Posts Tagged ‘steamboat real estate’

Exclusive Buyer Agency Makes the New York Times!

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

By Doug

It may have taken a nationwide economic earthquake to wake up and shake up the real estate industry, but the exclusive buyer broker concept is beginning to get noticed more and more as consumers, legislators and the media alike recognize how the economy has gotten where it has, and with the assistance of traditional brokers.  After all, if the consumer had a real estate broker looking out for their best interests, a better purchase would have been made, and some of the bad purchases that have caused the economic downturn would not have occurred.

Most recently, the New York Times ran an article on March 15 about the advantages of exclusive buyer brokerage.  Below please find the article:

WHEN Henry Coupet started shopping for a home, agents at open houses tried to persuade him to snap up their listings.

“Their interest seemed to be more in the interest of the seller than my interest,” said Mr. Coupet, a quality assurance manager for an Internet advertising company.

Then, when he made an offer on a home and the agent rebuffed him, refusing to negotiate, Mr. Coupet became frustrated.

“Their interest was maximizing their profit,” he said.

So he redirected his search. He hired Ira Freireich, owner of Best Buyer’s Broker Realty in Malverne, to represent him for a $500 retainer plus a 2 percent commission. (For buyers’ brokers as for sellers’ brokers, the commission comes out of the proceeds of the sale at the closing.)

As the name of Mr. Freireich’s agency suggests, he works exclusively on the buyer’s behalf. Traditionally, a real estate agent’s fiduciary responsibility is to the seller.

“He knew what I was willing to pay and he knew what I could afford and he aggressively negotiated on my behalf,” Mr. Coupet said. In October he paid $472,000 for a three-bedroom two-and-a-half-bath Cape in New Hyde Park, which had been listed for $530,000. “He definitely got the ball rolling.”

Mr. Freireich said demand for his services started to swell about a year ago.

“It’s always advantageous for the buyers to have their own representation,” he said. “If you were getting a divorce, would you ever use your spouse’s attorney?”

He added that when buyers ask a seller’s agent questions, “they are getting the answer the sellers want them to hear.”

Although buyers’ agents are relatively rare on the Island, a growing number of house shoppers are seeking an equal level of representation.

What they need to know going in, said Frank Urso, president of the Multiple List Service of Long Island, is that unless the broker and the buyer sign an agency disclosure contract specifying their relationship, it cannot be binding.

“The broker that has the listing is always working for the seller and his agents are working for the seller,” Mr. Urso said.

Nick Gigante, broker-owner of Re/Max Shores in Massapequa and Oceanside, pointed out that once a buyer and a broker were formally in a relationship, the broker was at liberty to furnish privileged information, about things like the seller’s financial situation. “Of course, the buyer wants to know that stuff,” Mr. Gigante said.

At the same time, a buyer’s broker is prohibited from disclosing to a seller that the buyer can, or will, pay more than what has been offered.

Brokers who represent both sellers and buyers, known as dual-agency brokers, “maximize their income but shortchange both buyer and seller clients,” said John Sullivan, president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyers’ Agents, which includes about 200 realty brokerage firms and about 480 exclusive buyer agents.

To “eliminate conflict of interest,” exclusive buyers’ agents do not take listings — though increasingly agents in traditional real estate offices work both sides of the equation.

Frank DellAccio Jr., broker-owner of Century 21 AA Realty in Lindenhurst and Seaford, said that from 2007 to 2008 his firm had more than doubled the number of buyers being represented. Many are asking for agents to work as their advocates, providing data and comparable sales, negotiating the best price and terms, and helping evaluate financing options.

“Buyers feel more comfortable having someone represent them in the process,” Mr. DellAccio said. “It’s a natural.”

Another natural in a downtrodden inventory-laden market is that for brokers, snagging a buyer to represent has gained in allure. Bethany Marten, an exclusive buyer’s broker and founder of the Baldwin-based Home Buyers’ Resource Center, said that until the market turned south, most real estate agents “had zero interest in representing buyers.”

Before, she said, “listings were gold,” and agents “didn’t want to waste their time walking around with buyers.” But with inventories high and customers scarce, “buyers are the gold now.”

Listings cost time and money to market and often languish. “You don’t make money if you don’t have a buyer,” she pointed out.

Mr. Urso of the List Service of Long Island said he expected buyers’ brokers to be “more the norm in the next three to five years.”

Michael Frank, an assistant school principal in the market for a house, signed on last spring with Mr. Freireich’s agency. “I wanted to see the full slate of homes available,” Mr. Frank said. “If you are trying to buy a house through Century 21, they have a vested interest in selling you a Century 21 home.”

In August, after checking out only houses “with the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms” in the right school districts, Mr. Frank bought a three-bedroom Tudor in Valley Stream for $502,000. “They didn’t try and show us anything that was outside of what we asked for,” he said of Mr. Freireich’s agency.

It was also in August that Michael Daly gave up being a traditional broker, and working both sides of the fence, to run the North Haven-based True North Realty Associates, a brokerage exclusively for buyers. He said he found the switch had eliminated the “smoke and mirrors” and “dual-agency conflict that has caused so much mistrust among consumers and real estate agents.”

Whether you are seeking to buy a Steamboat Springs real estate property, or elsewhere, if you want the best representation available and an advocate looking out for your best interests all of the time, seek the assistance of an exclusive buyer’s broker.  In Steamboat Springs, we are the only office that exclusively represents buyers!

One of the Eight Biggest Mistakes Steamboat Buyers Make

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

One of the biggest mistakes a Steamboat Springs real estate buyer could make is waiting for the last minute to get pre-approved for financing.  Yet, that should actually be one of the first things a real estate buyer should do.

Getting pre-approved is like going to the negotiating table with cash in hand.  It definitely gives a buyer an advantage when making an offer.  And when we submit an offer, we typically have a pre-approval letter from the client’s lender so the seller knows we’re serious.  This also helps if there is another offer the seller is considering, or if we are trying to get a lower price with a short closing timeline.

Another benefit pre-approval provides is knowing how much of a mortgage a buyer can qualify for right off the bat.  This will help determine an upper limit of the price range.  We certainly want to stay within the financial means of our clients, and knowing this limit will help in our search.

We always recommend working with a local lender.  They know the nuances in our market, and have a greater success in getting a loan through.  If you would like to see what you can qualify for, please let us know and we would be happy to give you the names of a couple of reputable lenders to talk to.

Beautiful Steamboat Lot in a Great Neighborhood

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

Two nights ago we experienced a weather phenomenon that is pretty uncommon in the Rocky Mountains…a snowstorm accompanied by thunder and lightening.  It was a fast moving storm with good winds, but while it was here it left the Steamboat ski resort with 11 inches of snow on top and nine at mid-mountain.

If you are looking for a beautiful lot next to the golf course with ski area views, this one may be for you…

Beautifully set amidst aspens and cottonwoods, this building site is one of the rare, affordable sites left in Mountain Vista Estates.  It is not only close to the ski area but also only 5 minutes to downtown. It has an exceptionally sunny southwest exposure, and the surrounding homes and natural landscaping make this lot a prime location to build a quality home. The lot size is .35 acres and it is listed at only $575,000, I personally live in this neighborhood and know the area has many special features and benefits.

If you would like to know more about this property, please let me know.

It’s Time to Make that Steamboat Condo or Townhome Offer

Monday, March 9th, 2009

With ski season winding down, sellers are going to be facing that time of the year when cash flow is going to become an issue.  The most profitable months for a ski rental property in Steamboat Springs are December, January, February and March, where approximately 80% of the rental income for the entire year is received.  Occupancy rates won’t begin to pick up again until the 4th of July, and carry through until Labor Day weekend in September.  However, still at that time occupancy rates are not as high and rates are half as much as the ski season.

If you are looking to purchase a rental property, early spring is the best time of the year to negotiate a deal than any other in the Steamboat Springs real estate market!  Sellers have just received the lions share of the income for the year, and have been able to use their property to ski for the season, and with rental incomes down approximately 20% this year, there may not be a better time to make a move.

If you would like to see the best properties that are available in your price range, please give us a call today!

Steamboat in the Middle – A Comparison of Ski Resort Real Estate Markets

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Winter is going to return to Steamboat today in a big way, as a Winter Storm Warning has been issued for northwest Colorado.  The storm is expected to bring between 8″ to 16″ of snow by tomorrow evening.  If you can make it up here this weekend, get packing!

I have just concluded my analysis of how the Steamboat Springs real estate market fared against seven other Rocky Mountain ski resorts for 2008.  I was very surprised with the findings.  Below please find the complete text, but if you would like to see the charts and graphs, please go to the “Monthly Newsletter” page and the “Market Trends” pages contained herein.

We know how well the 2008 Steamboat Springs real estate market fared compared to past years (a decrease of 52% in Transactions with a 148% increase in the Average Purchase Price), but how did our market compare to other top-tier resorts in these changing times?  With the final results of 2008 now in, it’s time to take a peek…

In order to conduct this analysis, data was compiled from the Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance, which is a trade association of ski resort related Multiple Listing Services.  Member resort areas in addition to Steamboat Springs include Sun Valley, ID, Park City, UT, Aspen*, Telluride, Vail and Summit County, CO, along with several others.  However, these seven were selected due to their similarities with Steamboat in market size, quality of resort services and facilities, age and historic data availability.  Data used to compare the resort markets included Transactions, Average Price, Listings and Dollar Volume.  An Absorption Rate (annual Transactions divided by year-end Listings) was derived from this data to provide a fifth category of study.

To begin the analysis, a base number on past performance has to be established to then compare against 2008 results.  2007 was a record year for many markets, so in order to create a more realistic baseline, a five year average (2003 through 2007) was established.  Measured against their own five year average, the 2008 increase or decrease in market activity will produce a percentage to determine how the resort fared.

For instance, Steamboat posted 737 Transactions in 2008, but averaged 1,430 in the prior five years.  Consequently, 2008 Transactions were 52% of average.  Telluride experienced the lowest deviation from their average Transactions.  Their five year average was 329, but in 2008 they posted 177 sales, performing 54% of average for 2008.  This type of calculation shall be used for each of the five categories.  Based upon this percentage of change from their average, a first place, second place, etc. will be awarded.  First place finishers will receive 8 points; second place receives 7 points, and so on down the line.  By placing first, Telluride receives 8 points in Transactions while Steamboat placed third and earns 6.

In my opinion, some categories are more meaningful than others when determining market health.  Deviation comparisons in the Transaction category are more revealing than Dollar Volume, which could be skewed with a couple of high-end (or low-end) sales.  Average Price deviations indicate if property values have held their own during challenging economic times, while a higher-than-normal increase in Listings would show the financial where-with-all of the market and how many owners (speculators) may be wanting out.  Absorption Rate represents how quickly the market will absorb (purchase) any given property over a year’s time.

Consequently, depending upon the category’s importance, a multiplier will be used to give the resort a score for their performance.  Of the five categories, Transaction activity is most important and will be awarded a multiplier of ‘5’.  Average Price is second and each resort placement will be multiplied by ‘4’, followed by Absorption Rate ‘3’, Listings ‘2’ and the least important Dollar Volume with a multiplier of ‘1’.

As an example, the resort taking first place (8 pts) for Transactions (5 multiplier) will receive a total of 40 points (8 times 5).  The last place resort (1 pt) for Dollar Volume (1 multiplier) will receive 1 point (1 times 1).  The resort with the highest total score shall be deemed to have performed the best in the 2008 Rocky Mountain ski resort real estate market.

Based off of this format, Jackson Hole, WY outscored the competition with a total point value of 96 (out of a potential 120), followed by a close grouping of Summit County, CO (89), Vail (86)and Telluride (78).  Steamboat and Aspen were clustered together with 57 and 53 points, respectively, while Park City (38 points) and Sun Valley (35 points) had the worst performance.

What impaired Steamboat Springs most was the high increase in Listings.  With 1,992 properties for sale at year-end 2008, and with a five year average of only 1,132, it realized a 176% increase in inventory; the greatest increase of any of the eight resorts surveyed and a last place finish.  This compounded the Absorption Rate calculation to only 29% of average performance, also earning a last place finish.  Steamboat’s 2008 Absorption Rate was 37% but enjoyed a five year average of 126%.

One very interesting find in this study is that property values have either held their own in 2008, or may have lagged behind resulting in lower Absorption Rates, depending on your position.  Average Prices in all markets in 2008 increased from their five year average.  However, Telluride had the lowest increase at 108% of their $1,176,360 average price to $1,269,808 (but also scored first place in Transactions), while Vail experienced the largest gain at 177% of average, from $847,261 to an amazing Average Price in 2008 of $1,495,788.  Steamboat saw prices increase 148% of average from $417,062 to $617,631.

What Telluride experienced is a question the rest of the markets will have to ask:  Will property values be sacrificed to increase transaction activity?  It is an important question to ponder, but a difficult one to forecast.  Absorption Rates of 50% equate to a property being on the market for two years.  An Absorption Rate of 100% yields a one year marketing period.  2008 Absorption Rates ranged from 66% in Vail to 24% in Sun Valley and Telluride.  If sellers have the patience to wait for the economic recovery, then prices will most likely maintain course.  But should they desire to sell prior to that time, reductions will most likely occur.

Steamboat Real Estate is Still a Great Value

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Boy, am I jealous.  Atlanta, GA has received more snow over the past four days than Steamboat Springs!  I’m sure our friends in the Peach State are happy to see any precipitation, but if you could send some of that white stuff back our way, it would be appreciated!

This past weekend we have had family from the Chicago and Pittsburgh areas visit, and we’re sending them home today and tomorrow with suntanned faces.  The temperatures for the past several days have been between 40 and 50 degrees with sun filled skies.  However, we’re expected to return to more normal weather later in the week with temps between 30 and 40 degrees and the possibility of snow.

Have you ever wondered how Steamboat Springs real estate values compare to other resorts?  The Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance has just published their end-of-year report and we’re happy to see that Steamboat real estate remains one of the most affordable top-tier resort markets in the Rocky Mountains.

The average sales price in 2008 for Steamboat real estate was $617,631.  In Aspen it was $2,722,375; Park City $799,627; Telluride $1,269,808; Vail $1,495,788 and Jackson Hole $1,792,866.  The only top-tier resort area where the 2008 average purchase price of real estate was lower than Steamboat was Summit County, Colorado, home to Keystone, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin and Breckenridge, which was $583,228.

If you are interested in knowing more detail how the 2008 Steamboat Springs real estate market fared when compared to these resorts, this month’s newsletter, which will be dedicated to this topic, will be coming out by the end of this week and posted on this web site.  If you would like the newsletter emailed to you immediately when it is done, please email us and we’d be glad to set you up.

Buyer’s Resource Real Estate Makes National News!

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

By Doug

Winter has returned to the northwest Colorado Rockies today with dark and snowy skies.  This turnaround from the warm and sometimes rainy weather we’ve had the past week should make the 8,400 + skiers coming in on Saturday to the Yampa Valley Regional Airport happy.  That will be a record number of en/deplanements to the airport since it opened in the 1960’s.

When you do good business, word gets around.  And that statement is no more evident than what happened today, as our efforts at Buyer’s Resource have been recognized by a national newspaper, The New York Times!

An article published today regarding the luxury real estate market included quotes from myself along with one of my clients, Sutton Hamlin.  If you would like to read the article, here is the link:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/your-money/26condos.html?scp=1&sq=doug%20labor&st=cse

The luxury Steamboat condominium property Sutton purchased into is Christie Club.  Christie Club owners enjoy one of the best ski-in, ski-out locations in Steamboat.  Combine that location with excellent guest services and amenities, and you can see why Ms. Hamlin is very pleased with her purchase.

Incidentally, Christie Club just happens to have one of the best deals right now for a slopeside luxury condo.  It is a two bedroom, two bath, professionally decorated residence consisting of over 1600 square feet and overlooks the Steamboat Ski Area.  Christie Club has a year-round shuttle and picks owners up at the Hayden and Steamboat airports, as well as a shuttle to town, the grocery stores, or anywhere else an owner or guest has a hankering to explore.  Owners also enjoy a Members’ lounge, ski storage, heated outdoor pool and spa, concierge, valet parking, and world-class service.  When purchasing a Christie Club condo, owners also have membership to The Registry Club, a vacation home exchange network with other luxury residences around the world.  And when you’re not here being pampered, you can benefit from the excellent rental income a premier slopeside residence provides.

This Steamboat condo is listed at only $1,075,000, or $665 per square foot.  This is an excellent buy.  Other slopeside condominiums average $893 per square foot, and most of those listed are much older than Christie Club, which was built in 2002.

If you are interested in receiving a “Cash Flow Analysis” of this property to see how affordable it can be, as well as additional information on why we feel this property is such a great deal, please let us know.  It financially outperforms all other properties in our analysis, and all of the owners that we have assisted in purchasing in this property have been extremely pleased with their decision.

Claiming Our Local Ski Champs As Your Own

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

By Susana Field

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.

The Most Educated Real Estate Buyers in the Steamboat Market

Friday, February 20th, 2009

By Doug

After above-average snowfall in December and January, Steamboat Ski Area needs a snowy final nine days of February to reach the month’s 10-year average of 75 inches at mid-mountain.

The inch of fresh snow at Thunderhead on Thursday fell on top of 6 inches from Wednesday and brought the month’s total to 38 inches, according to statistics kept by Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. spokesman Mike Lane. The season total now stands at 287, well within striking distance of achieving Steamboat’s season average of 315 inches by early March…as reported this morning in the Steamboat Pilot and Today.

Today’s weather will not get us any closer to that 75 inch average, but if you’re looking for sunny, blue skies and warm weather to ski in, you’ll be grinning from ear-to-ear.

As I hope you are aware, we publish a monthly newsletter called the “Steamboat Real Estate Analyst”.  It can be found on our web site.  Each month we select a different topic to write about.  We do this for our clients and it assists in our mission of having “the most educated buyers in the Steamboat Springs real estate market.”

Steamboat real estate topics we have discussed in the past include quarterly and annual real estate reports; condominium, single family home, townhome and land purchase considerations; the timeshare and fractional ownership markets; geographic trends, and forecasting.  Depending upon how quickly our research comes available, this month we are hoping to compare how Steamboat Springs real estate has fared relative to other ski resort real estate markets.

However, we don’t want to miss a topic that may be of interest, so if you have any topics that you would like us to roll our sleeves up and write about, please let us know.

Good Price on a One Bedroom Rockies Condo!

Monday, February 9th, 2009

This week in Steamboat Spring is the 96th annual Winter Carnival.  Beginning as the organizing committee for the first Winter Carnival, the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (SSWSC) has maintained the Winter Carnival as a service to the community since 1914. The Winter Carnival started as a way to help residents cope with cabin fever during the height of the winter season. The event continues to this day as a way to celebrate winter; as a reason for neighbors to gather; and as an opportunity for everyone to experience a piece of Ski Town USA® history and tradition.

This annual celebration includes a variety of events that embrace our western heritage and highlight Steamboat’s tradition of winter sports. The festivities include such events as: Ski Jumping competitions, a Snowboarding Jam Session, the Soda Pop Slalom, a Tubing Party, the Diamond Hitch Parade which includes the High School band on skis, the Street Events on Lincoln Avenue, and the Night Extravaganza at Howelsen Hill with a brilliant fireworks display and the famous Lighted Man.

As evidence of how fun and enjoyable these festivities are, you will see more locals to this event than any other in Steamboat.

If you are looking for a great condominium purchase, a one bedroom and one bath Rockies condominium has just been reduced today from its original list price of $264,900 to $168,000!  The Rockies is only a few blocks from the ski area and has a wonderful repeat clientele who rent their properties.  This 467 square foot condo was built in 1974 but is in very good condition.  The complex offers onsite check-in, a year round heated swimming pool, hot tubs and very convenient shuttle service.  This is one of the best one bedroom opportunities on the Steamboat Springs real estate market.  The last Rockies condominium that sold for less than this price was in 2005!

For additional information, as well as a rental income history, please give us a call or email today!