Should be good floating and paddling this spring with high stream runoff in Summit County

According to the Summit Daily, the snowpack is still really big for May, which means which should have lots of runoff for a local streams.  Expect a great year of paddling, rafting and floating here in Colorado this year.

Foreclosures in Summit County

According to a recent article in the Summit Daily, real property foreclosures are up from 16 in the first quarter last year to 46 this year.  Despite the increase, this is an extremely small portion of the available market.  In fact, it is well less than .5%.

I have been following this segment of the market very closely.  Fortunately, in Summit County, we have been relatively insulated from foreclosures.  The Front Range market has been plagued by lots of development and a lack of demand.  In Summit County, we continue to see demand for a relatively limited supply due to the mountains and also being surrounded by public land.  Due to this supply and demand dynamic, we are fortunate in the high country to typically have property that is worth what was paid for it.  Most of the properties that start the foreclosure process, so far, end up getting cured, sold on the market or withdrawn and don’t usually end up making it to auction.

If you have any questions about the foreclosure market in Summit County…please give me a call at 970.406.0437.  Have a great day! Todd

Remodeling Projects under $10K

Looking for a  few remodeling projects under $10k to help boost the value of your home or condo?  According to the editorial director of Remodeling magazine, lower cost home improvement may yield a bigger bang per buck.  Replacing your windows, a basic bathroom makeover, modernizing your kitchen, adding a small deck and updating your landscaping are all affordable improvements with a good payback when you go to sell.

Given the cold weather here in Breckenridge, I highly recommend the window update.  This can improve the look of your unit, improve the views if you have cracked seals on your existing windows and lower your heating bill. 

Next on my recommended list would be spending some time, energy and money on your kitchen and bathrooms.  In the mountains, some of the older condos have outdated bathroom and kitchen fixtures…swapping out your brass or gold fixtures for silver or brushed nickel is an easy upgrade.  If you have older appliances, consider migrating to stainless appliannces.  There are now, in many cases, just as affordable, as black or white appliances.

Our landscape here is often covered by snow.  If you do decide to spend time and money on your yard, consider planting wildflowers and bulbs to brighten it up once the snow melts. 

 

Great New Colorado Ski Pass!

Vail Resorts just announced a fantastic new ski pass call the Epic Pass.  This allows for unrestricted and unlimited ski days at Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Keystone, Beaver Creek and Vail for $579.  Here are the details on the Epic Pass.

Soaring Land Prices in Breckenridge, Colorado

Land Prices continue to climb in Breckenridge, Colorado  as we approach “buildout.”  A building analysis by Summit County’s planning department projects that based on the current growth rate, the county will reach buildout by 2013, or in less than 10 years. Buildout is achieved when all of the land zoned for it has been developed.  Projections were compiled by county planners John Roberts and Mark Truckey.  Considering what would happen in a decade or so when Summit County reaches buildout, Roberts points to Aspen, “When that community reached buildout, real estate values went through the roof,” he said. 

Land prices climbing 25% in Summit County in the last year alone according to Land Title Guarantee Company.  In the luxurious Highlands area of Breckenridge, as the chart below shows, the growth in Average Sales price over the past 14 years is even more pronounced. 

Year	Sales	Avg. Sale	Growth (1 yr)	Growth (5 yr)
1994	1	$164K
1995	1	$145K	-12%
1996	1	$175K	21%
1997	13	$157K	-10%
1998	26	$192K	22%
1999	41	$249K	30%	52%
2000	28	$285K	14%	97%
2001	34	$283K	-1%	62%
2002	43	$234K	-17%	49%
2003	35	$243K	4%	27%
2004	51	$253K	4%	2%
2005	103	$288K	14%	1%
2006	88	$333K	16%	18%
2007	46	$488K	46%	109%
2008	4	$536K	10%	121%
Year	Active	List Price
2008	33	$701K
**As of March 22nd, 2008

Shock Hill Real Estate in Breckenridge, Colorado

For the finest in Breckenridge Real Estate, please explore the Shock Hill Lodge & Spa website.

It now includes: Floor plans, View from each residence, and Important Things to Know. This is the final opportunity to own a residence at The Shock Hill Lodge & Spa at pre-construction pricing. Only 20 more units will be sold at pre-construction pricing.  Remaining residences will be released after construction commences at a higher pricing structure.

More info on Copper’s Sunsation

More details about Copper Mountain’s free live music this April…enjoy!

Breckenridge Real Estate Sales Strong; Vail investing significant capital in Breckenridge and Keystone; Skier Visits strong in December and January.

According to a recent article in the Summit Daily, Skier visits were slightly down from last year at Breckenridge and Keystone for the three months ending Jan 31, 2008, but Vail Resorts CEO says that real estate sales in Breckenridge are strong.

The launch of One Ski Hill Place has been extremely successful.  According to the article, the 66 units released so far have been selling for $1,244 per square foot, 29 percent higher than the price for the Crystal Peaks units that went on the market last year.  “We have 38 units under contract, representing gross sales proceeds of $54.5 million,” Katz said.

Breckenridge had 734,000 skier visits, down from 774,000 skier days.  Keystone was at 571,000 skier visits down from 598,000 for the three month period ending January 31.  An early lack of snow is driving the decline.  There was no snow on the hill in early October and November.  However, once it started snowing, it has felt like it hasn’t stopped.  Skiers and snowboarders have been showing up in droves to take advantage of the stellar conditions at Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin.

Vail continues the trend of investing capital in their Summit County resorts.  Vail is looking at spending about $60 to $68 million in discretionary capital, with the new eight-seat gondola at Keystone near the top of the list of projects. Breckenridge is also looking at getting some new snowmaking equipment for Peak 7.

Buying Property Can be a Good IRA Investment

Many financial advisors overlook investing in Real Estate as part of a self-directed IRA.  Many times advisors only want to sell securities, especially if they represent big brokerage houses.  There was a great article about buying real estate as part of your IRA in the Denver Post on Sunday, March 9th. 

One advantage is the ability to use leverage — borrowed money — to buy property. That’s in contrast to securities. Brokers don’t permit buying stocks “on margin” in an IRA because of the inherent price volatility.

For additional resources to help guide you through this concept make sure you see the details at the bottom of the article.

Enjoy Live Music and Spring Skiing at Copper Mountain, Colorado

Copper Sunsation is one of my favorite events of the year.  Copper sets up the stage at the base of the Eagle Lift in Center Village and has free live music all afternoon on both Weekends the mountain is open in April.  They bring in great musicians from diverse genre’s of music.  The snow is usually soft and the sun is usually shining…except for last year when the sun was out for most of March and brought us an epic powder day during Copper Sunsation 2007.  This year, don’t miss Susan Tedeschi, a 3 time Grammy Nominee on Saturday, April 5th at 4pm.  She is a great songwriter and musician and her voice is phenomenal.  I had the good fortune to see her at Jazzfest this year with the Allman Brothers and she was the highlight of the weekend.

For those of you in the market for real estate…this is a great weekend to look at real estate in the mornings.  The crowds from spring break in March have left so it is easier to get into units to show.  In addition, the snow doesn’t usually soften up until the sun starts shining a little bit later in the day.  Check out great Breckenridge Real Estate in the morning and ski and listen to free music at Copper in the afternoon.