As I watched the Winter Olympics over the last couple of weeks, I remembered that I have something in common with many Olympians.  I wonder if you can guess what it is. Now, I'm not athletic.  No, I'm not in great shape!  (at all!)  Even though I used to live in Colorado, I've never skied (at least not on purpose). No, I've never won an Olympic medal or any medal for athleticism of any kind.  Do I have you wondering yet? Well, I'll tell you.  If you watched the Olympics, you probably saw more than one story about athletes that lived or skied in Beaver Creek, Colorado.  There was also one skier from Switzerland (I think) who had gotten badly hurt and with broken bones in Beaver Creek a few years ago and spent weeks in Vail Valley Medical Center.  That is what I have in common with some O... 02/28/2010

So I went away last weekend.  A family vacation.  Short but sweet.  While I was away Vail transformed from America's biggest ski resort without much snow, into what we expect when we hear Vail.  It snowed a lot while I was gone.  The Mountain is in great shape, and today is one of those incredible blue sky days.  I'd like to post a picture of the blue sky, but my iPhone camera wouldn't do it justice.  Just take my word for it, today is a day to be out on the Mountain.  This is going to be a great weekend.  Hope to see you on the mountain or in town. As far as real estate goes....Things have been moving.  Not like the heyday, but at a good steady pace.  There are currently 452 homes on the market from East Vail to West Vail.  It is certainly a buyer's market.  If you have ever thought ab... 01/29/2010

  The Holiday Season is upon us.  A little bit of snow today.  More on the way after the weekend.  The Town is looking good and so is the Mountain.  Hotel bookings are doing better than last year.  So people will be in Town.  The word on the street is that bookings are up because room rates are way down.  This is a great time to book your vacation with us.  COME TO VAIL. On the Real Estate front….things are moving.  Early this summer there were over 450 homes for sale from East Vail to West Vail.  Today there are 418.  Every day I watch as more Vail properties go under contract and are sold.  Fortunetly, some of those sales have been with my buyers.  I like being a buyer’s agent.  In fact right now I’m negotiating to put another Vail Condo under contract.  But I can’t write too much ab... 12/17/2009

The Vail All The Love campaign is going to continue through the winter and into next summer.  This program is the Town and Ski Company’s insider answer to the economic situation.  It is the place to go for deals.  Your Epic pass will work for discounts at most establishments here in town.  You can also pick up your VailAllTheLove card at the information centers in the Village and in Lionshead.  Be sure to go to http://vailallthelove.com and look for the bargains. THERE ARE GREAT LODGING DEALS.  So before you make any hotel reservations check out Vailallthelove.com.  See you on the Mountain. 11/24/2009

It has been way too long since I last composed a blog post.  But better late than never.  So a brief overview of summer:  Vail Real Estate is picking up.  I've helped numerous buyers find great places here in Vail at great prices.  At the start of summer there were more than 450 properties on the market within the town.  Now we are almost at 400.  The best deals are some of the spec houses built in East and West Vail.  The builders are incredibly motivated and the homes are amazing. As far as our office goes we have new owners and a new name.  We are now Ascent Sotheby's International Realty.  This is a great change.  We've recently earned the exclusive listing for the Ritz Carlton Residences of Vail.  Stop by the office to see the model of this impressive project. And now ski season i... 11/15/2009

15 closings in the last six months in West Vail.  Two closings on Shasta Place in the last couple of weeks.  A new single family home closed for 2.75 million and a 4 bedroom duplex closed for 1.1 million both on Shasta Place.  If you are interested in this neighborhood I have a lot listed on the corner of Shasta and Gore Creek Drive.  The lot is .26 acres and is completely flat.  It is one of the only remaining flat lots left in the entire Town of Vail.  There are some more great deals throughout West Vail.  You can be in your new home before July 4th and the great summer events begin.  Give me a call:  970-331-5821. 05/14/2009

The Town of Vail, the local business community, and Vail Resorts have teamed up to bring back vailallthelove.com for the summer.  Go check out the website: http://vailallthelove.com.  You will find incredible lodging, dining, and restaurant specials.  If you are thinking about coming to Vail this summer make sure to check out the website.  There is no snow in our current forecast. This is a good thing.  The daffodils and tulips are out and the sun is shining.  Come on out and visit us this summer.  You can also check the calendar of events at vail.com.  There is an event every weekend this summer, sometimes two. The first event of the year is the Teva Mountain Games.  They start June 4th. There is so much to do when the snow melts.  Come on and visit us in Vail. 05/14/2009

Vail Valley home tax assessments up 13% on average  Vail Valley property owners received an economic jolt this week. The real estate tax assessment which happens every two years raised the average residence tax value up 13%.  The hardest hit areas in the recent down turn had some major increases.     Eagle up 25%, Gypsum up 17.5% ,Avon up 14.5% ,Edwards up 10%. County wise single family homes were valued up 13% and condominiums up 13.5%.  Appeals can be filed in writing or email before May 29th and the assessor has been inundated with irate calls. Unfortunately the period set by law for evaluations were done on the sales between January 1st 07 and June 30th 08 which was right at the top of market here. It is only that small window that is used to assess homes for the next tax period.  T... 05/08/2009

   AUCTION AUCTION AUCTION  EVERY WHERE AN AUCTION  Vail/Lionshead, Beaver Creek, Bachelor Gulch, and Arrowhead We are seeing a push to create a real estate auction market here in the Vail Valley. So are auctions the answer to getting everyone off the fence? Will it get the market moving? Who comes out the best? Sellers who send their real estate to auction are finally really sellers. The caveat is that this is true only if the reserve (minimal accepted bid) is at a realistic price when their past listed price was not realistic (did not bring forth any buyers). If it is too high then it will still be unsold real estate since they are in de facto the highest bidder. Buyers who show up as end users along side the speculators and bid can create the new bar to create sustainable comparables... 05/05/2009

The last few weeks of ski season, or the first couple weeks of April have seen record snow fall at Vail and Beaver creek.  The great snow conditions coupled with Easter and Holy week falling so late in the year has somewhat helped Vail to recover some lost revenue. Real estate which follows the visitor trend was way off. See stats on www.VailValleyLiving.com. The last two weeks of March saw lower lift-ticket revenue than usual and less than stellar snow fall.   Both retail shops and rental agencies reported similar experiences seeing some slight decline over the normal numbers for end of March. Guest bookings for the entire 2008-2009 ski season were down around 12.8 percent compared to last year.  And while Vail resorts also saw a 6.2% decline in skier visits compared with last year, d... 04/24/2009

White water kayaking became a passion of mine now over 5 years ago. Since then it has taken me all over the rivers of Colorado, to many other states in the US and twice to the jungles of South America. It is truly an exceptional experience and life changing sport. Not to mention, kayaking is a great way to seek out investment property...I have several rental houses on one of my favorite runs on Gore Creek. Friend and local professional kayaker Brad Lundin founded First Decents 8 years ago to provide an opportunity for kids with cancer to share in this exceptional sport. These camps for kids are paid for by donations of time, resources, food and money. Those of you who have purchased cash flow properties from us at http://www.ezkeyre.com, I know you have some extra income this year. For ... 12/30/2008

Sorry about this, but you’ll just have to indulge me for a post.  The snow keeps falling.  The snow keeps falling.  The snow keeps falling.  The snow keeps falling.  The snow keeps falling.  The snow keeps falling.  The snow keeps falling. (Note to reader:  I did not use cut and paste.  Each letter was meticulously typed) This is a magical early season.  Magical, you say, isn’t that a bit hyperbolic?  No its not.  I say magical because the snow keeps falling but the thermometer doesn’t.  Sure we had a cold snap last week, but right now the temperature is perfect and the snow keeps falling.  You so need to be here.  The skiing is great. Now there is also one other thing that is falling, or at least not rising.  And that is the prices on Vail Real Estate.  There are deals here people.  I’... 12/23/2008

  I'm using this blog post as an excuse to post a picture of my son skiing last year.  The two of us have already skied a bunch this year.  It is amazing how much he has improved as he has grown.  I look forward to watching him become a better skier than me.  It shouldn't be long. I just spoke to some of my friends who still work on the mountain, and they tell me things are looking very good on the backside of Vail Mountain.  Blue Sky Basin is opening this weekend.  It is shaping up to be a pretty wonderful December.  If you haven’t booked your vacation here yet....what are you waiting for?  Airline prices have come way down, there are hotel deals to be had, and the skiing is great.  Vail Resorts and the Town have teamed up to create a great website full of amazing deals.  Check out ht... 12/11/2008

We didn't get the snow as predicted.  This is usual.  The biggest snow storms in Vail are the ones that hit by surprise.  The warnings and watches only insure that almost no snow falls.  Funny how it works that way, but it is consistent. It looks like we might get some snow today, but I'm not predicting any amounts, I can't take the chance. No on to the title and main subject of this blog post.   I went to a Bravo, Vail Music Festival Board meeting yesterday.  Yes I know the ski season is just beginning but we have to keep the calendar moving.  Planning is going well for Summer 2009.  Dallas, Philadelphia, and the New York Philharmonic are all coming to Vail this summer.  The program is now being finalized and I can assure you, this is going to be one of the best classical music festiv... 12/10/2008

Ok, even though I didn't get too many responses to my "duplicate blog posts" post, I think I've come to grips with my problem.  Notice that is "problem" with small letters.  I'll never come to grips with my PROBLEMS.  But like I've written before, it is all a work in progress.  So here is my solution.  I'm going to post my meta-posts here on activerain.  But not exclusively.  I might post similar ramblings in other appropriate places.  I'm going to post my specific real estate posts on my personal blog ourvailskihome.com.  And if appropriate repost them here on activerain.  I think this will work nicely.  I'll be able to use each of the sites for their strengths.   Appropriate uses of the tools at our disposal.  I think this arrangement will be effective, efficient and will hopefully sp... 12/08/2008

I have to admit that I've been posting twice.  I write an entry for my blog here on activerain, and then I post the same text over at my own blog: ourvailskihome.com.  I'm not sure if this is kosher but it is what I've been doing.  Obviously this post is exclusively for active rain.  Do other people post twice.  Is there a down side to it?  What do you think?  I'm going to try and create fresh content on both sites....but that takes a bit more work.  We'll see how it goes.   I did just change the website listing on my profile to my own blog versus my companies website.  This is all a work in progress, but then again what isn't?  My business certainly is. Speaking of works in progress I wanted to call everyone's attention to some amazing non-real estate deals in Vail.  As you might have ... 12/06/2008

Vail is Vail.  That’s just the way it is.  We are very unique.  Even though we feel the economic distress, it manifests itself a little differently here.  Unlike the rest of the country our Real Estate is basically holding its value.  Of course there is a lot more inventory on the market right now, because sales have slowed, but for the most part prices haven’t really come down.   What does this mean for you, a potential buyer?  Well first and foremost you have your pick of homes.  If you are looking for a 1 Bedroom penthouse, you can find it.  If you are looking for a 5 bedroom condo in the village, you can find it.  And while there are no promises that you’ll get a screaming deal....I can assure you that sellers will seriously consider your offer, especially if it is a cash offer.   ... 12/05/2008

I’m well aware that the economy isn’t doing so well.  People are worried.  People are losing their jobs.  I know I know I know.  But as cruel as it seems, downturns are sometimes the best times to get ahead.  The Vail market is doing fine, in the context of the rest of the Nation.  We are still going strong.  People still want to ski, and there is only one Vail mountain.  But that being said, there is more real estate inventory on the market now than at any time in recent memory.   This means that in Vail, it is a buyer’s market.  Prices have softened up, some.  But even without the softening, you, Mr. or Ms. Buyer, are in the driver’s seat.  You have your choice of some pretty amazing homes.   If you have ever dreamed of owning a piece of Vail, now is the best time.  You should give m... 12/03/2008

Here is the ultimate guide to Vail Skiing and the town written by a local.  You can read more of Dave's writings at his website:  realvail.com http://www.skinet.com/ultimatevail 12/01/2008

Thanksgiving is over and in my humble opinion was a success.  Seemed like a normal Thanksgiving.  I couldn’t tell that the sky was falling all around.  But that is probably due to the fact that the snow which was falling blinded me from the greater realities.  Snow has a way of doing that, especially when you live in a ski town.  Vail is our refuge, a shelter from the storm.  We are sheltered here from the everyday, real world storms, by the snow storms (which we are supposed to get again tomorrow). Snow has a way of making everything good.  One thing I noticed immediately when I moved here was that the first thing out of local’s mouths is, “it’s all good.”  What a great sentiment.  It is all good here in Vail.  Even with the minor and major issues we face.  Vail keeps things in perspe... 12/01/2008