The Bear Blog

If you have been looking to invest at Bear Lodge, NOW is the time to buy!  We have recently reduced the prices of our 3, 3+den, 4, and 5 bedroom condos by 30%!  Take advantage of this unique opportunity, because this deal won’t last long.  The 30% discount applies only to the next three sales of our 3 – 5 bedroom condos.  All prices include a full turn-key developer’s furniture package. If you’re interested in calling Bear Lodge your new vacation home, or for further inquiries, contact Michael Hurley at 970-846-0833 or michael@ariacolorado.com. 

Please call or  stop by the sales office at Bear Lodge today to find out what’s still available!

By Tom Ross Sunday, Steamboat Pilot, April 4, 2010

February real estate sales of $32 million represent 267 percent of February 2009 and bring the year-to-date total to $82 million, almost 230 percent of where that number stood at the same time last year.

Perhaps more telling, according to the statistics compiled by Bruce Carta, of Land Title Guarantee Co., is that year-to-date sales narrowly surpassed those posted for the same period in 2005, about a year before Steamboat’s market began a rapid ascendancy that preceded the decline of the past two years.

Totals for the first two months of 2010 still are being influenced by closings of sales that went under contract in 2007, but significantly, One Steamboat Place closed a $3.8 million condominium sale Thursday that represented new business.

As transaction and dollar volume in the Steamboat market grow, Carta said, it’s clear that interval and fractional deals are providing some of the steam — they represented 55 percent of the transaction volume.

Although dollar volume and units are up, he said the number of loans originated here is down. Another possible reflection of consumer interest in interval ownership is that a significant portion of those sales are at low enough prices that people may be paying cash for them.

The Hayden market­ per­ked up a little in February with five transactions, one more than downtown Steamboat saw. Old Town had the advantage in dollar volume though — $2.58 million to $275,000 in Hayden.

The Steamboat mountain area saw 16 transactions in February, bringing the year-to-date total to 38 transactions with an aggregate value of $42.8 million.

from cnbc.com
| 31 Mar 2010 |
The housing slump may be far from over, but vacation homes are suddenly hot again. Vacation-home sales rose 7.9 percent in 2009 from a year earlier, to 553,000 units, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in its 2010 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey.

“It’s a lessening of the fear factor,” NAR spokesman Walter Molony said. “After three years of decline, we saw the activity picking up for the first time in November.” Most people are buying vacation property for personal use, not as an investment. Investment sales actually plunged 15.9 percent last year, to 940,000. “The typical vacation-home buyer is making a lifestyle choice, with nine out of 10 saying they intend to use the property for vacations or as a family retreat,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, according to a press release. Much of the buying was by people in their 30s and 40s who were earning more income. The typical vacation-home buyer in 2009 was 46 years old and had a median household income of $87,500.Retirement plans may also be a factor. Some 26 percent of vacation-home buyers intend to use the property as a primary residence in the future.

The median transaction price of a vacation home was $169,000 in 2009, compared with $150,000 in 2008. “The higher vacation home price may reflect increased sales in higher priced markets, particularly in areas of Florida and California where prices became highly attractive for buyers over the past year,” Yun said. Half of vacation homes purchased last year were in the South, 21 percent in the West, 17 percent in the Midwest and 12 percent in the Northeast. Seven out of 10 were detached single-family homes. Vacation-home buyers plan to keep their property for a median of 16 years while investment buyers plan to hold their property for a median of 12 years.

Open House Party
Thursday, March 11
3:30 – 6:30pm

You are invited to join us at Bear Lodge to view our newly furnished top floor condo, 6308. We would love to see everyone. Refreshments will be served.

Property Highlights
-$1,095,000
-3 bedroom / 3 bath
-ski area views
-vaulted ceilings
-full turn-key furniture package
-proven development
-great location
-builder’s warranty
-4% commission

Park in the garage under Bear Lodge and follow the signs to the party. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Jody Gale
970.846.9449

jody@ariacolorado.com

We are excited to announce the sale of condo 6209.  The market here in Steamboat is still plugging alone and the interest in Bear Lodge is incredible.  All the recent closings in Bear Lodge show that the development is a great value even in this market.  If anyone is interested in obtaining more info, please contact us.

Steamboat Springs — February 14, 2010

Given the economic climate, Michael Hurley, representing Australian developer Rod Forrester, of Aria Colorado, is pretty happy to say that Bear Lodge and neighboring Emerald Lodge accounted for nine luxury condominium sales between $1 million and $1.5 million in the first 11 months of 2009.

According to research confirmed by Bruce Carta, of Land Title Guarantee Co., that number represents about 40 percent of the condo market in that price niche before One Steamboat Place and Edgemont set off a flurry of sales in December. “Outside of One Steamboat Place, Wildhorse and Edgemont, (Hurley) sold more than anyone else,” Realtor Jon Wade, of Colorado Group Realty, said. “Through the recession, Bear Lodge, Emerald Lodge and Eagle Ridge townhomes were the best at holding their value.” Wade said he brought the buyers to two Bear Lodge sales last year and expects to put another under contract soon, with another serious buyer closing in.

Hurley put a new condominium at Bear Lodge under contract last week. That would represent sales of 23 of the 30 vacation homes in the project, which is the sixth phase of the original Trappeur’s Crossing development. Bear Lodge is highly visible with its large covered entrance at Village Drive and Medicine Springs Drive, about 300 yards from the base of the ski area. Hurley said that although it’s just outside the designated area, the city Planning Department required that the lodge conform to the ski base area design guidelines, resulting in the use of extensive stone and timbers on the exterior and an investment in a more varied roof line. “We were happy to do so, and it has really served us well,” Hurley said.

One of the selling points for Bear Lodge and Emerald Lodge, a little farther east on Medicine Springs, is that they offer large condominiums built to competitive finish levels at lower prices than the new ski-in/ski-out properties down the road. Three- and four-bedroom units at Bear Lodge are 1,700 to 1,900 square feet and sell for about $650 a square foot. “They offer a very good value for the money, in my opinion,” said Pete Wither, Wade’s colleague at Colorado Group. “People really like that they have a heated, secure underground parking area.” Wither has brought several buyers to Bear Lodge.

Of the nine buyers last year, Hurley said, four paid cash for their million-dollar-plus condominiums. Six were developer-owned units at Bear Lodge, and three were resales at Emerald Lodge, which was completed in 2007. The Bear Lodge sales ranged from $1.017 million to $1.395 million, according to information gleaned by Carta from records at the Routt County Courthouse. The three Emerald Lodge resales were for more than $1 million. Part of the sales success at Emerald and Bear, Hurley said, can be attributed to a strategic decision he and Forrester made to invest in $50,000 enclosed patios on the ground-floor units. Prospective buyers tend to regard ground-floor units as less desirable than condominiums on the upper floor, where the views of the ski area are grand and vaulted ceilings can be accommodated, Hurley said. At Emerald and Bear, he said, they built ground-level patios that enclosed fireplaces, barbecue grills and private eight-person hot tubs within stone walls. By installing snowmelt systems under the paving stones on the patio, they effectively extended the living space of the condominium. But more important, he said, they succeeded in differentiating the ground-level units from everything else in the development. “The enclosed patios cement the emotional connection people make before they buy,” Hurley said.

The developers closed on three ground-floor units in Bear in 2009 and at the same time hastened the date when they began to turn a profit on the overall building by selling condominiums that might have been the last to sell without the addition of the private patios. Hurley said the property management company ResortQuest already is telling him that vacation renters are booking return trips and asking for the patio units.

ResortQuest figures, albeit based on just one year of rental history (May 1, 2008, through April 30, 2009), show that three-bedroom condos at Bear Lodge with the patio can show net annual income before operating expenses of $25,545 compared with $16,140 for the same floor plan on the second floor lacking the patio. The units without the patios have total operating expenses of $13,388 compared with $14,083 for the patio units, but the latter yield better cash flow. “Once people rent those condos, they come back to the same unit because you’ve got the fireplace, and the hot tub is private,” Wither said. “It’s a really good sales tool.”

Guests can now enjoy the outdoors a little longer during the winter while sitting around the warm outdoor firepit.  This is one of the new upgrades to the Amenity Center, which include the redesigned entrance, snowmelted pool patio, and upscale resort signage.  The new outdoor area has been enlarged to accommodate the weekly parties hosted by the homeowners association.  Dennis Templar, president of the Association, said, “We have received positive feedback about the weekly parties during the summer and winter months. We knew upgrading the outdoor area would only enhance the experience. People come to Colorado to enjoy the outdoors, so we wanted to create a space that would be inviting.”

After enjoying a day of skiing, groups of people can now come back and share their stories, while sipping on the complimentary hot chocolate and cookies.

Guests enjoying the outdoor firepit

Article from the Steamboat Pilot, by Tom Ross on 12/19/09.

Thanks to a rare winter storm front brewed up by growing sales of condominium intervals, an unexpected $26.7 million sale of mineral rights, and the steady closings of luxury condos put under contract in 2007, the Routt County real estate market in November saw its best month in a year that has tried the perseverance of the industry here. November’s dollar volume was $89,994,700, representing 237 percent of the November 2008 volume and putting last month’s total slightly ahead of November 2007, according to research by Bruce Carta, of Land Title Guarantee Co., in Steamboat Springs.

The local market received a jolt of energy Thursday when One Steamboat Place closed $12 million in new condominium sales, including $8.47 million in whole ownership transactions. Most of the contracts on those sales were written in 2007.
Last month’s expanded dollar volume was not based primarily on sales of residential housing units generated by contracts written in the preceding weeks. Pardee Resources, of Philadelphia, announced Nov. 23 the acquisition of a 50 percent interest in an estimated 19 million tons of coal reserves in Northwest Colorado for $20.68 million in cash and $6 million in debt. The mineral rights transaction was recorded in the Routt County Assessor’s Office but is not a typical real estate purchase. The coal is being leased and mined by Peabody Energy at its Twentymile Coal Co. underground mine in Routt County. A Peabody spokesperson said this week that the transaction would have no effect on its operations. Pardee officials say they expect the coal reserve to generate significant earnings for the company during the next 3.5 years.

Sales of intervals in new condominium projects, some for high-end buyers and some targeting middle-class markets, also contributed $15 million to November’s totals. Closings of Vacation Club membership at One Steamboat Place, set to open early next month, began late in November and racked up $9.645 million, with more closings continuing at a steady pace into the first two weeks of December. The average Vacation Club sales price at One Steamboat Place last month was greater than $459,000, Carta reported.
The Wyndham Vacation Ownership property, The Village at Steamboat, contributed a little more than $5 million on 37 transactions averaging $136,000 in November. Year to date, interval/fractional sales have contributed $34.6 million to countywide dollar volume of $356.58 million through the 11th month of 2009.

First Tracks gets 2nd look Trailhead Lodge closed about $4 million in whole-ownership sales in November, said Kerry Shea, Resort Ventures West director of sales and marketing. He acknowledged that each closing at Trailhead is proving labor-intensive as the
developers work to help buyers secure financing and close. “Fortunately, we’re seeing a very stable progression through the process of closing the pre-construction contracts,” Shea said. Resort Ventures West has been further buoyed, Shea said, by growing interest among Front Range buyers for the formerly deed-restricted condominiums at First Tracks. A marketing campaign targeting those buyers has resulted in 300 inquiries leading to nine closings and 10 more contracts. The modest condominiums originally were built to satisfy city of Steamboat Springs affordable housing requirements, which since have been modified in the wake of the recessionary economy. Now, Shea said, full market buyers are attracted to their proximity to the luxury units at Trailhead, and some prospective buyers are looking at both properties.

One Steamboat Place also boosted whole-ownership residential sales volume in Nov­ember, with $15.2 million attributable to the sale of four condominiums. The breakdown of individual condo transactions was: $4.4 million, $4.2 million, $3.75 million and $2.85 million. A total of 48 residential property sales closed in November, including 16 valued at less than $300,000 and another 11 priced between $300,000 and $500,000. There were four transactions between $800,000 and $900,000 and six between $1 million and $1.5 million. It was quiet in the range between $1.5 million and $3 million, with just two closings, including one of the One Steamboat Place condominiums. David Baldinger Jr., a principal in Steamboat Village Brokers, said the millions of dollars in closings at One Steamboat Place and Trailhead Lodge, although they represent two-year-old contracts, are contributing to renewed interest among other buyers. “I’ve been very busy this week with appointments, showing condos and townhomes,” Baldinger said. “It’s primarily people interested in second homes. I think there’s a lot more optimism out there. Some of them don’t have to sell an existing property in order to buy.” A significant number of his showings this month have involved existing customers who are familiar with the Steamboat market and see an opportunity to move up to a nicer, larger vacation home.
So far, the recent spate of showings hasn’t translated into bona fide deals, Baldinger said. “I spent two hours showing property today to a man who said he’d be back with his wife after the new year,” he said Thursday. Baldinger said he thinks that with time, the renewed traffic from people looking at real estate will evolve into contracts. “This isn’t normally a very busy time of year, and I’m certainly busier than last year at this time and busier than last summer. Contacts, Web hits, showings and walk-ins are all up. I think we’ll see growing sales through the winter, piece by piece. I don’t know the timeline, but I know it’s happening.”

Trappeur’s Crossing Resort is proud to announce a new luxury amenity for its owner and guests.  Christy Sports / D2D have teamed up with Trappeur’s Crossing Resort to provide on mountain ski & snowboard storage at their base area location, SportStalker. This service will be free to owners and guests to store their personal skis and snowboards, as well as rentals from other shops.  Although we strongly encourage our guests to use SportStalker, Christy Sports or D2D for their ski rental needs, for the 2009/2010 ski season, SportStalker will even store equipment rented from other shops! Now guests will have the convenience of traveling to and from the base area without the hassle of carrying around their skis. Michael Hurley, VP of development, at Bear Lodge explains, “We are excited to have SportStalker as a partner who understands the meaning of customer service.  They will provide equipment storage, waxing and tuning services and retail all at their base area location.  Now Trappeur’s guests can have the luxury that only ski-in ski out property owners have only had in the past. As always, the Trappeur’s Board of Directors will continue to develop ideas to enhance the vacation experience of their owners and guests.”

SportStalker has been in the ski rental and retail business in Steamboat Springs for 39 years.  They are also part of the Christy Sports family which enables them to provide the top quality gear at competitive prices. To further differentiate themselves, D2D, a division of Christy Sports, provides a luxury service in which guests can opt to be fitted out with high-end rental gear in the comfort of their condominium. One company providing brick and mortar locations as well and ski and snowboard delivery.

Bear Lodge just sold another developer condo, 6108.  This was a fabulous patio suite condominium complete with an outdoor fireplace and private 7 person hottub.  Thanks to Peggy Garret, with Steamboat Village Brokers, for her hard work and helping us get the deal closed. If you have a client interested in excellent rental revenue and owning something completely unique, please consider Bear Lodge.  We only have 2 patio suites left and considering our last 3 sales were patio suites, they are in high demand.