Fall Colors

It is that magical time of year when the mountains appear to be on fire from the brilliant fall colors. The aspens are at about their peak, brilliant gold and reds cover the mountainsides. This is one of the most beautiful times of the year in the mountains and we all make sure to take advantage of these days by either driving through or going hiking. This past weekend we also had our first significant snow of the year. So to see the brilliant colors contrasted with white mountain tops is something to behold. Click here for photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/31150024@N03/show/

This past week’s economic news has sure made for interesting times in resort real estate. While people still are looking for a ski property for this winter, many are either nervous or are cautious, waiting to see what will happen. This is all very understandable as many investors have seen their portfolios drop in value. Real estate however, continues to hold its value and in many cases is a far more stable and safer investment. This past week we have seen stocks in companies such as AIG, Lehman Brothers, etc. drop 80 – 90%. During the same time the real estate headlines throughout the country shout that some markets have dropped by as much as 20%. As a result, we are seeing a number of investors moving from the stock market to real estate as a hedge for their money.

Over the weekend there was an AP article in a San Jose newspaper talking about the stability of the resort real estate markets and that the latest edition of Forbes Magazine listed Aspen, Colorado and Coeur D’Alene, Idaho among the best places to invest right now. Here is a link to the article. http://www.mercurynews.com/markets/ci_10630080

Over the past couple of weeks I have had several interviews with our local radio, TV stations and newspapers, all wanting to know how the real estate markets in the western resorts are fairing. The simple answer is that we are holding our own. While the number of sales is currently off (40 – 45% for most of the resorts) the actual sold prices are holding up. Prices in the resorts are flat to slightly up for the first half of the year. This reinforces my belief in resort real estate as a safer investment during turbulent times. We saw this in 2001 right after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, where the stock markets dropped considerably and were extremely volatile. At that time we had just come off of a very strong real estate run and had just witnessed the dot.com bubble burst. Once again, through all the turmoil, resort real estate held its own and by 2003 was rebounding. It will be very interesting to see what happens this time.