Thirty-year fixed loans up to $417,000 are available in the 6 percent range.  FHA loans for single-family homes in Summit County require 3 percent down and that will increase in 2009 to 3.5 percent.  These loans are readily available up to a maximum of $402,500.  For larger loans, the Jumbo loans are available for sums over $417,000.  They are generally available in the high 5 percent to low 6 percent range with balloons for 5-10 years.

Another option for buyers of luxury resort properties is a combination of a fixed-rate loan and a second loan.  With this arrangement, the loan to value ratio normally cannot exceed 80 percent.

Summit County is located high in the Colorado Rockies and is known as Colorado’s playground for the numerous outdoor recreational activities available in the area.  In addition to 4 major ski areas, the County also has 2 popular reservoirs, Dillon and Green Mountain, and features miles of White River National Forest, Eagles Nest Wilderness, American Discovery Trail, Colorado Trail, Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, Vail Pass National Recreation Trail, Wheeler Ten Mile National Recreation Trail, Great Parks Bicycle Route, TransAmerica Trail Bicycle Route, and the Top of the Rockies National Scenic Byway.

Park County boasts many wonderful areas for hunting, fishing, horseback riding, hiking, and mountain biking in the Eleven Mile State Park, Spinney Mountain State Park, Pike National Forest, Roosevelt National Forest, San Isabel National Forest, Buffalo Peaks Wilderness, Lost Creek Wilderness, American Discovery Trail, Colorado Trail, Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, Great Parks Bicycle Route, TransAmerica Trail Bicycle Route, and Guanella Pass Scenic Byway.  Many portions of the County are located within 30 minutes of the ski areas.

Contact Jonna Beardsley at (970) 453-2200 or (800) 774-7970 for friendly and professional real-estate assistance in the area.

If your home is occupied while it is on the market, then residents can begin by removing the clutter and cleaning.  The next step is to take an objective look at the property.  How do the landscaping and exterior strike you?  When you walk up to the door, what do you notice?  Does anything look unkempt or is anything in ill repair?  Take notes. 

Do the same thing upon entering the home.  What is your first impression?  Are the carpets clean?  Is there a pet odor?  Does the carpet need to be replaced altogether, or do the hardwood floors need to be refinished?

How does the furniture look?  Does it make a statement about the home, or has it seen better days?  Slip covers and throw pillows may save the day.  But, sometimes it is best to purchase a room full of new furniture to completely update the room.  A few accessories can also make a big difference. 

The least expensive way to improve the overall look of the home is to apply a fresh coat of paint.  When choosing paint colors, paint one room at a time.  Look at the sample color on the wall in daytime, evening, and night with the shades drawn and open before painting the entire room.  Over half of the color in a room comes from the walls.  Color must enhance the ambience and not take over.  And examine the window coverings to decide if they need to go or to be replaced.  If they will remain, clean them. 

Showcase the space of the home as well as the furnishings.  Too many “things” in the home are just as uncomfortable as nothing at all.

Accomplishing these tasks will all be easier for the seller who has a flare for design.  But, regardless, asking a friend for objective opinions or hiring an interior designer or asking your real estate agent for help may save you money in the long run.

If a home is empty, then the best strategy for a quicker and more lucrative sale is definitely to have it staged.  Adding furniture and accessories may make several months and tens of thousands of dollars of difference during the transaction.  Interior decorators can be a great resource to help boost the curb appeal of the home.  And, if you’d like to stay out of the picture, your real-estate agent can find a professional staging company to help out. 

Contact Jonna Beardsley at (970) 453-2200 or (800) 774-7970 for friendly and professional real-estate assistance in the area.

Many do not need rental cars at all.  During warm months, lots of people ride bicycles on the award-winning trails systems that connect the communities.  But, when it is cold, employees in the ski and hospitality industries who live in more affordable outlying real estate in Summit County—in Silverthorne homes, Dillon, Frisco or in Park County Colorado real estate—drive or carpool to Breckenridge to work.

The Town of Breckenridge also helps sustain a low-impact green footprint in many small ways.  One is by organizing vehicle usage.  Anyone coming to Town may find these guidelines interesting.  Here are a few Ps and Qs to be sure no one gets a surprise parking ticket or extra fines.

The Parking District Employee Permit is a restricted use permit for employees within the Parking District.  This permit entitles the bearer to park on a first-com first-serve basis without being cited while on official business with the noted employer and is subject to the following conditions:

• Employees must complete a Parking District Employee Parking Permit Application. 
• All parking tickets must be paid in full to be kept in good standing with the Town’s Permit Parking Policy.  Permits will be suspended if a ticket remains unpaid for longer than 30 days.
• Permits are only valid in the following locations:  East Sawmill Lot, Wellington Lot, Courthouse Lot Barney Ford lot, 100 North Ridge block, and 100 North to 400 South French Street blocks.
• This permit does not allow parking on town streets of in any lots between the hours of 2 to 6 a.m.
• Permits must be renewed annually starting July 1st and ending June 30th.
• Permits must be permanently affixed to the vehicle’s top front windshield, on the driver’s side and are non-transferable.
• Any attempt to alter this permit shall immediately render this permit invalid.
• It is the responsibility of the permit-holder to check daily for maintenance signs postings.
• Permit holder assumes full responsibility of any loaning of their vehicle.
• Permits are not valid for recreational vehicles, including snowmobiles, campers, motor homes or trailers storing motorcycles, snowmobiles, etc.
• Parking lots may not be used for storage.  No exceptions.

Contact Jonna Beardsley at (970) 453-2200 or (800) 774-7970 for friendly and professional real-estate assistance in the area.

A reverse mortgage offers immediate money to homeowners 62 year old and over based on the equity built up on their homes.  Payments are deferred until the owner dies or sells the home or permanently moves on.  That means extra cash to pick up a parcel or fractional portion of Summit County real estate.  Putting money into Breckenridge Colorado real estate, seniors will now that if circumstances warrant pulling out the equity, the reverse mortgage is a better tool today than it was 2 months ago. 

The complicated Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 includes a cap on the amount of origination fees that lenders can charge for reverse mortgages.  The new cap goes like this.  Pay only 2 percent on the first $200,000 of your home’s value and 1 percent on the remaining balance.  There are limits to these loans, albeit that amount is not yet determined because of some ambiguity in the legislation.

Traditionally, reverse mortgage lenders heaped on hefty upfront fees.  Some contracts were even flawed and contained huge appreciation shares for the lender.  Even so, the use of reverse mortgages has been on the rise.  The Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HSCM) handles 85 percent of the reverse mortgage market.  HECM says that in 2005, they handled 43,131 reverse mortgages and by 2007 the number had more than doubled to 107,367.

Why not?  Owners who use this vehicle to pull equity out of their homes do not have to prove income or credit worthiness and do not have to move, give up title, or make monthly payments.  If a retired homeowner sees that his or her social security, IRAs, pensions, investments, and savings are not providing sufficient income to cover their current needs, the reverse mortgage provides the plus factor.  Monies can taken is a lump sum, fixed monthly payments, a line of credit, or a combination. 

The money can be used however you’d like:  for medical bills, to retire an old mortgage, or to invest in a fractional in our beautiful mountain resort to be visited by family and friends for years.  Contact Jonna Beardsley at (970) 453-2200 at Breckenridge Associates for friendly and professional real-estate assistance in the area.

Although the movement of real estate in these Breckenridge environs will inevitably be affected by this month’s bailout, it is only a Band-aid.  Scenarios that reflect the national market are generally modified in the resort areas where buyers tend to have better credit ratings and financial stability.

The Victorian Town of Breckenridge and Breckenridge Ski Resort are top destinations for skiers and vacationers visiting the Rocky Mountains in Central Colorado.  The former mining town features interesting historic elements including museums and gold dredging equipment, a quaint downtown with Main Street restaurants, shops, and events, and, of course, skiing on Peak 6, Peak 7, Peak 8, and Peak 9, and infinite recreational possibilities in the Gore Range, Continental Divide, and national forests and rivers in the surrounding areas.

Real estate coach Jeff Scislow of Minnesota suggests that the emphasis now be put on selling down the high levels of housing inventory across the nation.  Scislow recommends that the U.S. Government stop agreeing to hard-to-swallow bailouts.  Instead, he proposed that the government subsidize interest rates, temporarily taking them down to unprecedented levels.  

According to Scislow, subsidizing very low interest rates will immediately take the pressure off of the banks and the economy.  The progression of positive results includes:
     1. The inventory levels will drop.
     2. As inventory levels drop, prices will stop falling.
     3. As prices stop falling, less people will foreclose on their homes when they see market values firming up.
     4. Consumer confidence will return.

Bailing out banks is expensive considering that the average foreclosure costs the banks about $70,000.  However, the cost for the U.S. Government to subsidize interest rates at levels like 3.5 to 4 percent for 30-year fixed mortgages would only be $25,000.  Buyers and investors will see that it is a great time to purchase properties and to keep those properties for longer periods of time, locked into the low interest rates that are available for a limited time only.

Sounds like an exciting piece of the puzzle.  For answers to your resort real-estate questions, call Jonna Beardsley at 970-390-2533.

There is a domino effect of sorts that affects luxury real estate in Breckenridge.  Some buyers of Breckenridge CO homes pay cash—about a third.  Other buyers in the Summit County market may have funds tied up in real estate investments in cities that have been majorly affected by the housing crisis.  According to comments made by Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist to Realty Times Staff, “What we’re seeing is the momentum of people taking advantage of low home prices, with pending home sales up strongly in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island, and the Washington D.C. region.” 

NAR reported that in August 2008 pending U.S. home sales surged 7.4 percent.  Across the nation, according to Realtor.org, there was a 7 percent decrease in total housing inventory.  At the end of August, 4.26 million existing homes or a 10.4 month supply, were available.  A 6.2 percent decline in total new construction starts is helping to lower inventory. In the western part of the country, single-family homes closed at the rate of 18.4 percent.  The national median existing-home price fell to $203,100 for all types of units.

This summer, Denver ranked 2nd of 20 metropolitan areas studied in Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.  In August 2008, the median price for single-family homes was $225,000 and the average price was $245,753.  Inventory fell 20 percent over the past year with buyers taking advantage of low interest rates and lower prices.

As owners across the county more easily liquidate real-estate holdings, they are shopping in Summit County for vacation properties.  Baby boomers look to our idyllic setting to retire for family vacations and reunions and the new financially savvy generations of young professionals hunt for second homes and investments.  The time is right to get into more affordable resort properties.

We are definitely looking to ride the lift back up the slopes, though it may not be a Gondola Express like we saw a few years ago.  Contact Jonna Beardsley at (970) 453-2200 or (800) 774-7970 for friendly and professional real-estate assistance in the area.

Not only do buyers of vacation homes in Summit County have a greater selection of properties right now but, according to the Breckenridge Associates Newsletter, sellers are generally more willing to negotiate with prices and concessions.   First-time buyers are able to take advantage of the climate, too.  A $7,500 credit is available for the purchase of a principal residence between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009.

And, those who are looking to someday retire to a dream home in the Rocky Mountains have a little squiggle room in the current market.  Matter of fact, Breckenridge Associates has been on the leading edge of luxury real estate in Breckenridge for almost 20 years.  They have represented a third of the transactions of $1M or more.  In January 1995, they were involved in the sale of the first $1M home ever sold in Breck.  By 2000, nineteen homes sold for more than $1M and in 2001 a condominium sold for $1M.

The first $2M home sold in 1997 and the first $2M condo sold in 2007.  Also in 2007 records kept breaking, including the sale of a home for $4M, $4.7M, and $5M.  Breckenridge Associates was involved in the sale of three quarters of the homes selling for over $3M.  In 2008, the real estate team listed the highest-selling home of all time in Summit County at $5.5M.

Whether buyers are looking for “entry level” vacation properties in the outlying areas of “Colorado’s playground” or luxury ski-in/ski-out accommodations right on Peak 7 or Peak 8, this is the time to act.  Our investment properties are only improving in value, trumped by the incredible beauty in the surrounding national forests, crystal clear mountain waters, unlimited recreational activities, and a wonderful cosmopolitan small-town feel.  Buyers, this is truly a time to take advantage of opportunity.

Contact Jonna Beardsley of Breckenridge Associates at (970) 390-2533 for friendly and professional real-estate assistance.