A recent “Real-Time Advice” post on Smart Money.com’s website discusses why real estate purchases make sense in a volatile stock market and the Wall Street Journal recently featured Jackson Hole as an exceptional destination. Combine that with the incredibly smart tax advantages offered to Wyoming residents and you will find a very compelling story. Excerpts below:
Forget the Market. Buy a House.
By Jilian Mincer, Real-Time Advice on Smart Money.com
August 18th, 2011. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 400 points today, and many market experts predicting more volatility ahead, some advisers are recommending their clients put some of their cash to another use: To buy that house or summer home at the shore. Potential homebuyers certainly have plenty of incentives: Home prices are still way down in many parts of the country, and mortgage rates are nearing their all-time lows. Consider: The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 1 basis point this week, to 4.45 percent — just a few basis points above the record low hit in October 2010, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders.
Another reason to act now, say experts: While the recent passage of the debt deal is likely to keep mortgage rates low for now, homebuyers could soon find themselves with fewer incentives once the details of the debt deal are ironed out. Lawmakers have been debating a simpler tax system with lower tax rates and fewer tax breaks that could include reducing the generous mortgage tax deduction as part of the long-term spending cuts that must be agreed on this fall.
If “you’re financially prepared to do so, it’s a great time to buy a house,” says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. “Affordability is tremendous, and if you’re in a position where you have the financial security that others are lacking, you’re in a great position to grab a good deal.” Rebecca Hall, a financial planner in Reston, Va., said several of her clients have decided to buy second homes instead of putting more money in the market. “People don’t view real estate as volatile as the market,” says Hall. “Housing prices go down, but people aren’t on-line looking at it every day,” she says. “You view housing as a much longer term investment so it’s a little easier to handle [the volatility].”
Off Duty – The Wall Street Journal – August 13-14, 2011
By Benjamin Percy – WSJ
PLACES LIKE JACKSON HOLE, Wyo., are the reason people play Powerball: the jagged snarl of the Teton mountains, the silver coil of the Snake River. The elk bugling from hillsides, the rainbow trout flashing through streams. The cowboy culture. And at the heart of it all, the town of Jackson, with its splintery boardwalks and elkhorn sculptures, hilltop spas and gourmet cuisine.
Head to Grand Teton National Park where you’ll drop $12 on a pass good for seven days and then continue another seven miles to Jenny Lake. Marvel at the view, a collision of tectonic plates that has created a craggy up thrust of granite and gneiss that will remind you of an immense jawline.
At Jenny Lake, throw down $10 for the round-trip shuttle that motors you across the water to the Cascade Canyon trailhead. The first few miles of the trail are full of kids and flip-flop-wearing tourists, but once you push past Hidden Falls and inspiration Point, which offers a stunning view of Jackson Hole valley, you follow a quiet path between the shoulders of the mountains, past landslides, glacier-fed rivers, huckleberry thickets and piney forests.
If a 15-mile trek isn’t your style, head back to the park entrance and spend an hour exploring the impressive visitor center, or drive to the nearby Jackson Hole Mountain Village and ride the tram 4,139 vertical feet to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain.
Pause often to snap photos and peer through your binoculars for wildlife. You might well round a bend and come upon a big bull moose wading through a stream, his antlers basket big enough to carry a man. Take a long pull from your water bottle, then turn and go your own way. As you pound along the trail that winds upward, you may find yourself easily winded. For once you can blame it on altitude. That’s why you’ve loaded your backpack full of water and chocolate bars to keep you going, all the way to Lake Solitude and back. #