What speed of internet service can I expect when I relocate to Pagosa Springs?

I was contacted by a customer, an old colleague actually, who is thinking of getting out of the Denver Metro area and making Pagosa Springs home.

Requirement numero uno

“I need at least 5mbps, and a dish connection will not suffice for my boss.”

Ok, I think to myself, no biggie. I will contact our DSL provider (Ceturylink) and just get a map of the different coverage.

Conversation with Centurytel technician

Once I got the technician to stop laughing from my request, I did get a little education on the world of DSL. Depending on the type of infrastructure that services any particular area, you can see anywhere from 1.5 mbps all the way up to 20 mbps to your home in Pagosa Springs area, given you are within their coverage.

Here is what you can expect

I got a  basic rundown that most of the Meadows area’s 1-4, much of Timber Ridge and Alpha subdivisions are serviced by fiber optics, so you can pretty much get at least 10 mbps.

Much of what is known as thew Pagosa Lakes area has pretty good speed coverage, but it is a bit unpredictable from one subdivision to the next.

If you are in the market to purchase a home in Pagosa Springs, and the speed of your internet connection is important to you, make sure you check it out by calling Centurytel with your particular address before consummating the deal.

Our Colorado contracts have a specific provision in them for checking out the internet speed as a part of the due diligence process.

Fewer Foreclosure Filings = Future Foothold

It was announced today that Colorado’s foreclosure filings were down this year 27% compared to that of 2010.

Pagosa Springs foreclosures have seen a similar decline. My last calculations for Archuleta County came in at 24.3% down from last year.

The pace of sales going into late Fall are staying moderately stable, keeping us all busy here before the Holidays. If this trend continues, we could be seeing firmer ground in the home prices. (but be careful about listening to me, I’m a hopeless optimist)

Reservoir Hill Gets Ready for Winter Snow Park Expansion

The central hill in the downtown Pagosa Springs area offers Pagosan’s and visitors ample summer recreational opportunities. Widely known for it’s festival venue, it also hold many hiking and biking trails along with a Frisbee golf course.

Until now, the only winter time activity yo be had on the hill was x country skiing and snowshoeing.

The Town Tourism Committee has been hard at work and has pushed through a proposal to expand 2 sections on the Western slop to allow for Snowboarding and sledding runs.

! can’t wait to play on it myself!

Click here for more information.

Pagosa Springs Real Estate Market Showing Improvement

The Pagosa Springs real estate market is showing some marked improvement overall this summer. The first quarter numbers were up significantly from those of 2009, and the second quarter stats have continued that trend.

Here is a recent article and summary from The Pagosa Sun’s Chuck McGuire.

To get the quick and dirty view, from a visual perspective, I have put together 2 graphs below that summarize the first half of each of the five past years . This is a summary of the residential market in Archuleta County.

Sold by Volume 2005 to 2010

Questions? Give me a call @ 970-903-0481 or visit my site here.

Pagosa Water Supplier Suspends Resource Fee- Good news for building and real estate!

June 15, 2010- Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation board voted for a 6 month suspension of the Water Resource Fee (WRF). ( Click here to read the article in the Pagosa Sun) This is one of the many named fees that has, how can I say it pleasantly, “not helped” economic growth in Archuleta County since being imposed in the early summer of 2006.

With the lifting of this fee, those that take advantage by building this summer, will be saving around $6,000 per single family unit or equivalent. The question asked by many is will this be temporary or will the 6 months lift turn into something more sustaining?

What does this mean for building and real estate in our town this year?  Well, this REALTOR is not holding his breath for the market to break wide open due to this shift in fees. However this break, along with the correction in vacant land prices, will help to slightly increase small vacant land sales. (The price corrections in our market have more than doubled land sales in some sectors from last year.)

As far as building goes, it will stimulate a handful of second home builders to go ahead and pull the trigger this year on their retirement home plans. I will be watching very closely for a few brave souls who want to dip their toe back into the spec building market. I have had 2 conversations this week with 2 different builders who are quizzing me on the timing of this market.

Pagosa Springs Foreclosures

As a real estate broker that spends his time helping people either buy or sell homes, this word, foreclosure has a lot of emotion attached to it.

For many it makes their eyes twinkle. It marks a market that has been a long time coming in Pagosa Springs Colorado. One that gives sharp investors, with a little pocket change,  an opportunity to shop for deals like a kid in candy store.  For other sellers and distressed home owners it is, well…the “F” word.

However, for a broker who loves connecting buyers and sellers (that’s me),  it earmarks a market that is at least fluid enough to produce some sales, and therefore I may get to eat another day.

I am going to answer the question that I get several times a week. “Chris, do you see any great deals out there in the distressed property market”… with a resounding yes!

Click here to do a little net shopping of the current bank owned or REO homes in the Pagosa Springs real estate market as of this March 17.

PS-  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Spring Beauty in Pagosa Springs

I ran across this photo posted on Pagosa Daily Post this morning.

The spring-like weather has ushered in scores of Spring-Breakers to take advantage of Wolf Creek’s abundance of snow. The streets are full of license plates from Texas, Oklahoma, California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada to name a few.

Here in the office we are also getting scores of buyer’s looking for Bank owned and Foreclosed homes. They are picking them up from $90 to $100 dollars per square foot, well below replacement costs.

In honor of the last few days of snow…

West Fork Road (Co Rd 648) is a trail groomed by the Pagosa Nordic Club. Check their WEB site for updates on grooming.

This is a popular Pagosa area Nordic trail because of its ease of access off Hwy 160 (see Google map at right) and the fact that it is fairly flat and scenic.

If you ski to the end of the road, you will cover about 5.5 miles in and out. The road is visible on the Google map and is attached (below) as a TOPO! map. READ MORE

Check out my @constantcontact newsletter archive

Check out my @constantcontact newsletter archive.

Low interest rates + Low Prices = Gift of a lifetime

If You Don’t Buy a House Now, You’re Stupid or Broke

Interest rates are at historic lows but cyclical trends suggest they will soon rise. Home buyers may never see such a chance again, writes Marc Roth

 Well, you may not be stupid or broke. Maybe you already have a house and you don’t want to move. Or maybe you’re a Trappist monk and have forsworn all earthly possessions. Or whatever. But if you want to buy a house, now is the time, and if you don’t act soon, you will regret it. Here’s why: historically low interest rates.

 As of today, the average 30-year fixed-rate loan with no points or fees is around 5%. That, as the graph above—which you can find on Mortgage-X.com—shows, is the lowest the rate has been in nearly 40 years.

 In fact, rates are so well below historic averages that it should make all current and prospective homeowners take notice of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And it is exactly that, based on what the graph shows us. Let’s look at the point on the far left.

In 1970 the rate was approximately 7.25%. After hovering there for a couple of years, it began a trend upward….Read more