Among the 62 foreclosed homes actively listed on the local real estate market, 39 are offered by the federally sponsored mortgage packagers Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The list changes weekly, and the two entities often price the homes at some of the steepest discounts in the market. But not every time.

Don’t expect dramatic imp­rovement in the real estate market in 2012, but there’s reason to hope for a return to more normal appreciation in the value of homes by the middle of this decade.

Keith Kelly, of Kelly & Stone Architects, told an audience of business people last week that he and his partner, Tim Stone, are fortunate to have a growing list of clients outside Colorado during the economic downturn.

The new Walgreens at Steamboat Crossings is targeting a quiet Jan. 27 opening date with a grand opening in late February, store manager Jared Aylor said Thursday. He also wanted to put out the word that he is looking for more local vendors whose products he can sell in the new store.

The ambitious construction project now under way to expand the Panama Canal has the potential to shrink the globe and change Panama's economic fortunes. And Steamboat resident Alan J. Krause is in the thick of it.

Encouraged by a rapid response from the market to their initial offering of repriced luxury condos, the new owners of Trailhead Lodge in Wildhorse Meadows have put the most desirable of the remaining unsold units on the market in a move they acknowledge could influence the price of the remaining inventory at the building that was completed in 2009, just down the hill from the base of Steamboat Ski Area.

The North Routt community received a fresh jolt of enthusiasm this weekend with the opening of Hahn’s Peak Roadhouse, owned by Carroll and Darren Zamzow, formerly of Steamboat Springs.

The Atira Group will launch the sales effort for the second phase of its luxury project adjacent to the Steamboat Ski Area slopes with the intent of beginning construction on four $2 million-plus townhomes in 2012.

The number of foreclosure filings in Routt County in 2011 suggests the real estate market will be feeling the impacts of distressed properties on pricing for some time to come.

There aren’t many places where an investor can purchase the entirety of a 19th-century Colorado gold-mining camp, but the historic hamlet of Columbine four miles north of Steamboat Lake is the real deal.

Opening a commercial kitchen is no small challenge, but now that Fixins Kitchen is open at 135 11th St., local cooking instructors, caterers and food wholesalers don’t have to go through the brain damage.

The SportStalker store at the base of the Steamboat gondola continues to lead the Christy Sports group in gross sales and profitability. But the iconic ski shop is about to give up its brand, and the sign out front will be changed to Christy Sports.

The Old Pilot Building was once a health care facility, but it was never, as the name implies, a home for aging aviators. Today, the building at 1041 Lincoln Ave. is under new ownership and is one of the largest downtown office spaces.

It would be premature to label this week’s burst of million-dollar-home sales a trend, Realtors agree. For lack of a better term, call it the Great Pumpkin Effect. Six high-end properties sold Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, effectively marking a bewitching trend or a spooky coincidence.

Construction on Trailhead Lodge began in 2007, and the first units closed in 2009. Fifty-eight condos remain unsold. The building cost $71 million to build and comprises 184,000 square feet.

The number of single-family home building permits issued in 2011 has reversed a five-year trend of fewer such permits being issued each successive year in Steamboat Springs and Routt County.

The number of Routt County homes entering the foreclosure process jumped 39 percent in the third quarter as 86 properties started the foreclosure process between July and September.

A group of Steamboat Springs Realtors are using words like “remarkable” and “extraordinary” to describe a recent string of sales and purchases in the area.

The Routt County real estate market has produced some noteworthy values in 2011, but perhaps nothing to match this week’s sale of a family home in Elk River Estates.

Cash is key in condo sales as the Steamboat Springs real estate market closes out the third quarter of 2011.

One of Steamboat Springs’ longest-enduring downtown hotels is due for a new brick and stone façade that could earn it a place on the list of contemporary and restored Lincoln Avenue landmarks that honor the past while acknowledging the present.

Among the most self-evident trends in the Steamboat Springs real estate market this summer has been the downward arc of prices and, as a result, transaction amounts that reflect lower prices per square foot and are often significantly below either their last sale price or their valuation for 2011 taxes.

The proposed Casey’s Pond senior living community is the biggest real estate development on Steamboat’s horizon, but if it opens on schedule before the December holidays in 2013, the new residents won’t be closing on the purchase of real estate. Nor will they pay a large, up-front sum to hold their place at Casey’s Pond.

Commercial real estate has been a tough sale in the midst of the construction drought, but veteran commercial brokers say the autumn will bring a burst of activity in commercial leasing, particularly on Lincoln Avenue. Additionally, there are signs that well-established businesses in Routt County are getting ready to take advantage of 50 percent price reductions and low interest rates to move into new spaces.

In summer 2011, as Steamboat’s real estate market continues the lengthy process of getting back on its feet and hitting full stride, a home priced at $12.875 million ought to be very special. Perched above the upper end of Strawberry Park, the singular home that is the centerpiece of a virtual 119-acre wildlife sanctuary at Red Bell Ranch makes the claim.

It has already been a long, hot summer in Texas. Perhaps the weather is a contributing factor in the news that eight of the 45 buyers of million-dollar-plus properties in Routt County through May this year are from the Lone Star State.

Priest Creek wasn’t named after a man of the cloth but a pioneer, Chester Priest, who was the first settler on the little creek that pours off the southwest flank of Mount Werner. And the remaining evidence of Chester Priest’s years on Priest Creek will tie together two of the most interesting homes Saturday on the 2011 Strings Kitchen and Garden Tour.

When the market for modestly priced housing here someday turns upward and someday begins to stimulate demand for newly constructed homes, Steamboat Springs investor Steve Caragol thinks he’ll be positioned to dominate the market for appropriately priced building lots.

Andy Daly, of Alpine Mountain Ranch and Club, said Wednesday he’s cautiously optimistic that high-end buyers are more confident than they were a year ago, and he’s hopeful there will be significant interest in the $4.45 million home his company debuted to Realtors last week.

Were it not for remodeling projects to existing buildings, construction activity in Steamboat Springs and Routt County would be almost invisible early this summer. Specifically, alterations and additions to commercial buildings are carrying the local building industry through a deep trough.

When a limited liability company based in Lampasas, Texas, closed May 18 on the $7.1 million sale of the 3,400-acre Bugler’s Ridge ranch outside Oak Creek, the purchase was made sight unseen.

The dollar value of building permits in Steamboat Springs and Routt County continues to lag in 2011 but has started to show slight improvements through April and the beginning of May. That comes on the heels of March seeing only 11 permits in Steamboat and Routt.

Throughout the long, deep North Routt County winter, the million-dollar home overlooking Steamboat Lake in Aspen Heights saw just two showings. Fortunately for owners Lee and Elaine Emery, both showings resulted in offers of purchase — on the same day.

The tax valuation of property in Routt County dropped by more than $300 million in the past two years, but it wasn’t as steep a decline as Assessor Gary Peterson had feared. “Overall, values declined 21 percent compared to the 2009 reappraisal,” Peterson said.

The March market report released by Land Title Guarantee Co. on Thursday paints a statistical picture of the influence of bank-owned home sales on the Routt County real estate market. The number of all transactions in Routt County is up 22.76 percent through the first quarter of the year, yet dollar volume is off 24.34 percent. The sale of properties taken over by lenders help explain the fact that unit volume and dollar volume seem to be going in opposite directions

Realtor Lisa Ruffino has been tracking sales at the 136-unit Sunray Meadows condominium project on Village Drive for eight years and has seen it evolve from stalled construction project to red-hot seller’s market to “distressed city” and now, finally, to a property with increasing demand.

Edgemont, a slopeside condominium project at Steamboat Ski Area, put up its 10th transaction since July 1 this month with the $2.4 million sale of a three-bedroom plus den unit that was priced at $3.15 million last year and had the asking price reduced to $2.52 million. For the developers, Atira Group, the April 5 sale represented a significant turning point that wasn’t apparent from the outside looking in: It allowed Atira to retire the $45 million construction debt on the building that was completed in late 2009.

The market for $2 million-plus homes is alive in Routt County. The valley saw 21 sales of improved residential units priced at $2 million and above in 2010. And there have been eight in 2011, including the March 31 sale of a home on Pebble Run for $2.03 million.

Big plans are brewing for this summer’s phase of the multiyear, $20 million redevelopment project at the base of Steamboat Ski Area.
The taxpaying public is on the brink of seeing the most visible and talked-about payoffs of the base area redevelopment.

While government leaders expressed concern this week about the continuing pace of new foreclosure filings, a local Realtor, who is among three who list distressed properties for Fannie Mae, said it appears the demand for foreclosed homes is outpacing the supply of them.

The Covered Bridge House at Catamount Ranch & Club was ahead of its time when builders broke ground in 2000, and its original architect said the features of the home still are up to the latest standards for the most expensive homes in the Yampa Valley.

In a housing market where most homes bought in the past six years are worth less than what the owner paid for them, it’s understandably difficult for sellers to invest in all but the most necessary improvements. However, one veteran Steamboat Springs Realtor says in the competitive million-dollar-plus market, tackling a major upgrade can set a home apart from the competition.

The unincorporated South Routt County neighborhood of Stagecoach has been known throughout 2010 for strong buys on distressed lake-view homes. But the Stagecoach that wasn’t getting attention is the luxury home side of the county road.

Overlook Park, a proposed 139-lot residential subdivision on Steamboat Springs’ far west side, has emerged from foreclosure and resumed the city planning process.

The 70-acre parcel immediately west of the West Acres Mobile Home Park and West End Village neighborhoods is on the market for $3.8 million.

The developers of the proposed Casey’s Pond Senior Living project said last week that they expect their new continuous care facility just off Walton Creek Road to cost $38 million and to create as many as 50 new jobs.

The board of directors of the Yampa Valley Housing Authority may be asking the voters of its district to validate its existence in fall with a new property tax that would provide it with a stable funding source.

Jon Wade, of Colorado Group Realty, told an audience at a business outlook breakfast last week that an increased number of foreclosures seems inevitable in 2011, but he also pointed out some more encouraging signs in Steam­boat Springs’ housing market.

A building proposal that some say represents economic development in Steamboat Springs ran into the realities of the city’s development code at a Steamboat Springs Plan­ning Com­mis­sion meeting last week when plans for a new Walgreens store were tabled until Jan. 27.

Catamount had been relatively quiet through the first 11 months of 2010, with two sales for a combined $3.83 million. Realtor Darlinda Baldinger said she finished the year with more than $10 million in sales at Catamount.