The Eagle Valley is filled with great golf courses offering great golf season weather and the best in golfing experiences.  Having sampled most of the courses over the last 30 years I have developed a few favorites.   My top pick is the Arnold Palmer Signature course at Eagle Ranch.

At 7,500 yards from the back tees, the course is deceptively challenging for the advanced golfer who will find water and sand aplenty as well as fair but difficult green layouts.  More average golfers enjoy the 5,400 yard configuration and wide links layout fairways.  The front 9 is relatively flat and easily walked while the back 9 is best handled with a cart.  The most challenging holes are 2, 11, 12, and 16.  2 is a long, lazy Par 5 dog leg right with trouble on the left off the tee and a treacherous little stream that challenges the second shot.  The raised green has water on the right – bogey territory.  Hole 11 is a 170 yard par 3 with a narrow raised green that runs at right angles to the approach, water and neck deep foliage on the right, and tons of sand in the back – try double bogey here.  My favorite love/hate hole has to be 12.  You can see forever from the raised tee box (and  forever you need to see the pin).  Your second shot is traversed by a deep creek which cuts across the landing area at a 45 degree angle.  Finally, after negotiating this maize, you are faced with a raised green with a nasty line of bunkers across the front.  Never a dull moment!

            The condition of the course is always A+.  I’d have to rate the greens as among the best in the area with just the right amount of hold and run and a very true roll.  Capping a great experience is the fact that the green fees are quite reasonable, the views are really special, and the staff is friendly and accommodating. 

            18 holes at Eagle Ranch is a “can’t miss” experience.  You owe it to yourself to give the course a try!

The face of Vail Village is changing in a big way due to continuing progress on the construction of Solaris at Vail – a transformation of the old Crossroads Shopping Center into a thing of wonder.  With the installation of the steel superstructure of the roof, we are just now starting to realize the massive scope of this exciting project.

In a financial climate that has become singularly hostile to large commercial /residential development projects throughout the country, Peter Knobel, developer of the Solaris project, has pulled off a virtual hat trick in moving the $325,000,000 project along toward it’s mid year 2010 scheduled completion.   His success is founded in a 70% pre-sale (non-refundable deposits) as well as millions in personal money in the deal including the purchase of the site, design work, and tear-down, excavation and concrete work.  That the project is proceeding towards completion in this stormy financial atmosphere is a testament to Knobel’s resume as well as the strength and reputation of Vail.

Currently, there are 22 units remaining to be sold at Solaris ranging in size from a spacious one bedroom at $2.4 million to a 6 Bedroom/den Penthouse priced at $19.2million.  The amenity package, conceived as a contribution to the general Vail Village lifestyle, will include a skating rink during winter months that morphs into a delightful plaza during the warmer part of the year, a 10 lane bowling alley, a three screen movie theater and thousands of square feet of much needed retail/restaurant/entertainment space.

The residences are the definition of spacious luxury and will feature a private  fitness center with pool and spa facilities.   Of the 77 residential units originally available, 19 units have been dedicated to a private residence club that is a part of Epiphany Clubs and Resorts.  This unique program will feature shared ownership guaranteeing 36 weeks of owner use per year for the current price of $1,672,000.   In addition, members of the Club will receive yearly ski passes, full privileges at the Club and Cordillera and a list of many other amenities and services.

Recent sales of several Solaris condominiums at well above the $10,000,000 price point lend credence to the project’s viability.  Please give me a call if I can provide you with further information.

I have a delightful crystal ball sitting on my desk here at the office.  I bought it from this interesting looking lady at the 7^th Ave. Flee Market in New York about 10 years ago.  She claimed it has special powers.  Recently the ball has been notable in its lack of information……… So, when I hear folks say they are going to wait until the “market bottoms out” before making a purchase and neatly following up with a request that I let them know when this happens, I answer that by the time I recognize the market has bottomed, it will be too late.  Here’s why:

The real estate market is popularly noted as a “Buyer’s Market” or a “Seller’s Market”.  (If you are a buyer, I don’t have to tell you what market you want to be in - coincidentally the market we find ourselves in right now).   In a Buyer’s Market, the Buyer is in control in the negotiation process.  Conversely, in a Seller’s Market, the Seller finds himself/herself in control of the negotiation.  A graph of the Buyer’s Market/Seller’s Market continuum looks like the letter “U” with the Buyer’s Market occupying the left, descending leg of the U and a Buyer’s Market occupying the right, ascending leg of the U.  The curve that joins the two legs together is essentially No-man’s Land.  Experience has shown me that it is impossible to tell when No-Man’s land hands the market off to the Seller’s.  This transfer of power from the Buyer to the Seller is very subtle - you simply can’t confirm that you have “bottomed in No-Man’s Land” until the curve  starts progressing up the right leg.

While this transfer is very subtle, the effect on the Buyer in Nuclear.    Mr. Buyer, who has been blithely cruising along in the driver’s seat enjoying the power to write his own deal with the Seller, suddenly finds himself with a new ball game.  The Seller, instead of going to the market on bended knee is suddenly seeing daylight.  The market is getting stronger – it’s PAYBACK TIME.   Now the Buyer, who has been waiting for the bottom before pouncing, is suddenly looking up the mountain at a Seller beckoning for him to “come on up.”  This phenomenon is not peculiar to the Real Estate Market.  All markets are like this and experts in all each market wisely council that you will never see the bottom because by the time you do, the market has already left you behind and is on the way up!

As a Buyer, where would you rather be:  Somewhere on the left leg of the market continuum when the Seller is listening to you very closely; or on the right leg of the continuum when the Seller is suddenly has loftier expectations?  Furthermore, interest rates are at historic lows - a factor I predict we will be longing for in 2010.   Despite what my crystal ball is indicating (or not indicating), right now just feels to me like a great time to be a Buyer. 

       And more is on the way.  Tonight (Christmas Eve) we are projected to get another foot in Vail and Beaver Creek.  If this happens, the old record for snow fall received before January 1 will be exceeded by over 5 FFET!

Anyone have Al Gore’s phone number?  I want to talk to that boy.

John Nilsson