Breckenridge, Keystone and Summit County Places, Events and Things | SnowHome

Lance Armstrong wins the 2009 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:52:19 -0400

Lance Armstrong, American bike rider and cancer survivor wins the bizarre and brutal Leadville 100 in record time. A photo and video blog.

On August 15th, a small group of us left Frisco in the morning to glimpse the famous Leadville 100 mountain bike race. This brutal race starts at 6:30am and has a twelve hour cut-off. I believe there were 1,500 riders signed up, but a few hundred backed out. From my research, I understood that most of the first 40 or so miles has been friendly, but after the Twin Lakes feed station, people put down the hammer to try to make time on the Columbine Mine climb; we chose the base of the Columbine Mine climb as our spot.

As it turns out, we calculated the race correctly, and a lone rider came down the dirt path with incredible speed and began the climb. This fuzzy but telling video shows Lance Armstrong, in his LiveStrong helmet, as he powers away from the field and up to the base of the climb. He broke off from a speedy group of 8 some time after the 40 mile marker and he rode the rest of the race alone.

Three minutes after Lance started up the climb, a group containing Dave Wiens, the 44-year-old champ who has won this race 6 times in a row cruised by us and began their ascent.

By the time Lance passed us again, he had put 10 minutes into Wiens and eventually beat him by 7. Lance broke the course record by 15 minutes and nursed his bike over the red carpet to the finish with a flat tire.

A team of bike enthusiasts encouraged riders up the climb. They were lively and loud.

Denver Real Estate Market Set to Rebound first in the Nation

Fri, 22 May 2009 19:24:40 -0400

A Today Show interview that ranks Denver number one in recession rebound potential

This shot was taken from a deck of a two bedroom, single family home in Silverthorne, Colorado. From this deck, you can be skiing one of five world class ski resorts (Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, Copper, Loveland) within 20 minutes.

As a Realtor in Summit County, I watch the Denver real estate market. Many of our buyers come from Denver as the drive is direct and manageable and the opportunity to have a great investment is very probable. Recently, the Today's Show has an interview with Realtor Barbara Corcoran where she explains the success story in the making for Denver. Denver has all the right ingredients for a quick turnaround.

With Denver on the rise, we will rise as well. Right now we have a large amount of inventory and few buyers. We hope this does not last long but if you ever wanted to own a SnowHome, now is a great time to buy.

One word of advice, if you come to Summit to buy property, please use a local lender. I have had deals crumble at the closing table because a Buyer insisted on using a non-local lender. Our market in Summit County is unique and the lender must know the different market guidelines to clear the underwriting process. With loan guidelines getting stricter than a nun teaching fifth grade, your only prayer is that a local lender can sort out some of the confusion. Here in Summit County, Jim and Kevin Doyle at Lake Dillon Mortgage are masters at getting loans to close. They get the job done well and in record time.

A Tax Assessor's view of the Summit County Real Estate Market

Mon, 18 May 2009 19:51:59 -0400

Recent reliable statistics that show our counties time trend appreciation from Jan. 2007 to June 2008

Fresh statistics from the Summit Assessors that provide appreciation information. I find I have more trouble getting this statistic than any other. The County Assessor has compiled the data and I thought I would pass on the information to you.

These statistics compare previous sales (2004-2006) to January 2007- June 2008. That would mean that these numbers are pre-market downturn. As you can see from the Assessors information, even if our economy is going south, we did really well the last few years. The power point on the link below is 77 pages long. Below are some of the highlights-

Page 5 – shows each area that the study was broken down into

Page 6- shows the land appreciation statistics- this one is important and shocking. If we look at Vail and Aspen, we see a spike in land value just before we get to “build-out” where there isn’t any more land to build on. Both of those resort areas show dramatic appreciation in residential units, as you would expect, once the land market shrinks in inventory.

Page 9- shows a county wide appreciation of 24.5%

Pages 11/12- Appreciation in different parts of the county and with different property types.

Most of the rest of the presentation are pictures and prices of sales.

Take a look- http://www.co.summit.co.us/Assessor/bevs_presentation/2009%20county%20assessors%20report%20on%20property%20value.pdf

Our current situation is that Summit is lacking Buyers. The inventory prices are softening but have not dropped considerably as a whole. If we reach "build-out" and prices increase like they have in Pitkin (Aspen) and Eagle (Vail) counties, we could be having the small calm before the storm.

Average Single Family Home values

Pitkin 5,025,843

Eagle 1,387,844

Summit 800,914

Breckenridge, Keystone and Summit County Places, Events and Things | SnowHome

Lance Armstrong wins the 2009 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race

See Also

Denver Real Estate Market Set to Rebound first in the Nation

See Also

A Tax Assessor's view of the Summit County Real Estate Market

See Also