I’m not a great Denver native because I only just attended my third Broncos game ever. I was so excited to be invited by a friend of mine from college. Her seats were better than I could have imagined – 40 yrd line – 10th 4ow!!! I will admit that I’m not the poster girl for football, but there’s absolutely no way you aren’t immediately sucked into the game sitting that close. I was really enjoying myself until after five minutes the Raiders had already scored three touchdowns (ok, the third didn’t count at that moment, but they still scored). Final score 59 to 14. The good news is that I still had a great time. The weather was perfect and although my lucky number 3 wasn’t the Bronco’s lucky day, I still had a great time. I took this cutie little video during half-time of a kids football game against professional sport mascots. Enjoy …
Archive for Uncategorized
Photos of Lowry Home Under Construction
It’s only just occurred to me after looking at a million photographer websites that photos are always a fun thing to look at, specially when it comes to houses! I currently have two houses that are Under Contract and are currently being built. Here are just a few of a house in the Lowry area of Denver.
I’m still amazed at how fast this house has come together! We are looking at an early December completion date. I would like to thank these amazing new home homeowners for all these wonderful photos they’ve shared with me.
St. Regis Hotel in Aspen, CO – SOLD
The 179-room, luxury St. Regis Aspen hotel has been sold for $70 million, seller Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said Wednesday.
The purchase price amounts to $391,000 per room, but the deal is reportedly worth a total of $100 million because the new owner plans a major renovation expected to cost $30 million.
The buyer is 315 Dean Associates Inc., a company represented by the OptAsia Capital Co. Ltd. boutique investment bank of Bangkok. The Thai company specializes in hotel and other types of real estate deals.
The hotel is located at the base of Aspen Mountain, at 315 E. Dean St. Rates at the St. Regis recently ranged from $249 to $1,678 per night, averaging $870 a night, according to TripAdvisor.com.
Starwood (NYSE: HOT) of New York will continue to manage the hotel, via a 50-year management agreement, according to the company. The hotel will remain a St. Regis.
The hotel company had the hotel on the market for about two years, according to The Aspen Times newspaper.
The St. Regis Aspen was built in 1992, and originally was a 257-room Ritz-Carlton hotel.
The property’s first owner was Sheik Abdul Aziz Bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, a Saudi Arabian businessman, and it was managed by The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. LLC. The Aspen property was plagued by lawsuits by investors during its early days, according to Ritz.
Al Ibrahim and Ritz had a falling out in 1997, and in August of that year, Ritz terminated its management agreements at four of the sheik’s hotels it operated — including the Aspen property.
ITT Sheraton Corp. quickly took over management of the Aspen property, as well as three other former Ritzes.
In early 1998, Starwood bought the Aspen hotel as part of its $14.3 billion acquisition of ITT Sheraton. Starwood acted as a “white knight” in the deal, preventing a hostile takeover of ITT by what’s now Hilton Worldwide.
Under Starwood, the former Aspen Ritz became a St. Regis.
In the early 2000s, Starwood converted 98 rooms in the hotel’s east wing to 25 fractional-ownership suites.
Compiled by the DBJ’s Paula Moore
Read more: St. Regis Aspen hotel sold – Denver Business Journal
New iphone app for Realtor.com
Realtor.com, the most popular public MLS website, has just announced a new iphone application for Realtor.com which is free to consumers. This app will allow buyers to search for open houses within a 20-mile radius, sorted by location or date. Buyers have the ability to take camera-phone pictures of listings as they tour them, assign them star ratings, jot notes on the phone, and quickly post listings to their Twitter or Facebook pages – or email them to friends, family and their real estate agent.
Denver Has 3rd Largest Gain in Home Values in 2009!
As reported by the Denver Business Journal, Metro Denver had the third-largest gain in home values among cities nationwide in 2009 through November, with a $10.7 billion increase, according to Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. Only Boston ($23.3 billion) and Providence, R.I. ($12.4 billion) had greater gains in home value.
U.S. home values as a whole dropped $489 billion in this year’s first 11 months, which was significantly less than the $3.6 trillion drop in home value sustained in 2008, the Zillow report said. Forty-eight of the 154 markets Zillow tracks showed gains in home values through last month.
“Home values stabilized significantly during the second half of 2009, with total dollar value of U.S. homes increasing since June,” Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Most housing markets across the country had a good summer, spurred largely by the government’s tax credits for [first-time] homebuyers combined with very low mortgage rates.”
Future home values will be affected by mortgage rates that are expected to “creep back up” in the first quarter of 2010, as well as a foreclosure rate that continues to be high. “Both these factors will challenge the recent stabilization of home prices,” Humphries said.
Los Angeles had the biggest decrease in home value through November, with a $60.8 billion drop to $1.7 trillion in total home value.
Other markets seeing major losses in home value included:
• Chicago — Down $49.6 billion to $688.8 billion total.
• New York City — Down $49 billion to $2.7 trillion.
• Miami-Fort Lauderdale — Down $45.9 billion to $403.5 billion.
• Phoenix — Down $45.1 billion to $241.1 billion.
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/12/07/daily30.html?ed=2009-12-09&ana=e_du_pap
Please Excuse My Absence …
Please excuse my absence over the past few months. The end of the year for me was a whirl wind with the loss of a family member, the rush of new home buyers closing to get their credit, only for that credit to be extended a third time. I also recently got engaged. It’s been a crazy few months, but I’m back in the blogosphere!
Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Celebrates 23rd Anniversary!
On Sunday Bonnie Brae Ice Cream celebrated their 23rd Anniversary which also happened to be National Ice Cream Day!
Bonnie Brae is not the average ice cream store because they welcome flavor suggestions from customers which total between 75 to 100 a year! It’s not surprise why this ice cream hot spot is so loved, and popular with lines winding out the door on any given Summer night. If you have kids under 12 years, their cones are on 23 cents … can’t beat that!
Chewy’s Bonetique
Apparently I’ve been a bad mother to my dog Abby, because I only just took her into Chewy’s Bontique in Lowry for her very first grooming experience. I can’t begin to tell you how fabulous our experience was!Friends of mine mentioned to me that they take their two golden retrievers over there to get brushed out every once in awhile to cut down on the fur. Well, my dog has been shedding like it’s her job, so I thought I would check it out.
While I understand this isn’t normal, I called at 9am in the morning and they were able to get my dog in 15 minutes later (I guess I must have perfect timing). The owner is such a doll and was even able to sneak in a treatment called the “Furminator.” Don’t ask me what this is, I just know it gets more of the hair out! They welcomed my little girl (is 55lbs little?) in and I felt like I was dropping her off at camp because her groomer for the day came out and introduced herself! They even asked if my dog had any allergies or any special needs they needed to know about!
When I came back an hour and a half later, Abby was sitting behind the counter with the owner and another shop clerk living the life. I’m not sure how many treats they gave her, but I have a feeling it was a few. She was absolutely loved and taken care of so well! She looked amazing and felt almost an inch thinner on her sides!
I’ve gone into Chewy’s in the past to pick up treats and a last minute replacement brush and dog bags and have always felt welcome. After this grooming experience, I feel like I’m part of the Chewy’s family. I would highly recommend visiting and taking your pooch for a dip (they also offer self-wash dog tubs where you can give your dog a bath on your own). The prices are very reasonable. They are working on their website, but this will give you an idea of what they offer and who they are.
http://www.chewysbonetique.com/
