Exquisite Aspen Homes

Aspen real estate, Basalt real estate, Carbondale real estate, Glenwood Springs real estate, Redstone real estate & Snowmass real estate

Exquisite Aspen Real Estate

Since the late 19th century, when the first silver mines were tapped beneath Aspen Mountain, the Aspen real estate market has been booming.

John Denver, our late, beloved citizen, immortalized Roaring Fork Valley real estate when he wrote "Colorado, Rocky Mountain High".

At Aspen's core is its history as part of the territory of the Ute Indians until 1879 and after that as a silver-mining center.

That Old West legacy lives on in Aspen's fine Victorian houses and touches of Western life.

The architecture in Aspen is a mix, from the colorful Victorians in the West End neighborhood to the monster movie-star mansions on Red Mountain to new houses with rusty-looking tin roofs and industrial details; references to Aspen's silver-mining past.

This ritzy mountain resort built its reputation on world-class skiing, high-end shopping and awe-inspiring scenery.

Aspen is hipper, trendier, and more expensive than ever, but it’s also just as exciting, just as real a place as it ever was.

And as one of the top year-round recreational centers in the world, complete with internationally renowned ski slopes, golf courses, cultural events and other attractions, Aspen real estate prices will continue to appreciate.

Aspen's population is about 20,000 and growing.

Many of the new residents are celebrities and other affluent people from around the world.

But skiing is still the sexiest thing one can do here, and the best skiers walk with a little swagger, even if their clothes are patched with duct tape.

Despite the resort's inconceivable wealth, what matters on Aspen Mountain is not who you are...But how you ski.

However, the common perception of Aspen as being strictly for the wealthy jet set is not totally true; there are affordable Aspen homes. You just need to know where to look.

The Aspen crowd is also a mix: celebrities, artists, motorcyclists, bankers, 40-year-olds who live to snowboard, yogis, snow bunnies, Australians.

Today Aspen has access to four major mountains with a total ski-able terrain of 3,700 acres, an average annual snowfall of 300 inches and elevations as high as 11,800 feet and offers every kind of terrain, from smooth as cream cheese to bumpy, steep and scary.

Aspen is the most cultural small town in the world nurturing a reputation as a cultural center, built on institutions like the Aspen Institute and the Summer Music Festival.

Life in this posh resort is marvelous, however, the number of Aspen homes sold to date have not been as robust as 2006, yet the sales for the Aspen market maybe on track to surpass the record set last year.

The difference between Aspen real estate sales versus the national economy's is the lack of "overbuilding” locally.

Aspen's strict development process and the lack of available, nearby land has ensured that the Roaring Fork Valley does not get flooded with unsold homes.

And the overall wealth of most Roaring Fork Valley residents means that the majority of Aspen homeowners can afford to wait out a small recession before selling their Aspen homes.

Aspen real estate sales may be slow but it isn't a disaster like you have in the national economy.

The Roaring Fork Valley historically feels the affects of a recession much later than the national real estate market and is one of the first areas in the country to come out when the economy begins to turn around.

Rifle and Grand Junction real estate have been buoyed by the energy expansion and that impact has spread at least as far as Glenwood Springs.

In those economies, there are more jobs than people to fill them.

Aspen property values are among the highest in the nation.

The average Aspen home is $6.25 million.

The average Aspen condo is $1.5 mil.

And the average Aspen land sale is $2.6 mil.

But now, Aspen's appeal as a year-round destination for power brokers from finance, technology and entertainment from across the country has gotten the full attention of luxury homebuyers from across the pond.

Many Aspen homeowners are not only from America but from Europe too.

Summers in Aspen often attract many more visitors because of added attributes like biking, hiking, horse riding, golfing, fishing, sight seeing and various cultural programs of dance and music.

To say that Aspen is a high-rent, high-visibility town is stating the obvious, since the rich and famous have been lining up at the gondolas and filling the seats at the Wheeler Opera House for the last 50 years.

You can shop for anything from designer clothes, boutique jewelry, pottery and fine antiques.

In the past three years, a host of stores, many of them European, have arrived: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Lana Marks, Tod's, Fendi, Brioni, Malo, Christopher Walling and Chanel.

Paradoxically, the secret of Aspen’s enduring fascination, as a resort is that, despite everything, it’s still more of a community than a resort.

Real people, unusual and creative people, have put down deep roots here, have made this town different and, in a non-superficial way, more sophisticated than any other ski town or mountain town in America.

Aspen real estate is The Place every other ski town gets compared to.