Eliese Pivarnik, Colorado Group Realty, RSPS, CDPE Steamboat Real Estate

Oak Creek, Colorado is looking into forming a central heating system by replacing its coal boilers with a biomass boiler/geoexchange heating system. The biomass boiler will burn pellets created from all the dead beetle kill pine trees.

If it happens, it sounds like a winning way to significantly lower fuel costs for the small town located about 20 miles south of Steamboat Springs and get rid of all the dead lodgepole pines located all over Colorado.

When the beetle epidemic started, Mark Mathis constructed a plant in Kremmling to grind up the trees and form them into pellets for heating homes and businesses. (There is also a pellet plant in Walden.) Mr. Mathis claims that Oak Creek can recoup the costs for the central burner in four years, and Oak Creek can see significant savings after that.

It has been estimated that 90% of the lodgepole pines will be dead by 2013, so long-term supply of the pellets is one of the big question marks.

The Steamboat Wine Festival kicks off tonight with the “Wine on the Mountain Kick Off” event at the top of the gondola. It is one of the events that sell out every year, but don’t worry if you don’t have a ticket. You can drink wine at all the various tasting events from the time you wake up in the morning until the time you crawl back to your room.

(I know, professional tasters rarely swallow the wine and rarely drink too much, but these events are for amateurs, so get Alpine Taxi on speed dial just in case. Their number is 970-879-TAXI (8294).)

Other popular events are the Stroll of Steamboat Friday afternoon where you can walk around to various retail locations in Steamboat and taste wine and appetizers. You need to check in at the tent on the court house lawn to get your glass, then you can sample wines there then walk around downtown Steamboat. Several restaurants, galleries, and shops are set up with wine and food to sample.

Saturday afternoon is the Grand Tasting at Torian Plum. It’s in a big tent on the lawn and features over 800 wines and excellent food from Steamboat Restaurants. There is a band and it’s quite the event.

Most events are in the late afternoon or early evening, but there are plenty of wine dinners you can attend if you'd like to drink even more wine and eat even more food. Generally, Steamboat’s better restaurants offer a set 5 or 6 course meal with different wine pairings. Tickets are in the $125-$150 per person, so if you have an interest in attending one of the wine dinners, let me know and I’ll give you details.

If you want to know more about Steamboat Springs or Steamboat real estate, visit SteamboatHomeSales.com

The Steamboat Real Estate market continues to move along, with 6 Routt County properties closing and 14 going under contract. (Under contract, or pending transactions are those that are signed and in escrow but have not closed. Steamboat real estate is usually under contract from 1-2 months while buyers arrange financing, get inspections, get clear title, etc.)

Most of the Sold real estate was outside of Steamboat Springs and at the lower end, which has not been the trend the past few weeks. Places sold in Phippsburg, Craig, Milner, North Routt and Oak Creek in addition to Steamboat.

Of the 14 pending properties, the average price was just shy of $2,000,000 and total volume was $16,790,400. They ranged from a Steamboat Grand Fractional at $140,000 to a single family in Agate Creek Preserve (by Dakota Ridge) for $5,850,000.

If you would like more information about any properties or are interested in buying or selling Steamboat Springs real estate, contact me.

Here are the details:

Steamboat Springs Market Summary

Steamboat Springs Market Summary--LAND

Prices for Steamboat Springs Real Estate for the first 4 months of 2008 are Up, and Dollar Volume Sold is Down, according to the June 8th Steamboat Pilot.

Steamboat Springs single family homes saw average prices rise from $1,175,000 to $1,544,000.

• Price per square foot for Steamboat single family homes increased from $355 to $485.

Steamboat Springs Condo prices increased from an average of $488,000 to $575,000.

• Price per square foot for Steamboat condos increased from $341 to $409.

While the prices for Steamboat homes and condos increased, the number of units sold was about half the number sold in 2007. Remember, we had a huge run up last year when Intrawest purchased the Steamboat ski mountain. Our 2008 sales are similar to our 2006 sales, which would probably be considered a more "normal" year.

Visit SteamboatHomeSales.com for more details about Steamboat real estate or call Eliese at (970) 819-6372 with your specific questions.

Last week, with the Steamboat Springs high school graduation, school ending, relatives visiting, and real estate showings, I didn't get a chance to post the week in review. So this week, I've included the sold and pending information for two weeks.

(This information doesn't include the $45,000,000 sold last Friday at the Edgemont sale. Buyers at Edgemont signed paperwork and put down deposits, but the sales won't be recorded until the Certificates Of Occupancy are signed 18-24 months from now.)

Here is the Steamboat Springs Sold and Steamboat Springs Under Contract numbers for the last two weeks:

There were 23 Steamboat Springs and Routt County properties that sold. Twenty of them were Steamboat residential properties, mainly Steamboat condos near the ski mountain. They ranged in price from a $63,000 mobile home in Hayden to a $2,245,000 house in The Sanctuary, one of Steamboat Springs' exclusive golf communities.

Sold prices were 94% of List prices. Interestingly, it was that Sanctuary home that pulled the Sold-to-List ratio down. Without the Sanctuary home (which sold for $535,000 off the asking price), Steamboat property sold for 97% of the asking price.

The other 3 Steamboat Sold properties were land parcels that sold for 97% of asking price.

It's true that the asking prices have been being adjusted recently, and most prices are being lowered. In many cases, the Sellers were pricing their property like it was still the wild real estate days of last summer. Back then, Sellers would look at a similar list price and add on a few thousand dollars to their place knowing they'd get it as soon as the lower priced one sold.

So the list prices of the real estate currently on the market are being reset to where they should have been in the first place. (Visit SteamboatHomeSales.com for Steamboat real estate information.)

Here are the details: (You can call 970-819-6372 or email or specifics.)

Steamboat Springs Real Estate Solds--Residentials

Steamboat Springs Real Estate Solds-Vacant Land

There were 15 Steamboat Springs properties that went under contract in the last two weeks.

Eleven were residential properties and the average days on market was 78 days.

Steamboat Springs Real Estate-Pending Sales

Steamboat Springs Vacant Land--Pending

Steamboat Springs Commercial Real Estate--Pending