By the powers vested in me, by me, I officially declare this winter over. There is no snow in my yard, the aspens are budding out and the golf courses are opening and it was 70 on Saturday. Driving around town I see not only the aspens budding but flowers popping up. This is all about two months early. So bring on summer, it's time for shorts, flops and barbecues. And yes, it will snow into June, but at least this year it is sunny in between snow storms.

Last week I had a chance to speak with Lessing Stern, whose father, Edgar, founded Deer Valley. Seizing on the opportunity to talk with Lessing, I said to him, "I have been getting a lot of questions from people asking if Deer Valley is going to run into the same issue with Talisker when their lease expires that Park City is facing." He smiled and said, "No." And then went on to elaborate. Back in the mid-80s United Park City Mines (UPCM), who is the largest land owner in Park City, and owner of most of the land that Deer Valley and Park City Resort operate on, wanted to re negotiate the leases with both resorts UPCM took both Park City Resort and Deer Valley to court trying to renegotiate their leases for more favorable terms to them. As part of the settlement both Park City Resort and Deer Valley Resort were given the option to purchase the land that they operate on or continue with the lease. Edgar Stern, in his wisdom, chose to purchase the land, while Nick Badami, who was the owner of Park City Resort, chose to continue the lease. So now Park City Resort is going through difficult negotiations with Talisker who ended up buying UPCM and all of its land holdings, for a new lease or control of the mountain or whatever it is they're going to fight about while Deer Valley sits quite smartly knowing that they own their land fee simple and will never have to go through this. Just another reason to buy in Deer Valley.

While the real estate market continues to be very strong, we are about to enter the slowest time of the year for real estate. This occurs right after all the Park City resorts close (which this year is April 15) and usually runs into June. With prices as low as they are and inventory dwindling, I'm going to be very interested to see what happens this year. Stay tuned for updates on this and start making your plans to visit Park City during the beautiful summer months.