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Real Estate Picking Up? Aspen Property Managment

Posted on March 26th, 2011

Aspen Property Management

If the current employment market is a sign of the times, it looks like there will be more Aspen property management.  Several of the bigger architectural firms in the Aspen area are hiring this spring.

The design firms of Poss Architecture and Planning, Harry Teague Architects, Cottle Carr Yaw Architects and Design Workshop have each hired additional employees in recent weeks. These companies each indicate that business is up this year and have new projects to design.

Poss Architecture said 2007 and 2008 were the best years in the companies 35-year history. They don’t  think business will get back to that level in the near future
Architectural firms are a good predictor for the construction industry. Their design projects equate to work for contractors and subcontractors a half a year or so later.
Poss Architects are designing a large hotel in North Carolina. This project was placed on hold during the recession. It is a good sign that the developers felt the economy improved enough so they can move ahead with the design.
Clients are looking for the best prices. Poss Architects has reduced its prices and at the same time reducing its costs.  That resulted in laying off employees and reducing salaries for the remaining staff.  Aspen property management companies are also optimistic.

Poss Architects has already hired additional staff. At its peak Poss employed 56 people. Then it went down to 22 people and is currently back to 30 employees.

Harry Teague Architects, who does not do Aspen property management, has also had his firm shrink and grow over the years.  Employees would sometimes go from one firm to another depending on who had work at the time.

This tim, however business fell off for almost all of the architectural companies at the same time.

Teague Archtiects is also picking up this year.  His firm has hired four people, an increase of 50%.
Cottle Carr Yaw Architects added four employees.  Aspen property management is not in their scope of work.  They had 38 employees in 2008.  They are now back up to about 20 employees.

Design Workshop has hired 4 new employees.
Let’s all hope for the best in the near future.

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The State Of Aspen Real Estate

Posted on February 14th, 2011

Aspen Real Estate

The real estate market in the upper Roaring Fork Valley showed some signs of recovery in 2010, but a lack of improvement over 2009 would have been a disaster since 2009 was so bad.

The dollar volume of all Aspen real estate sales in Pitkin County increased 17.75 percent in 2010 to $1.26 billion, up from $1.07 billion in the prior year, according to research by Land Title Guarantee Co. But the number of transactions countywide fell almost 2 percent in 2010 from 2009. It was the fourth straight year of fewer sales.

High-end buyers are driving the improvement in the Aspen real estate market. Sales of condominiums and single family homes in Aspen through the Multiple Listing Service used by real estate agents was up 15 percent in 2010 over 2009. However, the sale price per square foot continued to decline while the average number of days on market continued to increase.

Recovery is coming slower to the midvalley real estate market, according to multiple real estate agents. A flood of inventory and low prices have started to spur buyers’ interest. Activity  should  increase in 2011, particularly on properties priced below $500,000.

Foreclosures and bank-owned sales continue to influence the midvalley market. There have been about 110 foreclosures initiated in the Basalt zip code since the effects of the recession were felt in early 2009, according to the Eagle County Public Trustee’s web site. Roughly one-third of those foreclosures were withdrawn, indicating the lender and borrower worked out a solution. Roughly another third were resolved by foreclosure sale or were deeded to the lender. The remaining third are pending or are held up by bankruptcy of the borrowers.

The foreclosure sales are one factor that make it hard to determine whether midvalley prices have bottomed out.

The flood of homes on the market in recent years has slowed the construction of new homes to a trickle. Some local contractors have disappeared; others have expanded their services to survive.

David Brown, owner of High Con Inc., a 24-year-old firm that pours concrete foundations, sidewalks and driveways, said 2007 was one of his busiest years ever. He specializes in custom homes and also does commercial buildings. Work fell off drastically for the next three years, 2008-10, but he was positioned to weather the recession, in large part because he paid off debt and replaced equipment when times were good.

“If something like this would have hit me in my first 10 years, I probably wouldn’t have survived it,” Brown said.

The recession forced him to lay off about 20 percent of his crew and cut pay 5 percent across the board. The belt-tightening paid off. Activity has picked up in 2011 and High Con is now working two big jobs on large custom homes and two smaller jobs. Brown said he is confident he will have plenty of work into the summer and, signs indicate, beyond. “This year’s looking better,” he said.

He has hired five workers in the last 30 days and is up to a crew of 27 compared to 18 one year ago.

He is accustomed to earning jobs through strong relationships with contractors and his firm’s reputation for high-quality work. Now, bottom-dollar bids are required because so many companies are competing for so few jobs.

Statistics from the city of Aspen building department confirm that point. There were roughly the same number of city-issued building permits in 2009 and 2010, but the median and average value of projects was drastically lower last year.

The total estimated value of the permitted work in 2009 was $101.31 million, compared to $96.23 million last year, according to the building department. The average value per permit was $113,743 in 2010.

“This is the lowest average permit value that we’ve been able to quantify since 2003,” said Stephen Kanipe, chief building official for the city of Aspen.

In 2007, during the boom years, the average permit value was nearly $800,000. In 2009, the average permit had a value of $375,223.

The median value of permitted work was $9,000 last year compared to $35,155 in 2009, the city’s data shows.

What the statistics suggest, Kanipe said, is homeowners and commercial building owners “are being cautious with their money.”

People are still using Aspen property management companies.

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Aspen Real Estate Improves In 2010

Posted on February 5th, 2011

Aspen Real EstateIt wasn’t the glory days of a few years ago, but Aspen real estate sales activity signaled a rebound in 2010, a new report shows.

The total dollar volume of Aspen real estate sales in Pitkin County was $1.26 billion for an increase of nearly 18 percent over recession-ravaged 2009, according to a year-end report issued this week by Land Title Guarantee Co.

The prior year topped out at sales of $1.07 billion. In 2008, when the recession struck, sales were $1.37 billion.

The last three years were in contrast to the boom in the market during the middle of the prior decade. Aspen real estate sales volume peaked in 2006 at $2.64 billion.

There were 689 total transactions in the county in 2010, a decrease of 2 percent from the prior year, the report said.

The average sale price for single family homes in 2010 was $4.34 million. That was a decrease of 11 percent from $4.90 million in 2009, Land Title Guarantee Co. said.

The average median price of single-family home sales increased 1 percent to $3.18 million.

The real estate market ended up on a roll in the fourth quarter of 2010. Sales were up 56 percent in October, 45 percent in November and 54 percent in December. For the year, dollar volume was up in eight out of the 12 months.

In Garfield County, the dollar volume for 2010 was $248.88 million. That was an increase of 5.5 percent over 2009. The number of transactions in Garfield County in 2010 was 699, an increase of almost 11 percent from the prior year.

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Wanna Buy Beatles Real Estate In Aspen?

Posted on January 16th, 2011

Aspen Real Estate

Ringo Starr is selling his Aspen, Colorado real estate that he has been enjoying for more than 20 years. This includes a three-bedroom, 3,200 sq. ft. home with 16 acres.  It is listed for sale for a mere $4,500,000.

Ringo Starr was the drummer in the Beatles.  He and his wife, Barbara Bach, bought the this Aspen  real estate in 1991.  The home was built in 1987.  It is on the Roaring Fork River a few miles outside of downtown Aspen.
There are other high profile people that have homes nearby including Don Henley of the Eagles, musician John Oates of Hall and Oates, actor Don Johnson, the late Ed Bradley, and former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The home is not going to be publically listed but will be available by word of mouth to qualified buyers.

The home sits on the river and with 16 acres has a ranch like feeling.

Aspen Real Estate Ringo Starr home

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So, How Was Aspen Real Estate In 2010?

Posted on January 2nd, 2011

Aspen Real Estate Property Management

The real estate market across the US didn’t do so great in 2010.  But Aspen, that’s another story. We continue to make headlines for the Aspen real estate market not only for high end sales, but for other news as well.
Two of the most expensive custom homes sold in Aspen’s history this year. A West Buttermilk property was sold in October for $31.5 million. In addition hedge fund manager John A. Paulson bought  a luxury home on McLain Flats Road for $24.5 million. Paulson is a billionaire who made his money betting against the subprime mortgage sector. You may have seen a segment about him on 60 Minutes.  He was also named in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Goldman Sachs.

The sale of this Aspen real estate was publicized when a local news website originally stated that the former U.S. Treasury secretary Henry Paulson bought the McLain Flats estate. Then as things often happen in the news world, that erroneous story was reported by Huffington Post and many other websites.

Sales of high end Aspen real estate sales were one of the dominant trends in 2010.  There were several high end sales in addition to the McClain Flats deal that sold before the end of the year.

There were also real estate auctions that took place in 2010.  Not all of them were successful. The properties that were successful included Aspen’s Stage 3 theater property which sold for $3.6 million and a 530 acre Rifle ranch which was subdivided into 14 separate parcels. There was a luxury home at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale that did not sell at its auction.

A Main Street Victorian home that was unoccupied for years because of a family disagreement may be turned into an employee housing project. Two sisters-in-law each owned half the house. This was an interesting situation.  There was a for sale sign on the property and at the same time a sign in the window of the home stating that one half of the property was not for sale. The two sisters finally resolved their differences. Then a developer bought both interests for $1,900,000 and would like to build affordable housing on the property.

There is now another luxury home getting ready to be auctioned this month.  It also happens to be off of McClain Flats Road.  It has previously been on the market for almost $14,000,000.  It was built as a spec home.  The advertisements state that there is no minimum bid.  But what they don’t’ talk about is whether or not there is a reserve price.  If there is a reserve then buyers can bid any price they want however the low bidder is not guaranteed to own the home if the reserve (minimum acceptable) price is not met.

What do you think about the auction process?  Should you even make the effort if there is no reserve price?

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More Downtown Aspen Real Estate Purchased

Posted on December 17th, 2010

Aspen real estate

Two pieces of Aspen real estate in downtown Aspen which includes consignment shop Susie’s Limited and the adjacent property were purchased by developer Greg Hills Austin Lawrence Partners.

Austin Lawrence Partners  consists of Greg Hills and wife Jane Hills.  They bought 623 E. Hopkins Ave. in November for $2.5 million. Three buildings sit on the property, including Susie’s, a hair salon, and Susie’s on the Alley. Susie’s owner Susan Harvey has had the consignment shop for 20 years.

In September, Austin Lawrence Partners  bought 205 S. Spring St.  That is the corner lot next to Susie’s where the Victorian house sits. For almost 40 years the house belonged to William R. “Adam” Walton. He passed away in 2009, leading the Hills to buy the house from his estate for $4.6 million.  They have bought several parcels of downtown Aspen real estate in the last few years.

The Hills now own half of the 600 block of East Hopkins Avenue.

“I’m not trying to be evasive but I’m not sure,” Hills said regarding future plans. Austin Lawrence Partners  real estate projects include the Conner Cabins a block away and the Crandall Building which is on the corner of Spring Street and Hyman Avenue.  This building is being renovated and will include a third floor condominium.

“We bought these as investments … we like the historic nature of the properties,” Hills said of the latest purchases.

Hills said he would keep in place the two years that Susie’s has remaining on the lease with the previous landowner.

“We always try to work with the existing people and figure out what their goals are,” Hills said.

The historic home is presently undergoing a remodel with an upgrade to the electrical systems, kitchen and interior walls. The home is going to be rented out to family when the renovation is finished.

Both properties are in the C-1 zone district.  This means that there is potential for more commercial and residential development. Austin Lawrence Partners  might consider an Aspen real estate expansion to the Walton house, or maybe a project that uses both properties.  That would be similar to the Conner Cabins project on Hopkins Avenue.  Here existing structures share the lots with new development of up to 2,500 square feet per lot.

“We like the combo of the two properties,” Hills said. “We want to re-energize that corner. There’s going to be a lot of activity at that end of town.”

Hills referred to the Aspen Art Museum development a block away, and his Crandall Building project, which has the same alley as the Hopkins Avenue properties. With the consolidated ownership in the alley, Hills said they will look at the “alley commercial” concept that the city would like to see for retail mixture.

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Another 8 Figure Purcahse Of Aspen Real Estate

Posted on December 9th, 2010

Aspen Real Estate

The Crown’s from Chicago have closed on the 42 acre Moore property at a price of $13 million.

This piece of Aspen real estate is located on Maroon Creek Rd. on the right as you are going up to the Aspen Rec Center. It is one of the largest pieces of land in Aspen that has development potential.

This acreage was the home for many years of Alberta Moore. The Moore’s are one of Aspen’s  old ranching families.  The property is accessed from Maroon Creek Road across from the high school football field.  It currently has one home built on this great piece of Aspen Real Estate.

The Crown family owns the Aspen Skiing Company. They also have hotels, sports teams and are owners in JPMorgan Chase and the government defense contractor General Dynamics.  The sale of this property closed on Nov. 22 in the name of S&J Investments, LLC, according to the Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder’s Office.

The Aspen Valley Medical Foundation was also trying to purchase the property for a continuing care retirement facility for housing and health care for Aspen’s senior population.

The Aspen Valley Medical Foundation offered $12 million to the Moore family but it was already under contract.

This valuable Aspen real estate also garnished interest from Aspen Country Day School, the city’s open space program and several other groups. Tom Moore had been presented with six legitimate offers for the property.

Jim Crown, Steven Crown, William Crown are on the title. Jim Crown is involved in the Aspen Ski Company.  He is brother to Steven Crown. William Crown is Jim’s cousin.

The Crown’s bought the land for themselves and not for the Aspen Ski Company. David Bellack said “I think they are going to study all their options,” Bellack said, when asked what the Crowns intend to do with the property. “It’s a beautiful, unique piece of property … It’s the last large piece of property in town … They are in Aspen for the long term and looked at it as a one-of-a-kind opportunity.”

The Crown’s also own other real homes in the Aspen area.

The Aspen Valley Medical Foundation wanted to purchase the property. However, they were not able to get the money together quickly enough.

Tom Moore wanted to get the property sold before the end of the year. The Aspen Valley Medical Foundation just were not able to do that.   They were hoping to build up to 100 units of housing for seniors on the property. Most of those units were for independent living while a smaller number of units would be for assisted living.  There would also be other units for nursing home type care.

There appears to be no other land for this kind of facility in Aspen.  The Aspen Valley Medical Foundation is now looking for property in the Basalt area.

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Prime Aspen Real Estate Lawsuit

Posted on December 4th, 2010
Aspen Real Estate

The Residences at Little Nell

The folks who own a nice piece of Aspen Real Estate just above the Residences at
Little Nell on Aspen Mountain have filed  another lawsuit this time against the City of Aspen. They believe that the building approvals for the Residences on Little Nell were improper or illegal.  These are high end fractional units.

The owners of this single family home have been attempting to get money from the  Residences developers for structural damages that occurred to their home during construction of the Residences..  They have brought about a separate lawsuit for the damages that the excavation of the project  caused.  They allege that there continues to be ongoing structural damage to their home. There are a number of neighbors that are claiming that this construction damaged their homes.

This lawsuit was filed on Wednesday.  The owner’s attorney describes the lawsuit as being
inter related and consistent with the other lawsuit against the developer.  They are asking the
district court judge to determine that the City of Aspen building department did not follow the proper codes they allowed the construction.  These codes include the city code, the International Building Code and federal law.

The mian basis of the lawsuit is that city building officials should have realized that construction for this project and building on the bottom at this prime piece of Aspen real estate on a steep slope could damage the residences located  above the project which is where these owner’s homes are.

The owner’s did file another lawsuit against the City of Aspen earlier this
year but dropped it so that they could go through some bureaucratic red tape with the
Aspen-Pitkin County Board of Appeals and Examiners. The city and the
attorneys agreed to forego those proceedings last month so that they could settle the
matter in court.

If they are successful with their claim because of the city approvals then this could help their ongoing case against the Residences developer. The case was set to go to trial in March 201. At a
status conference earlier this week there was an agreement to postpone the trial to an undetermined date.  This will allow city approval issue to be settled before a trial moves
forward.

This Aspen real estate project was approved by the Aspen City Council in 2004.  The final certificate of occupancy was issued in 2008.

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Aspen Real Estate Effects The Court System Too

Posted on November 29th, 2010
Aspen Real Estate

Courthouse in Aspen, Colorado

There has been a huge increase in the number of civil lawsuits in Aspen filed in Pitkin County this year.   The recession along with the crash of the Aspen real estate market is making 2010 looking as if it will have the most lawsuits ever filed in a single year.

Up until just a few days ago, the district court was heading towards more than twice the number of civil cases it had in 2010 versus 2007.  The main cause of this was that Aspen real estate foreclosure lawsuits went up more than four times.

“We are seeing more civil cases than we ever have,” according to court clerk Carolyn Jemison.

So far 387 civil lawsuits were filed this year. At this rate the total number should be in excess of the number in 2009 in which there were 408 and in 2008 there were 227 which is when the recession began.

Foreclosure proceedings lead this increase since they create requests by lenders who require public auctions on defaulted Aspen real estate.

There have been 123 foreclosure actions filed in 2010.  This is an increase from only 29 foreclosures in 2008 and 87 in 2009.

“The judge is spending more and more time on these and they are keeping us all very busy,” according to Jemison.

If someone is in foreclosures on expensive properties, such as we have in Aspen, they have the right to get an emergency hearing.  These emergency hearings will come ahead of other items scheduled on the docket. In 2008 there was only one hearing like this. So far his year there have been 12 such hearings.

In areas where there are larger populations there are specific judges assigned just for foreclosures. Since Aspen has only one district judge the emergency hearings have thrown off the court schedules.

Since many of the foreclosure victims are short on cash, they are attempting to go through the system without the help of expensive attorneys.  The court must educate these people which is also put a drain on their resources. Pitkin County has put together their own guide to help these people.

“We’ve noticed that people are typically more upset,” Jemison said. “They’re angry … Other than adoptions, no one is ever happy to be here in general. But these days we are dealing with more unhappy people.”

We wish all of the unfortunate people going through foreclosure the best of luck and hope that all works out well in the end.

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World Cup Is Here On Aspen Real Estate

Posted on November 27th, 2010
Aspen Real Estate

Women Skier Racing In Aspen

The skiing World Cup race course set on Aspen Mountain real estate is in great condition this year.  This is one of the finest conditions I can remember in my 36 years of living here.

Aspen chief of course Pat Callahan also agrees.

“This year it is a hard surface, but it is not icy like it was a year ago,” he said. “It’s grippy, it’s firm. This is exactly how we wanted it.”

The famous Olympian Lindsay Vonn was training on the Aspen course last week and also agreed.

“It was great,”  according to Vonn. “The snow was in great condition. They’ve worked really hard to make it a good surface, but not icy. I think they’ve really done a great job this year.”

You may remember last years race when Vonn hit a rock and slid during the slalom race.

“It’s essentially like pond ice,” Vonn said after last year’s slalom. “It’s like ice skating, and it becomes — it’s not ski racing anymore.”

Last year the Aspen real estate was very icy since the course had to be watered down due to a lack of snow.

This year mother nature cooperated with us.

Of course then you get the challenge that comes with too much snow as we had this year.  The snowcats actually had to push snow off of the Aspen real estate.

The Aspen GS course is very challenging even in the best of conditions.

“What sets Aspen apart from the other World Cups is just the terrain,” Vonn said. “It’s just an unforgiving hill and you have to be able to attack from the top to the bottom.”

Lindsey Vonn was keeping her role as a potential podium winner very low key.  She just wants to achieve points to stay high in the world cup rankings.

Maria Riesch is the skier who is now in first place after two races.

“My skiing is there, but I want to take it step by step,” Vonn said. “I’m gonna try to get a top 10 or a top five and if I have a good first run and I’m in a good position, then I’ll definitely try for a podium, but I’m just going to play it by ear and do the best I can.”

This year will include sixty five racers. The best thirty will get to race a second time.  The racer with the best combined time wins.

There is $100,000 available for the top racers.  This is for the best ten racers.

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