Today I want to talk about the different areas that you are going to look in when you’re searching for real estate online or when you’re here in person and the main key areas are Gunnison, rural Gunnison, Almont, CB South, rural Crested Butte, Crested Butte, and Mount Crested Butte.
Today I’m going to focus on Crested Butte. I’m starting with downtown Crested Butte because that’s where I live. I actually live on White Rock. We bought our house in 2009 and absolutely love living in Crested Butte. So things to keep in mind when you’re buying real estate in downtown Crested Butte, there is no homeowners association, so there are no additional fees. However, Crested Butte is a historic town, so that requires the town of Crested Butte government to regulate what you can and can’t do with some of the historic properties. So any property that is 50 years old or older will have to go through a design review process with the town on what you can do with it, whether you’re going to remodel the inside, do an addition, things like that. It’s really important to understand the house that you’re buying because of these regulations that the town has on the historic properties.
Something else that’s really unique to buying property in downtown Crested Butte is that the town requires a 3% transfer fee on all properties when they exchange hands, so it’s 3% of the purchase price to be paid at closing. Very negotiable. It’s often split between the buyer and seller, but it is a negotiable item. So sometimes the seller will pay 3% in full and sometimes the buyer will pay 3% in full. The bottom line is you cannot get out of paying that 3% transfer fee. The school system in Crested Butte is phenomenal and in downtown Crested Butte is our main school. It’s K through 12 and it has really high reviews and the kids just love going to school here. There’s a really amazing bus system plus all the kids that live in town can walk to school.
The other part that is really amazing about buying property in downtown Crested Butte is the walkability to all of the really, really great restaurants, bars, art galleries, stores. There are so many wonderful amenities where you can literally just hop on your bike and you’ll be there in a few seconds. The free shuttle loops through downtown Crested Butte on the Westside and they have 10 stops. It runs every 15 minutes in the winter and the busy summer months and then every half hour in the offseason. Downtown Crested Butte is almost built out. There are very few vacant lots left. The lots that are for sale range from 700,000 up to 2 million and single-family homes are right now priced at about 800,000 all the way up to 5.2 million and then you can find a mix of condos and townhomes that range from 200,000 up to about a million and a half. Most people that are buying property in downtown Crested Butte are really buying it for the lifestyle and the walkability. It also has amazing rental potential for guests and VRBO and things like that. So, you can generate some income while owning a home in Crested Butte. However, if you are thinking about buying a house to rent at short term rental in downtown Crested Butte, there are regulations that the town of Crested Butte requires. There are only so many licenses that they allow. Starting in January 2019, they created a new law where you have to have a license and they only have about 250 licenses available. So if you’re thinking about buying a house in town, you need to make sure that there are licenses available otherwise, you are put on a waiting list until the next home sells and releases that license. There are so many components to consider when you’re buying property in downtown Crested Butte. So if you have any questions or want to talk more about it, give me a call.
