Rockies Real Estate Network

When the roads need redoing, they need redoing. That’s reality, and it costs money.

From http://coloradorealtors.com/car_news_current_newsletter.asp#1761

“Panel Wants to Raise Funding to Improve Roads”

Just to summarize, mayors of 37 Colorado towns and cities have sent a resolution to Colorado’s Governor Bill Ritter — about trying to raise $1.5 billion for needed road repairs.

They call it “a statewide debate and education campaign on the need for more money for Colorado’s roads and highways” — which, ostensibly, is to convince the public that yes, indeed, it does take money to fix roads.

That’s the reality of fixing roads, but I just can feel the negative ads from the other side already, as soon as they use the words “new taxes” — but would they rather have all these potholes — and old bridges? I think not.

So, all of these local governments support the recommendations of the governor’s Blue Ribbon panel on transportation.

The taxes must be approved by voters, but other funds will be fees passed by legislators. We hope that voters go for it, because it is getting tough to drive along I-70 around here!

When you have a property listed for sale, it’s always interesting to work up some stats to see how past sales measure up. I’ve listed some below for Park Avenue Lofts.

Before we get to that, and while it’s still available, I’d better tell you about Park Avenue Lofts #209, now currently for sale, because you never know. It could sell before you finish reading this post!

MLS #s359377, Park Avenue Lofts #209 is a nice one bedroom, one bath, now listed for sale at $455,000.

Now, for the stats:

When you consider that some buyers have purchased a Park Avenue Lofts condo for as much as $975,000., you can easily see how Park Avenue Lofts #209 is a great deal for a luxury condo with all the fabulous features you’d expect from a Park Avenue Lofts condo.

The bottom line is that you can get this great mid-town location with all the amenities and local attractions — including the close proximity to the ski lifts — just for buying a one-bedroom Park Avenue Loft.

Response to: http://www.realtown.com/saul/blog/realtorcom/early-history-of-realtorcom-a-chronology-of-events

I remember RIN, but from my perspective, it was a latecomer. I did not care at all for its clunky interface on my Mac.

Well before RIN, when the Internet was still non-commercial, our company was already viewing web pages and getting ready to port our listings from Compuserve to the Internet.

We used Mosaic, precursor to the Netscape browser. We were watching for the earliest signs that the Internet was becoming commercial. As soon as a few other (non-real estate) companies began their self promotion, I put up our website, which included our MLS listings.

I still remember the flames we received from many Internet users who insisted that we were abusing the Internet by using it for commercial purposes, because such uses were so very new and unfamiliar to them. They felt that commercialism would ruin the Internet’s spirit of sharing and friendship.

At around that time, when AOL users did a search for “real estate”, the only listing they got was our website.

I have kept the computer and the html I wrote in those early days of the nascent commercial Internet.

I also still have my first Internet presentation, which I did not on acetates, but as a digital presentation (using “Action” software) from my laptop connected to an overhead projector. I taught html to a standing-room-only crowd at an ERA national convention, back in the early 1990s — and I gave away my html code for a skeleton real estate website, to many — for free.

I saw that code many times in the next few years, as my real estate associates throughout the world loaded the html I had given them onto their own websites. We had lived up to the original spirit of the Internet, in teaching those agents and by sharing the html with them. I still believe that Realtors are due these services for free.

That is why my company was the first real estate company on the Internet, and why I was “e-Pro” before there ever was an e-Pro.

The Forest Service will hold a public open house on January 30, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., in Breckenridge, in the Quandary Conference Room, Mountain Thunder Lodge, 50 Mountain Thunder Drive, to discuss a Breckenridge Ski Area proposed expansion, slated to open by the winter of 2009.

The public meeting is regarding Peak 6 development by the Breckenridge Ski Resort. White River National Forest and Breckenridge Ski Resort officials will answer questions and will have information on a proposal to develop new ski terrain and accompanying infrastructure at Peak 6 of the Ten Mile Range.

The proposal includes 450 acres of downhill skiing accessed by a single lift. Six trails within 67 acres would be below timberline, and an additional 285 acres would be above timberline. At least two structures also are proposed: a warming hut and a food facility.

The Forest Service has already approved the expansion in the most recent White River National Forest management plan, but anticipate some resistance at the public open house, as was the case with previous expansions. They will accept your comments through February 17, sent via snail mail to Forest Supervisor Maribeth Gustafson, c/o Roger Poirier, Winter Sports Program Manager, P.O. Box 948, Glenwood Springs, CO 81602-0948.

Emailed comments may be made to wrnf_scoping_comments@fs.fed.us. They ask that you include your name, address, phone number and your organization (if you have one). They also ask that you specifically mention that you are making a comment about the Breckenridge Peak 6 Proposal.

(See Alison’s post below.)
Hi, Alison.

Real estate video is not that hard to do. I make my own.

You mentioned that there are no rules for Internet video, and it may seem as if the Internet is completely anarchical, but it’s not really true. Copyright rules *should* still apply, especially when you consider laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. See this URL for more info:

http://www.isoc.org/internet/law/intgen.shtml

Many sites that post videos have a “terms and conditions” section that requires that you agree not to post commercial videos. Judging by the number of commercial videos found at these websites, I don’t think that those people are reading the terms documentation that they agreed to digitally. If you think that “there’s safety in numbers” and decide to put your video on such a site, just remember the Napster peer-to-peer sharing lawsuit.

You mentioned appropriate music. Technically, there are rules about the music, namely, that a Broker’s real estate video is considered a commercial use, and that means royalties are owed for any copyrighted music. Most music is copyrighted, so I make my own.

If you do make your own real estate videos, rather than hiring out, you can be sure that you are not violating any of the laws mentioned above. Ignorance is rampant on the Internet, but that does not mean that Brokers will not be held accountable for what they do on it.

Regards,

Peggy Madsen, Realtor/Owner/Systems Specialist

What Matters Most to Your Next Real Estate Sale?
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http://www.rerockies.com Office: 970-468-9554

**Alison’s post, in part, below**
>
> What to do this year? Video video
> Diary of a Real Estate Rookie
> Friday, January 18, 2008
> By Alison Rogers, Inman News
>
> I walked out of this year’s Real Estate Connect conference with two thoughts:
> I’m gonna figure out how to work the Web, and I’m gonna learn video.
>
> If there was any takeaway from 2007 it was that all my big goals got achieved,
> but they took monster time. So I expect “getting” the Internet to take monster
> time, too, and video to be even worse.
>
> There are many decisions to make: hosted or unhosted, with just an agent
> voiceover? What about music? Does a
> video have to have music? Is there a secret language of music where I’m
> supposed to use one kind of tune to sell a prewar and another to sell a new
> development condo?
>… I do feel like I’m moving into a world
> where there aren’t a whole lot of rules yet.
> So stay tuned for more about my adventures in real estate TV.
> Alison Rogers is a licensed salesperson and author of “Diary of a Real Estate
> Rookie.”
> ***

The growth of residential and commercial real estate development north of Silverthorne has necessitated an additional fire safety facility for locations outside existing designated fire districts. Currently, the Lower Blue Volunteer Fire Department covers northern unincorporated Summit County.

Lake Dillon Fire-Rescue and the Town of Silverthorne are contemplating building a new fire station just north of the current Silverthorne Elementary School on Highway 9, on the Cottonwood site, with construction beginning in 2009. Brandon Williams, of Lake Dillon Fire-Rescue says the new station will enable firefighters to “dramatically cut our response time to emergencies.”

The site currently is used by the town for materials and equipment storage. The new fire station has had plans submitted for consideration from five architectural firms. Funding for 50 percent of the project’s programming, provided by the Town of Silverthorne, will total $40,000. The total 2008 budgeted for the project’s initial work, including programming, architects and preliminary site work, is $180,000.

The new facility will include public works and maintenance facilities. Lake Dillon Fire-Rescue and the Town of Silverthorne anticipate keeping the community well informed on the project’s progress.

Call us toll free, at 877-626-3363 for all your local real estate news.

Denver’s Channel Seven (ABC affiliate) reports a proposed change in Park County road names to assist emergency vehicles in finding addresses. For example, there are seven “Meadow” streets/drives in Park County. The cost of updating county records, road signs and maps will be a minimum of $25,000. Approval of the change is pending; county meetings will address the issue first.

Price reduced to $3.75M on this fabulous estate, MLS# S352524, below:

Spectacular Ranch Estate Property on 278 Acres: CLICK HERE for PHOTOS and MORE INFO.

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