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

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.”

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

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.”

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.

Steamboat, which bears the trademarked name “Ski Town USA,” has several things that set it apart from other Colorado ski towns. First, there’s the snow, which is among the driest and deepest in the country (canny developers also trademarked the phrase “Champagne Powder”). Situated in north-central Colorado, the mountain catches the state’s blizzards as well as those that hit Utah and Wyoming and has averaged more than 400 inches of snow the past two winters.

The resort also is a family-friendly destination, ranked best in North America by SKI magazine. In addition to the major Steamboat resort, with its acclaimed children’s instruction programs, the municipally owned Howelsen Hill has long been a training ground for local kids and future Olympians. Both offer specials aimed at children.

The final attraction is the town itself, just over 2 miles from the ski resort. “People come because they saw the mountain ranked top five by the ski magazines, but then they see Old Town and say, ‘Wow, this is cool,’ ” says David Baldinger Jr., owner of Steamboat Village Brokers. Lincoln Avenue is the main drag, and it has a traditional Main Street setup.

Another difference between Steamboat and other top ski towns is the variety of prices. “You can still buy a ski-in/ski-out one-bedroom condo in the $200,000s,” Baldinger says. “And there will be a $4 million house a stone’s throw away.”

A look at Steamboat Springs neighborhoods

• Steamboat Ski Resort. The base area has a mix of condos and older houses, but the newest projects are also here, including One Steamboat Place. Opening in December, the luxury condos were priced $2.7 to $4.4 million, with fractional options as well. Older condos begin in the high $200,000s.

• Old Town. Steamboat Springs has a variety of shops and restaurants; thanks to lower prices, it is popular with year-round residents. “Only about 20% of the residences here are second homes,” says realty agent David Baldinger Jr. A three-bedroom single-family house with a mountain view can be had for under $800,000.

• Surrounding ranches and estates. “We don’t have the kind of subdivisions that surround a lot of Colorado towns,” Baldinger says. Instead, legacy ranches have been developed into estate homes with community amenities. The most established is the Catamount Ranch and Club, with a golf course, private lake and houses averaging around $4 million.

Plus, CNNMoney.com recently reported a better-than-expected increase in new home building starts last month – another indicator that consumer confidence in the housing market is on the rise. The Census Bureau reported last week that builders broke ground for 598,000 new homes across the country during August, up 1.5% from a revised 589,000 in July. Great interest rates and the first-time homebuyer tax credit have enabled many builders to reduce their inventories of unsold homes, helping to increase demand for new homes. And there are plenty of fantastic land opportunities available in Steamboat!

However, all good things must end someday, and the government programs do have deadlines that are quickly approaching. From contract to close one can assume a 6 week turn around period, meaning buyers taking advantage of the tax credit should be under contract by October 18th. So, don’t wait to start looking at the great deals on the Steamboat real estate market.