Snow Birds anyone?

[RJBrown]

When the market crashed in Phoenix 3 years ago I bought some dirt at Pegasus Airpark. On the way home from California I dropped by and visited the gophers there. I took the long way around the mountains on the way home. Just looked at the weather icons on my computer 9 at night 12 degrees F here in Denver while it is 63 in Phoenix. If there was a house on that lot I would been better off staying there. As an added benefit the private fuel pump for Association members was $4.16 a gallon this morning. Golf courses were green to.

First pic is a parting shot this morning of my lot as I took off. It is the one on the end closest to the runway.

Second picture is from last Saturday flying home from Montrose. These are the mountains I did not fly over IFR today.

[TTaylor]

When the market crashed in Phoenix 3 years ago I bought some dirt at Pegasus Airpark. On the way home from California I dropped by and visited the gophers there. I took the long way around the mountains on the way home. Just looked at the weather icons on my computer 9 at night 12 degrees F here in Denver while it is 63 in Phoenix. If there was a house on that lot I would been better off staying there. As an added benefit the private fuel pump for Association members was $4.16 a gallon this morning. Golf courses were green to.

First pic is a parting shot this morning of my lot as I took off. It is the one on the end closest to the runway.

Second picture is from last Saturday flying home from Montrose. These are the mountains I did not fly over IFR today.

I have done the same over the last two years. Will close this week on a lot at Grassy Meadows Sky Ranch (http://www.grassymeadows.org/) that was part of a bankruptcy. It is only about a two hour flight from Northern Utah to Southern Utah but can feel like a different world during the winter months here. Long term goal is to build a winter home there for retirement.

[TTaylor]

I have done the same over the last two years. Will close this week on a lot at Grassy Meadows Sky Ranch (http://www.grassymeadows.org/) that was part of a bankruptcy. It is only about a two hour flight from Northern Utah to Southern Utah but can feel like a different world during the winter months here. Long term goal is to build a winter home there for retirement.

Oh, forgot to add the ridge there adds an extra benifit for what I fly when I'm not in a Mooney:

You can see both airports (Dick Stout (1L8) and Grassy Meadows Sky Ranch (UT47)) below us as we fly.

[N201MKTurbo]

My Mooney lives at CHD it's a beautiful time to be in AZ. Went hiking in the Superstitions today, it was perfect!

[RJBrown]

We looked at grassy meadows before we bought at Pegasus. What lot and what did it cost? If you don't mind. Did you get runway access to the lot or do you need a separate hanger? The runway access lots were still too high for me when we looked. St George is a great place, welcome to "Dixie". At 20 seconds you call out the Hurricane airport. To locals it is a 2 syllable word. Hurr-cun. Hur-i-cane will peg you as an outsider. A little cooler there year round than Phoenix but I hear the winter golf is great. One of my golf buddies has a second house there and we keep talking about flying in for golf but as of yet.... My "Rich Uncle" has a house and a couple of condos we have used a few times. Only problem with UT47 is the long drive into St George.

[kerry]

I'm also curious what you got that lot for in Hurricane. I was looking at a lot right on the runway back in 2002 that was going for $50K. Not long after that the prices shot up. Once in a while I check on the lot prices at grassy meadows and the prices still seem high compared to the rest of the market. Nice place. I'd love to live there some day.

[TTaylor]

I started looking a few years ago when prices went down. I looked at Phoenix, Las Vegas and Mesquite as well, but decided for us the closer it was the more likely we would use it, especially if we had to drive some of the time. We have been going to Zion N.P./Springdale near Hurricane for many years so we liked the area. A friend bought in Mesquite and it seems to have a nice airport. Anything is better than northern Utah in the winter, it is snowing outside right now.

I am slowly teaching my fiends that it is Hurri-cun, not cane. That is my friend Bruno that is doing the filming, I'm in the other glider.

I ended up buying a house with the back fence adjacent to the Hurricane Airport last January for about half what it would cost to build one and a third of what they were five years ago. As close as you can get to owning a house on an airport without being on one. Ended up renting it with positive cash flow right away so when the lot (#88) at Grassy Meadows came up this fall I decided to make an offer. We got it in the low $40's. It is up on the hill over looking the valley. It does not have taxiway access but I am going to build a "large" garage and see if I make arrangements to use a tug for the last few hundred yards.

Kerry, you are correct. Prices went crazy for a while, still nearly $100K for lots on the taxiways. My reasoning was it will only get harder to build skyparks in the future so there is still intrinsic value to the lots there. You can find a few lots a little cheaper from time to time just to the south of our lot but they do not have airport rights.

Tim

[yvesg]

Tim,

I do not believe lots price on airparks will stay up or increase in the medium term. The issue is "fuel price" and the general downhill number of aircraft owners. Those who can afford doing this are probably all set already. The premium we all agree to pay to own and fly at will is not going down. A fellow started such a project up here (way way north) and has trouble selling his lots. (But this is not Arizona!) I almost bought one however we are kind of looking at going south too if I can secure a job in that same area you guys are talking about. It should be possible sooner than later since I am working in High Tech Software Engineering and this is a field where there are lots of future.

I looked at Stellar Airpark (this is the first one that came up near Phoenix on Google) and this looks like the kind of settings I would be interested in but not with taxyway access like most of you guys say due to financial.

N201MKTurbo: What is the tie-down monthly cost at Chandler?

Yves (A North (frozen) snow bird who wants to nest south)

C-FQKM

[RJBrown]

Stellar is WAY expencive. It is totaly built out and dates from the 70s. Pegasus is much "further out" of town. Stellar runway is 4000' with 350' over run at each end for a 4700' total. Pegasus is 5000' plus 900 at each end for 6800' total. Pegasus taxiway lots were in the $300 range before the crash. They dropped to 100 and are inching up at present. Lots without runway access are much cheaper. With the recent approval for light jet use values should continue to increase.

Fuel price on 12/11/12 for Pegasus owners was $4.19. Av gas "should" be about $1.00 more than car gas But..........