The list includes well known hospitality companies such as the Ritz-Carlton Club and the Four Seasons Club, to independent developments which offer an equally high standard of residences, services and amenities.

Vail village in the snow

Different clubs offer a choice of two-, three- and four- bedroom homes, available in shares from one quarter ownership to 1/12 ownership. Most of the clubs also have pools, spas and hot tubs, for that all important après ski relaxation. Each of them also has a concierge to help you plan each vacation at your home in the mountains and some provide staff such as ski valets to make vacations totally carefree.

After helping many buyers, we’ve found that the biggest challenge can be just narrowing down your choices to find the club that best fits your travel and vacation style. So to help clients, we’ve produced a private residence club comparison chart, which gives an overview of the clubs, and summarizes the key things to think about.

Whether you’re just starting to look at buying a home in Vail or if you’re considering one of the specific clubs, please get in touch with Terry. She’ll send you the chart and walk through the key things to consider. Contact Terry on the phone or email at the top right of this page or through the form here.

I get asked this question multiple times a day. Sometimes I have to stop myself from responding with the one word answer that was ingrained into my brain early on in my sales career–UNBELIEVABLE!

Prices are unbelievably low if you’re a buyer, which translates into a good market.

Tilt your head upward, smile, raise your voice and say it out-loud adding inflection at the end … “Unbelievable”

Prices are unbelievably low if you’re a seller, which translates into a bad market.

Look down at the ground, lower your voice, frown and say it out-loud adding a long sigh at the end… “Unbelievable”

Every product and service has a “market.”  And every market has two faces; and .

Let’s take a look at the residential, whole ownership numbers so you can decide if the market timing is right for you to jump in or out of the market.  (Vail & Beaver Creek shared ownership statistics will be reviewed next week).

So how is the market?  From the above graphs one could say the Vail Valley Real Estate market has stabilized and is even starting to see an upturn in regards to the number of transactions.  It is encouraging that the 2012 ski season—a winter with record low snowfall which resulted in record low visitor numbers—is showing Real Estate transaction numbers that are on-par and slightly higher than those for both 2010 and 2011.  If you look back in history for the past decade you will find that 2005 had the greatest number of residential transactions with 1594.  2009 was the lowest with 506.**

However, when people pose the question “How is the Vail Valley Real Estate Market?” They aren’t just asking about how much inventory has sold.  They also want to know how much that inventory sold for.  Let’s take a look.

You will hear many Vail area real estate professionals refer to 2007 as the “Peak” of the market—the peak in pricing.  But if you recall the peak in transactions was two years earlier in 2005.  From looking at the graph for the number of transactions we can feel very comfortable in saying the bottom of the market for the number of transactions was 2009.

If we follow the same trend with the peak of pricing coming in 2007, two years after the peak for transaction numbers, can we theorize that the bottom for price was reached in 2011? —two years after the bottom of transaction numbers.

Sure we can theorize, but we’ll have to wait till the end of 2012 to prove whether or not the theory is right or wrong.

In the meantime, I’m going to listen to my gut.

My gut tells me the parachute has finally opened and we are no longer free-falling into an abyss.  Despite poor snow conditions, Vail area businesses are reporting record sales numbers from our visitors.  I and my real estate colleagues are busy showing properties.  We are seeing multiple offers for homes in Eagle & Gypsum and some properties being on the market fewer than 15 days.  Low and mid-range priced properties in East Vail are being snatched up by “first-time, second home buyers.”   The high end market has already seen 14 sales over $4 million with a dollar volume of over $99 Million.

Both my horoscope and fortune cookie were wrong about the lucky lotto numbers for the mega millions jackpot, but my gut was right about the triple cheese and sausage pizza…

Source of all data is the Vail Board of Realtors, Multiple Listing Service.  **Transaction data is for Residential properties classified as Single Family, Duplex, Condo, Triplex and Townhome.  Parking spaces, mobile homes, land and commercial sales were not included in the data.  Partial Ownership will be covered in a following market update  *Above data includes the portions of Eagle County commonly referred to as the Vail Valley which stretches from  East Vail to Gypsum.  Data does not include the portions of Eagle County that fall outside of the “Vail Valley” nor property transactions recorded with Eagle county, but not shown in the VBR MLS. Information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.  For a detailed market analysis for a specific Vail Valley neighborhood contact Terry Krueger 970-306-6810 |terrykrueger6@gmail.com

]]> http://fractionalspecialist.com/hows-the-vail-valley-real-estate-market/vail/feed/ 0 http://fractionalspecialist.com/20122013-vail-epic-pass-on-sale/vail/ http://fractionalspecialist.com/20122013-vail-epic-pass-on-sale/vail/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 22:08:25 +0000 Nick http://fractionalspecialist.com/?p=837 [Continue Reading]]]> Ok, so ski season didn’t end that long ago, but for everyone who plans ahead, the new season passes are on sale – get ready for hitting the slopes next winter.

The adult Epic Pass, with unlimited access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, and Arapahoe Basin, is $659. The child pass, for kids from 5-12, is $339.

The passes come loaded with 6 discounted “Ski with a friend” tickets. All you need to do is take your guest to the ticket window and present your pass to receive the discount. Plus if you buy your pass before May 13 you’ll be entered in a draw for a chance to win 50 nights of free lodging.

My favorite piece of all the Vail ski passes is the EpicMix feature. It is very cool to be able to look back at the end of the day and see all the lifts you went on and even better to do the same at the end of the week or end of the season.

The bank requires a 30% down payment and then offers 20 year loans with an initial 5 year fixed rate. The interest rates range from 6%-6.75%. Like any mortgage product, they told us their rates are subject to change with market conditions and qualification is based on income and credit checks.

Living Room in Vail Fractional Home

Millenium’s Vail branch is in West Vail close to the Safeway supermarket. Their other branches are in Edwards, Steamboat, Winter Park, Englewood and Breckenridge.

It’s good to see this financing available, because there’s been a gap in the market for fractional mortgages. When the market was booming there were several companies providing funding, but this number dropped as the real estate market slowed. The fact that new lenders are entering the market and providing mortgage funding is a good sign that a healthy market is returning.

In both cases these were the first rises since the start of the recession and so are good signs that the economy is now starting to rebound.

The NAR reported that 42 percent of vacation-home buyers paid in cash and plan to own their vacation property for a median of 10 years.

Further data from the NAR report showed eight out of 10 vacation home buyers thought it was a good time to buy, and one-third of these buyers said they were likely to purchase another property within two years.

Here at FractionalSpecialist, we think these numbers and signs are all very encouraging. It’s certainly a good time to buy, with prices in the Vail Valley well down from the peak levels, meaning there are good deals to be had. The residence clubs are a sensible way to acquire a home, because you can buy just what you need in a fully maintained and serviced luxury property, without having the headaches that come with maintaining your own stand alone home.

(The NAR survey is detailed here) ]]> http://fractionalspecialist.com/sales-of-vacation-homes-up-in-2011/realestate/feed/ 0 http://fractionalspecialist.com/early-bird-gets-more-than-worms/uncategorized/ http://fractionalspecialist.com/early-bird-gets-more-than-worms/uncategorized/#comments Sat, 14 Apr 2012 22:23:54 +0000 terrykrueger6 http://fractionalspecialist.com/?p=780 [Continue Reading]]]>

The early bird gets more than worms in Vail and Beaver Creek.  He gets the best deal when it comes to ski passes.

Tomorrow Vail and Beaver Creek will say adieu to the 2011/12 ski season.  Those attending the closing weekend festivities and pond skimming contest will already be looking forward to when they can get up on the hill again.  Many have already secured the lowest guaranteed rate for next season’s ski passes by reserving early with a $49.00 deposit.  Sunday, April 15 is the deadline to lock in the lowest guaranteed rate for the 2012/13 ski season.

Vail Resorts owns and operates seven ski areas in Colorado and California.  A full Epic Pass will give you unlimited skiing and riding at the Colorado Resorts of Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail, Beaver Creek and A-Basin.  In California take advantage of three Lake Tahoe area resorts:  Heavenly, North Star and Kirkwood.

2012/2013 season passes range in price from $179-$659.  There are options for children, teens and adults.  For more information and to receive  the “Early Bird” rate visit www.EpicPass.com

The 2011/2012 ski season didn’t see the epic snowfall that we were blessed with last year, but as always there was no shortage of entertainment options for visitors.

This weekend we celebrate the closing of the ski areas with “Spring Back to Vail” which includes a series of free concerts and of course the World Championship Pond Skimming Contest held at Golden Peak on Sunday.

Musical acts for the five-day closing party include Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Thievery Corporation, DJ Logic, JJ Grey and Mofro, The Sessh, Iration  and Schwing Daddy.

A complete line-up and schedule of events can be found at www.vail.com/springback

Close out pricing is being offered on the remaining developer inventory at The Park Hyatt Residences in Beaver Creek.  For as little as $45,000 members will enjoy one fixed ski week plus 10 additonal float days.   View more info and the available fractional residences at The Park Hyatt Beaver Creek  or email terry@fractionalspecialist.com.