Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/93399
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JODIE LOVE (BROKERS) BROKER ROUND TABLE buyer's market? POWER BROKERS WEIGH IN. BY CHRISTOPHER DODDS I ARE THERE REAL ESTATE STEALS TO BE HAD? ASPEN'S t's no secret that Aspen claims the country's most expensive real estate. But given this year's fluctu- ating sales, we sat down with three veteran brokers to answer the question: "Just how good a deal can a buyer get?" "There's a good inventory in the $6–$10 million range, and still some deals to be had in that area," says Scott Davidson, partner at Aspen Associates Realty Group (scott@zgaspen.com). "The inventory is dwindling, however. It's come down from the last couple years to the point where it's getting hard to find certain clients anything they would be inter- ested in buying." What exactly are potential buyers looking for in Aspen? According to Tim Estin, a broker associate with Coldwell Banker Mason Morse Real Estate and author of the Estin Report (testin@masonmorse.com), "Contemporary is very 'in' right now. The great irony is the lack of high- quality homes and condos for sale is frustrating for buyers. If we had more good product, there would be more sales. But since there aren't, sell- ers are sitting out the market. It's a self-perpetuating downward spiral on the part of sellers. Buyers are ready to pull the trigger at price levels validated by solid market compara- bles, but they are not seeing the quality and the value of properties to purchase." Contemporary or not, local homes are peppered with FOR SALE signs. How does that translate for potential buyers? Gary Feldman, managing part- ner of Joshua & Co., an Aspen affiliate of Christie's International Real Estate (gary@joshuaco.com), adds, "For every potential client there are three contenders out of 20 pretenders. When buyers see the properties for sale in the MLS they assume it's still a buyers market." So what exactly happened to Aspen real estate when the recession hit? "The true natural state of an Aspen market is always a sellers market," explains Feldman. Only since 2008, "when all the different problems intersected at the same time," did the dynamic begin to change. The develop- ment wave from 2005–2008 resulted in a lot of new 192 ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM Tim Estin counts this 3.4-acre parcel at the North Star Nature Preserve among his listings. homes, "then the recession hit and developers began aggressively selling," says Estin. Feldman points out, "We had a lot of spec homes above $20 million that were coming online, and then the mar- ket fell. Prices were still very inflated and buyers were coming in and getting deals at 50 cents on the dollar." The crisis, while problematic for many, cre- ated windows of opportunity for liquid investors. "Some of those new homes were huge discounts to their original asking prices," says Estin. "As an example, there was a home in the Smuggler area, for $4.225 million, down from $13.5 million. That's a 67 percent discount—the biggest we've seen since the recession hit." As a result, land sales are really spiking "around 23 percent for 2012," adds Estin, and open lots are becoming much more desirable and in demand. Scott Davidson, Tim Estin, and Gary Feldman at Plato's restaurant at Aspen Meadows Resort. The view from Gary Feldman's Woody Creek listing. The living room of Scott Davidson's Red Mountain listing. Those on the hunt best act fast, as these sea- soned brokers agree that the market is stabilizing. According to Davidson, "We have come to a cross- roads where sellers have come down as far as they're going to go." And Feldman adds, "Over the last three years things have slowly come around to reach another equilibrium." AP