Marsha Blake is surprised with the real estate prices in Garfield
County.

And she’s a real estate agent.

“(Prices) are pretty amazing,” Blake said. “It’s like sticker shock.
You never think the houses will sell for the high price, but they do.”

Blake works with Smart Move Brokers Group in Glenwood Springs, and is
also a homebuyer and investor.

She said that investors are especially interested in Garfield County
because of the oil and gas industry and the lack of affordable housing
along the Interstate 70 corridor. But it’s not only the oil and gas
industry. Blake said that she’s not seen a decrease in the single family
homes selling to families relocating to the area. She also said that Iron
Bridge subdivision in Glenwood Springs had a good year for homes built.

According to Land Title Guarantee Company’s report for real estate
transactions in 2006, tracking data from housing markets in Eagle, Pitkin,
Routt, Summit and Garfield County, it was a big year for real estate
sales. The report showed that Garfield County saw $1.04 billion in real
estate transaction revenue; a 22 percent increase from 2005. But recent
trends showed that Garfield County was well on its way to reaching the
$1 billion mark before 2006.

“Based on trends and the market, it wasn’t a big surprise,” said Martha
Brooks, director of marketing for Land Title in Glenwood Springs.

Brooks said that hitting the $1 billion mark is a significant mark
because Garfield County is still considered affordable in comparison to its
neighboring counties. Garfield still remains behind the other four
counties in revenue, according to the report.

In 2006, Garfield County real estate revenues increased by $187 million
over 2005 and had an increase of 240 total transactions, a 9 percent
increase, according to the Land Title report. That averages out to
approximately 20 more sales per month for all of Garfield County. But the 20
additional sales per month average for the county was enough to require
real estate companies to bring on additional help.

Erin Bassett, a broker associate for Mason & Morse Real Estate in
Glenwood Springs, said that it was a record year for Mason & Morse in the
county.

“As a company we’ve climbed the ladder in sales,” Bassett said.

Bassett said that Mason & Morse had to increase the number of agents
covering Garfield County last year because of the increasing number of
sales. She also mentioned that Mason & Morse has seen more activity in
Rifle and western Garfield County than in previous years. Bassett stated
that Mason & Morse may have had more home sales in western Garfield
County than in Carbondale, but that the prices in Carbondale have gotten
so high that they still brought in more revenue.

Bassett’s opinion of the increase is due to the oil and gas situation
bringing in buyers from places like Texas and Utah. As well, she said
that another trend, in her opinion, was increases in Latino homebuyers
and first-time homebuyers throughout the county.

“People are realizing the advantages of buying a home rather than
renting,” Bassett said.

However, hitting the $1 billion mark can be attributed to the increased
property values seen over the past few years and not only to the
increase in sales.

“Lack of inventory pushes prices up,” Brooks said. “It’s more the
revenue than the number of transactions.”

Source:
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20070126/VALLEYNEWS/101260046