Friday, July 21, 2006

Sunset Magazine Ranks Steamboat #1 place for a second home

I thought you would like to see this article that is in Sunset Magazine’s August issue. They looked for a good housing market, quality of recreation opportunities, relative affordability and a good small town lifestyle to make their choices. It’s no surprise we did well with those criteria. We are definitely starting to see more national coverage and I think the new projects and base area upgrades will only increase that.

I believe that with the shortage of land we have in Steamboat, our “distance advantage” and the improvements planned on the mountain that we are pretty well protected from overcrowding as people become more aware of Steamboat but I do expect prices to rise as the national market finds out what is going on here.

Where to buy a cabin
The West’s most popular places to find your second home

Sunset Magazine August 2006 by Joyanna Laughlin

If you’re thinking about buying your own little seaside cottage or mountain cabin, you’re not alone. Americans bought a record 1.02 million vacation homes in 2005, up from 872,000 in 2004, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Twenty percent of those were sold here in the West. We scouted around for our top 10 hot vacation-home spots. Our main criteria? A growing second-home market, great recreational opportunities, relative affordability (the median price of a vacation home was $204,100 in 2005, according to NAR), and a small-town lifestyle, from art galleries to coffeehouses and farmers’ markets.

1. Steamboat Springs, Colorado - The locals here have a name for their friendly attitude: “Steamboat genuine.” The town offers excellent skiing in winter, and hiking, biking, and fly-fishing in summer. Steamboat’s population is 10,115, and more than half of the homeowners are second-home buyers. Condos are $250,000 and up, and houses are $450,000 and up.

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