Recently in Breckenridge Real Estate News Category

Village at Breckenridge Homeowners spend $22 million

The Town of Breckenridge dug the first spade of dirt at the Valley Brook Neighborhood, April 21, starting an ambitious affordable housing project. I don't have to tell anyone that real estate sales are slow here, and across the country, so brave is probably another adjective we might use for the town's project. We're scared but going ahead anyway, bravely.

Stan Miller Constructions has been tapped to build the infrastructure, and the Summit Combined Housing Authority is working with the town to develop and sell this project. The construction will begin as soon as possible, bids from local contractors are to come in this spring, and above-ground construction expected to begin this summer.

SCHA will be selling the lowest-income units, priced to sell at less than 80 percent of Area Median Income.

On Mar. 9, Mercy Homes, which had been contracted to developed the project, submitted a proposal to the Breckenridge town council for a subsidy of $2,613,142 for its help with development. Because the proposal shifted much of the market risk to the town, the council opted to terminate the development agreement with Mercy and move forward to develop the project without a third party developer utilizing town staff, a contract project manager/owner's rep, and phasing the project to be funded within the Affordable Housing Fund, according to planning staff

April 1, 2010 Builders Meeting to discuss project qualifications
April 2010 SCHA to increase marketing effort for first phase buildings
Finalize HOA budget/dues
Work with lenders to insure mortgage flexibility and options
April 2010 Evaluate design specifics (foundations, mech system, etc.)
April 19, 2010 Construction start (infrastructure)
April 21, 2010 Ceremonial Ground Break
April 21, 2010 Owners Meeting to confirm buyer commitment/qualification
May/June 2010 Rebid vertical
July/August Construction start (vertical)
Evaluate pricing (new AMIs)
Spring 2011 First units complete
Town Contribution:
The Town will fund the gap between the cost of the project and the sales r


The $8,000 tax credit is set to expire April 30. Information about this and the sale of deed restricted housing at valley Brook can be found at:
http://www.summithousing.us/   Summit Combined Housing Authority.

Burke, Dudick and McAtamney Elected to Breck. Town Council

April 6 more than 800 residents of the Town of Breckenridge turned out for local elections. Three seat were in play, and Mark Burke, Mike Dudick and incumbent Jennifer McAtamney received were the top vote counts.

Burke, 49, owns Burke & Riley's Irish Pub, The Liquid Lounge and The Clubhouse Restaurant at Breckenridge Golf Club. He joins Eric Mamula as a second restaurateur on the council.

Dudick, 45, co-owns the Grand Timber Lodge and Grand Lodge on Peak 7 timeshare businesses. One of the co-owners in Grand Timber, Rob Millisor, has been serving on the council for the past two years and chose not to run.

McAtamney, 42, was initially elected in 2006. She owns a small management business and has been the council representative on the Breckenridge Resort Chamber.

April 20 will be the next council meeting where the newly elected members will join Councilmen Jeffrey Bergeron, a writer and TV personality, Peter Joyce, contractor and Mayor, John Warner, DDS.

Results:
Mark Burke, 484
Mike Dudick, 326
Jennifer McAtamney, 315
Larry Crispell, 269
Dave Rossi, 269
Ben Brewer, 255
Rodney Allen, 148
Write-in, 11

Charter amendments:
Question "A" - Initiative and Referendum
Yes, 469
No, 149

Question "B" - Effective Date of Ordinances
Yes, 513
No, 110

Question "C" - Definition of Elector
Yes, 558
No, 71

Question "D" - Definition of Publication
Yes, 539
No, 114

Total votes: 814
Turnout: 21% of roughly 3,800 eligible voters

My book club met at one of our long-time member's home this month and we were all got to experience the unveiling of her grand remodel. The house may be for sale soon, and my friend did some very smart things that should pay off in higher profits when it does sell.

She repaired the annoying things that just make a place look bad. Little ones -- smoke detectors that were hanging from their wires -- to very big ones -- completely upgraded the heating system which had had a problem. They replaced all the kitchen appliances, which was expensive, and painted the entire house will new looking warm colors -- which was no more expensive than a regular maintenance paint job. She replaced worn out carpet, but just cleaned the saltillo tile floor. And it look great. Similarly, she replaced the pinky toned doors and fronts of the kitchen cabinets with a clean, dark wood style, which was much cheaper than ripping out the countertops and redoing the cabinet boxes.

In the two pictures at the right, taken in the local TV cooking show, you can see the difference the remodel has made. From an old-school pink to to fresh new look.
 
The wood trim in the home isn't the newest style, but it is nice wide functional wood. All of this was refinished and bathrooms with very old faucets were replaced but not the ones that still looked good.  

This is smart remodeling. Everyone in the book club thought the home looked up to date, warm and inviting. Everything is functional and a buyer could move right in and not have a problem for a long time. Most of the Breckenridge real estate market is involves second home owners and very few want to come to town to a project. They don't know the local contractors, where to get supplies, who to trust and what is a good going rate so the homes for sale that sell, are the ones that are ready to go.

While this is extremely important when it comes to Breckenridge Homes for sale, it's true across the country.

According to Remodeling Magazine, if you update any bathroom that's 25 years old, with standard fixtures, add no additional space -- about $7,500 of cost -- and you can expect to see 75.1% of that reflected in the price you'll get at closing. Go full bore, for an upscale bathroom, say your spend about $23,000, chances are you'll get a little skinnier ROI -- 63.5% of the cost in the price your home fetches.
 
The magazine, which is trying to selling remodeling, encourages higher end kitchen re-dos. Upscale remodels that includes things like cherry, custom cabinets, stone counter tops and quality back splash, as well as high-end appliances will bring back 75.9% of the $51,000 price tag they estimated. A mid-range remodel that simply upgrades outdated appliances but improves traffic flow like the upscale one, will only give back 66.5% of the $28,000 it costs.

Refinishing a basement for about $12,000, they estimate will return 54.8% of the cot, and adding on a deck 41.5% of the modest $3,000 they estimate for a 16 x 20 foot deck made of composite material.

The year 2009 ends with the average price of a single family home in Summit County remaining steady if not up a small percent. According to Breckenridge Land Title, the average price is up 8 percent. However, the sale of Copper Mountain Ski Area this year cause those properties to see a 38 percent increase which skews the totals.

Breckenridge single family homes were up in average price by 24 percent from 2008, as was the unincorporated Breckenridge neighborhood called Peak 7.

Silverthorne had a healthy growth of 11 percent. And Keystone saw a small rise of 4 percent.

For more information, I've linked to the Land Title Market Snapshot.

Market Snapshot Full Years 08-09.pdf

Every season, there is a new Mountain Homes magazine, and this year, visitors to my website can access the magazine and its photos with a simply click from my home pages. Or from here:

SEE OUR PAGE ON MTNHOMES.COM