part, we lost her many years ago.  She was a victim of Alzheimer's.  That is a horrible and insidious disease!!!!  As I reflected on my Aunt Golda as we passed her birthday last week, something has been tugging at the corners of my mind.

I will be honest, it has taken the better part of the week to figure out what it was that began tugging as just a fleeting thought that I may have been missing something, then grow into the what have I forgotten near panic.  Tonight, I realized what it was.  We as Realtors, spend so much time trying to be perfect.  We want the perfect listing presentation, the perfect open house, perfect system to generate and convert leads.  We promise to give 110% or more. 

In my case, I have been racking my brain what I can do differently to generate business.  We moved offices this past October.  It has been a great move.  We love being RE/MAX agents!  One of the drawbacks is that one of the other agents market and prospect much the same way that we have been doing.  This is making it much more difficult to differentiate ourselves from anyone else in the office.

Consequently, I have been trying to come up with new strategies and really different things to do, which is difficult.  I would like to think that I am already doing everything that I can do to earn business.  I know that you need to continue improving, adapting and changing, this is a business where change happens and often very quickly. 

The point that I am getting to is that I have put a lot of pressure on myself to come up with the perfect system, along with streamlining our existing systems perfectly.  I have had a headache for weeks; exercise and ibuprofen have done almost no good in cutting the headache.

Then, from somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I heard my Dear Aunt Golda’s voice.  It was saying “Do your best!  If you have done your best;  that is all that you can do.”  Too often, I put too much pressure on myself.  I am not naïve enough to believe that you cannot improve upon what is currently your best effort.

Through continually giving your best effort, combined with a thirst for knowledge and listening to a mentor or a coach you will grow.  Your capacity to accomplish the things in your career will increase, which makes your best effort better than it was the day before.  The opposite is also true, when you aren’t giving your best effort, your ability wanes and your best effort will not be what it once was.  You begin to “phone in” your efforts, your work habits deteriorate and you can get really lazy.

So the moral of this post is, Do your best, it really is all that you can do at any given time.  There is no 110%, there is 100%, the extra 10% or more will come from constantly giving 100%.  By doing that, and constantly improving yourself, that 100% will grow exponentially!

Scenic Torrey, UT

The Cedar City Real Estate Market has a few Planned Unit Developments, or PUD’s, The Black Rock Subdivision is one of those.  This is a well maintained PUD in so much I thought that it was newer than it is.  Black Rock was built around 1996.  I thought that it was built around 2000, but I was mistaken.  It is comprised of detached single family homes that are generally 3 bed 2 baths with anywhere from 1200 to 1900 square feet depending on the model. 

There are currently 5 homes listed for sale in our MLS ranging in price from $120,000 to 160,000. 

This was a build out subdivision, in the final phase there are still a few lots left to build on.  It is a very well kept, nice subdivision on the West side of the City, just off of Highway 56.

Market Update 2/9/2012:  There is currently 1 home listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service.  It is listed at $162,000.  In the past 12 months there have been 6 homes sell.  The sale prices ranged from $90,000 to $120,000.  There are no lots currently listed for sale.

Black Rock remains one of the really nice areas in the Cedar City Real Estate Market.

Here are some photos:

Black Rock home

Another Black Rock Home

Black Rock Home

One more Black Rock Home

The Cedar City Real Estate Market saw a lot of growth in the early to mid 1980’s.  The Cove Subdivision is one of those great subdivisions.  It has long been one of the more desirable subdivisions in the Cedar City Real Estate Market.  It is made up of single family detached homes.  Homes vary in size, and as the subdivision was built in phases, there are some homes that are a lot newer than the original homes. 

There are currently 3 homes listed for sale in our MLS in the Cove Subdivision, they range in price from $97,099 to $298,900.  There is a pretty good range in the size of homes available in the cove as the home listed for $298,900 has just over 2700 finished square feet. 

Market Update 2/9/2012:  There are currently 3 homes listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service.  They range in price from $79,000 to $215,000.  In the past 12 months there have been 4 homes sell.  The sold prices ranged from $79,275 to $153,000.  There are no building lots for sale in The Cove subdivision. 

In all The Cove subdivision really remains one of the desired locations to live in the Cedar City Real Estate Market.

Here are some photos:

Typical Rambler Home with a daylight basement in the Cove.

Another Ranch Style home in the Cove Subdivision

Another Rambler Style Home in the Cove Subdivision

A Rambler with some brick home in the Cove Subdivision

Splint Entry Home in the Cove Subdivision

 I included so many photos of the houses in the Cove Subdivision, because it is a diverse, attractive subdivision.  It is centrally located just East of the Cove Ridge Subdivision.  It is another great place to call home!

In the Cedar City Real Estate Market we have a few townhome subdivisions. Stone Gate is one of the newer townhome subdivisions that we have here in Cedar City.  Unlike most of the others townhomes, many of these townhomes have basements.  Like Eagle Point, it is located in the Northern part of Cedar City. 

These units were built in the past couple of years, some finished this year.  These are large units with just over 2000 square feet.  They are located near the Movie Theaters at the North End of Cedar City.

There is currently one unit listed for sale in our MLS.  It is listed at $139,900.  This is a nice subdivision, most of the units have upgraded featured like solid surface counter tops.

Market Update: 11/28/2011:  There is currently one home listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service, at $100,000.  There have been 2 homes sell in Stone Gate in the last 12 months.  They were in the $84,000 to $110,000 range.  This is a subdivision that is a great addition to the Cedar City Real Estate Market!

Market Update 2/8/2012:  There are currently no homes listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service.  In the past 12 months there have been 2 homes sell.  They sold for $84,900 and $110,000.  There are no lots currently listed for sale in Stone Gate.

Here are some photos:

One shot of 4 Stone Gate Homes

Another look at 3 other Stone Gate Homes

Eagle Point is another tremendous asset in the Cedar City Real Estate Market, this great condo complex is located at the North End of Cedar City.  It consists of two story and single story units.  The two story units were built in the mid 1990′s and are typically around 1600 square feet.  They boast fairly large bedrooms and a single car garage.

The single story units were built in another phase in the early 2000′s.  They were initially marketed to retired people who didn’t want to deal with stairs.  As far as I have been able to find out, the complex has been built out so there will not be any new units added.

Currently there are 3 homes for sale in the two story units ranging from $112,000 to $127,000.  I was unable to find any of the single story units listed.

Market Update 11/2//2011:  There is currently 1 single story unit listed in the Multiple Listing Service for sale at $89,000.  In the past 12 months there have been 4 units sell the sales price has ranged from $76,000 to $118,000.  This has been a very popular location in the Cedar City Real Estate Market.

Market Update 2/8/2012:  There are currently 3 homes listed for sale in Multiple Listing Service.  These range in price from $79,000 to $168,000.  In the past 12 months there have been 4 homes close.  The sales prices ranged from $90,000 to $118,900.  There are no lots available for sale.  Eagle Point continues to be one of the more popular locations in the Cedar City Real Estate Market.

Single Story Home in Eagle Point

Two Story Eagle Point Townhome

As I have mentioned in some of my other blogs, we enjoy working in several smaller communities besides Cedar City.  Today I am highlighting Brian Head.  Brian Head is a resort town, Brian Head Ski Resort is the main reason for the town. 

Brian Head has the distinction of being the highest city in the State of Utah.  At 9800 feet above sea level, it is in the clouds!  Just kidding, Brian Head is more than just a ski resort.  It is also a great summer destination to get out of the heat! 

Brian Head, unfortunately has been hit very hard with the bursting real estate bubble.  The vast majority of homes and condos in Brian Head are second homes and vacation homes.  In our area, vacation and second homes were the hit hard with foreclosures.

Brian Head is in a beautiful location, and with only about 120 full time residents, seems very quiet during the week.  The population in Brian Head soars on holidays and weekends with skiers and others who are looking to get away from the city.  There as of today, were 113 cabins and condos for sale in the Multiple Listing Service in Brian Head. 

Brian Head housing enjoys everything from studio sized condos to million dollar cabins.  This really is an area to be enjoyed summer or winter!  Come on up and enjoy what Brian Head has to offer!

Here are some photos:

A look at one of the Ski Runs in Brian Head.

Looking towards Brian Head Peak

Another Look at one of the Ski Runs in Brian Head.