Thank you so much.  See you there!

The property is available for seven weeks: you get three weeks in the summer, three in the winter and one week to use whenever you want. Basically, you get to enjoy all of the wonderful season that Vail has to offer! Also, you can rent the weeks you don’t use. This two bedroom, two bathroom condo is listed at $595,000. Give me a call at 970-331-1806 to schedule your private showing.

Vail Restaurant Month is made up of four fabulous weeks of one-of-a-kind events, activities and special offers. Star chefs, singular dining experiences, wine and beer tastings, spa packages, romantic getaways, family fun, cooking demonstrations, fashion trunk shows, art gallery receptions, celebrity author readings and book signings, outdoor adventures, and many more special activities take place during this month-long event.

The full details can be found here and below is a sneak peak at what the different themed weeks have to offer.

Market to Table Week: September 20 – 26

Entertaining and inspirational events, seminars and dining experiences all tied to healthy living and delicious fresh food, highlighted by a special Vail Farmers Market.

Health, Wellness and the Outdoors Week: September 27 – October 3

Biking, running, yoga, golf, rafting, hiking, flyfishing, and ballooning – Vail in the fall is the perfect season for outdoor adventures, beer and food pairings . . . and unforgettable dining experiences.

LoveFest: October 4 – 10

Get ready for romantic activities for couples, champagne and wine tastings, late night romance, celebrations with friends, pampering spas, and thrilling surprises from Vail’s star chefs.

Family and Little Foodies in the Kitchen Week: October 11- 17

An old-fashioned family vacation, remixed for today. Family activities, dining and just plain fun featuring “Little Foodies in the Kitchen” cooking classes, parties and special events

If you are interested in renting a property during this stay or anytime, please contact me. I’m happy to help.

The report opened with how the current real estate market offers smart buyers the following things: excellent home values throughout the Vail Valley, a broad selection of inventory, favorable interest rates and a resilient local market. They quoted a Fannie Mae survey from April 2010 which found that, nationally, nearly two‐thirds of Americans think now is the right time to buy a house, with a majority believing prices will be the same or higher over the next year.

Essentially, the window of opportunity for homebuyers has opened in that inventory is good, home prices remain competitive and if you’re interested in financing, rates are at a record low. Buyers are realizing that there are a number of reasons to take advantage of current market conditions and are purchasing their mountain homes. Both hard data and anecdotal evidence supports the fact that the market is on the uptick – as I blogged about last month – with sales beating out the last couple of years. You can see the numbers here.

These numbers also indicate that inventory in the Vail Valley hit a high recently – in August of 2009 – and has decreased since remaining under 2,000 active units. Here in Vail, we have not seen the mushrooming of inventory experienced by other markets around the country. This is largely because foreclosures in our area – which have risen a bit in the past year – still remain very low, below 1 percent in Eagle County. As a result, most buyers today are finding a more extensive selection of homes to choose from as compared to prior years such as in 2007 and 2008.

What is great for buyers is that the market has shifted in their favor. Smart buyers in this market are finding sellers more willing to negotiate in order to put together an acceptable transaction.

Executive summary: there hasn’t been a better time to buy a mountain home. There is plenty of inventory and the area is stable. The home prices are competitive and record-low financing is available. It is a great time to invest, not only in a piece of real estate but also in a vacation home that will provide memories for you and your family that will last a lifetime.

Hiking is one of my favorite activities and Vail has gorgeous mountains, creeks and trails that are perfect for this activity. This month, I’ve featuring the Wilder Gulch Trail. If you have suggestions for future hiking reports, please send them my way.

The Wilder Gulch Trail is located west of Copper Mountain. It climbs up Wilder Gulch from the Vail Pass Recreation Trail toward Ptarmigan Pass. From the base of the trail, travel south up the valley away from the interstate. The trail climbs continuously as it parallels the stream where numerous beaver ponds are found. After 2.3 miles the trail swings to the right and ends on a dirt road, which winds up to Ptarmigan Pass at the head of the valley. Ptarmigan Pass offers a good view of the Sawatch Range and the west side of the Gore Range.

The area is closed to motorized vehicles in the summer, but snowmobiles do use the area in the winter.

Directions: From Beaver Creek, Go 23 miles east on I-70 to exit #190, near the summit of Vail Pass. Turn right and park in the large parking area. Hikers can follow the Vail Pass Recreation Trail (a paved bicycle trail) to Wilder Gulch. Cross through the tunnel under the interstate which and follow the recreation trail to just before the stream crossing.

The stats:

Elevation: 10,500 feet

Ending Elevation: 11,500 feet

Elevation Gain: 1,000 feet

Distance: 3.0 miles

Usage: Light

Difficulty: Easy

Labor Day Jazz Party

September 03, 2010 – September 06, 2010

This internationally acclaimed event features five days and nights of the world’s greatest jazz musicians – enjoy over twenty-four hours of music.

Hosted at the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort in Lionshead, the Vail Jazz Party brings together an extraordinary lineup of great jazz musicians in an intimate, cabaret-style setting. Watch the masters jam with the up and comers, and enjoy the spontaneous style of this one-of-a-kind celebration of jazz.

Tickets to the Vail Jazz Party are $45/afternoon, $55/evening and $350 for an event pass and can be purchased through the Vail Jazz Foundation office at (970)479-6146, or (888)VAILJAM (824-5526). Online tickets are available here.

Vail Oktoberfest in Lionshead

September 10, 2010 – September 12, 2010

Oktoberfest is the yearly festival of beer, music and fall. It is a time to dust off the lederhosen, throw on the dirndl, and toast your steins to the most popular party in the world.

The Town of Vail is hosting two full weekends of parties, lively demonstrations and traditional German fare in Lionshead and Vail Village. Festivities include brat-eating and Keg Bowling contests, yodeling and alpine horn blowing, and Bavarian dancing. Oktoberfest is two full weekends the whole family will enjoy.

Vail Restaurant Month

September 20 – October 17, 2010

Visit Vail in all its fall glory and spend four weeks enjoying events, activities and special offers during Vail Restaurant Month. Star chefs, wine and beer tastings, health/wellness/spa packages, outdoor adventures, dog-friendly activities, romantic getaways, family fun and more. Each week of Vail Restaurant Month will feature a special theme.

Market to Table Week: September 20 – 26

Health, Wellness and the Outdoors Week: September 27 – October 3

LoveFest: October 4 – 10

Family and Little Foodies in the Kitchen Week: October 11- 17.

All summer! – Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show

The Vail Farmers’ Market & Art Show is the largest farmers’ market in Colorado. There are more than 100 vendor tents weekly along with two live music venues and activities for kids. Vendors in colorful tents sell farm fresh fruits and vegetables while local artists display and explain their finest works.

Attend to buy the freshest foods, have lunch, and to browse the many tents and nearby shops and galleries or to simply enjoy all the activities.

All summer! – Yoga in the Gardens

Join a group of fellow yogis at the tranquil Betty Ford Gardens. The regularly scheduled summer program of Yoga in the Gardens is Mondays and Fridays from 9:00 to 10:15 a.m. Cost is $12 and they run thru September 2010.

And now Vail is forging ahead into the tech space with a new app that intertwines up-to-the-minute snow and trail reports, various aspects of social networking services like Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, and a personalized history of your ski experiences. The app – EpicMix – will be launched this upcoming season, premiering November 5 at Keystone Resort. It will be available with all of the PEAKS lift tickets along with Vail’s Epic, Summit, Heavenly and Colorado season passes which will come equipped with wireless Radio-Frequency (RF) transmitters. The RF chips already enable instant lift access and will allow skiers to comprehensively “capture, connect and share” their ski experiences.

What does EpicMix actually do? It tracks movements, determines skiers’ total vertical feet skied and records every lift ride and ski day. By connecting the app to Facebook and Twitter, participants can instantly share accomplishments with their social networks. The app also boasts a networking link which allows skiers and riders to find friends who are on the mountain, and then – through an instant messaging system – arrange meeting times and locations. As family-friendly as Vail is, EpicMix follows by offering kids under 13 access to their own specific social networking club that is protected by strict privacy settings.

Tourism is a huge industry in Colorado as visitors from all over the world come here to enjoy the mountains, ski and gold amenities. And the Colorado bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics could boost the state as a global tourism destination even more.

Vail and Beaver Creek will be well-positioned for the Olympic bid from an alpine skiing facilities and organizational standpoint. As I’ve blogged about before, we are already the hosts of two world championships (in 1989 and 1999) and Vail this year was awarded the 2015 championships — second only to the Olympics in ski racing prestige.

Top international ski racing officials are visiting the Vail Valley the first two weeks of September to begin planning for the 2015 championships, and U.S. Forest Service officials expect a definitive proposal from Vail Resorts for terrain and facility changes in the next month or two.
As reported earlier, Vail Resorts officials have said they plan a new women’s downhill course to rival the adjacent men’s Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek, as well as major upgrades to the finish area and the building of a new restaurant. Vail, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies, will see a “dramatic new stadium” in Vail Village. All of these upgrades would obviously position the resorts well for a possible future Olympic bid.

It’s an exciting time to be a Vail resident!

They found that the majority of Americans (55 percent) are looking for homes in the 1400-2600 square foot range.

So, they asked the question: Is the McMansion Era Over?

Two days later, I think we have a pretty good response. The International Business Times reported that the new and upcoming One Hyde Park complex in London sold a penthouse unit for $220 million.

I’m sure you’ve seen the reports that many high-priced luxury real estate properties have been remaining on the market longer than they used to. Yes, this is true but the same can be said for the real estate market at large. And this recent sale at One Hyde Park is one of the largest real estate transactions in the world relative to current listings and sales prices.

This is partly because many buyers in the luxury real estate market are looking for a home – yes – but also an investment property. And real estate, in the long-term, remains a good investment.

Now more on that penthouse unit! Luxist reported that the two-story penthouse unit of London’s nearly completed One Hyde Park is part of a four-tower complex of 86 condominium mansions overlooking Hyde Park and the Serpentine lake. The units start at around $32 million. The mixed-use luxury development is anticipated to open this December. One Hyde residents will receive 24-hour concierge service from the neighboring Mandarin Oriental hotel.

The article’s premise is to reuse items in new ways that are positive for the environment and spruce up your home. Combining function and fashion, here are the first two tips to reuse with style:

Create a little bit of history

I love furniture that is a little rustic or rough around the edges. A ding here and there adds to the memories and the charm. So I loved the first tip featured in the article which was to add a sense of history to your home while saving older quality wood and tile. Why throw out old flooring when it can be repurposed into a fabulous table or bookshelf?

The article featured Tom Campbell, owner of Connecticut-based Old Wood Workshop, who started salvaging floors, paneling, cabinetry, doors, and stone from buildings in his rural farming community in the early 1990s. Campbell said that homeowners have become increasingly interested in his work and last year was his busiest year yet of his over 20 years in business.

Cost: approximately $12–$16 per square foot.

Tap your creative self

My grandmother used to take old whip cream containers and use them as Tupperware. Now that was more being a product of the Great Depression but the idea is the same. Find something you don’t use anymore and think creatively: could that old beaker become a vase? How about that old wooden ladder in the garage? Turn it into an outdoor trellis.

It’s about using what you already have in new and interesting ways.

Cost: free.