Steamboat Pilot & Today

Tom Ross

Tom Ross' column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in Steamboat Today. Contact him at 970-871-4205 or tross@SteamboatToday.com.

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The Steamboat real estate market put out some green shoots of its own in April, chalking up the greatest volume in terms of dollars and units sold in 2009. Bruce Carta, of Land Title Guarantee Co., reports 38 units sold in April accounting for $27 million.

Realistically, that $27 million still represents the lowest April total in six years - 2008 saw $67 million, and April 2007 more than doubled any previous April at $154 million. April 2004 was the next lowest recent total, at $42.8 million.

Carta's figures for units sold exclude all fractional/interval units, which totaled 15 last month.

Thompson in place at One Steamboat Place

Lance Thompson, who became director of resort operations at Timbers Resorts in February, will oversee all operations at One Steamboat Place in Steamboat, due to be completed in December.

Thompson is actively reaching out to make personal contact with OSP buyers.

Most recently, he was vice president of operations with The PlumpJack Group and previously with Auberge Resorts in a variety of management positions including organizing the operations at The Residences at Esperanza and Calistoga Ranch. At One Steamboat Place, Thompson's responsibility will include oversight of the Truffle Pig Restaurant and the Spa.

Hayden sees 5 sales in April; Stagecoach has 3

The Hayden real estate market saw five transactions in April with an average value of $252,000 and totaling $1.25 million.

Oak Creek and Phippsburg combined for two sales totaling $315,000. Stagecoach saw three sales for a combined $840,000.

West outperforms national home sales

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales increased by 2.9 percent nationally in April when compared to March. But the national statistics obscure the fact that the West is outperforming other regions of the country.

In the West, sales of existing homes were up 3.5 percent, according to the NAR. The discrepancy is more noteworthy when year over year statistics - comparing April 2009 to April 2008 - are analyzed.

April over April, the West was up 19.4 percent and was the only region reflecting a positive trend. The Northeast was down 10.5 percent, the Midwest was down 9.9 percent and the South was down 8.9 percent, leaving the national trend down 3.5 percent, according to NAR.

A recent NAR survey of its Realtors suggests the number of first-time buyers declined to 40 percent of the total in April. The results were taken as a sign that more repeat buyers are entering the market during the traditional spring home-buying season.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said it is important that distressed properties be quickly cleared from the market.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that a record 12 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are behind on their payments or are in foreclosure.