Ep. 67 – Everything You Need to Know About Park City, Utah with Real Estate Agent Janine Finley

Matthew Maschler:

Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Maschler, real estate broker with the signature real estate companies in the great state of Florida. And with me the co-host of the Real Estate Finder podcast. Stacy Garcia. Stacy? Yeah. Hi, Stacy. How are you? I’m great, Stacy. We have a special guest today. Awesome. Um, we have, uh, Janine, uh, from Park City, Utah. Janine Finley. Hi

Janine:

Guys. Hi

Matthew Maschler:

<laugh>. Hi, Janine.

Janine:

Good morning.

Matthew Maschler:

So I, thanks

Janine:

So much for having

Matthew Maschler:

Me. Oh, you are. Um, I’m so glad to, to have you here. Uh, Janine is not in the studio. She’s on the other side of the, of the country. She’s in Park City, Utah. And, um, I went on vacation over winter break. I took my son skiing, uh, in Park City, uh, Utah. And, uh, we made a terrible, terrible decision at the rental counter. Um, I, and we ended up, uh, in a car that was not appropriate for the snow, and we skidded and slid all over the place. <laugh>, uh,

Janine:

Could not, oh, no.

Matthew Maschler:

Like we, we could not brake. I couldn’t stop the car. I couldn’t control the car. Oh my God. And I should have turned around and went back. They had a Dodge Durango that I should have taken. Right. But, um, there was less, there was like this Mercedes, um, S U v. Right. And that, and, and trying to decide with, uh, with, with my son’s friends and the rental car person and trying to decide what to take. And I was like, you know, the responsible thing would be the Dodge Durango, but this Mercedes SUV looks nice. Looks nice. Right. And, you know, I’m from Boca, right. What do I know?

Janine:

<laugh>?

Matthew Maschler:

So the rental

Janine:

Car, and we’ve got, we’ve gotten a crazy amount of snow this year, so it’s been kind of tough on everybody. Yeah. So don’t take it too personally.

Matthew Maschler:

And two other trips to Park City, I had no problem. But the, so the rental car lady, she, she says, you know what, the Mercedes doesn’t have four wheel drive, but I could put you in this Maserati that has four wheel drive that has four wheel drive <laugh>. And I’m like, yeah. The kids were, the kids were high fiving each other kids. They’re 18 years old, they’re high fiving each other. And I, I, you know, there was a sign we couldn’t fit all the luggage in. And so I stuck some in the backseat. That should have been the sign to just take the Dodge Durango <laugh>. So I’m slipping around the highway in, in a Maserati, stupid Boca, and go, come into Park City. And, uh, and I was, I mentioned something on the Facebook group, and I, and I met Janine. Uh, she, her, her husband had a, uh, a car service with a four-wheel drive offering to take people back and forth to the airport, so Oh, nice. So she kind of, I almost took her up on that. But we, I ended up getting control of the car. And, and that’s how I mentioned Ian through the Park City Facebook group. Um, and she, she was very helpful with her husband with, but it’s a four-wheel drive Porsche.

Janine:

That’s right. A Porsche Cayenne, yeah. All-wheel drive.

Matthew Maschler:

Yeah. So apparently Porsche’s more responsible than the Maserati. So I didn’t need her husband, but I was really glad to meet her. Really glad to, to know that I, that I had, uh, uh, someone who could, who who could help me out. And turns out Janine is a real estate agent. We got to talking real estate, so that’s why I invited her on the show.

Janine:

That’s exactly right. Yep. And how maybe you can catch us next time, next time you’re in town. My husband can drive you guys around. Yeah,

Matthew Maschler:

We’ll see. Yeah. Cause the first two times I had no problems. The first, first time I was very nervous, uh, but we had no problems. And one of the reasons we chose this Park City over some of these other ones is that it’s 35 minutes from the airport on a interstate Yep. That they always clean. So I, I was nervous, but it worked out great. Second time. Great. So third time I had no fear, but there was a storm coming mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, I, I, I don’t take, uh, weather reports seriously enough. <laugh>, <laugh>, there’s a chance. And then you’re like, I don’t disconnected. I don’t listen to the rest. I rented a boat for my birthday November, and it rained on us. I know you were <laugh> and it rained on us. I was so stupid sitting with my seaside subs in the rain. So, uh, sometimes you gotta take the weather as a warning. So Jenny, tell us about Park City. Did you, um, did you move to Park City or is it a second home for you?

Janine:

Yeah, so my husband and I moved out here to Park City from Seattle just this summer actually. So in the grand scheme of things, we’re still fairly new to town, but we visited Park City for years leading up to the move and had just fallen in love with it. So when this summer rolled around, we were like, okay, we’re making a change. We’re moving to Utah. And we’ve never looked back once. Amazing here.

Matthew Maschler:

That’s awesome. Had you, um, when you, when you came to Park City on, on vacation, did you, did you have a house or did you rent a house or stay in a hotel?

Janine:

Well, the first time we came out, neither of us had been skiing out here before. And that was kind of the whole point to do some spring skiing. So we got an Airbnb down in Prospector, which is fairly close to Park City Mountain, and did the Airbnb thing, figured out the bus route. We really had no idea what to expect. Um, and the very first day we were in town, we met some really cool people, which tends to happen here in Park City and got connected in with a community here. And then every time we visited since that first trip, we’ve stayed with friends, um, which was such a blessing. But, um, yeah. So, but there’s lots of vacation options here, that’s for sure.

Matthew Maschler:

And, and that’s amazing. I’d, um, so the very first time, uh, I went to Park City, uh, it was New Year’s Eve, and, uh, my bro, I was with my, my kid brother, he’s an avid skier and, and my nephews are all good skiers. So it was a good experience for my son. Uh, but we went to a New Year’s Eve party at a friend of his, in a gated community that reminded me of the gated communities that we hear have here in, in, in Florida, uh, it was called Promontory. Yeah.

Janine:

Yep. Very familiar with Promontory, one of our many gated communities here in Park City.

Matthew Maschler:

And it was, it was amazing. It was big, beautiful houses. It had horseback riding trails, and it had golf and it was a, it was a country club lifestyle. So I could see someone having the, the Boca house in a country club, but then having the winter house, but, but not just winter to all seasons. Right.

Janine:

Absolutely. Yeah. This is definitely a four season place, and there’s recreation to be had every season of the year. We do have a fifth season, which people call Mud Season, which is kinda right around that late springtime when everything melts and everything gets Oh, wow. But, um, but yeah, we have a lot of people here who have a home, you know, maybe somewhere on the beach, maybe down in Florida, maybe in Orange County in California, and who also have a mountain home here. So Ma many of the residents here live that two or more home kind of lifestyle.

Matthew Maschler:

So you have five seasons and we have two

Janine:

<laugh>. Right. <laugh>, we

Matthew Maschler:

Barely, we barely have two, well, we have two, barely have two. We have, we have season, yeah. And off season <laugh>, so

Janine:

Right, right. Rain and no rain. Right.

Matthew Maschler:

Although, I don’t know what’s happening now. It’s like cold, it’s nice. But then I, but then I put on all those winter clothes this morning and it was nice. Then it’s 80. Yeah. So I, I was dressed, I was dressed for Park City. I was dressed for skiing this morning, and then, uh, <laugh> then, then it warms up. So, so Promontory was very interesting to me because it was, um, while it was gated and had all these amenities, it was a good drive to the mountain. Um, yeah. The second time. And, and it was just my friend’s house for New Year’s Eve, so it’s not like we stayed there. The second time I went to Park City, uh, my brother had rented a house on the mountain with like, ski and ski out. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it was in a Oh, awesome. Yeah. It was in a community called the, uh, the Colony, right?

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, the Colony Right on, right in Park City. And, and I couldn’t believe it because, you know, it was, you’d look out the window and there are people, people skiing Right, right outside your house. Right, right, right. And, and my brother and I, you know, we had this discussion about like, could you buy that second home here? And, and then if so, is it, is it in the promontory gated community, not on the mountain, or is it the colony where it’s right on the slopes? You know, if the lifts tick, if the lifts open up at 8:00 AM and you’re up on the mountain ski and ski out, you can theoretically ski at seven 30, be the first ones on the snow, ski down to the bottom of the, of the mountain, ski to the lift, take the lift up, and you’re the first one skiing, cuz you beat everyone else to the lift. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then you have a second run at the very, very first tracks of snow. But I just thought it was amazing to sit in the living room and have hot cocoa and look out the window and have people skiing, skiing by ski. And I had an epi. Yeah.

Janine:

That’s kinda the, kinda the quintessential park city lifestyle of living on the mountain where you can ski and ski out. That’s quite a treat. I’m, I’m a little jealous that you got to stay in the colony, to be honest with you,

Matthew Maschler:

<laugh>. Yeah. It was very nice. And I think they cracked down on these, uh, Airbnbs and VRBO in the colony. Um, because

Janine:

Yeah, the colony is, um, like has the reputation of having the highest home prices in the area. It is also gated community. Um, but you get that alpine experience that you don’t really get with any of the other gated communities in the area.

Matthew Maschler:

So my, my, my brother and I had a conversation, right. If you bought a house here, which do you live in? Do you live in the, the, the promontory that has all these amenities, but you’re not on the mountain. Right. Or do you live on the mountain and have the ski? And so what I said to him, I I, what I realized is I had an epiphany. I go, you know, it’s exactly like the question that we get in Boca Raton. You spoke at West Boka, right. Do I buy in a country club? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> in, in right in in, do I buy on the beach, right. In a condo or house on the beach where you get a view of the ocean and you can see the people playing on the beach and playing volleyball. Or do I go further away from the beach, a 20 minute drive to the beach, but I have a, a club with amenities and nicer house and, and, and club amenities, country club lifestyle.

And I’m like, it’s literally the same equation. It’s literally the same decision. Yeah. Uh, and, and what I realized, especially for Park City, is if you’re gonna live there right, you don’t need to be on the mountain mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. If you’re gonna live there and you want a community, you wanna meet your friends and neighbors and have a life promontory or, you know, gated community, not on the mountain is a, is a better lifestyle. But if it’s your ski house and you just wanna come in for the weekend, two nights, three nights, you’re really not interested in meeting with people and socializing, and you just want to, you wanna get in, throw your skis on and ski, then you want ski and ski out. Right. So, um, but it was, uh, it was real interesting to me to compare it to, um, my lifestyle here on the beach where I don’t live on the beach to, to the mountain. So, so, um, yeah,

Janine:

I guess, you know, like how serious are you about your recreation? You know, are you the kind of person that wants to get 20 days in in the season or are you more about that like country club lifestyle, you know, depends on your personality.

Matthew Maschler:

So Janine, uh, skier or snowboarder?

Janine:

I am a skier and my husband is a snowboarder. So at times we’re a little bit at odd, but we make it work.

Matthew Maschler:

<laugh>. Um, any, any is is, are there other, I don’t know if there’s other types of skiing, like sometimes there’s like telemark skiing or, or other, uh, I don’t know anything about skiing. So is it, are you, is it, are you always doing alpine downhill?

Janine:

Yeah, I stick to Alpine downhill. I’ve never even tried Telemark, to be honest with you. It looks really difficult. Um, for those who are listening who are not skiers, you’re basically doing lunges down a hill, so it looks very challenging, um, and taxing. But yeah, so I stick to Alpine. There’s, you can also cross country ski here. We have lots of trails for that. Um, but yeah, so I stick to downhill

Matthew Maschler:

And, and husband, he doesn’t ski. He’s all snowboarding.

Janine:

Yeah. He’s, he’s a very good snowboarder and he did, you know, learn how to ski back when he was a teenager, but he hasn’t picked it up in, you know, 30 years. So he tries to stick to snowboarding as much as possible. But we have some, um, some resorts that are ski only. So like Deer Valley does not allow snowboarders. Oh. Um, Alta on the other side of the mountain also doesn’t allow snowboarders. And in my personal opinion, those are two of the best mountains around. So I think maybe at some point he’s gonna have to pick back up so that he can come with me. We’ll see. Right,

Matthew Maschler:

Right, right. Eventually he’s gonna want to, uh, onto the, uh, the, the Florida comparison. There’s, there’s Park City in Deer Valley, and for me, I t I have to translate it into Florida. Right, right. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it’s Disney or Universal. Oh, right. Yeah. So if you get a season right, right. If you get a season pass to Park City, you’re gonna Park City. Right. You’re not going to Deer Valley. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and conversely, exactly. Conversely, if your season passes Deer Valley, and one of the things I try to do in Florida is I try to buy like the one year pass to Disney and go as much as I can mm-hmm. <affirmative> in the year. So if, if you go January one to December 31, you know, that winter break, go a week earlier the next year, and then after the, after it’s up. Or if you don’t go for a few months, it’s okay. But then you do a universal season pass, and then you do go to Universal as much as you can want for the year. Right. So th that week getting like two and a half years of Right season passes, but for the price of one mm-hmm. <affirmative> per year. So it’s like go Disney all in, go Universal all in and then back. But, um, but I think, I don’t know, I think people pick Park City or or Deer Valley. I, based on where they live. Do you think Janine,

Janine:

Well actually it’s kind of surprising since we moved here, we’ve met so many people who have multiple passes who are local. I think it’s less common to see that with people who have a second home here and just, you know, come for the holidays or spring break or what have you. Um, but a lot of the locals will get the Epic Pass, which lets them into canyons in Park City. Um, and then they’ll also get the Icon Pass or even get a Deer Valley season pass mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it’s pretty common for people to kind of stack those passes so that they get every option imaginable. I mean, there’s about a dozen ski resorts within an hour drive from Park City. So for those really serious skiers, snowboarders, they like to have options and I can’t blame ’em. I like to have options

Matthew Maschler:

Too. Gotcha. You know, I think of Park City cuz it’s like the name of the town mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but, so I’m always on Park City Mountain. But yeah. If to realize that there’s 11 other mountains to choose from, you know, even even when, yeah, when I book the flights, I try to book the flights to Park City and then I’m like, oh yeah, yeah. Salt Lake City, you have to fly to Salt Lake

Janine:

City. <laugh>. Exactly.

Matthew Maschler:

<laugh>. So, um, which

Janine:

Is really a unique, I’ll just comment on that really quick. You know, salt Lake City airport, being 35 minutes away from us is such a unique, um, benefit to this area because it’s really, I don’t think you could find really in the United States another, um, ski area of this caliber that’s so close to a big airport. Um, you think of like the mountains up in Colorado, you’re gonna be driving an hour, two hours, maybe even more, um, to get up to like Aston and Breckenridge from the airport. So we are really uniquely situated in that respect, and that makes us such a great place for those vacation homes and, you know, investment properties. So if you want to buy a place that’s easily, um, easy on logistics, this is probably the place to come.

Matthew Maschler:

We were out there for a very short trip, but we were only out there for three nights. And the Miami Heat were playing the Utah Jazz one of the nights. And it was a seven o’clock game. And, and so at, you know, at like, at like four o’clock, we realized, wow, not just that we can go to Utah Jazz game, but it’s, they’re playing the heat. And there was a question like, do you want to go? You, you’d have Yeah. Cause it’s, you know, 35 minutes away now, I didn’t really, you know, super accessible. I would’ve had to, I would’ve had to call your husband to drive us, but, um, but I was up for it. I would’ve, I would’ve totally went to go see, uh, so I can imagine right on a ski vacation to be able to ski all day and then go see the Miami Heat play the Utah Jazz basketball game.

Janine:

Exactly. <laugh>. Yeah. You get the best of both worlds. It’s really nice.

Matthew Maschler:

<laugh> And that’s, that’s one of the things that I liked about Park City.

Staci Garcia:

My son went to Park City last year, Uhhuh <affirmative>, and he loved it. Yeah. And I love Utah, but I’ve never been to Park City. I went to Zion and Springdale and other places, but, you know, I went hiking. It was a long, long time ago. So I said, um, if you love Park City, then go to college there. I would love to go there.

Matthew Maschler:

Janine, is there a college in near Park City?

Janine:

Well, we’ve got the University of Utah, which is right down in Salt Lake City. It’s in Salt Lake City again, 30, 30 minutes away. So yeah, there’s no college here in Park City, but you might as well be, I mean, you’re just at the bottom, the bottom of the canyon at the University of Utah.

Staci Garcia:

Yeah. So I, I told I’m encouraging him to apply because I wanna go visit <laugh>. I wanna plan my, my time with him to go, um, live my dream out there.

Matthew Maschler:

I saw the University of Utah, someone wearing a sweatshirt and it had two U right. University mm-hmm. <affirmative> of Utah. Yeah. And I looked at it and I went, you know, if only there was a letter that can combine those two used into one letter. Like, lemme make a w <laugh>. It’s like, you, you, we have the letter W

Staci Garcia:

Yeah. I love Utah. It’s a beautiful place. So how much are those passes that you get for skiing? Are they really expensive?

Janine:

Um, so the Epic Pass, if you buy it early in the season, I think it, I think they open up around Labor Day or something like that. It’s around $850 mm-hmm. <affirmative> for the Epic Pass. And then the icon, which gives you a few days at Deer Valley. And then it also gives you, I think Brighton and No Basin are unlimited, I wanna say on the Icon Pass, I think are closer to around that thousand dollars plus mark. Right. Um, and just to give you a little context, the Deer Valley season pass is like $2,500. Gotcha. So yeah, if

Staci Garcia:

You wanna My, my son did, you could

Janine:

Even get all three. I don’t

Staci Garcia:

Know. He said that it’s not like, um, rural, it’s like Boca. Yeah. So, and a lot of people from Boca go there. A lot of my friends go there. So, um, yeah. It’s a very similar to where we live going there. It’s, it’s not like you’re in the mountains and you’re, it’s rustic, you

Matthew Maschler:

Know. So what’s interesting is everybody’s heard of Veil Colorado. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so Veil is is is, they’re the owners, right. The company that owns Veil. So the Epic pass. Yeah. It’s good Exactly’s good at Veil, Whistler, uh, Breckenridge, uh, park City. So with, with the Epic pass you could ski all over. Right. And I was talking with some of the people that, that worked there, like a guy that works like the lifts. He, he said he’s a lefty <laugh>, but he, as part a perk of the job is he gets an epic pass. Right. So he could work the lifts. Yes. But then he could ski whatever he wants mm-hmm. <affirmative> and he can go on vacation to Colorado and, and, and has a free pass at the, the most expensive part of the whole trip is the, was was, was the, was the, was the, was the ski pass. Right, right. The flight. And the hotel wasn’t as bad as, you know, three days of skiing plus three days of ski rental. That was, that was the, that was the, the pressure point. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But,

Janine:

Uh, yeah. And, and here’s another, here’s another insider tip for you. So Vale Resort, which runs Park City Mountain and Canyons Resort here, you can get hired on as what’s called a part-time 18. So maybe you wanna like, teach kids how to ski. You only work half, you only have to work 18 days in the season and they give you a free epic pass. And then you also get eight employee, um, resort exchange tickets, which are good at Deer Valley, solitude and Brighton. So that’s actually something my husband and I do. So he’s a ski instructor part-time. And I also work in the ski school. And so, you know, I’ve been to Deer Valley a couple times this season already through that resort exchange. So for people who live here and maybe wanna meet people or have a little something to do, that’s such a great way to get a free path and then be able to explore some of the other resorts as well.

Staci Garcia:

That’s cool. That’s very awesome.

Matthew Maschler:

So you work. Yeah. Nice perk. You work at the ski school? Are you an instructor?

Janine:

I’m a ski school support staff. Um, in full disclosure, I’ve only had my training day, so I haven’t actually worked a real shift there. I’m hearing rumors that they over hired on their seasonal employees this year. So I haven’t really been contacted by my manager. I hope she doesn’t listen to this <laugh>, but, but, um,

Matthew Maschler:

I hope kids, she does <laugh>.

Janine:

I know, right? We get the kids fitted for their skis and their boots and then we send them on their way. And then we help with some of the outreach programs that bus kids up from lower income neighborhoods around Salt Lake City. And it’s like ski outreach programs, which are really fun. Cause the kids are always super excited to be out in the snow and get up on the mountains.

Matthew Maschler:

So That’s amazing. That’s fun.

Staci Garcia:

Yeah. That sounds very

Matthew Maschler:

Cool. Do they hook you up with that? Absolutely. Do you, do they hook you up that hh ski gear?

Janine:

Oh yeah. The Heli Hansen, uh, uniforms that every employee wears. <laugh>, they’re uniforms. So someone else has worned them before. Uh, but it’s kinda nice to have like really good ski gear while you’re working. That’s a

Matthew Maschler:

Treat. It’s a very expensive brand. And when I was, when I was away and a couple weeks ago in, um, in, uh, I was outta the country and I, I saw people wearing it just as their, as their winter wear. It’s, it’s a very expensive brand. Yeah. Whenever I see it, I always like, oh, I wonder if that’s ski school. <laugh>.

Janine:

Yeah, exactly. <laugh>.

Matthew Maschler:

So, so you don’t, you don’t,

Janine:

It’s a nice partnership.

Matthew Maschler:

You don’t get to keep it.

Janine:

No, you have to turn in your uniforms at the end of the year, but another employee per, cause you get 40% off at the Hell Hansen, um, online store and other, there’s other stores around town too where you can get a discount like that. So, you know, for these, especially for like these J one employees, which are the seasonal employees from, um, other countries, there’s a lot of J one employees that come in from South America. Um, they wanna make sure that they have accessibility to winter gear cuz a lot of them don’t have anything. So they get their uniform, they get their free pass, and then they get a discount on ski gear so that if they wanna go out and ski and, you know, be warm while they live here, they can at least like buy themselves a nice winter jacket or something like that.

Staci Garcia:

That’s awesome. I mean, like, that’s a great tip. Yeah. I did not know, I know my, my brother used to go to University of Colorado, of Boulder and he was a ski instructor there and that was only for half a semester in college. And then he gave up. But I think, um, that’s of great benefit, you know, for Yeah, totally. Anybody to take advantage of. And

Janine:

The whole, um, the whole J one dynamic here in Park City is kinda a unique trait to this market. You know, coming back to real estate, um, the city is really cracking down on J one housing because there’s just a shortage of housing here, especially, um, affordable housing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And these J one kids come in and they end up sharing like a six bedroom house between 16 people or something like that. And it’s just really like, not ideal living conditions. So as time goes on, the city has cracked down more and more on what kind of housing is allowed and what employers have to provide as far as housing to those seasonal employees. So it’s an interesting, like, dynamic here in the real estate market.

Matthew Maschler:

Did the real estate market, you know, shoot up to the moon the way it did here in Florida during, you know, during Covid?

Janine:

Absolutely. Yeah. 2020 was a crazy year here in real estate 20, excuse me, 2021 was also pretty hot, but it did taper off from 2020. And then this last year, 22, we’ve seen a significant decline, um, in certain areas of the community here. Um, I think, you know, every area is seeing that across the country, but when you have a market that’s predominantly, or you know, at least like a significant portion of it are vacation homes and, you know, there aren’t really people moving here who have to move here for employment, you’re gonna see those like elective real estate purchases really drop off. And that’s what we’ve, what we’ve seen here.

Staci Garcia:

Yeah. There’s no industry there besides, um, tourism, right? Or is there

Janine:

Yeah, that’s, well it really is the predominant, um, industry here. But, uh, there are some, uh, companies that are headquartered here. Like Skull, candy has their corporate office here, Kodiak Cakes. So there are a couple like random ones that I’m always kind of surprised to find out. Cause I think, you know, why did you, why did you pick Park City as a place to headquarter your business? Um, but I think that during Covid, I, I think across the country we saw migration of people moving out of those big cities and into more rural areas where they could enjoy nature. They were working from home anyways. So there was an influx, I think in Park City for people trying to take up that kind of lifestyle. And a lot of people have continued to make it work. So, you know, that’s, that’s a nice benefit from Covid. Um, but again, like, I think we’re gonna really start to see a continuation of the drop off going into 2023.

Staci Garcia:

You think it’s, is it young families or, you know, what’s the age, um, dynamic there?

Janine:

I would say that, um, definitely like young families, but going all the way up into retired couples mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, especially for those second home and vacation homes, we’re seeing a lot more in that kind of like 40 plus age bracket. Um, for the young families, if they purchase here, it’s gonna be their primary residence. Right. Um, and they wanna move their family to a place that, you know, in the outdoors more, there’s more recreation, there’s more space. Um, and the Park City school district is really good. So you’ll even see families move up from Salt Lake City that wanna get their kids in a better school district to things like that.

Staci Garcia:

Right. Sounds perfect. I’m ready to move <laugh>. Bye. I’m

Janine:

Ready to help you find

Staci Garcia:

A place I’m calling you now. That’s me calling you. We have to have a, uh, a signature ski trip <laugh>. Seriously, I don’t wanna, there you go. I don’t wanna ski. I just wanna go there. <laugh>. Right. And then, you know, we look at houses, so it’s a whole bit, it’s a business expense. I just wanna go ski and then, um, you know, have a hot chocolate or something, you know, after lots

Janine:

Of opportunities for that for sure. I mean, you know, everyone talks about the, but you really can just have like the resort experience here. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, there’s, there’s the St. Regis and Montage and some other boutique resorts where you can just hang out and have a nice spa day, go in the hot tub and enjoy that lifestyle without actually having to get on the mountain. So there’s a little bit of something for everybody, which I, about

Staci Garcia:

This area. It’s not, it’s not a dry county or a dry uh, area. Right. I know.

Janine:

No, absolutely not. <laugh>. Ok. We would revolt, I think

Staci Garcia:

I was in Utah in 2017 in the summer and I was in a dry county, um, at a place. Oh no. Like, um, <laugh> kind in near Four Corners, but, uh, yeah. I didn’t know it was a dry county Yeah. Until we were at dinner and I was like, there’s no, and there’s what? <laugh>. Oh.

Janine:

And it happened

Staci Garcia:

To be, oh my God. Yeah. It happened to be one of the best dinners in my life. But also, um, I was tweeting like, s so s please bring me line <laugh>. But, um, <laugh>, it was very

Janine:

Fun. You wanna airdrop me a bottle of wine

Staci Garcia:

<laugh>? Yeah, no, it was great. Yeah.

Janine:

That, that was a little bit of an adjustment for us when we moved here. You know, you can only buy alcohol at a liquor store, like a liquor store here and they’re closed on Sundays. Yeah, that’s, so we’re definitely run into that issue where we’re making dinner on a Sunday and we’re like, oh crap, we don’t have any wine. Right. Yeah. Oh,

Staci Garcia:

Well that’s how it was when I grew up at, at a state store. You had to get the liquor. Um, exactly. I just thought it was, it was very funny. I can’t remember the town, I’ll think of it in a second, but the place that I stayed was a, a resort in the middle of nowhere and it’s one of the, uh, and I think, uh, I don’t know if there’s, I’ll have to look it up, but there was, um, both all the restaurants that we went to were amazing, but they had no alcohol, so. Oh wow. Yeah. So it was, um, it was a, it was a wake up call, but it was really, really fun, you know, and then, and you could get, you know, marijuana in Collo, Colorado and then <laugh> bring it with you to dinner

Janine:

<laugh>. So,

Staci Garcia:

But I love the Big Sky and I love, I just love being out there and having, you know, different levels of different trees and everything. So pretty,

Janine:

Yeah. Sounds like you guys are gonna have to have your company retreat out here.

Staci Garcia:

That would be awesome. So let

Janine:

Me know. I’ll be your tour guide.

Matthew Maschler:

There you go. Have you seen the new Penry Hotel?

Janine:

I have, yeah. It’s

Matthew Maschler:

Beautiful. Yeah. Cause you, you were mentioning other hotels. So I, I don’t ski, so, um, and the pry wasn’t there last time I was there, so I, I walked, I walked around and it looked like a lot of fun.

Janine:

Yeah, they’ve got a great bar and, um, bar restaurant kind of rooftop area for <inaudible> also, so yeah, they did a, they did a really good job.

Matthew Maschler:

Okay. So where’s the high school? How, like how far is it from? Oh, I’ve stayed at, basically, I’ve stayed at the, in the canyons all three times. I’ve been there. So, so where, where is the high school? Is it, the

Janine:

High school is over on Kerns Boulevard, so it’s probably no more than like 10, 15 minutes from where you stayed Uhhuh <affirmative>. Um, you would take like the 2 24 highway past that big white barn. And then at that point you’re basically in the town of Park City and then you take a left at one point. And the high school’s kind of right down that road.

Matthew Maschler:

Is it called Park? Is it called Park City High School?

Janine:

It is. Yep. Exactly. And they’re actually, they, they made a change this year. So Park City Mountain is now charging a parking fee in their parking lots, which they’d never done before. A little bit of an outrage when that happens, but now what they’re having people do is park at the high school and then take the city bus, the um, the local bus system up to the mountain. Um, so that’s a little bit of an adjustment for people around here. But, um,

Matthew Maschler:

Who, who does that, who does that apply to? The students have to pay for parking.

Janine:

That’s everybody actually. So if you wanna park at the base of the mountain, you have to go on their app and pay $25 to park for the day. And then you can park in the lot at the high school. So they just got at, at Park City Mountain, Uhhuh, <affirmative>. If you wanna park at the high school and take the bus up, there’s no fee for

Matthew Maschler:

That. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah,

Janine:

But we have a really great bus system here, um, which I’ll just mention really quickly for anyone who wants to come visit Park City, I, if I ever were them, I would look for an Airbnb or someplace to stay that’s right next to a bus stop that would take them to Park City Mountain. The buses are completely free. Um, and they’ve got two bus systems. They’ve got the Park City Transit and then High Valley Transit. Um, so between the two of those, you’re pretty much good to go with getting around the city for free. Plus it just helps with, like, if you wanna have a glass of wine, like we were talking about at dinner, you could just take the bus home, which is really convenient.

Matthew Maschler:

Does it go all like 24 hours?

Janine:

It doesn’t go four hours, but it does go 5:00 AM to 1:00 AM

Matthew Maschler:

Oh, that’s, that’s pretty

Janine:

Nice. And 1:00 AM is basically when the bars close here anyways. Right.

Matthew Maschler:

So

Janine:

Yeah.

Matthew Maschler:

Yeah. And my my son said, mom, there’s an elevator in the house. <laugh>, <laugh>. And I was like, I guess there’d probably be an elevator in a lot of the houses because they’re on the mountain, you know? Sure. And they go up. Yep. Instead of half critical. Yep. Yeah.

Janine:

Yeah.

Matthew Maschler:

There’s definitely, there’s elevators in Boca. I know, I know. I was just gonna show one, I saw that <laugh>, but I just thought it was funny when he said that there’s an elevator in the house. So, um, so some of my listeners are, uh, members of the, uh, red Meat Lovers Club. And, uh, so I have to ask, uh, your favorite steakhouse in Park City?

Janine:

Ooh, um, I would have to say Prime Steakhouse. It’s on Main Street at the bottom of Main Street. Um, and they’re just like one of the most well known ones around town. Um, they do a really good steak. I would say if you wanna go for more of a splurge, I would go to the steakhouse at the Montage. Uh, but personally I’ve never been there. It’s a little cost prohibitive <laugh>, but, um, we do have some good steakhouse options here.

Matthew Maschler:

Ha. Have you been to Grubs?

Janine:

I have not. Where is that?

Matthew Maschler:

Um, I would say, I think it’s right, the center of town. It’s been there for a very, very long time. Rub. Yeah. Okay. It, it looks like an old country western bar, like, so, and it’s, so, it’s not the the highest end of steakhouses, but it’s, you know, it’s, it’s classic Park City. I’ve been there twice now, and, uh, I enjoy it. It’s, again, it’s not as, as as high end. Uh, my son liked the prime rib, and the prime rib was very good. And it’s just, it just feels like a, like a Texas Roadhouse. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but like real, yeah. And sometimes they have music and, uh, that, that’s been my go-to place. I’ve been trying to get to Edge, which is at the, um, Westgate, but I can never get it. Um, yeah.

Janine:

Yeah.

Matthew Maschler:

So Grubs has been my go-to place in Park City, but I, I have to try some, try some new ones, uh, when I go next. Okay. So, um, besides skiing, um, tell me about other seasons, like, you know, spring or summer or autumn mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, what, what’s there to do? Yeah. If you live there.

Janine:

Well, I’m a little bit biased because my husband and I are golfers, which probably you guys are too, if you live in Florida. <laugh>. So that’s probably the biggest, um, or my favorite, uh, sport during those warmer seasons. Um, we were actually golfing up at the Park City Golf Club, which is a public course. And we were there during autumn and all believes were changing. And you get these amazing views of the ski resort of Park City Mountain with all the different colors of the leaves. Um, so fall is actually my favorite season out of all of them. But, um, so you have lots of golf options, especially if you’re part of one of the private communities here. Um, you know, there’s Glen Wild and Promontory and Tuhe and Red Ledges, which is down in Hebrew City. And all of those have private golf courses. So if you live there and you have the membership there, you get really high end, um, golf experiences.

Um, you also have, you know, water sports. We’ve got the Jordan L Lake, which is not 20 minutes away from here. So you can go boating water sports out there, uh, what’s it called? Wake Surfing Pacific. One with a lot of people here. Um, and then we have some beautiful rivers in the area. So if you’re a fisher, you can go fishing. Fly fishing is really big around here. And then of course, all the hiking and mountain biking that your heart desires when it gets warm outside and the mud has passed. Um, but yeah, you get kind of two different landscapes here. So if you get up into the mountains, you get more of that alpine landscape with beautiful ass and trees and pine trees, but then down kind of lower from the mountains, it’s more of a kind of a desert feel. So once the snow clears, you’ll kinda be parts of the area or these rolling brown hills, which personally for me is not my favorite kind of landscape. I prefer more, prefer more of like the alpine landscape, but there’s horseback riding and all sorts of stuff to do. Dirt biking, so Yeah. Lots of recreation.

Staci Garcia:

What’s the elevation that you’re at? Do you know?

Janine:

So we are at just over 7,000 feet here. Like, I’m sitting in Kimball Junction right now mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so that’s just around 7,000 feet. So if you get up on the mountain, you can get as high as like 10 to 11,000 feet at some of the highest peaks. Right. Um, and when you’re skiing, you’re generally around that like high eight to 9,000 level range.

Staci Garcia:

Are you good with the oxygen part? I, when we,

Janine:

Oh my gosh, when we

Staci Garcia:

Were at there in Colorado and we did motorcycle trip for three weeks and we had to buy oxygen. Yeah. You know, so then we didn’t fall asleep. Yeah.

Janine:

That’s very common here. Like every grocery store drugstore, you’ll find those oxygen. Yeah. Um, like canisters. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But it’s, it’s been an adjustment period for sure since we moved here to get used to the elevation. I would say it probably took a couple months to really fully adjust

Matthew Maschler:

That. Yeah. That becomes a problem for me. Like, just even just like basic walking and living and I’m like, oh, like I run outta air,

Staci Garcia:

You

Matthew Maschler:

Get tired, I get tired and Oh yeah. And I’m not gasping for air,

Janine:

Just walking uphill. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it’s, it can be really challenging. So the oxygen is really helpful though. I wouldn’t discount that.

Matthew Maschler:

Yeah. I wanna try, I gotta try that next time. Cuz I always get, like, I always get like, because I don’t ski and I’m just, I have a few hours of free time, I’m always just thinking, I’m like, I’ll go to the gym and I’ll bring this amount of work with me and I end up not doing anything cuz that cuz of the, the lack of air. We

Staci Garcia:

Saw a guy running down the street. Right. Mark and I were like, oh my God. Because we couldn’t snow. We No. Just, it was cold, but it was like he was running. Oh, okay. And I thought, I can’t even walk five feet without getting tired and that guy’s running out Bill. Right. And we were like, he must be training for the Olympics <laugh>.

Janine:

I must

Staci Garcia:

Only cause it was that hard to breathe.

Matthew Maschler:

Right, right. I’m glad it’s not just me. I mean,

Janine:

There’s seriously, seriously some of the healthiest people I’ve ever seen live here because there’s just constantly outdoors doing sports and doing recreation activities. You can’t really, like, you really can’t live here and be outta shape. It just pulls for Oh, I exercise here, <laugh>. Oh, I can

Matthew Maschler:

<laugh>. Oh, I, there’s, there’s a lot of great places to sit. Neat. <laugh>. But, but what you said is interesting. Cause my older brother likes to, um, he spends like the month of August in Vail mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, you know, one of the things he said to me is, and my older brother’s in perfectly good shape. Right. Good looking guy. But he says to me, you know, it’s just so weird when I go to Vail, I’m like the fattest guy there. Yeah. But when I go to Disney World, I’m like the thinnest guy there, go to Disney, I go to Disney World. I feel like I’m, and I’m like, I’m the same with the people in Val versus the people of Disney World. Yeah. So, um, you know, uh, not skiing related. Uh, I do enjoyed, um, snowing. I’ve done that twice in Park City. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> really, really enjoyed that. Yeah. Uh, but my daughter who, who doesn’t necessarily ski, is a certified, uh, scuba diver. And on our first trip to Park City, she found Have you, have you been over to the, um, to the Midway Crater?

Janine:

Yeah. I’ve actually never been in there, but I I have been there before. Yeah.

Matthew Maschler:

So it’s the, the home, it’s, it’s in Midway Utah. It’s, it’s the Homestead Kaldor the Homestead crater. It’s this 10,000 year old hot spring. Oh yeah. And you can dive in it, so it’s a crater Awesome. And then you could dive in. Cool. And it’s covered in snow. It looks like. I like when you go there, you think, you go, are we going ice skating? Right. And then we went inside, we changed it into bathing suits and we, we snorkeled it. It’s, it’s hot springs. That’s cool. Um, my daughter didn’t bring her, her, her, her, her dive card to, to dive it. Right. But, um, but she’s like, um, I’m like, you’re the only person I could, you can go to Park City, Utah on a ski trip and you end up scuba diving inside a mountain.

Staci Garcia:

That’s super cool.

Janine:

Actually hot in there like Luke warm

Matthew Maschler:

Spring. No, no. Uh, between warm and hot. I mean, it’s not like, it’s not like Yeah. You know, you’re not cooking spaghetti or anything. <laugh> not a hot tub. It’s not a hot tub, but we, you know Yeah. Changing into my bathing suit and I did not feel cold and then jumping in the water and I did not feel cold. So, but it was a Oh, that’s awesome. You know, I don’t necessarily recommend it unless like, there’s literally nothing else left on your bucket list. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> <laugh>. Um, but, but you can, you know, check it out one day. Um, you know, this weird, you know, hot springing if you wanna go snorkeling or

Staci Garcia:

There’s a lot of them around and I think they’re really cool. Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. But I’ve never been here.

Janine:

Yeah. There are a couple hot springs interior though, kinda in the area that you have to hike, I think inside

Matthew Maschler:

Stuff. Yeah. No, no. You have, it’s, it’s interior. Yeah. You have to go through a tunnel to get in there. That’s

Janine:

Cool. Kind of a dome, right? Yeah. Like it’s kinda a cave. Yeah. Um, in there. Yeah. Yeah. There’s there’s quite a few. That’s, that’s a good one for people who don’t see, you know, to go on a little excursion. Um, there’s also like a, a ranch nearby that has dog s flooding.

Matthew Maschler:

Cool. I

Janine:

Would love that. Yeah. And you can, they’re a world class dog sledding team, or like some of the best, um, sled teams in the whole world, which is really cool. And they, they’re also a, a dog rescue ranch. Um, so that’s another one for people who don’t ski. So, you know, you have to like, think creatively, but there’s a lot of things to do.

Staci Garcia:

Love. I would totally do that.

Matthew Maschler:

All right. So my last question. Someone wants to go to Park City, buy a second home or move to Park City, buy a home. Uh, how do they get in touch with you?

Janine:

That’s a great question. <laugh>. Well, um, easiest to get in touch with me is just to email my email Janine janine finley com waits

Matthew Maschler:

Current,

Janine:

Revamping my website.

Matthew Maschler:

Let’s slow. Otherwise, let’s slow that down. Janine, j a n i n e. Yep.

Janine:

Janine. Same spelling. J a n i n e. Last name is Finley. F i n l e y.com.

Matthew Maschler:

Janine janine finley.com. Obviously we’ll spell this out in the description of the podcast so you’ll be able to find it. Uh, so obviously the website is janine finley.com.

Janine:

Yep. Yes, it’s not live yet. I’m revamping my website right now. Okay. But that will be where you can find

Matthew Maschler:

Me. Okay, great. Um, and, uh, phone number if you wanna provide.

Janine:

Sure. Yes. 8 1 8 3 9 5 7 0 2 2.

Matthew Maschler:

And is eight.

Janine:

And if you’re wondering, is that a Utah zip code or, or area code? No, it’s not <laugh>, it’s la Sorry.

Matthew Maschler:

It’s, I was gonna ask That’s, it didn’t sound like that’s, that’s from, that’s from when you used to live in la but you know, yeah. Yeah. We all have phones now, so it’s

Janine:

LA born and raised and it always seems like a hassle to update your phone number, so I just kept it. But

Staci Garcia:

Do you run into people that

Janine:

Up me texting? What’s

Staci Garcia:

That? Do you run into people that you knew from la I would assume in Park City, yeah. Because everybody, I don’t know, do LA people vacation there?

Janine:

Um, I’ve only ever run into one person who has a second home here who grew up in the same area as me, but I did not know him from la. Oh, gotcha. Um, but yeah, the folks that are here from LA are usually like new producers and directors. There’s a fair few people from Hollywood here who has, you know, their Hollywood home and then they have a mountain home as well. Gotcha. Sometimes we’ll run

Staci Garcia:

Into that. I feel like if we went there, we’d run into people from Boca. Mm. You know, but only cuz my son said it’s just like Boca, but cold.

Matthew Maschler:

<laugh> <laugh>.

Staci Garcia:

Well, it was nice talking to you, Jan. I would love to meet you when I finally get there.

Janine:

Absolutely. Yeah. Give me a call when you’re in town and thank you so much for having me on and loving Park City as much as we do. It’s a great place.

Matthew Maschler:

Cool. All right. Thanks for, uh, thanks for joining us and nice meeting you. And My pleasure. Can’t wait to, uh, to ski with you, uh, either this season or next season.

Janine:

Absolutely. Let’s make it happen. Oh, have a good one, guys,

Matthew Maschler:

One more thing, one more thing. Do you wanna plug your hu Yeah. Do you wanna plug your husband’s, uh, car service?

Janine:

Um, I can, yeah. I have to pull up his phone number cause he got a new, like Google number. Gimme one second. Plug

Matthew Maschler:

That in to have a Utah, uh, area code.

Janine:

Yeah, exactly. Okay. Yeah. So my, my husband has a private car service, so if you’re coming into the area and you don’t wanna rent a car, you just need a ride from the airport. His name’s John Mar and his number is 4 5 2 4 4 3 1 3. Um, another kind of unique thing about Park City is it can be hard to get Ubers here. We are a little bit more remote than actual Salt Lake City, so that’s why these private car services are pretty popular around here. So yeah, share a text and we’d be happy to drive you

Matthew Maschler:

<laugh>. All. All right. Well, every time I go to Park City, I bump into someone I from Boca. Uh, uh, last time was Lauren. Uh, this hopefully Lauren’s listening. Uh, this time it was, uh, one of my neighbors in Woodfield. We were in a, oh really? We were in a Facebook group, a Park City Facebook group talking about the big storm coming and what’s everybody doing. And then we realized that we were Boca where you from? And Woodfield. So it was, uh, it was hysterical to meet a Park city, uh, a Woodfield neighbor in a Park city, uh, Facebook group. So, uh, yes. Uh, for all my what a small world. Yeah. So for all my friends and neighbors, uh, stay safe. Uh, call John, have him drive you. Don’t, uh, <laugh> slip and slide, uh, on the highway. Don’t do what Matthew did. Thank you for joining us on the Real Estate Finder podcast. I am Matthew Masher signature real estate finder. Real estate finder.com.

Speaker 4:

The future looks bright and the storms pass by the skies dog blue. When it’s almost that time, light shows cameras flash when I pass living in the moment, forget about the past. They saved the best for last. Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp terms. Gotta keep pace. Water, hands on the clock turns hot stakes. Five star real. I run a show. You can tell the play electricity, energy. I, I’m always on time. Even if I’m late, I make dreams come true. Living my life. Hope the sing for you. Success in my sights got a real clear view. If you dunno the time, I’ll give you a clue.

Speaker 5:

You know what, you know what you know what you know, what you know, you know is, you know, you know what song? Its, you know what song, know what song. You know what song it is.

Speaker 4:

You know what time its, you know it. You know what you know, you know who time it is. You know what time It’s Matthew Mania. The Time says Yeah. Got him shook, scared. Kent. Look, we’re not afraid of the big bad Wolf. First comes the right.