Archive for Sunday, October 3, 2010

2 condo projects in Steamboat land 1st contracts of season

Realtors see turnaround in prospective sales for September

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The Terraces at EagleRidge is within walking distance of the Steamboat gondola but hidden among mature trees along Burgess Creek.

— After a summer-long drought in the resort condominium market, Steamboat Realtors are seeing the modest beginnings of a change.

Beth Bishop, of Prudential Steamboat Realty, said she and Lisa Olson have put two condominiums in The Terraces at EagleRidge under contract this week (to different buyers), marking the first two prospective sales there since 2008. And Mark Scully, of Ski Town Lifestyle Properties, said two condominiums at Howelsen Place in downtown Steamboat Springs have just gone under contract, marking the first sales activity of the season there.

“We’re working on several more,” Scully said. “I haven’t seen this much activity since I got here in January 2008. We’ve had three very active prospects in the million-plus range. Real interested buyers reviewing contracts.”

Bishop said she saw things turn around in September.

“Most of the summer, the resort condo market has been quiet, but we’ve see a jump in just the last three weeks,” she said. “I hope this is good news for the six other Terraces units on the market.”

Susana Field, of Buyers Res­ource Real Estate, researched condominium sales through the Steamboat Springs Multiple Listing Service for June and July and came up with 21 transactions with a combined sales value of $8.99 million.

Data gleaned from the Routt County Assessor’s Office reflected a dozen condo sales in September with a combined sales value of $7.05 million. A pair of sales at Edgemont — at $1.1 million and $1.63 million — propped up the September figures.

Field pointed out that a single $1.13 million sale at The Olympian skewed the June/July number. A $949,000 transaction at Trappeurs Crossing ranked second on the June/July hit parade.

However, the meat and potatoes in condo sales during the past three months were in the $200,000 to $385,000 range.

“The activity this summer has been at the low end,” Scully acknowledged.

Bishop said she and Olson represented the sellers and buyers in The Terraces deals. She thinks the property, which dates to the late 1980s, is a sleeper in the category of condos that legitimately can claim to be within walking range of the ski area.

“Both of our buyers spent more than a week shopping for condos all over Steamboat,” she said.

Neither Bishop nor Scully is free to divulge sale prices, but the two Terraces units were listed at $294,000 and $349,000. The Terraces formerly was the most visible phase of the original EagleRidge project, but mature vegetation and the more recent Waterstone and Canyon Creek projects have screened The Terraces to the extent that the condominiums are secluded where they are situated adjacent to Burgess Creek on a walking path.

Bishop theorizes that the $680 monthly association fees scare some would-be buyers away. But you have to scrutinize what that includes, she said, with gas heat and an outdoor swimming pool.

Scully said his buyers are not investors. The condos were listed at $315,000 for a one-bedroom unit — originally deed-restricted, now market-rate — and $750,000 for a two-bedroom.

“One is a young couple from Texas, and the other is a family of four,” Scully said.

In both cases, they’re getting financing from Associated Bank in Wisconsin that funded Green Courte Patrtners’ construction loan for Howelsen Place. One buyer arranged a seven plus 23 adjusted mortgage with the first seven years at a fixed rate below 4 percent.

Bishop said one of her buyers was able to get a traditional loan at 4.75 percent from Wells Fargo Bank.

“We can’t quote loan rates because everyone is different and they change,” Bishop said, “But all of the banks in town have some program for resort condos right now.”

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