Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Mountain Town News


By ALLEN BEST - MTN TOWN NEWS SERVICE

Jackson real estate prices have doubled in last 4 years

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo.—The inventory of real estate for sale in Jackson Hole continues to decline, but the median sales prices continue to soar.

The median home-sale price four years ago was $542,000. Now, it's at $1.2 million, appraiser David Viehman reports. In other words, prices have doubled in the last four years, with a 28 percent increase in just the last year.

In his mid-year report, Viehman noted that the statistically greatest surge was of homes valued at more than $5 million, where total sales increased 81 percent.

A majority of buyers are from Jackson Hole, but of the out-of-state buyers, they come from the usual places: New York, California, Texas, and Florida.

Condo prices have also escalated. Last year at this time the least expensive condo on the market was $205,000. This year, as of early July, the least expensive condo available for purchase was $512,000, said Viehman, of Jackson Hole Real Estate and Appraisal.

To put more housing on the market, lowering the cost, he argues the need for high-density infill housing, and also for relaxed density requirements when affordable housing requirements are steep.

Whistler mayor rebuked for 'monster home' talk

WHISTLER, B.C.—Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed described a development project as a place of "monster homes." At least one Whistlerite, John Konig, is offended. Construction workers are the highest paid employees in the region, he says, which allows them to live in Whistler and spend their money there. The purchasers of the homes, who are typically part-time residents, pay lots of money to people to maintain their homes. And furthermore, he says the homes are of higher quality design and construction. He wants to know: What's not to like?

Green-talking columnist attacked as hypocritical

ASPEN, Colo.—The practices of many evangelists are very different from what they preach, and the same can be said for some environmentalists. Take climate crusader Al Gore, his 10,000-square-foot home, and galloping electrical consumption.

Gore was in Aspen this summer to talk about climate change, and so was Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist famous for his fearless war reporting, three Pulitzer Prizes, and his most recent book, "The Earth Is Flat."

Friedman has also written frequently about climate change and energy in recent years, and has been sharply critical of the Bush administration.

But The Aspen Times columnist Paul Andersen notes that Friedman's walk is very different from the green talk. For his engagement in Aspen, for example, he arrived by private jet. Also, Friedman lives in an 11,400-square-foot home located along a golf course near Washington D.C.

"For Thomas Friedman to pontificate on going green is like an overweight physician telling his equally obese patients to go on a diet," says Andersen.

"There are plenty of affluent people who share Friedman's and Gore's desire for guilt-free conspicuous consumption," he says. "They buy carbon offsets the way sinners bought indulgences during the Middle Ages."

In a 2006 article, Washingtonian Magazine said that Friedman's annual income easily surpasses $1 million a year. In addition, he married into one of America's richest families, the Bucksbaums, who were pioneers in the development of shopping malls. The family has a home in Aspen.

Aspen Skiing Co. adds to employee housing stock

BASALT, Colo.—The Aspen Skiing Co. has purchased a 62-unit apartment complex in the El Jebel area, 20 miles downvalley from Aspen. The company plans to use the apartments as affordable housing for year-round employees. Rents for the two-bedroom apartments currently go for about $1,300. The company has also purchased vacant lots in nearby Basalt and a low-end tourist complex in Carbondale.

Another white-collar crime, another ski country connect

BEAVER CREEK, Colo.—Oh, the world can be small at times. Consider this most recent round of corporate thievery, capped last Friday by the sentencing of Joe Nacchio, the former chief executive of Denver-based Qwest, the telecommunications company.

Nacchio has been ordered to serve six years in prison, fined $19 million, and ordered to pay back $52 million in ill-gotten gains that he received in 2002 when he knew his company was facing financial risk. In essence, he was convicted of lying.

These crimes were those of "overarching greed," said the judge, Edward Nottingham.

Nottingham grew up, at least partly, at Beaver Creek, on a ranch owned by his father, Willis. This is the same place near Vail that later became a major ski resort.

Beaver Creek, always a favorite of the corporate types, has become more prominent in recent years in a left-handed way. Several of its big houses were owned by people who have become full-time residents of the "big house." They include Adelphia founder John Rigas and his son, Tom Rigas, who received prison sentences of 15 and 20 years respectively. Tyco's former chief executive, Dennis Kozlowski, was sentenced to 8.5 to 25 years in jail.




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