A Snowy Vacation Home.. Where Should it Be?

[lippy]

Have you thought about trying to buy something that would double as an investment? There are tons of stories of condos in Aspen being bought for 70k 25 years ago and sold for 2m or whatever.

[john voight]

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voight,

was your sidenote typical of skiing at the peak?

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no, this has happened only once in the 12+ times I have visited that specific peak. Conditions really range from perfect to insane, and are very dependent on the exact location. On that specific day the wind was brutal on the top peak, but if you descended 200-300 feet (vertically), the wind was almost unnoticeable.

Only other comparable instance was when I was skiing at squaw again (possibly another portion of mountain though, I don't remember) well into the night. And I experienced possibly the coldest weather of my life. I knew it was cold b/c even though I was snowboarding and active (and dressed in "winter" type cloths) I was shivering. This freaked me out b/c usually I am hot/warm. I thought I was suffering from hypothermia.

Anyway, I get down to the bottom, which about 2,000 feet lower in elevation, and as I walk by a building, I see that the temperature at the base is in the single low teens (Fahrenheit), maybe 12-14ish. And it felt pretty damn warm down there. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

are you going to rent the house out when you are not there? how much time would you spend there?

[john voight]

BTW, I think longterm (like 20+) most winter resort locations would be +EV to buy, b/c that is really a limited market. Most cities (@ least in cali) heavily monitor the construction of new buildings as to preserve nature. So essentially I think house prices and rental prices for such locations will go up, and thus owning would be +EV. Now if you wanna get nitty about it, you might wanna compare how an RE investment would compare vs a modest Stock/Bond investment. Althoug in your situtaion, I think you just wanna have a plce that you know is free to you 100% of time, and no hassle w/ rent/finding a place, etc...

Now if I was in your shoes, I would buy, simply b/c I feel it would not let me spend money on liabilities (cars, hookers, etc..)

[end conservative mode]

lastly: driving from tahoe to SD = I might hang myself on the way

[evanski]

I had a post typed out about why Tahoe is awesome, but I was basically just re-iterating stuff other people said. FWIW Im 21, Ive lived in the bay area my whole life, went to Stanford, and have made a bunch of trips to Tahoe. Its really a fun place, and should suit all of your requirements. Its also within driving distance of a lot of other desirable destinations (bay area, beaches, vegas, etc). One drawback is that your money wont go nearly as far in Tahoe as it will in the other places you listed. Real estate, particularly in the north, has appreciated substantially in the past decade. I almost bought a really nice place a few years back for a little over a million, but decided on cape cod instead. That same place would cost roughly 1.5 now.

-evan

You guys can PM me if you have any specific questions re: tahoe/bay area, but Im sure the forum can handle them just fine.

[lippy]

If you don't mind an extra 3 hours on the plane, I'd suggest Alaska. Something like 6 years ago I went on a family vacation to Mount Alyeska which is a ski resort in Girdwood, AK about 40 minutes from Anchorage.

The skiing was phenomenal. The scenery was better than the Rockies and Alaska just has some kind of calming charm to it.

725k;

http://www.homepages.com/tinasteenme...x?hpid=YC2-502

[NLSoldier]

assuming you would want to do a little bit of partying I would def avoid utah.

[Henry17]

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Whistler is probably a hell of a flight, but it's great.

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That was going to be my suggestion. Whistler is amazing and AirCanada offers a unlimited package that includes Texas so for a flat price they could fly out every weekend.

[raptor517]

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assuming you would want to do a little bit of partying I would def avoid utah.

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well, for me, this is more of a relaxation thing, where i can sit out on the porch, read a book, and not hear children screaming. maybe fly out my girlie and take her skiing. have some buddies out occasionally for a few days to relax, play golf, get in some mountain biking. stuff like that. im not really interested in going out clubbing to meet new girls or playing poker at a casino or anything like that. i can do all of that in texas, or on one of my many vegas trips.

north lake tahoe seems interesting.. though maybe even a bit pricey for our range. this is definitely an investment, and im not even considering renting. i like having the peace of mind knowing that my place is safe and under order, having my own unused bed to sleep in, my own computer setup for poker, a nice clean shower, things like that.

i looked into alaska and vancouver, but i just cant handle that kind of trip. theres no direct flights from dfw that i see, and im not a huge fan of 12 hour travel times changing flights etc etc to get to alaska. i wanna get dropped off, hit a 2.5-3 hour flight (or less) and be at my place 45 mins after landing.

i have fond memories as a kid skiing in park city at places like deer valley, and i remember how it was always seemingly quiet and boring. i think thats what im looking for. over the last year or 2 ive slowly become less entranced at the notion of going out partying and meeting tons of new people. maybe having a gf does that and makes me more boring, maybe im just growing up and care about different things, maybe both, who knows.

also, the 600k thing isnt set in stone, i dont have a prob going up a little bit from there, especially since im only buying half of it. im not sure how loans and stuff work when 2 ppl buy a property, but i feel like it would be possible to get a loan each and keep them under jumbo, putting maybe 20% down or whatever, ill have to look into that.

if there is a circuit event in tahoe, i will def check it out, rent a car, and drive around for a while to see what im interested in. im going to talk to my parents about their thoughts on park city area, and see if they have any connections there. from what i hear about colorado it seems like most places are more touristy and loud/crowded. thats not what im looking for.

one other thing, i dont think anyone mentioned beaver creek. ive never heard anything about it so its prob not great, or its super great, depending on how you look at it.. but yea one of my buddies has a condo there and invited me out sometime in the next month so ill probably go drive around that area as well to see what i think.

as far as airport proximity.. i guess its not THAT huge of a deal if its 15 minutes away or whatever, i just realized that everytime in tx i go to airport it takes me 45 mins to get there and its not too awful. anyways, i think the thread is going in a great direction, and im gonna keep digging, thanks for the help and plz plz dont stop offering thoughts. thanks!

[traz]

since i'm canadian I'm going to have to say whistler is awesome and I've love to buy a winter home there

edit--- given the upcoming olympics, I don't know what prices are like now...but having a place in whistler during the olympics would be awesome