Happy New Year from Crested Butte Colorado!

I want to thank everyone that helped make 2008 another great year to be a part of such an amazing community of people in one heckuva mountain town! Crested Butte is still the Last, Great Colorado Ski Town and all of us that live or vacation in the Butte know it!

Good Luck in 2009!
Channing Boucher
Visit the Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

Crested Butte Real Estate Year In Review – The Highlights

Crested Butte still doesn’t have any parking meters or traffic lights! – Hooray!

The 2008-2009 ski season kicked off with 120+ inches of snow by Christmas!

In the face of the national economic turmoil and the credit crisis, Crested Butte Mountain Resort scored big with CNL Lifestyles. CNL – a Florida-based Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) purchased CBMR in a $132 million deal that included the Mueller’s other ski resorts in Vermont. The Muellers will continue to operate all three ski resorts under a "lease-back" agreement. The lease term is 40 years. CNL will help to capitalize Crested Butte Mountain Resort operations and its resort and real estate expansion.

$50+ Million School Bond Passed (3A) – Capital improvements and many educational enhancements are about to begin at 6 of our community’s public schools including the top-rated Crested Butte Community School.

High profile publicity for Crested Butte came in the form of great PR and numerous articles in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal and Outside Magazine and Sunset Magazine put Crested Butte in the Top 10 Best Places to live in the United States!

2008 real estate sales in Crested Butte were down from recent years but well over $100 million worth of homes, condos, vacant land and ranch parcels traded during the year. Approximately 45% of the deals were ‘all-cash’ transactions signaling continued demand from saavy investors and an on-going appeal for the real estate in our community. Days on market came in high but this is typical of our resort community. Inventories are still very high – in all categories – giving buyers an advantage, especially for vacant land and condos in Mt Crested Butte. The market area includes properties sold from Almont, Colorado north to Crested Butte and Mt Crested Butte. The figures below are from the Gunnison Country MLS system only.

Good day from snowy Crested Butte,

In what is shaping up to be a repeat of last ski season’s ridiculous snow fall totals, Crested Butte Mountain Resort reported today that we’ve received 103 total inches of snow this season with 6 feet of it dropping over the last 10 days. The skiing is phenomenal – soft, cold snow and the folks lucky enough to be here for a holiday vacation are getting a pure Colorado treat!

The forecast? An additional 2 to 4 feet through this Friday!

Thanks for visiting today,

Channing Boucher
Visit My Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

Hello from very snowy Crested Butte,

The impact of the $55 million Gunnison/Crested Butte school district bond (3A) passing this year is beginning to be felt around the valley. The school district will be granting $43 million worth of construction business which will include improvements and expansion to the area’s six school facilities. Work is planned to begin soon and many area contractors and subs are positioning themselves to bid for the vast amount of work to be done. This work is great timing for the construction trades because after a 4 year run of "around the clock" home and condo development in this valley things have started to slow down.

Aside from this serious economic injection in the short run, long term impacts are starting to take shape for our community.  I am meeting more and more families that have relocated here since the Muellers bought the ski area in 2004.  Of all of the real estate that I sold this year, 4 of the clients I helped were moving here full time, relocating because of a career or lifestyle switch. The quality of the Crested Butte Community School attracted them and now that the school bond just passed the future is looking even brighter for our children.

Thanks for visiting today,

Channing Boucher
Visit My Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

Good day from Crested Butte,

Details of the big Triple Peaks (owners of Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Mt. Sunapee and Okemo) buyout are becoming clear. It appears the deal will impact day to day operations at our ski resort minimally. The real impact? Triple Peaks and CBMR now have a very serious capital owner/partner to bolster operations and expansion. The deal is structured as a  "sale-leaseback".

It is my understanding that CNL, a real estate investment trust (REIT), purchased the each ski resort’s operating assets but not the CBMR’s developable land assets. CNL has entered into a long-term agreement with Triple Peaks and CBMR to lease the operations "back" from CNL and continue operating CBMR and the other two ski resorts just as they have done up to this point. Legally, real estate investment trusts are not allowed to participate in their investment’s operations, although they have authority to approve the major construction projects they finance. Basically, CBMR and Triple Peaks are making a lease payment to their new owners versus paying interest to some investment banks."

Visit CNL’s web site

Channing Boucher
Visit the Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

Good day from snowy Crested Butte,

Okemo Mountan Resort in central Vermont, Mount Sunapee in southern New Hampshire and Crested Butte in southwestern Colorado will be sold today. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the three resorts owned by the Mueller family, will be sold to CNL Lifestyle Properties Inc., (CNL) a real-estate investment trust based in Orlando, Fla., for $132 million. The REIT is expected to close a deal today and an official announcement is expected soon. CNL is one of the nation’s largest privately held real estate investment and development companies. They count top U.S. ski resorts and many golf course and marina properties in their investment portfolio. Heck, the even own a Harley-Davidson dealership.

Under the terms of the deal, CBMR will lease back the ski area and focus on operations. The new landlord, CNL, will stay out of the day to day business.

Read MARKETWATCH Press Release on Deal Here

Channing Boucher
Visit the Crested Butte Real Estate Guide