Copper Mountain, Breckenridge or Keystone; where is the best place to buy a condo?

People often ask me, "where is the best place to buy my condo?"  My answer is usually another question, "where do you like to ski?"   Most times they are indirectly asking me for the area with the best appreciation, and, for that reason, I think I would have to say Breckenridge but qualify it with lots of "buts". 

We get more real estate inquiries for Breckenridge, and there is more property from which to choose in Breckenridge, but it is also the most crowded and the most expensive.  It is not my favorite ski mountain, but Matt Cheek, one of the Buyer Specialists on our team, loves to ski Breck.  I have always thought it a bit difficult to get around, with too much easy terrain, but he skis more challenging terrain than I do and seems to find plenty of it.  With a Breckenridge season pass you also have the option of skiing more mountains.  Since Vail Resorts is the owner of Breckenridge, some of their pass options allow you to ski their other resorts at Keystone, Vail and Beaver Creek.

Breckenridge condos are plentiful and there are many that are close to lifts.  It is also possible to ski back to a lot of them at the end of the day.  The vast majority are close to town and the ski lifts both, and that adds to the perceived value because people really like to be able to walk to restaurants and shopping rather than get in the car at the end of the day.   

Breckenridge started building condos in the early 1970s, so there are many older buildings.  However, unlike other parts of the County, there has been plenty of undeveloped land so there are a lot of newer condos and townhomes too.  That gives Breckenridge a good price spread, with the older condos being less expensive.  Some of them have some really good locations, and owners are now spending money upgrading them and making them more comparable to the newer offerings.  New construction at the base areas at Peaks 7 and 8 are being sold at about $1000 a square foot!  Breckenridge is often compared to an earlier Vail, although with a much less pretentious air about it. 

Keystone and Copper Mountain have many similarities to each other.  Both were developed by Intrawest, the current owners of Copper Mountain.  When Keystone was still owned by Purina, (the dog food people) Intrawest joined them in developing a new base area near the gondola.  Vail resorts bought out Purina and the relationship with Intrawest continued for several years afterward.  Most of the River Run area ( Buffalo Lodge and Dakota, Silver Mill, Arapahoe Lodge, Expedition Station, Jackpine and Black Bear)  was built by Intrawest.  As a result, Keystone and Copper (Tucker Mountain Lodge, Taylor's Crossing, Mill Club, Copper One and Passage Point)  have very similar base villages with condos that look a lot alike.  Keystone is larger and more spread out.  It is becoming much more diversified with single family homes and townhomes that are still just a shuttle bus ride away from the lifts.   

Copper Mountain condos seem to be slightly more expensive than Keystone for essentially the same thing.  That may be because there is less from which to choose or it may be because many Copper skiers don't want to ski anywhere else and so want their second home there too.  Both Keystone and Copper have their own festivals and events to bring people to the mountain summer and winter, as they don't have the town to do that for them as Breck does.  Copper Mountain has an optimistic plan for new real estate development at the A lift and Union Creek areas.  They are in the process of trying to get approval for added density from the county, who seems to be loathe to give it. 

Copper has a lot of potential yet, but there is resistance from people who like it just like it is and don't want changes. Other than the fact that they have some old, slow lifts I would like to see replaced,  I tend to be one of those people.  I also realize that it needs to have some mass in order to support the retail businesses and restaurants that are so vital to a destination resort.  They have developed a relationship with Frisco, who touts Copper as Frisco's ski area, but Frisco is still not really close enough to give Copper the same benefits that the town of Breckenridge gives to Breckenridge ski resort.  However, it is still a good relationship and should be beneficial to both the town and the mountain. 

Of all the resorts, Breckenridge is the most mature, with plenty of shopping and dining.  They have made many on-mountain improvements recently, and the addition of the new gondola from the town up to Peaks 7 and 8 will be a huge plus as the two base areas are developed further.  Keystone had  a rennaissance with the development of River Run but that was 10-12 years ago it seems to have stalled out in the last few years.  There is talk again of moving the gondola across the river and closer to the River Run village itself, and some new condo complexes are planned.  They could use some lift improvements with replacements of older, slower lifts too.

So when people ask me which ski area is best to buy in, I just say, "it depends" and it does.