Ignite Steamboat!

The snow on the ground continues to melt in Steamboat and the snow from the sky continues to fall.  As one of those who didn’t fly off to places unknown during mud season, I have some time to review one of my more fulfilling social events that didn’t have anything to snowboarding or real estate:  Ignite Steamboat.

On the first Thursday of each month, a group of tech-minded individuals got together at the Steamboat Smokehouse.  People are given a chance to enlighten the group on anything–as long as it doesn’t go over 5 minutes long.  Presenters provide a 20-slide presentation that auto-advance every 15 seconds.  It’s not a new concept–in fact, it’s been around in this form for about five years. Here in Steamboat we just had our 18th Ignite, thus making it an adult, but still not old enough to drink.

I’ve even had my 5 minutes of fame back in January:

This last Ignite was a bit different.  Jay O’Hare, one of the “curators” of this monthly get-together, gave us something to take back to our friends who ask us about what we do.  “Ignite cultivates Steamboat’s innovation economy by creating events that connect entrepreneurs, forward thinkers and tech-junkies,” he declared.  And with that statement we were defined.

In keeping with that motto, we eschewed the traditional format of the 5 minute presentations in favor of three “Spark Talks,” Skype-based interviews with successful people outside of Steamboat who also fit that description.  Charlene Li gave a great talk based on her book and the concept of “open-source” leadership.  The best quote from her was  “We tend to over value the things we can measure and undervalue the things we can’t.”  Boulder-based Venture Capitalist Brad Feld struck a chord with the room with two big ideas: 1. With the tools available nowadays, our success in business no longer has to be tied to traditional locations and 2.  There is a big difference between small business owners and entrepreneurs.  Local governments would be well suited to know the difference.

Finally, the last talk was with local boy done good, Chase Jarvis.  He’s now a world renown photographer who made his name not only for his unique perspective with the camera, but his use of blogging and social media to grow his business in an industry known for keeping trade secrets.  His knowledge of local ski stashes and his stories of soccer team antics in Steamboat hit home with a crowd pleased to cheer on one of their own.

Ignite takes a break this May, but I am sure Jay and the other curators, Jens Owen, Chad James, and Noreen Moore have something big up their sleeves for June.  Hopefully, we’ll get the great blend of member-produced presentations and Spark Talk powerhouses we’ve seen in the past.  Plus, I hope to win the iPad they’re giving away in a drawing for this winter’s presenters.  Wish me luck.

Customer Service in Steamboat

There's no winners in Elk vs. Subaru

For those of you who have followed my tweets over the last month and a half, you know that there have been two major events that happened in the last month and a half for me.  My wife and I welcomed a new baby boy to our family last Monday which is extremely joyous.  And I hit an elk with my Subaru not far from my home in Stagecoach in early February–not as joyous.  There is a connection and it has to do with customer service here in the Yampa Valley.

First, the car.  If you’ve never hit a large animal with a motor vehicle, I highly recommend you avoid the experience.  I was driving to Aspen on Superbowl Sunday and wasn’t 10 minutes from my house when I encountered a “wall” of elk across the road.  I had no time to react and slammed square into a cow elk.  I clipped her legs and she slammed into the hood, then the windshield of my car.  Had I been driving any faster and she would have ended up in my lap.  I got my car back home and got my ride to Aspen leaving my pregnant wife to deal with the insurance.

This is where the story gets interesting.  Mike, the insurance adjuster from Progressive came to my house two days later after talking to my wife.  She had to go to work and so she left the garage door open for him to inspect the car and drove into Steamboat in the 14 inches of fresh powder we received the night before.  Knowing I was out of town and my wife was in the third trimester of pregnancy, Mike took the care and initiative to crank up the snowblower sitting in my garage and snowblow our driveway.  It was definitely above and beyond the call of duty.  Needless to say, we’re not planning on changing our insurance carrier anytime soon!

That's me on my "bed" in daytime chair form. Comfy even then.

Back to the birth of my son.  Four years ago, my wife and I had a beautiful baby girl at the Yampa Valley Medical Center here in Steamboat.  It was a wonderful experience on almost every front.  Except for the chair which converted into a bed for the expectant fathers.  Essentially it was a chair that reclined fully, but it was short, narrow and completely uncomfortable.

Since that time, YVMC built a new maternity wing on to the hospital.  In addition to spacious birthing and maternity rooms, the hospital staff also took dads-to-be into account.  They purchased new wide chairs that pull out to a bed.  Here’s the kicker–the mattress inside was a Tempur-pedic mattress!   We had to stay four nights and the comfort of that bed was higher than some of the nicest hotels I have visited in my travels.  We haven’t decided yet on any more children, but if we do, I will certainly look forward to my stay at the Yampa Valley Medical Center.

These were two instances of businesses or individuals doing more than what’s expected and producing positive memorable experiences.  I like to think that this is the rule rather than the exception here in Steamboat.  Those of you who live or have visited here would likely agree.  If you have a great Steamboat customer service story, please feel free to post it!!

Gratuitous Beautiful Baby Photo

My Video Profile from Coldwell Banker’s On Location YouTube Channel

This is an example of how innovative Coldwell Banker is in the real estate industry.  It has its own YouTube Channel agents can upload videos of their profiles, their listings and their community in general.  Look for a more videos on YouTube as I post them!

Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties

What is this?  What’s going on?   Did you move again??  So many questions.  Well, I have the answers for you.  Coldwell Banker Silver Oak was purchased by the Coldwell Banker Conklin and Company in Sun Valley that specializes in Resort Marketing and specifically the High End Luxury market. To launch this new venture, both offices are now re-branded as Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties.

We’re still at the same office at 1585 Mid Valley Drive and Karen Beauvais is still the managing broker.  Now, we also have a renewed energy and drive to become the best real estate brokerage in Steamboat Springs.  Our new owner, Todd Conklin has put great emphasis furthering the teamwork we have already and becoming a leader and innovator in marketing.  This will allow greater exposure to our current clients and more incentive to list for our future clients.  He is committed to providing the tools and education to help us sell properties quicker and help find the right homes for our buyers.

Don’t just take my word for it though.  We are having an event at the Chadwick Estate Villas to celebrate the new ownership.  Todd, Karen, Mix and the rest of the CB Distinctive Properties team will be there on Thursday, September 2nd from 4 to 7pm to meet, greet and answer all your questions.  Both food and drinks will be provided and you also get the chance to view one of our featured listings, the Chadwick Estate Villas at the Chadwick development close to the ski area.  If you are interested and need directions, RSVP me at 970-846-0797.

I look forward to seeing you all there!!

Busy Weekend

I’m pretty excited for the weekend.  There’s much going on here in Steamboat.

On the real estate front, a few of the other brokers in town and I are hosting an open house tour Saturday morning in the neighborhood of Saddle Mountain Ranchettes.  If you are not familiar with the area, it’s a subdivision west of Steamboat just before you reach Milner.  Take a left on County Road 179 and continue up the hillon the way toward Saddleback Ranch.  There are six houses on the tour and my listing is the red house on the left at 37750 County Road 179.  MLS# 125746.  It’s a 4 bedroom/ 3.5 bath home sitting on 6 acres of land suitable for a couple of horses and listed for $550,000.

What’s great about this open house tour is you get to see what a great neighborhood this is and how close to Steamboat it sits.  If you ever wanted a home with a bit of land, thought Steamboat was too pricey for you, but didn’t want to be too far out of town, this neighborhood is just right for you.

In town, there’s quite a few events that also benefit good causes.   Starting tonight and running through Saturday is the Steamboat Wine Festival.  This isn’t just a common wine tasting.  The Steamboat Wine Festival is conducting a number of seminars dedicated to all things wine:  from pairing food with wine to choosing the right glass to showcase a particular wine.  There  are even seminars on beer and whiskey to cover all the bases.  The event culminates with the Toast of Steamboat Grand Tasting at One Steamboat Place.   That’s got something for everybody: food, entertainment, live music, shopping, and of course dozens of wines to sample.

The best part of the festival is that it benefits STARS, a program near and dear to my heart.  It stands for STeamboat Adaptive Recreation Sports, its aim is to provide recreational opportunities for people with disabilities.  I have been teaching adaptive snowboarding and training adaptive snowboard instructors for the past 11 years and STARS has been an integral part of adaptive snowsports for the past four, so I am always happy to see an event that will bring those with disabilities closer to the mountain.

Ride 4 Yellow is in its first year in Steamboat and kicks off on Sunday with the Ride the Divide–a 26 mile mountain bike ride from Dumont Lake at the top of Rabbit Ears Pass to the top of the Silver Bullet Gondola at the Steamboat Ski Area.  All of this is to raise money for cancer research and services.  It’s quite a novel idea: 50% of the proceeds go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research globally while the other 50% goes toward benefitting cancer-related services in the Yampa Valley through the Yampa Valley Community Foundation.  Of course, what EVERYBODY is buzzing about is that Lance Armstrong will be here for the ride!!  With the popularity of bicycling here in Steamboat, the town is hopping with excitement.

So get out there this weekend.  There’s something out there for everyone.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate, though I’m expecting an afternoon thunderstorm or two.  But that’s all part of what makes Steamboat Steamboat.  And I will take a cool shower over the dog days of summer from the East Coast any day!

Welcome!

Welcome one and all to my Real Estate Blog for Steamboat Springs and the Yampa Valley.  I have some experience blogging for snowboarding and I’m really looking forward to entertaining and informing you about Steamboat, the real estate market and what it takes to make Steamboat your home.

I look at this as a two way conversation–I want you to ask questions and give feedback.  Just blabbering on with market stats and new listings just doesn’t tell you the whole story because it’s your story that’s most important.  The more we engage with each other, the more I can help you with your next move.

So browse and have fun and come visit often.  I will add more “stuff” as this blog progresses.  Somehow I will get all of this–Twitter, Facebook Fan Page, steamboathomeconnection.com–integrated together.  I welcome your suggestions, complements, complaints and questions!

Sustainability!

Truth be told, I really can’t stand “green” as a blanket term for the widespread environmental movement that’s been growing over the past few years.  Mostly, I think it has become a marketing term that’s overused and abused and it doesn’t do justice to the people who truly make a difference.

There are those that are making a big dent who deserve some recognition.  The Yampa Valley Sustainability Council did a tremendous job last night at the free concert at Howelson Hill.  I took my family to see the Easy Star All-Stars perform a fun show and they certainly didn’t disappoint.  But something was missing.  Those ubiquitous white cardboard trash cans from Waste Management were nowhere to be found.  In their stead were a couple of stations manned with volunteers behind three different green plastic bins: one for compostable items, one for recycling and one for true waste.  It was part of the Zero Waste Initiative, a program designed to reduce the amount entering into our landfill in Milner.

What a nice idea to increase awareness, I thought.  Nice, but hardly practical.  That’s exactly what came to mind.  I’ve had a hand in putting together events like these and I know that one of the jobs I least look forward to was the after event clean-up.  However high-minded an idea it was to get people to reduce what they threw away, people just throw anything anywhere once they have a few drinks and can’t be bothered to find a trash can.

I’ll do my part though, and asked politely where each of my items I needed to throw away went.  Turns out the food and beverage vendors were also part of the process because the cup for my daughter’s shaved ice was compostable. And another odd sight caught my eye.  Green grass.  There just didn’t seem to be the trash on the ground I would normally associate with the free concerts of the past.

Sure enough, according to a post on Facebook from the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council, an estimated 2000 people attended the concert and left so much trash it filled up all of a single bag.  That just blew me away.  I have to give props to the YVSC and all its volunteers for their contribution, but also I must commend all those who went to the show for their conscientiousness.  It just goes to show, you shouldn’t sell your fellow residents short.  Way to go, Steamboat1