HOW'S THE MARKET?
The 111th Winter Carnival is approaching, and this year should be bigger and better than ever. The event goes from February 7-11, and traditional crowd-pleasing favorites are the street events on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the Night Extravaganza on Saturday evening. Make sure to purchase your $15 Carnival Button, which shows your support and grants you access to all spectator events as well as ski access to Howelsen Hill Ski Area during that time.
As of January 16, 2024, Routt County has 132 active residential listings. That’s down from 138 this time last month, and down about 16% from this time last year (169). The number of currently-pending listings (32) is down substantially from this time last month (61), and also significantly down from this time last year (66). The closed listings county-wide in December 2023 (45) were slightly lower than last month (48), and up slightly compared to December of 2022 (42).
According to Freddie Mac, the national average for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage as of January 16, 2024, was 6.67%, which is almost an entire point lower than this time last month. While the Fed most recently voted to keep the fed funds rate relatively stable at their last meeting, they did insinuate rate cuts throughout 2024. Rates have started to adjust downward in part to the anticipation of those rate cuts, and also in part to receding inflationary pressures. Those two indicators bode well for the housing market, and many economists are predicting a strong 2024 for Real Estate overall.
In Steamboat, the City Council just set the date for the voter referendum on the annexation of Brown Ranch for March 26, 2024. According to the Steamboat Pilot, “The referendum concerns the annexation of 420 acres of land located west of old Downtown Steamboat Springs. The land was purchased by the Yampa Valley Housing Authority on the wings of a $23 million anonymous donation, with a goal of constructing 2,264 affordable housing units on the property by 2024.”
We here at The Group would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you, our clients that chose to do business with us in 2023. We are grateful for the opportunity to be your trusted advisors, and are here for any questions you may have. Happy New Year from all of us at The Group, and may your 2024 be prosperous!
BUYING A NEW HOME WITHOUT THE WORRY OF SELLING YOUR CURRENT HOME
In today’s competitive real estate market buyers often face a stressful dilemma. To buy a new home, buyers need the funds from their current home for down payment on the new home. However, if they sell their current home before they have a new home under contract, they face the possibility of having nowhere to live. Fortunately, there are ways to navigate this gauntlet.
Contingent Offer:
This is the safest method. Your realtor can present an offer to purchase with a contingency for the sale of your current home. In this scenario, the seller agrees to wait to close on the sale until the buyer sells their current home. One negative, this will make an offer seem less attractive to sellers.
Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC):
Buyers can access equity in their current home with a HELOC to use as down payment on the new home. The HELOC is a great tool and can be set up well ahead of searching for a home with very few up-front fees. One hitch, to qualify for a mortgage on a new home, buyers must often qualify for payments on both homes.
Bridge Loan:
The lender will use equity in either the existing home, or new home, or both to give the buyer a temporary loan to purchase the new home. Often the lender only needs to count payment on the new home for qualifying. Keep in mind, a Bridge Loan adds additional expense.
Keep Current Home as a Rental:
Buyers can access enough of their equity for down payment with a HELOC. If the buyer intends to keep their previous home as a rental, the projected rent can offset the payments on the old home and the buyer only needs to qualify for payments on the new home.
Bottom line, there are ways to navigate our tricky market so you and your family don’t risk being between homes. Contact your real estate agent and your mortgage lender to find out which option is best for you.
For more information please contact Josh Kagan at Group Mortgage. Call 970-879-0996 or visit:
LOCAL ATHLETES MAKE THEIR MARK AT GANGWON 2024
On January 19, 2024, four athletes from Steamboat Springs took to the stage at the Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea. Jason Colby and Sawyer Graves (both Ski Jumping), Ella Wilson and Arthur Tirone (both Nordic Combined) join a long list of athletes with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club to compete at the highest levels of their sports.
To date, Steamboat has produced more winter Olympians than any other town in North America. Since 1914, the SSWSC has been the cornerstone of Steamboat’s success rate. A non-profit 501(C) 3 organization, the club has evolved from humble beginnings to provide programing for around 1,000 athletes per year. Their focus is to create champions on and off the mountain, with opportunities in disciplines from ski jumping to backcountry education in winter, biking and skateboarding in summer. As one of the oldest and most successful clubs in the country, athletes have gone on to become not only Olympians, but NCAA champions, collegiate scholars, CEOs and leaders of industry.
The organization offers scholarship opportunities and their biggest fundraising event each year is one of the community’s most cherished happenings. The SSWSC Winter Carnival which takes place from February 7-11, 2024, is in its 111th year. What began as a social gathering to break up the long snowy winters, is now a festival of epic proportions that blends the community’s skiing heritage and deep-rooted Western traditions.
There are plenty of exciting competitive opportunities between Howelsen Hill, the oldest continuously operating ski area in North America (and home of the SSWS), and Lincoln Avenue, which is closed to traffic for the events. The carnival offers everything from skijoring and shovel races down Main Street, to a marching band on skis, Diamond Hitch Parade, evening socials, and an epic night show.
For $15 people can purchase a carnival button with access to all events. Proceeds benefit the club and the next generation of Olympians.
Photo courtesy of Jace Romick
TWO COUPLES MAKING THEIR MARK IN STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
BIG IRON COFFEE CO.
Colorado native Bowen Rodkey was a tea drinker when he lived in New York City as a budding photographer, who worked as a barista while studying his trade. Back then, the idea of owning a specialty coffee business in Steamboat Springs couldn’t have been further from his mind. After eight years of big city living, he and his British wife Nina moved to Portland, Oregon for a year where they embraced the coffee culture and fostered a business idea.
The duo craved a small-town lifestyle and Bowen wanted to return to Colorado. They opted for Steamboat Springs and started Big Iron Coffee Co. in 2018, roasting their own beans and selling through wholesale outlets, the Farmer’s Market and for a while, a small espresso bar in Downhill Plaza. In late 2018, an opportunity arose to buy Steamboat Coffee House in the heart of downtown.
In 2020, they opened a second retail café on the west side of town. “We didn’t intend on having a main street café when we started the business, but it’s been a great catalyst for getting exposure as people can try the product,” Bowen says.
The Rodkeys found a niche for specialty coffee, a term which reflects quality much like beer or wine. Their cafes are known as third wave coffee shops, based on the high-end coffee they serve.
Everything about the Big Iron Coffee Co. branding and style derives from a Western influence. It was named after a song by Marty Robbins with a gun-slinging logo to match. Their signature light roasts coined titles from the origin of the beans, but the dark roasts carry the Western flair.
The Rodkeys overcame the challenges of COVID-19, staffing shortages, product delivery issues to grow their business. They’ve just renewed leases on both venues and hope to take Big Iron Coffee Co. to more locations in the West.
MOD VAUDE AND CLASSIC EXPEDITION VEHICLES
Josh and Emily Stein met swing dancing in Grand Rapids, Michigan where they were both living at the time, before moving out to Steamboat Springs in 2016 for Josh to go into business with his dad. Since then, the dancing duo have moved on to start two more businesses which are poles apart in nature.
The pair launched Mod Vaude (short for Modern Vaudeville) in 2019, an event production and performance group with an emphasis on immersive high-end entertainment. Based in a newly renovated studio in Copper Ridge on the west side of Steamboat, Emily runs weekly classes teaching aerial arts. Students ranging in age from late teens to mid-forties have opportunities to explore classes and specialist workshops previously not available in Routt County from aerial hoops to pole dancing.
“It’s about building self-confidence and giving people an outlet for self-expression,” Emily says. The level of fitness is intense, and she hopes to attract more of Steamboat’s exercise enthusiasts. “The studio is a place where adults can get in shape, have fun and everyone is in the same boat learning something new.”
Since its inception, Mod Vaude has staged five productions from jazz and comedy to burlesque themes, with a sixth slated for February 17 and 24, 2024 at Foxes Cocktail Lounge and Wine Bar on Yampa Street.
Next door to the studio, Josh recently launched Classic Expedition Vehicles, inspired by a 1986 Land Cruiser he bought in 2018 and mechanically restored. An engineer, Josh saw an opening in the market for restoring and maintaining older vehicles, and another for retrofitting.
“I’m only one of 25 people in the country doing this, and several of them are retiring.”
The biggest challenge was officially setting up the business, despite having the skill-set, tools and workspace.
“Pre COVID, it took about three weeks to start a business, this time it took 14 weeks,” he says.
It was worth the wait and his hobby has become a sustainable business. “I questioned whether I had a market to make this a business,” he says. The answer was a resounding “yes.”
PASSENGER RAIL TRAVEL MAKING TRACKS INTO STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
The idea of jumping on a train in Denver’s Union Station, or by the Yampa Valley Regional Airport bound for Steamboat Springs is no longer just a pipedream. It’s a large-scale project in motion.
The hum of a train whistle blowing through Steamboat Springs has been a familiar sound since the early 1900s. Until 1968 rail service included passenger travel before it was limited to transporting freight for the local coal mines. In 2022, those coal-fired plants were scheduled for closure by the end of 2028, leaving the railway lines empty.
The 100-year lease on the Moffat Tunnel – a 6.2-mile rail tunnel which connects the eastern and western slopes of the Rocky Mountain expires in 2025. Passenger rail service would provide cash flow for Union Pacific.
Motivation to reintroduce passenger travel to Routt and Moffat Counties from Denver has been gathering steam, with significant investments being made at state level. The Colorado Transportation Commission authorized a $5 million spend for a Service Development Plan to include cost, services, amenities, and infrastructure. Additionally, a position was posted for a Mountain Rail Project Manager.
Driving the push is Gov. Jared Polis. In a statement he said “Convenient passenger rail would be amazing. A just transition for communities moving away from coal production, cutting traffic, and reducing pollution are some of my administration’s top priorities. Expanding passenger rail service to the Yampa Valley can help on all these objectives.”
His administration and local elected officials believe it could create jobs and boost mountain communities struggling with housing shortages and rising levels of commuter traffic. If approved, potential stops would include South Routt, Steamboat Springs, Hayden and Craig.
It is estimated 2,700 people a day commute on Highway 40 from Craig to Steamboat Springs, 850 people from Hayden and 800 people from South Routt to Steamboat Springs. Many of the roads or parts of the road are single lane and winding.
Colorado was identified by the federal government as a possible recipient of funding from a $66 billion pledge by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to improve rail service across the country.
Speaking about the momentum for passenger travel, Routt County Commissioner Sonja Macys said “I’m surprised it’s taken this long because it’s been sitting right here in front of our faces for all this time. It is a historic resource and asset that we have utilized traditionally and historically, so I’m not surprised that people are excited about it.”
On February 5, 2024 the director of CDOT plans to be in Steamboat Springs to give a talk and share the latest news.
RANCHING ROOTS RUN DEEP
Chaos reigned at the Steamboat Resort for the 49th year on January 15, 2024. In true kamikaze fashion a lineup of cowboys and cowgirls, hailing from across the west, swapped saddles for skis or snowboards to take part in the annual Bud Light Cowboy Downhill. Competing on a dual slalom course, they had to clear a jump, lasso a person, saddle a horse, and cross the finish line. Many have never tried the sports until that day.
The Cowboy Downhill is just one of many events that tie the Yampa Valley as an internationally renowned ski destination to its cow town roots. The sight of a true cowboy walking the streets of Steamboat Springs is a familiar sight. The town is steeped in ranching heritage and maintains its pioneering spirit and sense of camaraderie.
This winter, Steamboat Resort launched “The Steamboat Way,” a series of video ads that blend Cowboy Poetry with on-mountain footage. In collaboration with cowboy poet Randy Rieman, his words are choreographed with interchanging images of riders on horseback, skiers, boarders, & the snowy backdrop of the mountain.
Beneath the brim of his hat, the camera zooms in on Rieman’s face as he opens his first verse with “How long has it been since you stood on the rim and surveyed the mountain below?” The focus switches to skiers as they embark on a run and sweep down a trail. The remainder of the video continues in synchrony. “This work humbly represents the true spirit of Steamboat” says director of marketing Morgan Bast. The mini stories are airing on digital outlets until April 16, 2024.
In downtown Steamboat, the romantic notion of the American cowboy reigns in a new display of works at the Jace Romick Gallery. Norm Clasen, the lead photographer on the Marlborough Campaign chose the Yampa Valley to exhibit his work, which until recently has only been represented in the United States in Los Angeles. A Colorado resident, Clasen grew up skiing and roping, and enjoyed a career in photojournalism and advertising for over 50 years. A handful of iconic images are available to view and purchase in a series of five limited prints per photograph.
Photo: Catching up by Norm Clasen