High Snow Pack Causes Spring Flooding

Steamboat Aerials captures the Yampa River flooding.http://vimeo.com/24837558

Why it Is Time to Buy?

Wall Street Journal encourages Buyers to get off the fence as home ownership is looking stronger.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304563104576361522020024248.html?mod=djemRealEstate_t

Innovative Strategy Provides Opportunities in the Steamboat Market

As posted in the Steamboat Pilot Sunday June 5, 2011 by Tom Ross

http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2011/jun/03/innovative-strategy-provides-opportunities-difficu/

Prudential Agents Crack the Top 3

Prudential Steamboat Realty agents Pam Vanatta, Kim Kreissig and the Olson Team with Lisa Olson & Beth Bishop were recognized in the third quarter as top agents for the state of Colorado in the Prudential Real Estate Network for residential sales.
Brokers Beth Bishop and Lisa Olson, of The Olson Team, ranked second in the state for their total number of residential units sold.
Vanatta and her team of Anne Mayberry, Kelly Stahl, Heidi Flint and Mark Dudley continued their tradition as top performers for the Prudential network with a second-place ranking in Colorado for total number of residential units sold.
Kim Kreissig ranked third in the state for residential gross commission income.
“In a challenging market, these accomplishments speak volumes to the service these agents provide to their clients,” broker/owner Cam Boyd said.

$2 Million the Magic Number for Routt County Real Estate

Tom Ross, Steamboat Pilot April 8, 2011

Steamboat Springs — The market for $2 million-plus homes is alive in Routt County.
The valley saw 21 sales of improved residential units priced at $2 million and above in 2010. And there have been eight in 2011, including the March 31 sale of a home on Pebble Run for $2.03 million.
Beth Bishop and Lisa Olson, of Prudential Steamboat Realty, are optimistic their listing of

a five-bedroom, timber-frame home in Country Green, with a reduced price of just less than $2 million, is next in line.
“We’ve had more showings (five) since the price was reduced than we had in the previous six months,” Bishop said. “That tells you the buyers are focused on the bottom line, and when the price gets to that point, they come.
“There’s always a magic number. Buyers right now don’t want to pay market; they want to pay below that.”
The custom home at 34745 Country Green Lane has luxury touches like laundries on all three levels; electrical outlets in vanity drawers so hair dryers stay out of sight; programmable shower temperatures; a walk-in coat closet in the foyer; and refrigerated drawers along with an ice maker in the kitchen island. There are three master suites, all with views looking across the conserved meadows of Humble Ranch into the ski trail in Priest Creek.
Interior designer Cheryl Oliver was brought into the design/build team before construction to ensure each room was programmed to be functional as well as elegant.
“Each room has its own custom look,” Bishop said.
The exotic granite slabs for each of five bathrooms were hand selected. The great room is bright and designed to feature the peg work in the handcrafted timber posts and beams.
Bishop said there’s a perception among some buyers that they have to seek out bank-owned or short sales in order to find values. That’s not the case, she said.
“This new price (it was most recently dropped from $2.2 million) puts this house at $298.50 per square foot. There’s no way you could build it for that,” Bishop said.
Based on an evaluation of single-home properties in the Steamboat area between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, the price is nearly $74 a square foot lower than the average per-square-foot price in 2006 and $271.50 lower than square-foot average from 2008, she said.
Adding to the value of the home are energy efficient structural insulated construction panels. The boiler is 90 percent efficient, and the home features a heat recovery ventilation system to turn the atmosphere over.
A multi-zone heating system would allow new owners to live on the main level of the house and reduce the energy consumption on two other levels until guest and family arrive, Bishop said.
Extensive wiring allows for many options in the placement of home entertainment appliances, particularly in the walkout recreation and workout rooms. The north wing of the home’s upper level has a large optional room under the timber eaves over the garage. With plenty of ambient light from four windows tucked under dormers, it would make an ideal private wing of the house. for teens, or perhaps an artist’s studio.

Demand for Foreclosures Up Across Routt County

By Tom Ross, Steamboat Pilot March

Steamboat Springs — While government leaders expressed concern this week about the continuing pace of new foreclosure filings, a local Realtor, who is among three who list distressed properties for Fannie Mae, said it appears the demand for foreclosed homes is outpacing the supply of them.

“Even though the foreclosures are still entering the books at a rapid clip, the inventory is not building once they hit the market,” said Darrin Fryer, of Prudential Steamboat Realty. “There have been 50 to 55 bank-owned properties listed for about a year now and there are only 43 on the market today.”

Fryer said a group of buyers that includes investors and people looking for their first home is focused on distressed properties to the extent that there recently have been competing offers on some of them.

“This last week has seen multiple offers on four foreclosed properties and there were people disappointed,” Fryer said. “All are now pending or about to go under contract once the bank provides its final blessing from management, which is simply a process at this point.”

Fryer’s colleague at Prudential, Beth Bishop, of the Olson Group, said she and Lisa Olson are having a similar experience.

“Since January, we’ve been working with multiple offers and aggressive (above asking price) offers. It’s a different world for Realtors now with competing offers. And it’s tough for some people who have begun to picture themselves in a home and have to move on to the next one.”

Bishop said there is no doubt that the Steamboat market will have to continue to work through significant numbers of foreclosures in the near future, but the fact that there are often multiple offers on a home with an attractively low price means there is enough demand to continue to absorb the distressed properties.

“We have buyers backed up this spring who want to purchase in certain developments” when a bank-owned property becomes available, Bishop said.

She and Olson monitor properties for which foreclosure notices have been filed so they can inform clients as soon as one that fits their requirements comes on the market.

Also, an increasing number of homeowners are pricing their homes very aggressively outside of a foreclosure process, Olson said, and then turning around and buying another property they see opportunity in — even trading up in some cases.

Up and down

There certainly are investors in the market, Bishop said, but the majority of her clients are people buying homes for their own use. And some banks and owners of foreclosed properties, particularly the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), are only considering buyers who can demonstrate that they will occupy it full time.

The net impact of sold foreclosure is reflected to a degree in research by the Land Title Guarantee Co. office in Steamboat Springs. That research shows that in the preceding 14 months, 205 residential units have sold for less than $300,000, and of those, 83 were priced lower than $200,000.

The declining prices for existing housing inventory here also can be seen indirectly in the fact that year-to-date dollar volume was off 23 percent at the end of February while year-to-date transaction volume was up almost 30 percent.

“There are 108 pending sales at the moment,” Fryer said. “We haven’t had that many in quite awhile.”

In January and February, there were 18 home sales of less than $200,000.

The total number of residential sales through February was 69, with those selling for less than $300,000 accounting for more than half of that total. However, Land Title reports that overall dollar volume in February was off 34.7 percent at $21 million compared with $32 million in February 2010. January volume was off 15.5 percent. The year-to-date volume was $42 million through January.

Fryer observed that a 920­­-square-foot Whistler Village Townhome sold March 21 for $131,500. The next sale will be lower, he said. A similar unit that saw its price drop to $110,000 this month is under contract.

Fryer said distressed properties are a rarity close at the base of the ski area. One example is a 1,921-square-foot unit in The Highmark, which is under contract from an asking price of $794,000, which equates to $413 per square foot. It first sold to a limited liability company for $1.2 million, or $630 per square foot, in February 2008.

Cash Buyers Lift Housing

Steamboat is not far off from the trend that The Wall Street Journal sees in its article printed on February 8, 2011. "Buyers in markets around the U.S. are snapping up homes in all-cash deals, betting that prices are at or near bottom and breathing life into some of the nation's most battered housing markets." In Steamboat real estate agents are reporting more cash buyers bidding on deals in this mountian resort market.
Read Wall Street Journal article: