From The Denver Post: Colorado Resort Real Estate Rebounds

Colorado resorts' housing market rebounds

Posted:   02/17/2013 12:01:00 AM MST

By Jason Blevins
The Denver Post

A huge December pushed 2012 high-country real-estate sales to their highest levels since 2008.

Three years after the resort real-estate market cratered in 2009, sales in six Colorado resort counties have rebounded.

Realtors say the rebound was supercharged in the last few months of the year, with December sales ranking as one of the strongest since the boom times of 2007.

In Pitkin County, where average prices in tony Aspen were $4.2 million in 2012 and most high-end deals are done in cash, December sales reached $270 million, up 116 percent over December 2011.

Aspen broker Tim Estin said uncertainty over tax changes planned for 2013, primarily estate and capital-gains taxes, "likely fueled a number of these transactions before the end of the year and trumped the uncertainty caused by the 'fiscal cliff' debate."

In Eagle County, where December sales climbed 90 percent, buyers whittled away at a dwindling supply of properties.

"It was a combination of people searching for a good investment and watching a market near the bottom," said Vail broker Gil Fancher, who posted his best month ever in December with a mix of high-end, midmarket and fractional sales. "People are realizing I can park money in this area and come and use it or I can rent it and I can even gain a little back on my investment when the market returns."

That return has been slow, especially to the levels seen in 2007. Back then, real-estate sales in Eagle, Grand, Pitkin, Routt, San Miguel and Summit counties topped a record $10 billion. Two years later, the economy reeled, resort-area foreclosures reached rec-ord levels and prices plummeted. Total sales in those counties in 2009 barely hit $3.6 billion. Last year, sales in the six counties reached $4.9 billion, still less than half of 2007 but 22 percent ahead of 2011 and 37 percent ahead of the 2009 low point.

"The new normal is realistic expectations. Slow and steady," said Mike Periolet, a 20-year broker and 10-year town councilman in Winter Park, anchor of the Grand County market that saw a 26 percent annual increase in dollar volume in 2012.

Periolet said he thinks the market eventually will return to the volume seen in 2007, when Grand County posted a record $640 million in sales. But it will take time and development of new homes to replace the Fraser Valley's ample supply of 30-year-old condos.

"There are always buyers for new product, so as the demand creeps back in, the developers will follow," Periolet said. "We'll start building again, and it will all cycle. Until the next crash. And I'll be retired by then."

Steamboat Springs' Routt County has seen a slower rebound than other resort areas, climbing 7 percent in 2012.

The county's real-estate market fell hard from 2007 to 2009, losing more than $1 billion in sales volume.

Routt's climb back has been slow, with prices remaining low. And as in other resort communities, December was exceptionally busy in Routt County, with $73 million in sales, a 56 percent increase over the previous December. Still, average prices in Routt did not climb in 2012.

"We have some tremendous values, and right now, it's the time to buy," said Stan Urban of Land Title Guarantee Co.

Telluride also saw a momentous December, with $76 million in sales, the highest since July 2007. San Miguel County enjoyed a 47 percent surge in sales volume over 2011, the largest increase of all six resort counties and its best year since 2007. (Still, 2012 sales in San Miguel County were less than half of 2007.)

Investor mentality is shifting from a concentration on financial returns toward lifestyle returns, said longtime Telluride broker T.D. Smith.

Many see the Telluride and Mountain Village market as "bottomed out," Smith said.

"There is definitely a recognition by people that they can buy in this market and they are not going to get hurt," he said. "People are tired of being tired. They are ready to move on and teach their children and grandchildren how to ski and fly-fish and be a part of the mountain environment."

For more information on Telluride area real estate, please contact Telluride Real Estate Corp. at 970-728-3111, info@telluriderealestatecorp.com or visit www.telluriderealestatecorp.com.

Telluride Ski Resort Announces New "Prospect Snow Cam"

Introducing Telluride's new Prospect Snow Cam! The Prospect Snow Cam shows how much

fresh, untracked powder you will ski on in the Prospect Bowl. The shelf is cleared of snow

when the lifts stop at 4pm each day, so check back in the morning to see how much

freshies fell overnight! Click Here: http://tellurideskiresort.com/prospectsnowcam

8" since the lifts closed yesterday, and 11" in the past 24 hours!

Update Schedule: Every 5 minutes

Altitude: 10,940 feet

Orientation: South West

For more information on this or Telluride area luxury real estate, please contact Telluride Real Estate Corp. / Christie's International Real Estate at 970.728.6655, info@telluriderealestatecorp.com or visit www.telluriderealestatecorp.com. 

From The Telluride Daily Planet: Allegiant's 2-For-1 Telluride Flight Deal Extended into February

Allegiant two-for-one deal extended into February

Deal intended to bring more visitors to region

By Collin McRann
Staff reporter

Published: Thursday, February 7, 2013 6:06 AM CST

A deal to buy two Allegiant Air tickets for the price of one will now be available through February.

The two-for-one deal was originally supposed to last through the month of January, but in an effort to boost visitation it has been extended until Feb. 28. Travelers who purchase tickets through the promotion must use them by April 3. Allegiant is the region’s newest airline, and it offers flights to and from the Montrose Regional Airport and Phoenix, Ariz. or Oakland, Calif.

“We just released the program, and we’re hoping to drive some more load onto those planes,” said President and CEO of the Telluride Tourism Board Michael Martelon. “We are really looking to create a long-term relationship with Allegiant, so we are trying to put our best foot forward.”

Allegiant flights arrive and depart from Montrose on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and one-way trips on the airline have a base cost of $49.99.

Martelon said the promotion was financed by the Telluride and Crested Butte ski resorts and is intended to entice skiers and boarders to come check out what the region has to offer. He said one of the main reasons the ski resorts signed on to support Allegiant was because they wanted to promote inexpensive ticket deals.

Martelon said the deal was the result of increased cooperation between the region’s many entities. Different organizations like the ski resorts, the Tourism Board and others have been increasing their mutual efforts to promote the region and bring in more guests.

Though official numbers haven’t been released for the number of bookings in January, when the two-for-one deal first began, Martelon said they went up.

“I think year over year, yes we will be up and Allegiant will have a hand in that,” Martelon said.

During January, the Tourism Board focused on promoting the region to international visitors, in part because they tend to stay longer and the domestic market is cooler in January. However, Martelon said the domestic market is the organization’s top priority.

A key organization that has been working to bring in more flights and air services to the region is the Telluride Montrose Regional Air Organization. Late last year the Tourism Board and the TMRAO announced they would be entering into a partnership to better address the region’s transportation and promotional efforts.

“With the Tourism Board’s involvement with the TMRAO, things happen in a much more efficient and streamlined manner,” Martelon said. “These are very complex things and we’re trying to make it very simple.”

Allegiant started landing planes in Montrose in December. While the airline’s contract is up in April, the Tourism Board and the TMRAO have said they want to try and get it extended into the summer months. TMRAO works with airlines to bring flights to the region to boost tourism. It uses tax money to guarantee consistent revenue for airlines that participate in its programs.

Allegiant is based in Nevada and it offers low-cost flights to many vacation destinations all over the U.S.

For more information and an up-to-date flight schedule, visit www.allegiantair.com or call 866-237-5341.

For information on Telluride area real estate, please contact Telluride Real Estate Corp. at 970-728-3111, info@telluriderealestatecorp.com or visit www.telluriderealestatecorp.com.

Christie's London Evening Auctions of the Impressionist and Modern Art Realise $213.4M

Christie's London Evening Auctions of the Impressionist and Modern Art Realise $213.4M

New and Established Buyers from 19 Countries Result in

The Most Valuable February Evening Sale of the Category at Christie’s London

5 Artist Records - Led by Berthe Morisot’s Portrait which set a

New Record Price for a Female Artist at Auction

London – The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale and the auction of The Art of the Surreal took place on the evening of 6 February at Christie’s London, realising £136,462,100/ $213,426,725/ €157,340,801 and selling 89% by lot and 94% by value. The auctions had a combined pre-sale estimate of £89.8 million to £132.8 million. The top price was paid for Jeanne Hébuterne (au chapeau), 1919, by Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) which sold for £26,921,250/ $42,104,835/ €31,040,201 (estimate: £16-22 million,pictured right). In total, 32 works of art sold for over £1 million / 42 for over $1 million, and five artist records were set: led by Berthe Morisot’s portrait which set a new record price for a female artist at auction; a record for a sculpture by René Magritte; and records for a work by Alberto Magnelli, Kay Sage and Óscar Domínguez.

Jay Vincze, International Director and Head of The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, Christie’s London: “We were very pleased with the strength and depth of bidding tonight which drove this evening’s auction to achieve both the highest total for a February evening sale at Christie’s London, and our highest sell through rate for an evening sale in this category in London. The global teamwork of our Impressionist and Modern team, coupled with the international nature of buyers participating in tonight’s sale, ensured that the auction drew interest and bidding from around the world. We were very pleased to achieve five new record prices at auction including for Berthe Morisot, whose portrait set an auction record for a work of art by a female artist sold at auction.”

Olivier Camu, Deputy Chairman, Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s:“Having held the inaugural standalone Dada and Surrealism sale in 1989 and established the first annual Art of the Surreal Sale in 2001, we are very proud that this pioneering movement of 20^th century art now commands truly international attention, with our February sales eagerly awaited by collectors around the globe and across other collecting fields from Old Masters through to Contemporary art. This sale was the largest and strongest offering of Surrealist art ever offered at auction and the volume of bids reflected the enthusiasm for this sale format which is encouraging for the market and greatly rewarding for Christie’s. All 9 of the works by Magritte sold, with a new record set for a sculpture by the artist, beating the previous record set at Christie’s in 2009; the price for this work and Miró’s sculpture, which almost equalled the current record, highlights the strength of demand for sculptures in the field of Impressionist and Modern Art." 

The top price at the auction was paid for Jeanne Hébuterne (au chapeau), 1919, byAmedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) which sold for £26,921,250/ $42,104,835/ €31,040,201 (estimate: £16-22 million). One of the acclaimed elegant and lyrical portraits that the artist created of his muse and lover, this work has exceptional provenance having passed through the hands of several important dealers and collectors, beginning with Léopold Zborowski; it subsequently hung in the bedroom in dealer Paul Guillaume's apartment and was included in a 1929 exhibition of his collection. It was later acquired by the Belgian collector Henri Belien, who owned a number of works by Modigliani and other artists of the time. It is a tribute to the quality of this painting that it was included in the small posthumous retrospective of Modigliani’s works held at the XIII Biennale in Venice in 1922, the first such show to take place in his home country. Modigliani created relatively few paintings during his short life – during which he was increasingly accepted as a pioneer in the world of modern art - and, in comparison with those of his counterparts, his works rarely come to the market.

Further leading highlights of the sale:

• Painted during the height of Impressionism, L'ombrelle, 1878, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) realised £9,673,250/ $15,128,963/ €11,153,257 (estimate: £4-7million). Offered for the first time in almost 25 years, L'ombrelle has excellent provenance, having been owned by Erwin Davis, one of the earliest American collectors of Impressionism, who lived in New York and donated two of Edouard Manet’s pictures to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as early as 1889. It was subsequently owned by the Boston collector and philanthropist, Robert Treate Paine II, who bequeathed many significant works to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
• Nu accroupi, 1960, by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) realised £7,321,250/ $11,450,435/ €8,441,401 (estimate: £3-5million). During the course of 1960, when Pablo Picasso was staying increasingly at Château de Vauvenargues, he painted a succession of pictures which explored the theme of the female nude. Painted on 14 February 1960 – Valentine’s Day – Picasso’s diagram-like rendering of the profile, shown with the pared-back, cubistic triangle of the nose and the curves of chin and lips facing the opposite direction, relates this picture to the portraits that Picasso painted of Jacqueline Roque, the woman whom he would marry the following year. It was offered from the property of a private American collection.
• Aprés le déjeuner, 1881 by Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) realised £6,985,250⁄ $10,924,931⁄ €8,053,993, becoming the most valuable work of art by a female artist sold at auction (estimate: £1.5-2.5million). Offered for the first time in 15 years, this is an historic painting by Morisot, considered by many of her contemporaries to be 'l'impressioniste par excellence.' 
• Murnau - Ansicht mit Burg, Kirche und Eisenbahn, 1909, by Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)realised £6,761,250/ $10,574,595/ €7,795,721 (estimate: £5-7 million). The landscapes that Kandinsky painted in Murnau between 1908 and 1909 reflect the first full flowering of his art and mark the beginning of the artist’s epic pioneering journey into abstraction. This work epitomises the way that he magnified and intensified colour to the point where it begins to float freely and operate as a dynamic, abstract and interactive pictorial entity on the painting’s surface. 
• Femme (Femme debout) by Joan Miró (1893-1983) realised £6,313,250/ $9,873,923/ €7,279,177 (estimate: £3-5million).  Miró’s sculptures were the crowning achievement of his late career. This monumental work is a powerful celebration of fecundity, primal instincts and the creation of life. Conceived in 1969, it has not been seen in public for over two decades, having been in a private New York Collection for over 30 years.
• Le plagiat (Plagiary), 1940, by René Magritte(1898-1967) realised £5,193,250/ $8,122,243/ €5,987,817 (estimate: £2-3 million). Never before offered at auction, this work had been in a private Belgian collection since it was painted. This is an incredibly rare work as while many of Magritte’s motifs were revisited in a string of pictures, he created only one other oil painting titled Le plagiat, in 1942 in a vertical format.
• Le peintre, 1967, by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) realised £3,513,250/ $5,494,723/ €4,050,777, having been offered for the first time in four decades from the property of a private collector (estimate: £2.5-4.5 million). This work is an allegory of the artist, through which he looks at the continuing influence of Velázquez and Rembrandt who was obsessed with the depiction of self; Picasso picks up on this and makes the subject his own, resulting in a very powerful painting of a bearded and ruffed figure working at his easel.
• Arbres à la maison bleue, 1906, by Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) realised £3,401,250/ $5,319,555/ €3,921,641 (estimate: £2-3 million). Vlaminck painted this work when the Fauvism which he had helped to pioneer was at its apogee. It was only the previous year that he had exhibited his bold, colouristic works at the Salon d'Automne, causing extreme reactions in viewers ranging from rage to fascination.
• Dating from near the beginning of the artist’s time in Nice, Jeune fille à la moresque, robe verte,1921, by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) realised £3,065,250/ $4,794,051/ €3,534,233 (estimate: £2.5-3.5 million). This picture occupies a seminal place within Matisse’s oeuvre, having featured in a number of important collections over the years, including those of Marcel Kapferer, Lillie P. Bliss and Ralph F.Colin among others.

For more information on this or Telluride area luxury real estate, please contact Telluride Real Estate Corp., Christie's exclusive affiliate in Telluride, Colorado, at 970-728-3111, info@telluriderealestatecorp.com or visit www.telluriderealestatecorp.com.

From the Telluride Daily Planet: Telluride to Host the Start of Next Summer's Ride The Rockies

Week-long bike tour kicks off June 9

By Heather Sackett
Associate Editor

Published: Tuesday, February 5, 2013 6:06 AM CST

The annual statewide bike ride, Ride the Rockies, will start in Telluride this year.

About 2,000 cyclists will descend on the box canyon in the days leading up to the June 9 departure for Cortez. This year’s 513-mile route will take riders on a tour of southwest Colorado to the host towns of Durango, Pagosa Springs, Alamosa, Salida and Cañon City before finishing in Colorado Springs on June 15.

The route will take riders over Lizard Head, Wolf Creek and Poncha passes, as well as the 956-feet-high Royal Gorge Bridge. This is the 28th year of the week-long event, which is sponsored by The Denver Post.

According to tour director Chandler Smith, although the ride has swung through Telluride before — most recently in 2008, 2003 and 1999 — this is the first time the event has started here.

“Telluride, in particular, is one of our favorite destinations,” Smith said. “We couldn’t imagine a more beautiful backdrop to start the ride. It does a great job showcasing what mountain communities of Colorado are all about.”

Smith said host communities usually see about $250,000 in revenue from lodging, restaurants and retail. And unlike last summer’s professional bike stage race, the USA Pro Challenge, Telluride does not have to put up any money for the event. The town spent about $92,000 hosting the Pro Challenge in 2012. The Denver Post Community Foundation awards a $5,000 grant to a non-profit organization in each Ride the Rockies host town.

The riders will be in town during a weekend that is not very busy, giving a boost to the early summer economy, said Telluride Mayor Stu Fraser.

“It was nice because they came to us on it,” Fraser said. “It’s in a weekend that is typically not very busy and [riders] will be spending money and probably two nights here.”

Telluride Tourism Board President and CEO Michael Martelon said it’s a major bonus to be the overall start for the event and it could push the summer occupancy rate above 50 percent, which is one of Martelon’s long-term goals.

“We ended up running about a 48.5 percent average occupancy rate (last summer),” Martelon said. “This could push us over the hump to get to 50 percent  occupancy for our core summer months. That’s exciting.”

Martelon said Telluride will probably see more than a quarter million dollars in revenue because ride registration is on Saturday. The ride begins on Sunday.

“That number is going to go up for us,” Martelon said. “People are going to be trickling in on Friday, before registration on Saturday.”

Martelon and Fraser attended the route announcement, which was a closely guarded secret, at Casselman’s Bar and Venue in Denver Saturday.

“People were just screaming, they were so excited about it,” Fraser said.

Cyclists can register for the event at ridetherockies.com. Applications for the lottery will be accepted Feb. 3-22, with 2,000 participants selected on March 1.

For more information on this or Telluride area luxury real estate, please contact Telluride Real Estate Corp. at 970.728.6655, info@telluriderealestatecorp.com or visit www.telluriderealestatecorp.com.