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Steamboat Springs — Prudential Steamboat Realty is again hosting the Tour de Steamboat Pre-Ride Benefit Dinner/Silent Auction at 6 p.m. Friday outside at the Sheraton Pavilion.

All proceeds from the dinner are being donated to The Sunshine Kids Foundation’s annual Steamboat Winter Games trip. Every winter, The Sunshine Kids provides children with cancer the opportunity to visit Steamboat for winter activities.

Bidding for this year’s silent auction is available online and can be accessed through www.prusteamboat.com. More than 100 items are available and consist of exotic vacation rentals, skis, memberships, gift certificates and more.

Tickets for the dinner are $25 (includes dinner and beer) and are on sale at Prudential Steamboat Realty or can be reserved at 970-879-8100.

“This is a great way to spend an evening with friends while bidding on items in support of giving some amazing kids an experience they will never forget,” said Paul Knowles, marketing director for Prudential Steamboat Realty.

To learn more about, or to sign up for, the Tour de Steamboat ride, visit www.tourdesteamboat.com.

To learn more about the Sunshine Kids, visit www.sunshinekids.org.

Alpine Mountain Ranch promotes Kathy Cain

Kathy Cain has been promoted to development project manager at Alpine Mountain Ranch & Club, a 1,200-acre, high-value private community in Steamboat Springs.

Cain will assume greater responsibility for day-to-day operations at the ranch, including responsibility for ranch management, sales, marketing and administration.

“Kathy has done a wonderful job at Alpine Mountain Ranch and Club since her arrival and has earned the opportunity to make greater contributions,” Bill Reid said. He will continue working for Alpine Mountain Ranch developer Corporex while living in Idaho.

Reid will make monthly visits to Steamboat Springs to support Cain. Moose Barrows will remain in his role as marketing consultant.

“Kathy has been very involved in the completion and promotion of our new market home and made significant contributions in all areas of the operation. Andy Daly and I have every confidence in Kathy, who will now lead the Alpine Mountain Ranch & Club team,” said Bill Butler, owner of Corporex and managing partner of Alpine Mountain.

Aspen sees 14 sales of homes priced at $10M

Scott Condon, of the Aspen Times, reported last week that eight-figure homes are on the rebound in glitter gulch.

There already have been 14 sales of homes priced in excess of $10 million, and another three houses at that price level are under contract, Condon reported. That’s only one sale behind the record for a year.

Andrew Ernemann, of B.J. Adams & Co., noted in Condon’s story that one of every four sales of single-family homes in Aspen so far this year has been for $10 million or more.

“This fact alone is a clear indicator that Aspen continues to appeal to the world’s wealthy, and that buyers at the top of the real estate food chain are investing in the local real estate market in greater proportions than even the best years of the last market run,” Ernemann said.

One Realtor said there are a lot of European buyers active in Aspen right now — and not all Russians. Morris said buyers also are coming from Mexico and Brazil, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

There are signs that the Aspen market overall is faring better in 2011 than it did in 2010, which marked an improvement from 2009. Ernemann’s research shows that 40 single-family homes have been sold in Aspen this year, compared with 72 in all of last year and 55 in 2009. Overall, there have been 92 sales of single-family homes, condominiums, townhouses and single-family lots for $375.24 million in Aspen over the first half of the year. That’s up 51 percent in transactions, and 44 percent in dollar volume over first-half 2010, his report said.

Snowmass Village is probably six to 12 months behind Aspen in the recovery, Ernemann said.

“Prices have slipped further from 2010 levels, but are showing signs of leveling,” his report said.

Low prices are spurring strong sales in Basalt and eating into a big inventory. However, there are still a lot of short sales and sales of bank-owned properties, which are affecting prices. Basalt’s recovery is probably another 12 to 24 months behind that of Snowmass, according to Ernemann.