About a week ago I received a call, followed by an e-mail, from a member of a family who was looking for a second home with the idea of it being a extended-family get-a-way. Last night I met with them. It is a great family and I had a great time guiding them through a process to help them develop some direction. Now there are certainly a raft of brokers around here that could have done this…but I had been chosen because the family noticed that I had my Resort and Second-home Property Specialist certification…RSPS…and they were looking for a second home, so they called. I appreciate that.

Now that we are getting into March, spring-breaks will be coming along and that usually notches up the activity in the real estate market. Spring skiers, road-trippers and beauty-seekers will be passing through our valley and will be awed. Even if not planning to buy real estate, tourists will make sure to pick up a real estate guide to take home; it just happens in Colorado mountain towns…and we love it. We are ready with a great inventory and I look forward to assisting new buyers find their dream property. I’m getting excited!

Within the graph there is an obvious annual cycle and a 12-month trailing-average trendline indicates that sales numbers have hit bottom and are trending upward. Since winter and early spring is the softest sales period, it will likely take into May before we know how business is going to be. Keep in mind that current times have established a new normal and growth will be slow and steady over the next years. The good news is Buena Vista is still a gem in the Rockies and the desire to be here has not diminished!

So, if you have not owned a home during the last three years, this may be a good time to change that. I can help!

With real estate activity picking up a bit in the mountains, many buyers will strike gold as they look for retirement and second homes or lots on which to build. The inventory is very good here in Buena Vista, so finding the dream property is easier this year. If this is the time for you to invest in the mountains, I’d be happy to assist.

I think we are where we are. This is it for now. Certainly sales will continue and even increase as the economy strengthens, but for now we need to think of current conditions as the new norm. Decisions that are made regarding real estate or any other matter should be made on the basis of how conditions are today…not what we expect. We are not going back to the old times or to any times…we are fundamentally changing the the way business works and the way customers and businesses interact.

It is universally time for change and here it is. That means we need to learn the new ways of doing business and it has started by a jump from the Internet, which worked well and we got used to , to the social media ideas of direct contact with minimal middle persons. The social media now is in the state home computers were in the late 70s. It will be a few years before we see the full impact of SM, but I’m betting it will take us to a place we have not thought of yet!

For those of us in real estate, we know that mixed in with the weekend warriors are buyers, deciding that they might as well live where they play…or at least have a second home here. There are many places in the country I have not visited, but I have never been anywhere that offers a bigger variety of outdoor adventures on a year around basis. If you are done with adventure, this is also a great place to sit, so if you can’t live here, at least pay us a visit. If you decide to check us out, I’d be happy to assist!

I recall the last time the valuations came out they seemed a bit high, but the market soon caught up with them. Will that be the case this time? Are property values really up that much here? None of us in the business thought there would be much of a drop, if any. Time will tell how this will pan out and once property sales pick up, we’ll have an idea of what the market is thinking…for now we know what the assessor is thinking.