Have you ever been to the mountains in the summertime, such as Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, Keystone, Copper MT.?  If not, you are missing a hidden secret.  Many people come skiing here in the wintertime and have a wonderful time, yet they have never experienced a Summer here.

There is so much going on every weekend.  Every Friday there is a Farmer’s Market in Dillon, every Wednesday there is one in Frisco.  We have a BBQ challenge next weekend in Frisco, bike races going on.  There is a half marathon and 10k run from Copper-Frisco and beyond.  This weekend is a film festival happening in Breckenridge.  There are music concerts every Sat. night at the Dillon amphitheater that are FREE.  I can go on and on, if you want to find out more information check on my calendar of events on my website www.leahbaxter.com

Also don’t forget all of the free activities, hiking, biking, camping, just kicking back and relaxing and people watching.  If you are thinking about a second home in Summit county check out the MLS for free to see what you might be able to buy, or just give me a call Leah Baxter 970-389-6367.

The Woodward Camp at Copper Mountain is scheduled to open in the early part of 2009.  You may be wondering what is the Woodward Camp.  It is a huge indoor arena for athletes to practice Action Sports, snowboarding, skateboarding, gymnastics, with supervision. It is a  year round ski and snowboard program offering winter day camps and week-long summer camps.

This is going to be a great facility for training or for someone who just wants to get better at their sport.  There are 3 other camps in the United States, one in California, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

This is very exciting news for Copper Mountain and for Colorado.  www.leahbaxter.com.

Did you know that Copper Mountain’s Super Pipe was the first to open in the country this season?  In fact, it is the 4th season in a row that they have been the first to open. 

This Thurs-Saturday the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix will be hosted at Copper.  Here is the schedule Thursday, Dec. 11
10:30 a.m. - Women’s Halfpipe Qualifiers

Friday, Dec.12
9 a.m.- Men’s Halfpipe Qualifiers

Saturday, Dec. 13
11 a.m. - Halfpipe Finals
7 p.m. - Paul Mitchell Progression Session (night exhibition event)

This is going to be a very exciting competition with athletes from all over the world.  It is supposedly going to be of Olympic caliber.  Come on out and cheer on the U.S. Team. This competition is going to be very competitive.

These athletes  are just a few names  of several of the famous competitors that will be competing - Mason Aquirre, Tommy Czeschin, Steve Fisher, Scott Lago, Gretchen Blieler, Hannah Teter . 

The snow is great at Copper right now and we are expecting a major storm today!  Hope to see you at the games.

Remember if you are in looking for that piece of property to call your own, give me a call 970-389-6367 or email me leah@leahbaxter.com.  Also don’t forget to check out my website www.leahbaxter.com to view all properties in Summit County, Colorado!

Winter has officially arrived in Summit County Colorado this past Saturday and Sunday.   It turned out to be quite the adventure on I-70, especially on Sunday, the end of a Holiday weekend.

I don’t understand why people don’t plan on spending the night on Sunday or leave a day earlier, or plan to come a day earlier.  Why not take that extra vacation day and save your sanity and be safe?  Why not plan to leave on Monday morning early?  I realize people have to work on Monday or go to school, but it is only an hour drive to the West side of Denver when there is no traffic or weather.  Combine traffic, weather, and a Holiday and it spells wasted time on I-70.  Now you are talking a 5-7 hour drive to get back to Denver.    Even if it doesn’t snow, just plan on spending the night or leave at 8am on Sunday.    A regular commute back to Denver on a  Sunday night could take you 2-4 hours without any weather related problems or a Holiday. The reason traffic is so congested is that everyone leaves the various ski areas at the same time, Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mtn. Loveland, Winter Park.  All of these ski areas funnel into I-70.

I-70 did end up closing until 10pm on Sunday night and several of the stranded motorist ended up camping out at the Silverthorne Rec center, which seems to be acting as a Holiday Inn more times that it should. 

 We had quite a winter last year, and even though it seems to be clear in Denver, it is another story in the mountains once the weather moves in.  Combine that with people that have front-wheel drive cars or who have never driven in snow and you end up with multiple accidents.  I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t like to end up in traffic for hours on end after a wonderful weekend in the mountains. 

 I did end up driving to Denver on Monday morning for some appointments and it only took me 1 hr 30 min. This was with snow packed roads and some traffic . So what is the solution?  Why not purchase that mountain condo as an investment, or a rental and a place your family can enjoy.  It will be a better investment than the stock market.  Our prices are stable right now.  Rest assured you won’t be one of the thousands of stranded motorist on I-70. 

 

 The interest rates are below 6% now.  Why not enjoy life, come to the mountains and have fun, and relax!  Check out my website www.leahbaxter.com or call me 970-389-6367.

Ski season has begun in the Rockies!  Last Friday, November 7th Breckenridge, Copper Mtn. and Keystone officially opened for business.  A-Basin and Loveland opened a few weeks ago.

So far the ski areas are making snow and it has been snowing a little bit each day with predictions of precipitation for the rest of this week.

 Copper Mtn. is having their 4th Annual Opening weekend festival called the  Lift Off.   This is a festival that kicks off the season with a Movie Tour Pub Crawl on Friday night, with raffles, après parties and drink specials at each location. There is a concert Saturday night featuring  the musical acts of  Boombox and Brother Ali , doors open at 8 p.m., tickets are $12. Anyone who rides the American Eagle lift on Friday or Saturday will have  chance to win great prizes like lift tickets, season passes, gear and much more!

If you are looking for a deal in Real Estate at Copper Mtn. the lowest priced property is a studio for  $189,000 which is  located in the Center Village At Copper.  This is a fantastic deal!

  This condo sleeps 4.  Call Leah at 970-389-6367 or visit my website www.leahbaxter.com to view more properties like this.  See you on the slopes!

Inventory levels have increased since the winter in Summit County.  The market here is becoming a little more neutral than a full on Seller’s market.  Now is a good time to buy in Summit County because of the choices.  Some properties have been on the market for more than a few months and perhaps the seller may be a little more negotiable than in prior years when there are not a lot of choice. 

Our market has never experienced a bubble like other areas in the nation.  WE have been consistently growing anywhere between 10-25% appreciation a year.  It has stabilized a little this year due to the economist portraying doom and gloom everywhere.  However, we are not experiencing a decline in prices or do we experience foreclosures here.  Generally if a property is going to foreclosure, it is usually sold or rectified before that even happens.

If you are interested in new projects that are in the planning phase, click here.The following are inventory levels in each town which include condos, duplexes, town homes and single family homes:

Frisco-current inventory 110 properties

Copper Mtn. -current inventory 61 properties

Breckenridge-current inventory 653 properties

Wildernest/Silverthorne- 214 properties

Dillon-130 properties

Keystone-142 properties.

Feel free to contact Leah at 970-389-6367 to help you with your property needs.  www.leahbaxter.com

Summit County is not experiencing the over abundance in inventory and low sales that the news media is portraying in other parts of the country.  In fact, we currently have $3 million  dollars in pending sales and currently  have inventory levels of 4-5% for sale.    This is normal in comparison to last year at this time.

Summer is just around the corner and that is our busy season here, so if you are thinking of buying, now is a good time. Mortgage rates are at 6% for a fixed 30 year loan. Search the MLS for free.  If you would like help on your property search, please contact Leah Baxter at leah@leahbaxter.com or 970-389-6367 direct.

In the quaint mountain town of Frisco, Colorado spring has finally arrived!!!! Frisco is in the center of Summit County and is a wonderful small town with world class restaurants.  The snow if finally melting and I’m sure many of the locals as well as myself are thrilled.  Even though it has been an epic season for skiing and riding and other snow sports, we are definitely ready for biking, hiking, camping, fishing, boating, etc.

On May 17th, the town of Frisco will host the annual town clean up day followed by a BBQ at Walter Byron park.  The Marina Season Opener is scheduled for May 24th at the Frisco Bay.

Frisco is located 1 hr/minutes from the west side of Denver.  It is convenient to Copper Mtn. (5 minutes), Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, and 25 minutes to Vail.  It is a charming town with world class restaurants, local shops, bike paths that will take you all over Summit County, and a great marina to go sailing and boating.

If you are interested in property in Frisco, check out this beautiful duplex that has awesome views of Mt. Royal.  For any more property information in Frisco or Summit County please contact  leah@leahbaxter.com  or search the MLS for free on my website www.leahbaxter.com.

 

Oh, by the way if you are looking to relocate to Summit County, the Climax mine ,www.reuters.com/article/GlobalMiningandSteel08/idUSN1157688120080312 which is between Copper Mtn. and Leadville is having a job fair on April 5th.  Yes, they are re-opening and now may be a good time to get a good job with benefits, which is hard to find in Summit County.www.purchasing.com/article/CA6518791.html.

Also, a lot of seasonal employees leave at this time of year, so several of the local businesses are looking for people to work.  If you are dedicated  you should think about moving to Summit County, especially if you enjoy the outdoors and everything that the mountains have to offer. 

For more information on relocating, contact Leah at www.leahbaxter.com or send me an email to leah@leahbaxter.com. 

 

Ski season is approaching the end for the 2007/2008 season.  It has been a great ski season with record snow fall.  There are all kinds of activities happening in the mountains over the next couple weeks.  Copper Mtn. is currently hosting the 2008 USASA National Championships . The USASA is the first governing body exclusively for competitive grassroots snowboarding. The organizers believed that by forming a national association for snowboard competitors, rules of competition could be standardized, an annual national championship event could be established, and the recreation and fun of this rapidly growing sport could be preserved and flourish. The competition begins on Sunday, March 30.

Next weekend on April 5-6 Copper Mountain will be hosting their annual Sunsation festival.

They will have 2 days of live music FREE beginning at 12:30PM.

It is still a great time to look at properties in the mountains, so if you don’t want to miss out  on experiencing some appreciation before next year, call Leah Baxter 970-389-6367 or check out my website www.leahbaxter.com.