Steamboat Pilot &Today | Section B
Real Estate
on the market Moving Mountains Chalets expanding pilot & today staff
Steamboat Springs lodging company Moving Mountains Chalets is experiencing significant growth in advance of the coming winter season, spokeswoman Riley Polumbus said last week in a news release. Moving Mountains Chalets has increased its inventory of luxury vacation homes by more than 50 percent since last ski season, Polumbus said. “In the current slow real estate market, smart owners are realizing that vacation home rental offers the opportunity to develop a revenue stream that enhances the value of their home and provides income to defer the costs of ownership,” owner Robin Craigen said. Moving Mountains Chalets has been chosen to represent owners of some private, whole-ownership residences at One Steamboat Place, the Timbers Resorts development at the base of Steamboat Ski Area, Polumbus said. Moving Mountains has added two new positions to its management staff: Alex Pallut, as guest services manager, and Polumbus, as marketing and communications manager. For more information, visit the Moving Mountains Web site at www.movingmountains.com.
Southwest Airlines to expand Denver flights The Denver Post
Southwest Airlines announced Thursday that it is adding 13 daily flights and six new nonstop destinations to and from Denver. Southwest also has acquired two additional gates at Denver International Airport, where it is the thirdlargest carrier, and plans to hire more people to support the increased service. The new daily nonstop roundtrips from Denver beginning March 14 are to Hartford, Conn.; Boise; Ontario, Calif.; Detroit, Washington Dulles, and Oklahoma City. Tickets for those flights are on sale beginning Thursday. Eight additional daily nonstop roundtrips will begin in May between Denver and Sacramento, Tulsa, New Orleans, Portland, Oakland, Baltimore/Washington, Seattle and New York LaGuardia. Those tickets, as low as $79 one way, go on sale in December. The expanded service was announced Thursday by Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly while visiting employees at DIA.
Sunday, October 25, 2009 • www.steamboatpilot.com
Real Estate Reporter: Tom Ross • 871-4205/tross@steamboatpilot.com
Hayden land bids rejected Officials say auction offers are no reflection on Steamboat’s affordability
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teamboat Springs city planners and a regional housing official said last week that rock-bottom bids at a Hayden land auction are not a reflection of Steamboat’s real estate market or need for affordable housing. An Oct. 18 auction of residential lots at the Dry Creek Village subdivision in Hayden saw 43 of the 54 lots in the subdivision’s Phase 1 go up for grabs. But just 12 of the Story by lots received bids, most at a Mike Lawrence price of about $25,000. The day’s highest bid was $43,000. Sellers Jon Peddie and Jim Woods say they have about $70,000 invested in each of the 54 lots, which average 7,000 square feet in size and feature infrastructure accepted by the town of Hayden including water, sewer and paved roads. After the auction ended, Peddie and Woods decided not to accept any of the bids. “All of the low bids — the 25 and 30 (thousand) — we did not accept, and we’re having discussions with those buyers,” Peddie said last week. The Dry Creek Village site is just south of U.S. Highway 40 between downtown Hayden and Yampa Valley Regional Airport. Sales on 11 lots have closed since 2008, but no sales occurred in the second or third quarters of 2009. The slowing trickle of buyers and the lack of acceptable bids Oct. 18 is occurring just 25 miles west of Steamboat, where city leaders for years have debated how and whether to legislate affordable housing policies. Peddie thinks lower real estate prices in Hayden provide an option for people seeking affordable housing in the Steamboat Springs area. “We firmly believe that the market for entrylevel homes is there, we believe it’s in Hayden, and we believe that we’re the solution,” he said about Dry Creek Village. “I guess the question is, ‘What’s affordable?’ Is a single-family house in Hayden that’s $250,000, is that affordable?” Peddie said he could feasibly accept prices of $40,000 to $45,000 on some of the less valuable lots at Dry Creek Village, and he said a construction loan to build on those lots could add another $200,000 for the buyer. He and Woods are offering “very aggressive financing and some level of seller subordination” to attract homebuilders, he said, to “get some homes going” and thereby increase the value of other Dry Creek Village lots. Buyers who get in early, Peddie said, could have a shot at a home that would be well below the Steamboat Springs market. Tom Leeson, Steamboat Springs planning and community development director, said despite the recession and declining market, “there are no single-family homes (in Steamboat) for less than $500,000.” He noted that he was not including condominiums.
sunday focus
joel reichenberger/staff
Auctioneer Scott Shuman looks over a quiet crowd Oct. 18 at the Dry Creek land auction in Hayden. Residential lot sales lagged at the auction, while 25 miles east on U.S. Highway 40, affordable housing continues to be a hot topic for debate.
“Hayden and Steamboat are two totally different markets,” Leeson said. “They’re different buyers.” Recalling his own experience after buying his first home — in Orange County, Calif. — Peddie said the commute from Hayden to Steamboat is a reasonable concession for working families trying to purchase their first home.
’Boat or bust But many prospective homebuyers are stuck on Steamboat. Mary Alice Page-Allen, asset and program manager for the Yampa Valley Housing Authority, said she is seeing little interest in homes outside of city limits. “Most of the folks that I’m working with are focusing on Steamboat,” she said. “What I’m seeing are a lot of folks who are looking to take advantage of the first-time homebuyer tax See Hayden, page 2B
joel reichenberger/staff
Jon Peddie and Jim Woods are negotiating with buyers for Dry Creek Village lots.
30-year mortgage rates inch up to 5 percent Alan Zibel
The Associated Press
Washington
Rates for 30-year home loans have inched up, hitting 5 percent for the first time in nearly a month after bond yields edged up.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5 percent this week, up from 4.92 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac reported Thursday. It was the highest average since the week of September 24, when rates averaged 5.04 percent. While above the record low
of 4.78 percent hit in the spring, rates are still attractive for people looking to buy a home or refinance. To prop up the housing market and help the economy recover from the worst recession since the 1930s, the Federal Reserve has been engaged in
an extraordinary level of support, spending $1.25 trillion on mortgage-backed securities, which has driven down rates on home loans. Last month, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues agreed to slow down the pace of the program to buy
mortgage securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Instead of wrapping up the purchases by the end of this year, the Fed now plans to do so by the end of March. Despite the government’s See Rates, page 2B
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