So many people ask me how to purchase Real Estate in Steamboat, because the market is just exploding. With the recent purchase of Intrawest (December 2006 http://www.steamboatresortrealestate.com/index.php?option=content&task=blogsection&id=3&Itemid=33) there has been an avalanche of activity that has left very little available land for anyone to purchase a common lot – less than 1 acre. 
What has become popular, are what’s called, “Land Preservation Subdivisions”. It’s where many of the offspring of the local ranchers, who have now inherited their parent’s land and the kids all want to divide up the property, sell to a local developer or LLC group for the development of a subdivision – sequestering the individual lots together (say, in 5 acre parcels) while maintaining an abundance of undeveloped land for the use of amenities (grazing, equestrian life, barns, trails, rivers and streams, just plain open space). Many of the newer developments in Steamboat have taken this concept, which is well received in the City’s Planning Division, through the entitlement stages and are well into enjoying brisk sales. Marabou, Sydney Peak Ranch, Alpine Mountain Ranch, and several others who are in the planning stages are some of the LPS’s that exist now or will exist in the future. Fetching up to $7mil for 5 acres, Marabou is one such ranch that has taken Steamboat to an unprecendented level of upscale amenities and services visitors and residents have never experienced before. [slideshow id=1152921504616612969&w=426&h=320]
Joy Rasmussen
