The real estate market may be slower than usual right now in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, as in most of the nation (world?) but in my opinion it won’t be like that in Steamboat for long. And I’m even willing to place some bets. (Ask my husband and he’ll tell you I only place bets when I know I’m going to win – so watch out!)
What, you may ask, do I base this on? One word: Technology. And the human need for sanity. (Okay, seven words.) More specifically: technology and how we humans are now interacting with it; technology and the impact that it is having, and will continue to have at an accelerated rate, on our society, our culture, our way of working.
Sure Steamboat is expensive, but not that expensive. A lot of people have jobs which produce the income needed to be able to buy a decent home here (and the necessary toys required to enjoy a ski town). So, what’s kept them away from Steamboat? Their being tied to metropolitan areas for work.
The internet and cell phones started changing that already a few years back. We apparently already have 700+ people living here that have “Location Neutral” jobs. What I’m seeing though are all the jobs that are being created by these new technologies that are inherently Location Neutral. As manufacturing jobs leave our nation (of which there never were very many in Steamboat anyway), Location Neutral jobs are taking their place. And what better place for people to live, when they can choose ANYWHERE to live, than Steamboat?
If you’re sitting in front of a computer all day, the human need for sanity (in my opinion) requires beautiful vistas to be right outside, fresh air, and outdoor exercise.
When you spend your days working within the virtual realities of cyberspace, the human need for sanity demands that we have face-to-face interactions with people on the street and the grocery store who know our name and our history. What does Steamboat have if not an extraordinary community within a lovely, user-friendly setting?
Okay. Which way are you going to bet? Show me your money.
Yesterday, as Doug Labor mentioned in his blog post here, we learned that Todd Lodwick, a local Steamboat hero, won his second Gold Medal at the World Ski Championships in Liberac, Czechoslovakia this past weekend. Billy Demong, a New York native who has trained extensively in Steamboat Springs, also won his first Bronze Medal of the weekend. And there are two events more to go!
All of these medals were won in the sport called Nordic Combined Skiing, which is really big in our town; and in fact is the sport that has contributed the most to Steamboat Springs, Colorado being called Ski Town U.S.A. (We’ve sent more athletes to the Olympics than any other town; 69 and counting.)
Nordic Combined actually consists of two disciplines: ski jumping and cross-country skate skiing. And it’s not the type of ski jumping where the skiers go up in the air and perform all sorts of wild flips and things before landing back on the ground. That’s called freestyle, which consists of aerial stunts and mogul skiing.
The type of ski jumping I’m talking about occurs off a HUGE ski jump. The jumpers wear special jump suits and use special jump skis which are eight feet long or so and maybe five inches wide. From the top of the jump hill, each skier, one at a time, will drop off a bar they momentarily sit upon, down onto a cut track (a long slide-looking thing called the inrun), in a crouched position. They continue off the edge of the inrun out into thin air, and down, parallel to the hill until they touch down. In flight, the ski jumpers’ body stretches forward to where the edges of their skis, held in a V shape, are held alongside the sides of their face, and their arms are shot back like in the start of a swan dive.
When the TV cameras show you the jumper sitting on the bar at the top of the inrun right before take-off, as well as when the cameras follow the jumper off the end of the inrun and into the air, you can see the spectators at the bottom merely as pin points on the landscape; the jumpers are that high up.
The score that each athlete gets for his jump (based on distance plus style), determines at what time that athlete gets to leave the start gate for the cross-country skate ski race; the jumper who scored the most points goes out of the start gate first, the second best goes out so many seconds later, etc., until the last person goes out, which could be several minutes after the lead person took off.
The first person to cross the finish line (usually 5k or 10k in distance) wins.
Todd won this last Gold Medal after first gaining the most points for his jump, which gave him the best advantage into the race, and then holding on to the lead and claiming the medal by winning the 10K cross-country race, in just over 20 minutes. And that’s 20 minutes of racing full out!
Walking through downtown Steamboat Springs on a winter’s night, the ski jumps just across the Yampa River may be ablaze in lights. You may hear the announcer’s voice blaring out from the loudspeaker, and may make-out the jumpers soaring through the sky.
In the summer, you’ll notice that one ski jump hill looks like a bright green ribbon upon the side of Howelsen Hill. What you are looking at is the summer training ground for our local Olympic-hopeful jumpers. The summer –used inrun is made of a porcelain track and the landing hill is clothed in plastic, kept smooth by water.
Todd Lodwick grew up on a local ranch. Johnny Spillane, who won the USA’s first Gold Medal at the World Ski Championships In 2003, also grew up on a local ranch. Coincidence, or is it something about the western ranching work ethic that has enabled these young men to jump far and ski hard?
But for those of us who would just like to watch the sport, and watch it from the privacy of our own, beautifully appointed, living rooms with a nice fire crackling in the fireplace, well Steamboat has that to offer to you too. There are currently five prime downtown Loft developments with numerous units for sale which look straight at the jumps. I’d love to show you these or any other property which would meet your Steamboat real estate needs.
And before you know it, you’ll be jumping up and down too when our local boys make it big on the world stage. Yep, you’ll be claiming them as your own. And me? I’ll be right alongside you.
If purchasing real estate is all about location, location, location, there are few locations as nice as downtown Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Also known as Old Town, downtown Steamboat stretches from the Old Town Hot Springs located right before 3rd Street, and ends on 13th Street at the Bud Werner Library and Elk Springs Park. In the other direction, east to west, Steamboat’s downtown core area extends from Howelsen Hill with its own ski hill, rodeo grounds and ball fields, past the Yampa River and the commercial area of Yampa Street, Lincoln Avenue and Oak Street, eastward past residential neighborhoods and several schools: Colorado Mountain College (CMC) Alpine Campus, Steamboat Springs High School and Soda Creek Elementary.
The predominantly single family downtown homes are located, for the most part, on relatively small lots (.07 to .35 acre, with a very few up to 5 acres), and are an eclectic mix of architectural styles. You’ll find elegant Victorian-style homes, with wrought-iron fences, and log cabins, amongst an assortment of older miner’s cabins, some of which have been beautifully enlarged and remodeled, while others are still as they were when first built in the 1920s. Relatively new to Steamboat (since 2005), several high-end downtown lofts are perched above trendy retail spaces in the heart of downtown, most of which offer wonderful views and outdoor balconies.
You can walk from any of Steamboat’s downtown homes or lofts to say, The Shack for breakfast, and then on to The Epilogue Book Company for a book recommendation from Erica, or to the Meat and Seafood Company for deli goods, Lobster Pies and take-home gourmet dinners. You can perform your yoga asanas while overlooking the Yampa River at the Bear River Center, or participate in the Kayak festivals held right through town during the spring runoff in June.
For dining, there’s the cave-like Double Z with its famous Z Burgers and Pork Ribs, or The Rio, where the margaritas are so smooth there’s a sign saying they’ll limit you to three – and they mean it! There’s the Friday Art Walks, the Chief Plaza Movie Theater, the bike path along the Yampa River, the hiking, biking, ski trails at Howelsen Hill, and the free bus service to the Mt. Werner Ski Area. Living and playing in Old Town, you can literally park your car and seldom have to start it up. (Which comes in handy over the winter, since so few downtown homes have garages!)
There are 35 Single Family homes currently on the market within the core of downtown Steamboat Springs. They range in price from $499,500 for a 3BR 2BA, 1430 square foot home on .12 acre built in 1924 to $1,995,000 for a 6 BR, 5 BA, 6590 square foot home on .35 acre built in 1965.
Convenience and community. Urban amenities and outdoor recreation, all within a block of each other. Downtown, Old Town, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
We’d love to help you make this your home. For a customized search and/or unbiased assistance with property evaluation, please give us a call, shoot us an e-mail or stop on by (we’re located downtown too,at 118 8th Street, between Lincoln and Oak Street.). Location. Location. Location.
