PRICE REDUCED! Breckenridge, CO: Spruce Valley Ranch VIEWS, 5BD, MLS#S366782 $899K See 34 photos: http://www.rerockies.com/imagesIndianaCreekRd/index.htm

This 5-bedroom house with a lockoff lowel level (use it as an apartment or not) has all the impressive, panoramic Spruce Valley Ranch views you’ll find, just over the subdivision line, for those higher prices of $1 million-plus! These are panoramic views of the Ten Mile Range of the Rocky Mountains AND the Breckenridge Ski Area!

The home also has beautiful water views (a rare find in Breckenridge) of the Goose Pasture Tarn and the Spillway. The home is higher than the level of the Tarn, but you can still hear the sparkling waters of the Spillway.

Towering great room windows, ample decks to take in those panoramic views, and granite kitchen counters/curved kitchen island are just a few of the features found in this incredible deal — because you simply cannot find a home this size, with this view, at this new low price, just 2 miles from Breckenridge’s Ski Area and marvelous downtown area!

Call 970-468-9554 or 970-688-6656 or email info@rerockies.com for all the details.

Even if you’ve lived in Silverthorne for only a few years, you can see the changing character of Highway 9 in Silverthorne, also known as the Blue River Parkway. Highway 9 is the busiest Interstate-70 exit in all of Colorado, and growth of commercial establishments and town facilities has flourished here in recent years.

There’s an unusual section of Silverthorne land that lies along the river and also along the highway. This land also lies between the Silverthorne Town Center to the north, and “Retreat on the Blue” (to the south), a riverfront townhome complex that is much in demand.

Developers looking to buy this prime 1.93 acres of commercial/residential land should take note: THIS PRIME DEVELOPMENT LAND IS CURRENTLY ON THE MARKET!

I’ve pasted some of the photos below, but for more info, check out the following links for these two adjacent pieces of land, which are 914 and 890 Blue River Parkway, both currently listed in the Summit County MLS for sale:

Video of 914 and 890 Blue River Parkway

Flyer for 914 and 890 Blue River Parkway

The photos below can be viewed in their entirety HERE.

Mike and Peggy Madsen | Rockies Real Estate Network | 970-468-9554 914 Blue River Parkway, Silverthorne, CO ATTENTION, DEVELOPERS: Prime land for sale, just off the busiest I-70 exit in Colorado. TWO Scenic, Adjacent, Commercial/Residential, Riverfront Lots. Retail/Commercial offered at $999,000 Year Built Unspecified Sq Footage Unspecified Floors 0 Parking Unspecified Lot Size 1.05 acres Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION A rare opportunity to own highway and river frontage across two adjacent parcels: exceptional development land in Silverthorne, Colorado. A one-of-a-kind, lucrative riverfront opportunity to build townhouses along the beautiful Blue River — and commercial in front, along the highway, for an extraordinary mixed-use development, the highest and best use. 914 Blue River Parkway, Silverthorne Subdivision: Lot 16, MLS# S365878, 1.05 acres, $999,000. 890 Blue River Parkway, Silverthorne Subdivision: Lot 15, MLS# S366312, .88 acres, $1,100,000. see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES Scenic Riverfront with Highway Frontage, Busiest I-70 Exit in Colorado. LOCATION FEATURES MULTIPLE USES: B-1 ZONING ALLOWS 58 USES. OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES Two Adjacent Lots Combine for 1.93 Acres. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS Riverfront/Highway Land Gore Range Views Contact info: Mike and Peggy Madsen Rockies Real Estate Network 970-468-9554 For sale by agent/broker Equal Opportunity Housing Posted: Jun 7, 2009, 2:53pm PDT

A couple of days ago I heard a statement I could hardly believe: the top 1% of Americans, who number 300,000 people — earn as much as the bottom 150 million people combined.

First off, I had to do the math. 150 million divided by 300,000. That equals 500. That means that, on average — if all the well-off people made identical amounts — their earnings would be 500 times the amount that each of the 150 million people earned, if all of those people had identical earnings.

Of course, not everyone collects identical earnings, but you get the idea. Imagine if, every time you got your paycheck, it was 500 times the amount of your check.

Today I did a search to see who said made the original statement. Leo Hindery Jr., formerly the senior economic policy adviser to the Edwards campaign, said it here on September 1, 2008.

Also of note, from the same article:

“Income inequality is the greatest it has been since 1928, and for every three-year period since 1981, the top 1% of taxpayers have gained, on average, $100 billion in total earnings, while the bottom 80% have lost $100 billion.”

So we have to stop the hemorrhaging of wealth, keeping in mind that we are capitalists, not socialists or communists. That is now the problem of a new administration: to create “New Deal” programs to restore those who are hurting financially, while retaining the best of our national character.

We’re talking about mortgage rates here: now that the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to “historic lows“, your rate for a fixed, 30-year mortgage has now fallen to an astounding 37-year low.

As of December 31, 2008, the rate for a 30-year fixed was 5.1% and the rate for a 15-year fixed was 4.83%, as reported by CNNMoney.com.
The word from some Realtors on the blogosphere (Florida, for example) is that the doldrums are over and the real estate buyers’ feeding frenzy has already begun.

It is hard to feel upbeat about real estate these days, but, as the cliché goes, it is always darkest before the dawn.

First, the bad news: Colorado is feeling the nation’s recession just like the rest of the country, with the highest unemployment rate in the past two decades. State revenues have also taken a dive, perhaps to max out at a $600 million loss in 2009.

Now, the good news: Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper are taking action with new economic stimulus plans. The winds of political change have brought with them, oddly enough, renewable energy projects, including a planned wind system manufacturing plant in Windsor (Vestas Wind) and a 432 acre Louisville new energy facility (ConocoPhillips) with thousands of employees. Boulder will see a new Siemens Energy wind turbine research center.

It has always been the case that new jobs mean more demand for housing. The corollary to that thinking is that an uptick in jobs and housing means a stronger economy. With new programs about to kick in, and undoubtedly more to follow — everything from renewable energy projects to federally-mandated jobs programs to rebuild our national infrastructure — the new year may indeed be brighter than the more cynical pundits are forecasting — when they gauge the economy only through the failing eyeglasses of yesterday’s policies.

Since its inception in October 2006, Colorado’s state foreclosure hotline has fielded 52K phone calls from Colorado homeowners who have been concerned about their properties.

The Colorado Division of Housing is in charge of the hotline, which took double the number of calls this past November, despite a 24 percent fall in foreclosure filings, as noted in the Denver Post.

The hotline refers troubled homeowners to loan counseling. Of the 52,000 phone calls, 37 percent got the counseling and were able to keep their homes through making up their mortgage payments, refinancing their home, by modifying their loan, by getting a second mortgage or by getting on a repayment plan.

What does this mean for the current buyers market? It depends. The U.S. comptroller has said that over 50 percent of homeowners who received loan modifications ended up defaulting on their mortgages within the following six months. This indicates that, despite being “bailed out” for the present, troubled homeowners may still be eager to sell their way out of their problems in the near future.

When you consider that we are on the cusp of a new president who is eager to “help Main Street” — namely, all these troubled homeowners — and when you consider the current historic low interest rates and low prices — we may indeed be at the height of the very best time to buy real estate.

This is not contrarian thinking. Buyers have to realize that by the time the news shows, pundits and mainstream sources tell you to buy real estate, you are going to be past the time when it was most opportune to buy.

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?
Experience. Knowledge. Location. Unlimited Professional Services.
“First Real Estate Company on the Internet”
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.

We know your time is valuable. You demand the finest service, expertise and professionalism from Brokers you can trust, with over 50 years of local real estate knowledge.

Rockies Real Estate Network uses this news page to provide you with local real estate news for the Summit County, Park County and the surrounding Colorado real estate market.