Colorado Ski Resorts Close With Lots of Snow

I used up my last ski day from my pass yesterday at Copper Mountain, where the last day of the season had the best snow I saw all season. I think they had 18 inches or so within 48 hours, it was great, and especially for end of season conditions. The weather was perfect too, not a cloud in the sky. At home in the Springs is was close to 60, and almost no evidence of our storm remained when I got home. Technically, there are still a couple of ski areas that remain open. Arapahoe Basin is famous for staying open as long as possible, and Loveland also stays open a little longer. These are small ski areas, the main areas are all closed now.
The moisture of the last week has got some green starting to peak through on the lawns. It won't be long and the trees and bushes will start leafing out, and it will start looking like spring for real. Golf season got it's start interrupted by the weather this week, but the area courses should be filling up again shortly. Hiking, biking, tennis, catching a baseball game, a whole new season awaits! With temps in the upper 60's and mid 70's, should be a perfect outdoor week.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Colorado Springs Sees 2nd Major Snowstorm in 1 Week

After the Easter Sunday snowstorm this week, it kind of had me thinking Colorado Springs was done with snow for the season (at least with major storms), but this one was even bigger. Schools were closed yesterday, and for good reason, as the snow just kept coming back after it would quit for while. There were even some periods of thunder and lightening in the middle, kind of a rare occurrence. This was a classic 'Albuquerque low', with low pressure moving slowly through New Mexico, sucking moist air from the Gulf of Mexico up to mix with cold air over the Rockies, and just keep snowing. It was still snowing this morning, but is starting to let up, and I won't be surprised if the sun is out by noon, and at least the streets melted off by dinner. I think we had 8 - 10 inches maybe at our house? The temperature is already close to 40, so the worst is over. March and April are traditionally our snowiest months, and this year was certainly no exception to that pattern. The good news is that this should pretty much get us back up to snuff with the water supply. Lots of wet snow should result in the mountain reservoirs filling up pretty nicely.

The ski resorts are pretty much all scheduled to close this weekend, with well over a foot of fresh on top of a 6 foot base! I had really hoped to get one more day in yet this year, maybe tomorrow? I 70 was closed for a chunk of the day yesterday, so even with good snow, you couldn't get there!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Spring Blizzard Is Over

After a dry spring, winter came back with a vengeance yesterday. It isn't really that deep out there (6-8 inches?), but the temperature dropped so fast and snow came on so heavy initially, it has left the streets an icy mess, and there are a lot of drifts.
The morning was very pleasant, though cool, and I went for a short walk downtown while waiting for my brother to have some minor surgery. We were out for lunch when the storm really started, and the temperature dropped 12 degrees in the 15 minutes it took to drive home! Even the mall was closed with this one. Hopefully the warming trend over the weekend will help melt most of it off pretty quick, though not today. We sure needed the moisture, this should green up some lawns too!
When it snows like this, most people just stay home. Some like to test their 4 wheel drive vehicles, and others just have to report to their jobs (police and fire for instance) and they can't stay home, but many books get read, many movies watched, and a lot of work that can be handled on the Internet happens. This was one of those storms that will not have as many people out sightseeing, as it wasn't as dramatic when it was done as bigger storms that drop several feet of snow. We are still a good month away from the last threat of serious snow, and it was good to finally get some.
The ski resorts got pounded again with the storm, most have increased their base levels by more than 2 feet since Sunday! Copper Mountain lists 32 inches of fresh in the last 7 days.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Winter Is Back!

After a very dry early spring, the central mountains are getting a good dose of winter again, with 1 1/2 feet already, and more coming. We skied last week (and weekend) up at Copper Mountain, and although the weather was fantastic, the snow could really use some freshening up, so this is a good thing both for the resorts and the water supply. Here in the Springs we woke up to just a dusting this morning, but the temps are definitely cooler than the weekend was, and we also have more on the way. Thankfully I turned the sprinklers off again before this latest cold snap!
After all the hooplah about the Federal government 'saving the housing industry' by printing more money and buying up bad investments from the banks, mortgage rates are right where they started, around 5%. So much for using tax money to help. Sales are picking up, nationally as well as locally. Progress on the national front helps us locally, in that relocating buyers who have houses to sell can buy more easily if their existing home is sold.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Time Change Not All Bad

I am a creature of habit, and the daylight savings shuffle can be a little annoying sometimes. The flip side of it for me, is that I've got a little more daylight for showing property to people when they get out of work in the afternoon. With so many of the homes for sale also being vacant, and in some cases without utilities on, it has been kind of tough to see much past 5, so this will be a nice improvement, at least for some of my local clients who can't look at property until then.
The little dusting of snow we had on Saturday was nice, and while it doesn't exactly offset the dryness we've experienced, it does add a little moisture. We could use some more! The ski areas are getting some fresh this week, that will be good for our plans next week to get some skiing in.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Colorado Springs foreclosure and distressed properties are not as prevalent as in some areas of the country, but we have our share. Last month the bank owned and distressed properties made up 34.5% of our sales, which is why prices appear to be down so far. When digging behind the numbers, I discovered something interesting (at least to me!). Homes with more than 2500 finished square feet were only 14.5% of the "distressed" sales, and when looking for more than 3000 finished square feet, it was only 9.3% of the mix. What that means to me is that our averages are being drawn down a lot by homes that are both distressed and on the smaller side. Larger homes are not as big a part of either the distressed "pool", or of the kinds of homes being sought by investors or bargain hunters. Homes that have larger areas for living space are much more likely to be a normal sale, and likely to be owner occupied after sale.

The El Paso County Trustee's office does a nice graph of foreclosure trends for Colorado Springs, here is the link to the current report: El Paso County Foreclosure Report

We got a dusting of snow overnight, but it is expected to pick up a bit during the day, with another couple of inches supposedly coming. Given how cold it is (it was 18 degrees this morning), it is very light and more "broom" type than shovel type snow.

Today's photo was taken from Highway 9 south of Hoosier Pass in June. I thought of it as ski season is finally getting underway, with over 30 inches of base at many resorts. I like it closer to 40 myself, as the rocks are still showing some at 30, but with it being all nice and fresh, I am getting the itch to go! Vail reportedly got 24 inches this week, there should be some nice stashes of powder for while now. I love the web cams they have at many resorts, here is Copper Mountain's.