It’s a beautiful Saturday morning – not a cloud in the sky! It’s chilly out there at 19 degrees, but we’ll get up in the mid-50s this afternoon. That’s Chamber of Commerce weather! We will have the same for the next week or so. The reality is we need some moisture. It’s been very dry for the past couple of months. Wolf Creek Ski Area opened on Halloween, and they currently have two lifts open with 11 inches of snow. Bring your rock skis!
The last major hunting season for deer and elk has started. The stores have their Christmas decorations front and center. I remember the good old days when this happened after Thanksgiving, but it is what it is. Locally, Pagosa is doing well. The economy is strong. Unemployment is very low. Everyone is trying to get their last-minute outdoor chores done before the winter sets in. So far, we’ve had only an inch of snow in town.
he biggest item in local news is the Town Council’s recent vote to form an Urban Renewal Authority (URA). Forming a URA is the first step in what could be a large development downtown around the Hot Springs. Jack Searle of BWD Construction and David Dronet of the Springs Resort and Spa have proposed a joint venture to construct a new residential and commercial development. The public infrastructure for this project will cost about $35 million, and the Town does not have the funds to pay for it. The developers have proposed an arrangement where they will fund the public infrastructure up front, and they will be reimbursed by the Town over a 25-year span using additional tax revenue generated by the project. If the project fails to create enough additional tax revenue to cover the initial investment, the developers will be on the hook for the loss.
I have attended two recent meetings about these proposals, one for local Realtors and one for the general public. Not everyone is hot to trot for this new development. The folks with the Audubon Society have concerns about the environment and the bird population along the river corridor. Some Town Council members expressed concerns that a URA is not the best government mechanism to handle a project like this. Many locals don’t want to see this project happen. Many of my customers and clients who are over 50 years old would prefer to be the last new people to arrive in Pagosa, and they’d like to shut the door behind them. Growth is not exciting for them – more people and more traffic is not the reason they moved to Pagosa Springs.
The formation of the URA passed by a vote of 4-3, but this is only an early step. The URA will be run by an 11-member board who have authority to consider any “urban renewal” project. The URA is allowed to study any project that might come along, not just the Hot Springs project, but I am not aware of any other projects which are currently being proposed. The URA can choose to pursue any and all projects, or they can choose to do nothing at all.
My personal opinion is that we should keep an open mind. Let’s see the development plan. It could be exciting to have more restaurants, more shopping, and new activities in the downtown core area. I don’t see any harm in forming a URA to explore our options.
The developers have stated that they are not willing to proceed unless they feel the Town and the community are behind them. They are gambling a lot of money, time, and effort, and they don’t want to proceed unless they have a clear green light.
Now for the latest real estate news. There were no big changes last month, although completed and pending sales were both down in October. If we look back at the past three years at this time, we had 805 sales in 2017, 746 sales in 2018, and 700 sales in 2019. This leaves us down 6% from last year.
The good news is that median values are up. Median closing price for homes is up 8%, condos up 3%, and vacant land up 8%. It is interesting to note that inventory is up as well. Inventory for homes is up 9% and vacant land is up 8%. Condo inventory is up 63% after an unusually low number last year. Make sure you check out all the stats for the full story. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is currently 3.75% and a 15-year is 3.125%.
GRI, CRS
2011 & 2014 Realtor of the Year
Phone (970) 731-4065
Fax (970) 731-4068
Cell (970) 946-3856
Email: [email protected]
