Realtor | Corey Dwan

May 2010 - Market Report

Well to my surprise and the surprise of many the appeal for the initial decision on Snodgrass has been denied. Now many of you may think this may be a huge blow for Mount Crested Butte but it may be a blessing in disguise. With Snodgrass not being the main focus Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) can focus on our current mountain and it's lack of amenities. Plans are in motion right now for the North Mountaineer Square, our current dirt parking lot, which will be transformed into an amenity rich base area with two levels of covered parking, restaurants, shops and new conference center (click link below to view Master Vision). In the years past we have enjoyed over 500,000 skier visits a year with our current terrain so obviously everyone who visits, owns or plans to own in Crested Butte loves our little resort for that very reason, it is small, quaint and funky. That being said a fight for Snodgrass is still in motion and if you care to help please see below.

Master Vision Click the "Ski Base Area" on the left menu, then "Mountaineer Square North".

With the current state of the economy and the recent price reductions of over 50% I haven't been able to see a significant impact from the Snodgrass decision. I think now our market can enjoy a more stable, end user market with more predictive appreciation over the years to come. In the last few years speculative buyers had spiked our prices unrealistically and as the national real estate market bubble burst we may have been affected more than other ski resort towns in Colorado making for some really good investment opportunities. The current buyer must now realize they will enjoy amazing appreciation on their Crested Butte property but over the long term, not the quick purchase and flip as seen in the 2004-2005 real estate craze heightened by the purchase of the resort by the Muellers. Please take a moment to view my current listings and call or email me anytime to share what you are looking for in a Crested Butte property so that I can send other listings that may interest you.

Click Here to View Listings

On another note is the following question I received from a client asking me about the new heath care reform bill and associated real estate tax:
I was in a County meeting today and heard that in the new Health Care Bill recently passed that anyone who sells their home will be subject to a tax of 3.8% or 3.6% upon the sale. Have you heard anything to that effect?

This summary from www.realtor.org may help:
No 4.0% "Sales Tax" on Home Sales In Recently Enacted Health Reform Bill

Contrary to reports and newspaper articles circulating widely on the Internet, there is not a 4.0% "sales tax" or "transfer tax" on the sale of a home included in the recently signed health care reform bill. The analysis underlying these reports is incorrect and fails to take into account the interplay of the bill's provisions with already existing real estate tax laws that remain unchanged.

What was included in the health bill is a provision that imposes a new 3.8% Medicare tax for some high income households that have "net investment income." Any revenue collected by the tax is dedicated to the Medicare hospital insurance program. This new tax will only apply to households with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of more than $200,000 for individuals or more than $250,000 for married couples. Since capital gains are included in the definition of net investment income, an additional tax obligation might result from the sale of real property.

In the case of the sale of a principal residence, the existing $250,000/$500,000 exclusion from capital gains on the sale of a principal residence remains unchanged. Consequently, even when the AGI limits are met, the new tax would not be applied to all capital gains that result from the sale of a home. Rather, it would only apply to any home sale gain realized in excess of the $250K/$500K existing primary home exclusion that pushes the filer's AGI over the $200K/$250K adjusted gross income limit.

The new Medicare tax will not take effect until January 1, 2013.

Snodgrass Fight:
From www.liftsonsnodgrass.org

CBMR is not finished fighting for the right to develop the 276 acres of skiable terrain on Snodgrass Mountain. Under the Forest Service regulations, Tom Tidwell, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, now has 15 days to decide whether to review Pena’s decision (or longer, if he asks to see the full record.) He has complete discretion to decide to review or not review. Because of this, we need to put pressure on him to decide to review Pena’s decision. The Coalition for Lifts on Snodgrass will be sending a letter of support before the 15 day deadline and we want to have as many members as possible before we send our letter, so we can show Tidwell that we speak for many people and businesses. We also hope you will send your own letter.

We need two things from you:
1) We need each of you to send an email to Tom Tidwell---Chief Forester, Washington D.C... His email address is: ttidwell@fs.fed.us
Ask him to review Pena’s decision with an unbiased and critical eye. The Chief of the Forest Service, Tom Tidwell, has the authority to review Richmond’s decision and overrule it, even though Pena did not.
2) We need to show our strength in numbers…please contact everyone you know and ask them to join CLS Now! We need to present (in numbers) our solidarity for this cause.
Tell everyone to go to the web site immediately and join CLS:
www.liftsonsnodgrass.org/membership.html
All members are receiving this email—so if they did not get the email, they are not a member yet.
If you want all the details including Pena’s decision, and CBMR’s press release in response to the decision go to the web site for the full story. www.liftsonsnodgrass.org
This may not be our last fight…but it is a big one…this is no time to throw in the towel! Contact all your friends. Send a respectful but compelling email to Chief Tidwell.

National Real Estate and Economy News:

Realty Check CNBC

US Trade Deficit Edges Higher Amid Recovery

Economic Rundown

Best Regards,

Corey Dwan - REALTOR
Benson Sotheby's International Realty
P.O. Box 210
433 Sixth Street
Crested Butte, CO 81224
970-596-3219 Cell
970-325-3219 World Wide Cell
970-349-6653 Office
970-797-1810 Fax
www.CrestedButteForSale.com