Jackson Hole elected officials are unanimous in giving the Jackson/Teton County Housing Department initial approval to spend roughly $13 million on housing projects and programs in the next fiscal year.
Chip Collins was hiking up Taylor Mountain on a late August 2016 day when winds whipped up a remote wildfire on the west shore of Jackson Lake that had been burning for weeks.
Even though he was 35 miles away, Grand Teton National Parkâs longtime fire management officer could sense that something was going on. The skies had been smoky from some Idaho wildfires, but on this day the landscape around him seemed especially smoke-shrouded.
âYouâre fairly sheltered as youâre walking up there, but when we got up on the ridge the winds were howling and you couldnât see anything,â Collins recalled.
For many young working people, buying a home in the Jackson Hole area is a daunting prospect, whether theyâre scraping together a down payment or contemplating how to afford mortgage payments in a pricey real estate market.
During a housing webinar hosted last week by Young Professionals of the Tetons, a Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce group for ages 21 to 40, experts on Jacksonâs free-, workforce and affordable housing markets offered them some rays of hope as well as some suggestions for how to get their act together to become a homeowner.
David NeVille, associate broker with The NeVille Group at Jackson Hole Real Estate Associates, told the audience that the minimum price for a single-family home last year was $400,000, and the cheapest condo was $315,000, with median prices of $2.5 million and $867,000. Single-family home inventory is currently down to 50, âwhich is absolutely nothing,â he said, and condo inventory is low too.
The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce and Young Professionals of the Tetons will host an online housing update and real estate market review from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday.
A panel of experts will talk about the free market in Jackson Hole real estate but will also discuss affordable housing inventory and opportunities, including a new âPreservation Programâ with down payment assistance thatâs under consideration. How can locals invest in property in Jackson? And how can we work toward strong personal investing, creating a healthy community financially? the invitation says of the discussion.
The panelists are Dave Neville of Jackson Hole Real Estate Associates; Teton County Affordable Housing Director April Norton; Stefani Wells and Jennifer Scott of the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust; and Wendy Martinez of Habitat for Humanity.