It has been too long since I have posted a blog here so it is about time. Living here at 9600' I am starting to wonder if summer will ever arrive. I'm looking out my office window and it is nearly blizzarding out.

Summer will happen, but will the real estate market happen for us this year??? I talk to agents every day regarding the market and their expectations. We have been lucky so far with a very stable market, but there is more uncertainty right now than I have ever seen. Some people think this summer will be fantastic as the most active buyer's are the very high end buyer's and this is a strong enough market for them to "park" some money here. Some agents think the sky is falling. Me... I fall somewhere in between. For Seller's, I am not recommending that they price their property aggressively high. On the contrary, I recommend that they price it aggressively low and get it moved. For Buyer's, I think they will see more choices than they have in recent years and I do expect them to be able to find better buys.

Summer for us in the high country is still a couple of weeks away with the traditional busy season starting around July 4th, so we'll see what happens soon.

This promises to be an interesting fall for Breckenridge. National news is still talking about a housing slowdown, but not as much as they were a few weeks ago. The Breckenridge market is still moving at a brisk pace, with a few price reductions here and there, but nothing too alarming.

The big news here is that it is already snowing, 4"-8" last night and much more expected tonight. In most markets, that is completely insignificant in relation to Real Estate, but not here. That is one of the sparks that really gets people fired up to secure their ski property for the winter.

The snow is early this year and it may not be last more than a week, but it will get many people moving. The gondola is another strong motivator for buyers this fall. The long awaited gondola should be up and running sometime in December and that is tremendous news for the towns continued development.

Great stuff for our market to keep on chugging along.

The benefits of the advancing real estate technology can be hard to realize at times. I am now more mobile and more connected than I could ever believe possible, but that also comes with a price in my area.

Being connected 90% of the time to at least a cell phone service has people expecting quick answers and information, but here in the mountains of Colorado, we don't always have the ability to do that. I was camping two weeks ago and I was litterally about a 4 hour round trip drive to the nearest area with cell phone service. It was great, but by day three, I sure was wondering if there were any urgent problems that I might hear about on voice mail upon my return.

Aside from expectations being raised from clients, other realtors, etc., today's mobility and new markting techniques make life fantastic.

It is obvious as anyone drives around Summit County that we have a major problem with trees turning bright brownish red and dying. Most people know that the cause is Mountain Pine Beetle and it is getting to be one of the first topics of discussion for people visiting our area.

Homeowners and Buyers are naturally very concerned with what this epidemic may mean to the value of property in our area. Will it have an effect? So far it has not. The Frisco area of the county is by far the worst visually. They will be the first to recover, but the recovery won't be complete in my lifetime. The property values in Frisco have continued to rise without any noticeable slowdown.

The more problematic aspect of the pine beetle is the potential wild-fire problems due to the abundance of fuel. A major fire could cause major economic difficulties that could change the property value litterally overnight.

There is plenty of talk about the housing bubble nation-wide right now. I have heard many remarks like "The market is "Frothy" and people are paying anything for that special property".

So far in Summit County and Breckenridge in particular, the bubble does not seem to be there. Prices are consistently rising and the demand continues to outpace the supply. We are nearly "Built Out" here in the mountains while the Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs populations continue to rise. The Colorado economy has recovered from the colapse of the tech industry and more and more people want their peaceful place in the mountains. I'd say we have "Special" property that is less susceptible to a bursting bubble situation.

Breckenridge is a great place to be and can be different for every person. The extreme skier is as comfortable as the peaceful backcountry trekker. Coffee shops for early morning people and nightclubs for the late night crowd.