About Garfield County, CO

Stay, Play and Get Scared in Colorado. The Hotel Colorado is Home to Some Permanent Guests. If you are looking for a haunting good time, The Hotel Colorado may have just what you are looking for. This grand hotel is located in Glenwood Springs and has hosted some pretty famous people over the years, and some of them are refusing to leave.

Walter Devereaux built this grand establishment in 1891. It was quite the draw for such famous guests as Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft. Al Capone and his buddies also spent time at the hotel. Devereaux is still said to be hanging out, and you can smell his cigar smoke. During WWII the hotel was used as a naval hospital. At this time a chamber maid was caught in a lovers triangle and killed by a jealous lover. Employees report hearing her screams, and the room in which she was killed is one of the most haunted in the hotel and isn't rented out, but used for storage.

While being used as a hospital, the basement was also used as a morgue. Lights have a way of going on and off with no one actually turning them on and off, and locked doors are found open.

All over the hotel, guests report lights turning off and on, knocks on doors with no one there, the TVs changing channels, and the sight of apparitions. The most common of which is a young girl.

With all this activity going on, it might be difficult to get some rest, but if you are looking for a good scare, this hotel should probably be on your list of places to visit.

The hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places. It's fully remodeled and has shops and restaurants.

If you are looking for real estate information in Western Colorado, please give me a call

Debbie Laity

GRI, SFR, REO Specialist, CNE, AHWD

Broker Associate

Cedaredge Land Company

970-589-2886

www.debbiesellscolorado.com

On Facebook... Debbie Laity Your Western Colorado Real Estate Specialist

Aspen Glen is the premier gated golf course community in the lower part of the Roaring Fork Valley. The Jack Nicklaus designed golf course has won numerous awards and enjoys a significantly longer season than some of the golf courses closer to Aspen. The spectacular club house with pool, tennis and gym facilities at Aspen Glen enjoys incredible views of Mt. Sopris and is a popular venue for local events.

Like all golf course communities, Aspen Glen has been affected by the economic crisis and prices have fallen significantly from their peak in 2007-2008. Probably due to the general financial strength of the typical Aspen Glen resident, the neighborhood has not been as affected as other parts of the valley by foreclosures.

In the last 12 months, there have been 11 residential sales in Aspen Glen, with prices ranging from $475,000 to $2,750,000. The median sale price was $1,050,000 and the average list to sale price reduction was 20%.

Currently there are 43 properties listed for sale, showing that there is still a significant oversupply. Asking prices range from $485,000 to $2,400,000. There are 3 bank owned properties currently for sale.

Based on the absorption rate of 46 months and the median days on market of 221 days, in my opinion, prices will need to come down further before sales pick up. This being said, every seller sets their own price and the properties that are selling are the ones that reflect a true value.

if you would like more information on Aspen Glen, including a list of properties available or reent sales, please contact me at Julian@TheBestWayHome.com. For more area information, please visit my website at www.TheBestWayHome.com or www.FaceBook.com/TheBestWayHomeRE or call me on (970) 309-5169

June, 2011

With each passing month our local market between Aspen, Glenwood Springs and Rifle is inching its way back to an equilibrium between supply and demand, but we are still not there yet. All indications suggest that 2011 will turn out to be the best year for buyers.

Here is the monthly commentary from our friend Joe Carpenter at American National Bank in Rifle:

What do flood waters and housing inventories have in common? Answer: They both rise and fall.

As we're experiencing record run off from the snowpack of the past season and see the rivers reaching or exceeding flood levels in many areas, I can't help but draw a parallel to the local housing market over the past three years where we've seen inventory levels swell as a dramatic decline in sales dammed the flow of transaction activity and flooded the market. Like the flood waters, the gage of whether housing stock is rising or receding is a function of the relationship between what is flowing in (new listings) and what is flowing out (sales) with consideration given to the existing levels (total inventory). Flood waters are expected to reach their peak for the season in this area any day now but in that regard, the housing market is well ahead having reached its high water mark in January of 2009 where we saw a stunning imbalance of nearly 9 listings for each sale and an absorption rate of over 73 months! The housing waters have been receding steadily ever since and the trend continued during the past two months.

April results for the broader market (Aspen to Parachute) reflected a listing-to-sales ratio of 1.28:1 on 150 new added units to a respectable 117 sales. One would have to go all the way back to 2007, the peak of the market, to find a single month in which the balance of listings to sales was as close as this. The absorption rate fell to just over a 12-month supply compared to over 43 months a year earlier and nearly 48 months in April of 2009. The western suburbs (New Castle to Parachute) also set another new record in April for recovering market balance posting just 1.12 listings for each sale (also a best since 2007) and an absorption rate of a scant 6 months compared to 27 months a year earlier and nearly 44 months in April of 2009.

May results reflected an increase in listing activity to 200 units typical of the spring but well below May of the two prior years which had 256 and 288 new added units for the month. Meanwhile, sales for the May posted another good showing at 97 units compared to 63 in the same month a year earlier and twice that of the 49 units recorded in May of 2009. The absorption rate as of May month-end stands at about 17 months, nearly half that of a year earlier where it stood at 32 months. Similar trends were reflected in the western suburbs for May.

The housing figures are as telling of the conditions as the flood gauges posted in the rivers. There is no question that the market is well on its way to recovery. Just the same, there remains an excess amount of "standing water" with 1,631 available residential units for sale as of May month-end, including 364 units in the western suburbs. Prices will remain suppressed until the inventory of distressed sales, now about 40% of the market, has run its course. Once the market is separated from those that HAVE to sell from those that WISH to sell, the artificially low prices that currently establish "market value" will evaporate. At that point, a new stage and a significant change in the dynamics of the housing recovery will have occurred. It's not of question of "if", but "when". And it's evident from the statistics that it's getting closer by the month.

(Courtesy of Joe Carpenter, American Nationa Bank, Rifle CO (970 625-2895 - Joe.Carpenter@anbbank.com)

Today on Monday even though I feel like it was one of the worst Mondays I have had in a long time. Everything that could go wrong was well on its track, then I opened up an email that said ......

Congratulations Debby.

The Design Selection Team at Ava Living has chosen your project from among 1,000’s for this week’s Ava’s Choice! I’ve included is a special commemorative photo for your use and distribution. This photo will appear as one of the featured projects in Ava’s Choice slide show for 7 days, from Monday, April 12^th until Sunday, April 18^th at 10PM PDT.

Only Ava Living promotes your works to people from over 150 countries through Ava’s Choice and also on the Facebook network with our application named “Interior Design” which features the Design of the Day. At Ava Living, we are continuing in our mission to bring great designers and your designs to our growing international community.

You can use the Invite system built into Ava Living to invite your friends and clients to view your works and remind them that Ava Living is fun, fast and FREE.

My very best wishes to you Debby for your continued success in 2010.

Just pass the round about with the naked mountain climber, yes you read this right. In the center of our little town of Silt, COLORADO round about is the naked mountain climber made out of stone.

Yes the statue is all about the things you can do in COLORADO. It made national attention last fall, see this link on Denver channel , it was the talk of the whole valley.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/20689868/detail.html

Back to the reason of this blog is just behind the statue is the BEST BBQ on the Western Slope of COLORADO.

Red Brick BBQ is owned by Daniel & Molly Fredrich of Silt.

As you can tell by the picture they have fun with what they do. Daniel is from Texas but he loves COLORADOand he can smoke any kind of meat and make it taste GREAT! Daniel and Molly were trained in the culinary arts in Denver, C. They have been chefs in Aspen, Denver, and Snowmass and Glenwood springs.

We have had brisket, chicken, pork, salmon and he made some sausage from his Grandpa's secret family recipe and Oh My Goodness! My husband brought it home for me and made a Sunday breakfast omelet to die for. Molly is the dessert queen and I am not kidding you she knows pastry. I took her some of our fresh farm eggs and she made chocolate-cream cheese bread pudding.

So in your travels plan to stop in Silt, COLORADO, it's just 16 miles west of Glenwood Springs, COLORADO off of the 1-70 interstate and have some good ole Texas BBQ at the Red Brick BBQ and say hi to the two wonderful people there that makes you feel right at home. Visit their website @ www.redbrickBBQ.com