March, 2009

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Carbon Monoxide Bill Signed into Law

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Hello from snowy Crested Butte,

FYI if you are Colorado property seller this Summer. Governor Ritter signed HB 1091 into law earlier this week.  The new law will cover all new residential construction and existing single-family and multi-family housing units offered for sale, transfer or rent. Beginning July 1, 2009, a seller of residential real property containing a fuel-fired heater or appliance, a fireplace, or an attached garage will be responsible for assuring that a carbon monoxide alarm is properly installed within 15 feet of the entrance to each room lawfully used for sleeping.  No person shall have a claim for relief against a property owner or their authorized agent if a carbon monoxide alarm is installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s published instructions. 

Thanks for visiting today!

Channing Boucher
Visit My Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

 

Posted in Ski Country USA | No Responses »

A Buyer’s Market in Crested Butte?

Friday, March 20th, 2009

Hello from Crested Butte,

Buyer’s Market (n.): A buyer’s market is one in which there are too many homes on the market for the number of buyers. Homes take longer to sell and prices fall creating a condition favorable to the buyer.

By definition it may be easy to pin the buyer’s market distinction on Crested Butte real estate. Days-on-market is high, inventories are flush with offerings, the number of transactions is low and now we are seeing asking prices drop. But, is all of this translating into real estate bargains?

If you are shopping ski area condos or vacant land you are going to get a deal. No doubt, it is a buyer’s market. With big inventory levels and flat demand great deals are happening. In some cases, we’ve returned to pre-Mueller era pricing for Mt. Crested Butte condos and on home site parcels in places like Crested Butte South, Buckhorn Ranch and today a parcel on the 12th hole at the Crested Butte Country Club was lowered to $250,000!

But there may be reason to put an asterisk next to our buyer’s market distinction. Single family homes, an important anchor segment of any real estate market, appear to be holding their value and demand is shifting for more expensive properties. Just last week, a 1721 sq. ft., single family home in the town of Crested Butte, sold for $900,000 (that’s $523/sft)! And, if you review the last 4 years of home sales, some interesting facts stand out. A key metric, the median sales price for single family homes in Crested Butte, Mt Crested Butte and Crested Butte South reached a 48-month high by the end of 2008.

The median sales price is the middle price point where 50% of homes sold are above this mark and the other 50% sold fall below. This is a better metric to determine a market’s overall condition versus the average sales price metric where a few multi-million home sales can skew the data.

The graph below demonstrates that in spite of decreasing transaction levels from 2005 to 2008, and increasing days on market, the median sales price of single family homes in our market rose almost $250,000 per sale!


Sold Single Family Homes
Crested Butte Area*
No. Of Sales
Total Sales Volume
Median 
Sale Price
Avg.
DOM
Sold Listings -2008
39
$42,379,975
$949,000
394
Sold Listings -2007
51
$48,829,000
$675,000
257
Sold Listings -2006
82
$88,494,000
$837,153
252
Sold Listings -2005
131
$112,836,301
$705,000
270

Thanks for visiting,

Channing Boucher
Visit My Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

 

Posted in Crested Butte Market | No Responses »

2008: Over 60 Million Skier Visits Nationally

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Good day from Crested Butte,

The 2008 National Ski Area Association’s (NSAA) National Demographic Study revealed serious gains in participation among skiers and snowboarders  aged 45 and over. During the last decade, the number of skiers and snowboarders aged 45 to 54 has increased from 14.0 percent to almost 20 percent; the proportion of skiers and snowboarders aged 55 to 64 has doubled from 4.6 percent to 9.2 percent; and the proportion of skiers and snowboarders aged 65 and over has also increased substantially, from 2.4 percent to 3.8 percent.

According to this NSAA study, "the loyalty and staying power of older participants has been a plus for ski resorts and has been a key driver of the success enjoyed by the industry in recent seasons. Last season the ski industry tallied a record 60.50 million skier visits nationally. The study also identifies a continuation of a “three-generation phenomenon” as the Baby Boomers (aged 44 to 62 in 2008) continue to participate in these winter sports, at the same time that persons young enough to be their children and grandchildren also take up skiing and riding, thus causing an overall broadening of the participant age profile."

Also, this year’s study indicates a continued increase in helmet usage. Overall,  43 percent of survey respondents were wearing a helmet when interviewed during the 2007/08, up steadily from 25 percent in 2002/03. Additionally, 30 percent of respondents owned a season pass this season. A total of 114,010 surveys were completed during the 2007/08 season at 83 participating ski resorts. The annual demographic study is available for purchase at nsaa.org.

These are interesting numbers considering the current economic upheaval and uncertainty.

Thanks for visiting,

Channing Boucher
Visit My Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

Posted in Ski Country USA | No Responses »

Snodgrass Expansion Gaining Momentum

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

Good morning from Crested Butte,

Last Thursday, Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR), Mt Crested Butte town council, the Crested Butte Town Council and hundreds of locals, business leaders and ski resort employees gathered at the Mountaineer Square ball room to listen to CBMR’s presentation of their Master Development Plan for the ski resort. The hottest topic and the reason 99% of us were at the meeting was Snodgrass and the progress the ski company is making toward getting its resort expansion plans approved.

CBMR wants to expand skiing onto Snodgrass because the main mountain consists of only 31% intermediate terrain, while over 50% of their overnight guests are intermediate skiers. The resort says the lack of quality and diversified intermediate terrain puts them at a competitive disadvantage with other destination ski resorts. Currently, the main mountain offers only 362 acres of intermediate terrain, less than half of most of its competitors, and among the lowest of destination resorts in the Rocky Mountain region.

While most Crested Buttians want to see CBMR and their new owner, CNL, succeed with their expansion plans there are some groups in our valley that are adamantly opposed to resort expansion onto Snodgrass Mountain.  Crested Butte’s Town Council says "no on Snodgrass" and Mayor Alan Bernholtz and Town Council member Billy Rankin spoke up at the meeting and publicly denounced CBMR’s plans stating flatly that CBMR has no business developing Snodgrass.

CBMR received recent "approval’ by the US Forest Service to enter the crucial NEPA process after an important geology report was released last week, Crested Butte Mountain Resort officials had indicated that the Forest Service had told them the plan would be accepted into the NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) review process if the resort avoided hazard areas pointed out in the report. The resort changed the trail plan to avoid these hazard areas and now they march on into NEPA. (See above graphic). More later on this hot topic.

Thanks for reading today,

Channing Boucher

Visit My Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

 

 

 

Posted in Crested Butte Market | No Responses »