I recently showed you an article from Trip Advisor stating that New England is the most pocket friendly ski region in the North East. This week I decided to dig a little deeper. Jackson Hole, Wyoming has a similar atmosphere and charm to the Mount Washington Valley. Both popular ski destinations at affordable prices, they draw tourists looking for a less expensive place to go and ski. Even though both are more affordable than the big name Vail, Aspen or Park City, our beloved Mount Washington Valley stills beats out Jackson Hole when it comes to affordability. Check out this comparison of two luxury trailside homes:

3850 West Morley Drive, located in Teton Village, sits at the base of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. It was built in 1992, and has tons of beautiful features such as a gourmet kitchen, hardwood floors, cathedral ceilings, a jetted tub and a large stone fireplace. It has four bedrooms, five bathrooms and is 4,076 square feet. It has an attached 2 car garage and is ski-in, ski-out.

17 Bearfoot Creek, located in the new luxury Bearfoot Creek development, sits on Attitash Mountain Resort, directly next to the Abenaki chair lift. It was built in 2008, and boasts amazing features such as a large open chef’s kitchen, hardwood floors throughout, cathedral ceilings, jetted tubs and 3 fireplaces, two of which are 2 stories tall. It also has four bedrooms and five bathrooms, and is 4,553 square feet. It also has an attached 2 car garage and is ski-in, ski-out.

Relatively similar, right? Here’s the kicker. The Jackson Hole location is priced at $2,799,000, which comes out to $687 per square foot. 17 Bearfoot Creek is listed at almost half that price, $1,495,000, which is $328 per square foot. So at Bearfoot Creek, you would be spending 53% of the cost of the Jackson Hole home, and getting a home that is 16 years newer and 477 square feet larger. And this is comparing Bearfoot Creek to one of the less expensive popular ski areas in the US! The choice is clear. When you want the craftsmanship and luxury of a designer ski home at a price that beats the competition by a long shot, you want Bearfoot Creek. Can’t afford the price but can’t imagine your life without a Bearfoot Creek trailside home? Builder packages start at $795,000 including homesite! Call or email Joy today to find out more about this fantastic community.

If you have visited the ski mountains here in the valley, you know how great and affordable they can be. Attitash Mountain and Cranmore Mountain are two awesome mountains with loads to do besides just skiing. If you haven’t been here before, check out this great article on TripAdvisor, it shows North Conway as the most affordable ski destination in the Northeast! It also shows New England as the most pocket friendly region in the US. Even more proof that the Mount Washington Valley has it all, at a price you can afford. The article can be viewed here.

For questions regarding Attitash Mountain Real Estate, Cranmore Real Estate, or anything else regarding skiing or vacation homes, contact one of our agents today!

Pick up your skis, and walk to the trail

By Suzie Laskin

Mount Cranmore, now under new ownership, has major plans to infuse the North Conway, NH resort with millions of dollars of improvements, ensuring the resort will undergo a facelift in time for winter operations in November, 2010.  Among those improvements is the installation of a fixed-grip quad chairlift to replace the South Double. The new lift, a Doppelmayr eco-Drive fixed grip quad, will double the capacity of the current South Slope lift.  The existing South Double chair will be relocated to a new location near the Beginner Basin area (near the former North Chair line).  It recycles most of the parts of the South chair but will feature new lift towers and is 1,050 ft. long. It will run about half way up the Lift Line slope. Cranmore is changing some of the trail layouts in that area of the mountain to accommodate the new lift and to provide additional beginner terrain including lower Lift Line, Quad Chute and Summit Alley. Also in the works is the relocation and enlargement of Cranmore’s tubing park.  Other on-mountain improvements include a significant investment in snowmaking equipment including the installation of 70 new energy-efficient tower guns.  Cranmore also has plans for its base facilities. The current Arlberg Lodge is being converted into a state-of-the-art Children’s Center. Its facilities will be reserved for kids enrolled in Cranmore’s Penguin and Adventure Camps, and home to the Cranmore Play Room for Young Children. Families will enjoy unparalleled convenience as the Center will have its own ticketing and reservation center, rental services and lesson drop off areas.  Cranmore’s former “North Chair” building, now the Cranmore Training Center, will see renovations for Cranmore’s race program participants. The main base lodge is undergoing changes as the current space for its children’s programs is moving over to the new Center, freeing up facilities for additional seating, and food and beverage options for guests. Guests entering the building will now be greeted by a Guest Services desk and basket check area.

The Cranmore Fitness Center will be modified to accommodate a food and beverage venue, ticketing for the Mountain Coaster and Tubing Park, plus a new façade, roof repairs and other renovations. The Fitness Center will continue with a full array of cardio and weight equipment, group fitness classes, personal training and more. The Fitness Center just invested thousands of dollars in new cardio equipment.

Cranmore Mountain is located in the heart of North Conway Village, New Hampshire and can be contacted at 1-800-SUN-N-SKI and online at http://www.cranmore.com/

Buying a home or condo is a major financial commitment, so before you sign a Purchase & Sale agreement make sure that you are making the right decision. Here are the major factors to consider:

Price: Yes, you are pre-approved to buy the post and beam home with gorgeous views to Mt. Washington, but are you comfortable with the mortgage payments. Will you still be able to afford your yearly vacation to the Caribbean or Nantucket? You want to be able to own a 2^nd home and still afford all of the other things in life that make you happy. Nobody wants to be “house poor.”

Condition: This factors into the pricing. Would it make more sense to buy a slightly more expensive new home, or are you willing to save on the initial asking price and pay for repairs afterwards? Some “fixer-uppers” can end up turning into money pits way out of your budget. There are a lot of gorgeous older homes in New Hampshire, but keep in mind when restoring an older home, you will most likely need to add 20%-40% on the contractors initial bid (and time frame!) as there are always unexpected items that need attention.

Size & Layout: How many bedrooms do you need? Are you expecting to have a lot of weekend guests? Would an open layout work well for your needs, or do you like to have several stand-alone rooms? Keep in mind when buying a vacation home that your closet needs and living space in general will be significantly different than in your primary home. You might really enjoy staying in a cute and cozy cottage with awesome river frontage that allows you to do some family bonding that you usually can’t, due to hectic real life schedules. A wise trade-off.

Location: You fell in love with the Mount Washington Valley  after years of coming up to ski at Attitash Mountain, Wildcat, and Mt Cranmore. And then you came up for a week in the summer and had an absolute blast hiking the Presidential Mountain Range and swimming in the Saco River. So, where do you want your home base? Is it better to be in North Conway Village, drive to the mountains in the morning and walk to dinner at night, or would you rather wake up on the ski trail or the lake and walk out your back door to recreate first thing in the morning?

All of these are questions that you need to answer, but by choosing an agent from JtRealty Lakefront to Mountainside who is knowledgeable about the different neighborhoods, lakes, mountains, and ski areas in the Mount Washington Valley you have made your first good decision. Our REALTORs© can help you answer questions, but ultimately, you need to decide what your priorities are. Click here to print out a chart made up by the National Association of Realtors that will help you compare your top 3 homes and narrow it down to your 1 favorite.