Happy 242nd birthday, America! If you are fortunate enough to be in Pagosa Springs over the 4th of July, you are experiencing small town America at its best. There’s a lot going on. Here’s the agenda in a nutshell. The carnival is set up downtown in the park. The Arts & Crafts Festival is also set up in the park. Of course, the big parade starts at 10:00 a.m on the 4th. The Red Ryder Rodeo is happening at 2:00 p.m. on the 4th and then at 6:00 p.m. on the 5th and 6th. Unfortunately, due to the severe drought, there will be no fireworks this year. We are currently in Stage 2 fire restrictions, which means no open fires if you’re out there camping anywhere in the county.
It continues to be hot and dry. The last rain we had was Father’s Day weekend, when we got a much-needed inch of rain. As I look over the long-range forecast, it looks like the monsoons will start to kick in over the next few days. These afternoon showers are usually around until the end of August. This year, the more the merrier when it comes to rain.
The latest on the 416 Fire in Durango is that almost 50,000 acres have burned just north of town, and it is 37% contained. This has hurt the Durango economy a bunch, but they seem to be getting the upper hand. We wish them well.
Now for some big news around town. The Springs Resort, including the hotel, bath house, and multiple hot water pools, has just been purchased by a group called Presidian Hotels. They are a big management group and have an assortment of different hotels, condominiums, and corporate residences all over the country. You might want to Google them to get a picture of what they have in their portfolio. The rumor is they plan to spend about $5 million doing some upgrades to the property as well as maybe putting in a restaurant. I’m excited that these folks will be an asset to our community.
The other headline is about the trio who own the 27-acres adjacent to the Springs Resort. This is the group that wanted the town to put in a new bridge downtown a few months ago. The news is that one of the partners has bought out the other two. Jack Searle bought out Matt Mees and Bill Dawson. I’m not sure what this all means, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Now for the latest real estate news. Not much has changed since last month. Total sales are still down 10%, same as they were at the end of May. Pending sales are still lagging behind last year’s pace. We have 130 sales in the hopper right now compared to 150 last year at this time. I’ve been extremely busy, so maybe we’ll catch up by the end of the year. Median sale price continues to rise modestly, with home prices up 5% and condo prices up 4%. Vacant land prices are up 20% so far this year, which is a good sign since vacant land has been lagging behind other categories for many years.
GRI, CRS
2011 & 2014 Realtor of the Year
Phone (970) 731-4065
Fax (970) 731-4068
Cell (970) 946-3856
Email: [email protected]
