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"Great home for the first time home Buyer"

If you are thinking about using the extended and expanded home buyer tax credit to purchase a home this year you better act fast.  Now is the perfect time to get a great deal on a home in Summit County or surrounding areas. The tax credit can be used on homes purchased by July 1, 2010, but the homes must be under contract by April 30, 2010. The prices of Single Family homes and other types of properties (i.e. Condo’s, Duplexes, Town homes) have come back down to price points we were seeing in 2006.   You have a little more than a month to locate your new home. Check out the MLS on current listings in Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Frisco, Silverthorne or Dillon.

What does this mean?  The tax credit is for two types of buyers, first time home buyers (home buyers who have not owned a home in the past 3 years) or home owners who have lived in their home for 5 of the past 8 years and want to purchase a new primary residence.
Important aspects of the tax credit include:

• Homes must be closed by July 1, 2010, under contract by April 30, 2010.
• Homes must have a value of $800,000 or less and must be the buyer’s primary residence.
• There are income restrictions, $125,000 for singles, $225,000 for couples.
• The credit is also affected by being single or married. Married couples who file together are entitled for up to $8,000 for a first home buyer, up to $6,500 for current homeowners. Single people are entitled for up to $4,000 for a first time home buyer and $3,250 for a current homeowner.
• The credit will need to be repaid if you sell your home within a time period of 36 months.

Leadville is only 30 minutes to Summit County and there is a perfect 3bd/2ba home for Sale for $230,000.  The Summit Stage runs between Copper Mtn. and Leadville for $5, so you don’t have to even worry about the commute.  What are you waiting for now is the time and it is  running out! Contact Leah Baxter,  or  email leah@leahbaxter.com at ReMax in Frisco  to start looking for your new home if you intend on using the tax credit.

Phone direct-970-389-6367

BRECKENRIDGE- The average price of a SF home sold  in Breckenridge was $1.34 million, price per sq. ft. was $327sq ft.  The avg. Sales price for a duplex was $956k  or $325 per sq. ft.. The avg. price of a condo sold was $576k  or $431 per sq. ft.   The avg. price of a Town home was $300k or $409 per sq ft. 

COPPER MOUNTAIN- The average price of  a SF home sold  was $1.5 million or $276 per sq. ft.   The average price of a condo was $504k or $365 per sq. ft. 

FRISCO- The average price of a SF home was $929k or $273 per sq. ft.  The average price of a Duplex was $769k or $248 per sq. ft. The average price of a condo was $448k or $289 a sq. ft.  The average price of a Town home was $1 million or $471 a sq. ft.

KEYSTONE- The average price of  SF home sold was $1.5 million or $352 per sq. ft. The average price for a condo was $500k or $346 per sq. ft.  The avg. price of a Townhome was $1.29 million or $268 per sq. ft. 

SILVERTHORNE/DILLON- The average price of a Single family home sold for $967k or $252 per sq. ft. The average price for a duplex was $638k  or $229 per sq. ft.  The average price of a condo was $332k or $289 per sq. ft.  The average price of a townhouse was $527k or $241 per sq. ft. 
The change of the average sales price from 09 vs 08 are as follows: Breckenridge was -3.2% , Frisco was -5.3%, Copper MT. was +2.8% , Keystone was +5.0% Dillon was -5.1%, Silverthorne and Wildernest were +0.5%.
These statistics were obtained from SAR’s MLS Database.  This information is believed to be accurate, but has not been verified.  Buyers and Sellers are cautioned to verify all information to their own satisfaction. 

If you would like a free Comparable Market Analysis of your property, please email me at leah@leahbaxter.com or call 970-389-6367.

Keystone Mountain will be kicking off their concert series beginning on November 22.  Here is the official line-up for November 22. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

4-6p Official Pre-Party with KSMT at the Wolf Rock Brewing CO
6-8p Live DJ and Giveaways on the Main Stage in Hunky Dori Lot
6-9p Sponsor Village Open
8pm Free Concert with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Do you dream about having your own special place at the ski area, but don’t think you can afford it?  Well there are some options out there for you to consider :

For example there is a great studio at a complex right at the outskirts of River Run listed at $189,900.  Ski slope views from nicely furnished condo that sleeps 4.  This is a great complex with a pool, hot tub, elevators and excercise room.  There is even an Aveda spa in the complex.  So what are you waiting for?  Give Leah Baxter a call today 970-389-6367 or email me at leah@leahbaxter.com. 

Also, there are several 1/4 shares available. If you want to be situated right in River Run, there is an adorable one bedroom condo available for $89,000 (1/4 share). 

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!

Even though the rest of the country seems to be in Foreclosure mode, it is not true in the resort areas.  Everyone wants a deal, but noone wants to pay market value right now.  So what is the solution? 

Have you considered a quarter share or a 1/10 of a share.  This is not a time share, you actually own a deeded share  buyers experience all the joys and rewards of owning a second home property but at a fraction of the normal cost and with few of the normal concerns.

For example you could own a 1 bedroom condo 1/4 share in River Run for $89,000.  This will give you the use of it it for 1 week a month.  For more information on quarter shares, 1/10 shares please call Leah Baxter at 970-389-6367 or leah@leahbaxter.com.  Feel free to see current listings at www.leahbaxter.com.

The new gondola is scheduled to open on November 7, just around the corner. This gondola runs from the River Run base area and it is supposed to double the uphill capacity, which is quite impressive, since it seemed to get people up the mountain rather quickly before.

Some of the future plans for Keystone are adding a new lift from the Ski Tip area up to the east side of the mountain. There are currently cat-skiing operations in the Bergmann and Independence Bowls and this is going to be replaced with some new lifts. I’m not sure if that is a good thing, for the powder adventurist.

The Wayback chair is scheduled to be replaced and new trails are going to be formed on the front side, North Peak and the Outback.

Keystone is a great family friendly mountain as well as some extreme skiing in the outback areas. It is scheduled to open on November 7, weather permitting. We are expecting a snowstorm today!  The  Market snapshot will give you information on current market trends, current up to the date MLS listings in Summit County, including Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper, Dillon, Silverthorne and Frisco . Call Leah at 970-389-6367 or visit my website leahbaxter.com.

Currently, there are 1648 properties on the market in Summit County.  These include Condos, Town Homes, Duplexes and Single Family homes.  The least expensive property is $114,900 which is a modular home, and the most expensive home is a single family home for $5,995,000 in Breckenridge. 

Summit County is still a bargain for a resort area considering that the highest priced property in Vail is $19,200,000 for a little over 6500 square feet.  The highest priced property in Aspen is $60 million dollars!!!  So don’t wait too long to buy your resort property.  Even though our inventory levels are up, the prices are still steady. What happens now that winter is coming, many homeowners will take their properties off of the market and rent them during the winter and then raise the price next spring.  So if you want to get that special piece of property, don’t wait!  Contact Leah at 970-389-6367 or email me at leah@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.

Keystone is in the preliminary plans of a huge redevelopment of the Mountain House base area.  The Keystone Citizens League who represent property owners at the resort, is in full support of the plan.The Mountain House base area is the original base area for Keystone, so it is definitely up for redevelopment

The development plans would include total improvement which would cover 88.4 acres. Out of the 88.4 acres 48.4 would be slated for redevelopment and the other 40 acres would be designated for recreational trails, public transit, open space, wetlands and interpretive  facilities.

The area that houses the existing cafeteria, ski school, and ticket offices would  also be redeveloped.  Vail Resorts would be in charge of this redevelopment process.

  Now would be a good time to purchase real estate in Keystone.  If you are looking for a nice large two bedroom property that overlooks the golf course in Keystone, click here.

For more information on properties in Keystone or Summit county please contact leah@leahbaxter.com.  or check out my website www.leahbaxter.com to search the MLS for free.