A modest four-bedroom home could be worth up to $800 a night to Olympic visitors and homeowners can expect to pocket at least half that amount through a new residential accommodations program for the 2002 Winter Games.
"It's not an amount that will pay off their mortgage or send their children to an Ivy League school," said Scott Webber, president of Coldwell Banker Premier Realty, the manager of the program. "It's not a get-rich thing."But it is the Salt Lake Organizing Committee's solution to what they fear will be a shortage of available accommodations when Olympic tickets go on sale at the end of the summer.
Homeowners who want to rent out either part or all of their homes during the 17-day event must go through Coldwell Banker, which will set the rental rates and determine which properties are listed.
Webber said he expects to offer about 700 homes through the program. Most, if not all, will be located near Olympic venues in Salt Lake City, Park City, Kearns, West Valley City, Provo, Ogden and Midway.
Utahns interested in participating in the program can either call Coldwell Banker at 801-464-3663 or toll-free at 1-800-606-0453, or access the company's Web site, www.UtahHomes.com.
It will take a few more weeks for all the details to be wrapped up, including the amount of commission Coldwell Banker will collect from each rental agreement. SLOC also takes a share.
The homes selected for the program will be showcased on the Internet, so on-line ticket-buyers can see what's available and make their reservations. Organizers cautioned there is no guarantee that every home in the program will be rented.
Because this is the only residential housing program linked to SLOC, though, "the chances are extremely high," said John Sindelar, the organizing committee's director of accommodations.
During the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, the only residential program that succeeded of the 40 or so that were started was the one sanctioned by organizers there, Sindelar said.
SLOC has already secured the 20,000-plus hotel rooms needed for Olympic officials, including the International Olympic Committee, sponsors, sports organizations and the media. Those rooms are located within two hours of Salt Lake City.