Ever wondered what makes Aspen’s luxury real estate market so irresistible? Join Hayley in a chat with Michael Latousek from Douglas Elliman as they uncover the secrets behind Aspen’s thriving resort market. With over 30 years in Aspen and 23 years in real estate, Michael shares how the town’s desirable climate and recreational allure continue to attract domestic buyers from All over the counrty. Despite rising interest rates, the high-end market remains robust, buoyed by cash buyers who are less affected. Discover how increased inventory offers buyers more options and could lead to price reductions.
Dive into the notable sales shaking up Aspen, and uncover why these exclusive homes are perfect for buyers seeking additional properties for convenience and walkability in Aspen’s heart. Explore the unique offering of the St. Benedict’s Monastery, a 3,700-acre property co-listed by Mirr Ranch Group and Douglas Elliman. Highlighting its conservation value and development restrictions, Michael emphasizes its appeal to conservation-minded buyers. Tune in for insights into local market dynamics, neighborhood characteristics, and the challenges of buying in this exclusive resort community.
Topics:
[0:56] Introduction and Overview of Aspen’s Market
[7:06] Aspen Real Estate Market Trends
[15:18] Notable Sales and Market Dynamics
[28:38] Local Market Insights and Challenges
[32:34] Exclusive Offering: St. Benedicts Monastery
[44:53] Broker Speed Round with Michael Latousek
Haley (00:06):
Welcome back to the Land Bulletin Podcast, where every other week we bring you experts in the field to impart their knowledge when it comes to the ranch and sporting property market, buying and selling advice, the latest best stewardship practices, as well as topics that impact landowners every day. I’m your host, Haley Mirr. Let’s jump in.
Welcome back to our Land Bulletin series. I’m Haley Murr. I work here at Mirr Ranch Group, and today we’re going to be looking at a different market. It definitely affects the ranch real estate market. It’s something when people think of the West, they think of these areas. We’re looking at the resort market. And with us today to help us look into what’s happening with the market, what we’re maybe seeing in the rest of the year in 2025 is a good friend of ours and a co-lister with us up at the Monastery, Michael Latusek with Douglas Ellman. Welcome, Michael.
Michael Latousek (00:57):
Thank you, Haley. This is great. Thank you for having me. And yeah, I’ve been enjoying your podcast and I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
Haley (01:08):
Yeah. And for those listening who are big fans of the podcast, you might recognize his last name. Tommy Latusek is a good friend of ours as well, has worked with Mo Ranch Group throughout the years. And we’ve worked on a lot of deals with Michael up in the Aspen Valley. So before we get going into the market and everything, I’d love if people who are listening might not know Aspen, I would love to talk to you, Michael, just a little bit about how summer’s shaping up, how Aspen in general, the valley is feeling, the different types of events going on. How is it up there?
Michael Latousek (01:39):
Yeah, it’s been a pretty typical summer here. The events are endless. The music festival runs all summer long. We had the Ideas Festival end of June. All these occur in the west end of Aspen, which is really kind of a quaint setting. I don’t know how many years they’ve been doing it, 75 years or something like that. So those are all pretty typical and bring in a lot of visitors and we’re just getting into wedding season. Typically, our summer kicks off with Food and Wine Festival, which is mid-June. It’s usually over Father’s Day weekend. That’s kind of the start of the whole summer. And that was, as usual, another fantastic event and bringing everyone in. We’ve had a really nice summer as well weather-wise, besides just a few hot days last week. We’ve had great moisture. Everything’s green. The rivers, we had a late runoff, so fishing was held off for a little bit.
(02:38):
But other than that, everyone’s coming into the valley and enjoying their summers like they always have.
Haley (02:45):
That’s great. And you’ve been up there for a bit now up in the Basalt area.
Michael Latousek (02:50):
Yes. I live downtown Basalt. I’ve been here for 15 years, lived up in Aspen for 12 years before that, but I’m originally from Chicago. My parents started visiting Aspen in the ’60s and the ’70s and they’d bring us out for summers and Christmas and stuff like that. And they bought a place in the mid ’70s and a couple places and they ended up buying in Starwood in late ’80s and they passed and I sold that home for my family a few years ago. But I’ve got a sister who’s got a boutique in downtown Aspen called Niwaj. She’s had that boutique for 37 years. Wow. Great place for me to meet people. It’s a block from the gondola. I’ll hang out there and see random celebrities and a lot of clients come through there, but I love it here. I moved here full-time after college in 1990.
(03:49):
I taught skiing at Buttermilk all through the 90s. And then I got into real estate in 99. I started working for Tony Scheer, who was an agent for my parents all through the 70s and 80s. He brought me on and I was an assistant for a couple years, early 2000s, and that’s why I went full-time. I actually went full-time as a broker a month after nine eleven and the phone wasn’t ringing and I managed to have a decent year. I think I sold six or $8 million worth in that year after nine eleven. I just kind of figured, I’m like, if I can make a nickel in this market, I can make a nickel in any market. So obviously I’ve seen the peaks and valleys and I love it. I’ve been doing it now full-time, been licensed for 23 years.
Haley (04:41):
Wow. And so I’m sure
Michael Latousek (04:42):
You’ve
Haley (04:43):
Seen Aspen change dramatically over the last couple of years.
Michael Latousek (04:47):
Yeah. And I keep telling people, I’m like, name one desirable place that hasn’t changed since COVID or since the pandemic. And of course, Aspen seems to be in the bullseye of a lot of people for the critical side of booming markets and big changes. And we’ve seen a ton of changes, but I know Aspen since I was a kid, since the ’70s and ’80s, and all the old restaurants, all the old places that we would hang out, the old pubs and stuff like that. Yeah, a lot of those are gone, but still the recreation. I ski a ton. I think I skied 78 days last season. I mountain bike a ton, I fly fish a ton. And so having those here, which hasn’t changed, and that’s only gotten better because the amount of money that Aspen Skiing Company puts back into their capital improvements and their restaurants and their ski facilities is awesome.
(05:50):
And the mountain bike trails too here, the trails, our Picken County open space and trails, they’ve got just a huge budget to continue maintaining and adding new trails. The mountain biking’s fantastic. So yeah, I mean, some of the old haunts, some of the old pubs and some of the old greasy spoons are gone, but the older I get, I don’t hunt them. I don’t go to them anyway. So the recreation side and just the overall beauty here is just phenomenal. So real estate prices have gone nuts. I joke that if we didn’t buy our home in Basalt 12 years ago, I don’t know if I could afford it here, but getting in what we did, thank God, because moving into this valley now to be a full-time working local is difficult. It’s really difficult just because of the housing challenges.
Haley (06:39):
And what are you seeing right now with regards to the real estate market up there? You were saying if you hadn’t purchased 12 years ago, you would be in a totally different spot today. So what are you seeing in the landscape up there?
Michael Latousek (06:53):
Yeah, the second home, the pandemic really brought a lot more people full-time into the valley. What I saw too, but Aspen’s always been Aspen. Aspen’s always been expensive, but what we saw in the whole Valley was the Pasalp and Carbondale markets really pick up. You were able to find homes here for 750 to 1,200 pre-pandemic. Those are all a million five to two and a half. So that’s been a big jump. And so the local market even has had difficulties and had to move further downstream, basically Glenwood Springs, even into Newcastle rifle markets. What also has picked up a lot too is even the second home market, places like Missouri Heights, Carbondale, rural Carbondale, some of the golf communities that were moving slow for years, Aspen Glen, River Valley Ranch, you used to be able to always find a lot in there to build on for a hundred grand to 250 grand.
(08:04):
And now minimum there is 350, $400,000 to find a lot in those places. So that’s brought up and those that say can’t afford, wouldn’t even touch Aspen at 3,000 to $6,000 a square foot come down Valley and they seem to find nice, get a little more elbow room as well.
Haley (08:30):
And I feel like Aspen is, like you said, Aspen is Aspen, but I feel like that’s kind of been happening to all resort markets after COVID. There’s the epicenters like the steamboats and the veils and those kinds of things. So people are starting to look a little bit further out, 15, 20 minutes.
Michael Latousek (08:47):
Right, exactly. And especially if you’re going to spend more time here, I think what really happened to Aspen’s market, and I saw this, I had a prominent branch at Goldman Sachs executive that I sold in 2020, and I had it listed for a couple years, just two miles outside of town, 83 acres, 13,000 square foot home. And it took a couple years to sell it. This is the pre – COVID market because everyone wanted, we usually say the epicenter of Aspen, the bullseye is the gondola at the base of Aspen Mountain. The closer you are to that, that’s the most expensive real estate. The further you go out from that, it typically will get less expensive. And his estate was two miles outside of town we are seeing with 83 acres and we are seeing homes on Willoughby Way on Red Mountain just off downtown with two acres selling at 30 million plus.
(09:46):
And so literally what I’ve seen with Aspen’s market that knowing this valley for most of my life and especially professionally for the last 25, 30 years, it used to be that people were buying second home here, second homes here, but what it’s become is fourth, fifth, and sixth homes for people. And so they don’t necessarily want to be on the outskirts of town because if they’re going to fly in here for just a few days, they want to be right in the middle of thing. They want to be able to walk to the gondola, they want to walk to the restaurants, they want to walk to the music tent or walk to ski. So that’s what I’ve seen driving the prices sky high because they want to get here and it might only be for three, four nights again in their fifth or sixth home that they don’t want to deal with getting in and out of a car.
(10:40):
They want to leave their car back in the city. So that’s where I’ve seen you get outside of town 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and that’s where you’re seeing values and you’re getting a little more space. But downtown still, that’s what’s driven the prices on something that’s original condition from the 80s that’s right around 3,000 a foot to new remodeled or new construction at six to $7,000 a square foot.
Haley (11:12):
Wow, that’s wild. And are you seeing, in our industry right now, we’re seeing a lot more inventory and the buyers are still there, but we’ve just seen an influx. It’s stronger than it’s ever been. Are you seeing the same thing in the resort market?
Michael Latousek (11:27):
Yeah, definitely. For the last year we were still talking about how the inventory was low, but just the numbers we came out with the other day that we saw in our MLS, and I noticed it in our weekly caravan that we have on Thursday mornings, which we will usually have three or four homes on our weekly caravans in Aspen. And all of a sudden, beginning of June, I saw there were 21 properties on the weekly caravan. And then we talked about it in one of our sales meeting and apparently we saw from May to June this year compared to May to June of 23, our inventory increased 185%. So that really set the tone and I’m happy to see it to give buyers more options. I mean, I kind of come from the thinking that I don’t care if prices go up or down, I just want transactions.
(12:22):
And I think to enable some more transactions here, we need more options whether or not the prices. And I think there’s a lot of sellers out there that know that they need to jump in if they’re ready to sell and they’re not sure the pricing and we deal with this all the time, let’s just put it out there. It’ll be a for sale sign no matter what the price is. So it makes our job a little harder because you really got to knock on some doors and say, I know you’ve got this listed for X amount, but are you willing to negotiate just because you’re probably not sure where the market’s at because you’re seeing some neighbors sell for X and some other neighbors selling for a lower number and that all could depend on motivation, timing, et cetera.
Haley (13:07):
Oh, right. I mean, as a buyer agent, when you have these buyers, it’s sometimes hard, especially when there isn’t that much inventory to have a lot of power. But it seems like now we’re entering this stage, to your point, buyers have a little bit more say on some of these offers that they’re putting in there. It’s not always just going to be the ask anymore.
Michael Latousek (13:28):
Exactly. And that’s why when we don’t have, especially in resort markets, we don’t always have a perfect comp. When you’ve got a custom home coming on the market, how does that compare to a home down the street of different sites? Yeah, it’s in the same neighborhood, but all the neighborhoods are nice here and it’s not as if you’re dealing. It all depends on someone’s taste, if they want certain views, just like ski in, ski out can be darker and colder because they’re north facing as opposed to being south facing where you get sun and views and you’re trying to comp them best you can, but it all comes down to the motivation of the seller and again, having options out there for buyers right now. And we’re starting to see some price reductions. I know other markets, some of the hottest markets in the country, I know places like Austin and Boulder are starting to see quite a bit price reductions.
(14:25):
We’re not there yet. I think we’re going to start seeing it end of August, September because our summer selling season will run through probably Halloween, end of October, November even. I mean, we kind of have a year-round market now, but because of that inventory increase that we had basically beginning of June, I suspect these sellers are trying to capture the summer market, and I bet that 185% increase we saw made of June, maybe we’ll see all of those as well drop some pricing considerably come after Labor Day trying to catch buyers that are here. But on that same note too, we still have seen Aspen seen compared to last year, the high-end sales, 25 million and up. 23, we had 12 sales over 25 million. This year for 24 already, we’ve had nine single family sales over 25 million.
(15:27):
Our office, Douglas Elliman, Aspen, we’re actually up 18% this year on last year. Wow. Congrats. We had a huge April. A couple brokers in our office set the record for state of Colorado selling an estate home on Red Mountain on Welluby Way for 108 million. Steve Wynn out of Las Vegas and his partner bought that. And it’s interesting because this home has set records three times. During the recession in 2009, it sold for 53 million, and then I think it was 2017 it sold for 72 million to a Canadian, and then just in April sold for 108 million. And just a couple weeks before that, there was a $77 million sale on Owl Creek and a state on Ile Creek. So we’ve seen some major deals go on, and so that’s continuing. So whether we’re seeing a little dip for the summer, I still think it’s been really strong here.
(16:31):
And we’re continuing to pick up some really awesome listings, hence the monastery that I’m co-listing with Ken as well. We’ve got some really neat properties up in Starwood that our office has listed in the west end overlooking Helen Lake. Agents in our office just listed a single family home in a vacant lot on Willoughby Way for 85 million, which is basically front row. So that’s exciting to see some unique, not just random homes with crazy pricing on it, but some really unique properties like the monastery that I still think in this market could have a great chance of selling because they’re one of a kind.
Haley (17:18):
Well, were there any indicators, you’re saying there’s this really strong couple years that’s been happening. Were there any indicators that led to this market or was it just kind of right place, right time, pre – COVID, people trying to get out of major cities?
Michael Latousek (17:33):
Yeah, I guess what I’ve learned in the 24 years I’ve been an agent is, and most of our technical analytical gurus that we have here that analyze the Aspen market, we mirror the stock market quite a bit. And whether that money is being directly taken from the stock market and put into Aspen Real Estate is hard to tell, but of one of the steady trends that we’ve always seen is as long as the stock market’s healthy, our real estate market’s been healthy. And I think it’s still driven domestically. We don’t get a whole lot of foreign investment here. There are some out there, but right now, summertime, it’s heavy with the Florida market, Miami. If these temperatures continue in the rest of the country, Texas, Florida, East Coast is still our strong market. And I can’t blame people that not many places in the country can you go out in the middle of the day and still recreate, get on your bike, go for a walk, go golfing without melting out here.
(18:46):
So this climate alone has still sustained that summertime higher end crowd. So that’s been a blessing for us.
Haley (18:57):
I know your buyers are a little bit different than let’s say the Denver market. The types of individuals that are buying these places might not be as affected by interest rates, but have you had any impact from that from your buyer pool of people not being able to pay what they used to?
Michael Latousek (19:15):
Yeah. On the rates side, what’s it? I mean, say four out of five, it’s more like nine out of 10 of our deals in the Aspen area are cash deals. Does it affect them? Of course it does on their other investments, but they’re not getting loans on these properties. It is affecting the local buyers that might be Mid-Valley because pretty much the resort side of it, the second or third or fourth, fifth homeowner we’re seeing come into the Aspen market, it’s a cash buyer. So the rates are really, anyone that’s considering selling that may have a mortgage, as we all know, we’ve been hearing about this, they don’t want to sell it. They’ve got a 2.8 or a three or even anything under 5% because the next move they make is going to be 7%. So like I said, Aspen market, yes, are not affected by interest rates.
(20:13):
The Mid Valley for sure, and pick basically anything up to say the five million. And
Haley (20:17):
Other kind of domestic things that might be impacting it, and usually we see this impact the ranch real estate market is election years. They just tend to have an impact on uncertainties and buyer interests and those kinds of things. But for some reason, we haven’t really seen it this year.
Michael Latousek (20:34):
I don’t know
Haley (20:35):
If you guys are seeing that at all.
Michael Latousek (20:36):
Yeah, exactly. That’s always something we kind of bring up or that we consider in an election year. People tend to just sit on their cash and hold tight, I think. But again, I think in a resort market too, that tends to be more of sort of a celebratory, it’s a timing thing, so to speak, a bonus when timing for them to jump in or there’s never a good time to jump in just because we don’t drop that much. We will drop sometimes of minimal, but it more as a plateau. So if anything, people may just hold off more, I think, on the primary home side of things than we tend to see here because, like I say, if the right property’s out there for someone to find or buy and it comes on the market, again, not a whole lot of options or we’re starting to see more options, but that’s when people jump regardless of an election year or anything happening.
Haley (21:38):
That’s good to know. Yeah, it seems maybe you’re right with the secondary home, secondary investment, it’s not as big of a. Because if they were going to buy that, they were going to buy it regardless of that
Michael Latousek (21:49):
Price. Yes, exactly. And it’s something maybe they’ve been looking for. Primary home’s different. People stay in them a lot longer. They may tend to hold off in an election year. Let’s wait and see what happens. But I think on the timing for second homes and resort market purchases, again, it’s something they’ve probably been setting their sights on for a couple years even. And again, because they’re smaller markets, less inventory, the right property’s there, go for it. If the right property’s not there, they’re going to wait on.
Haley (22:21):
I’m sure some of it’s seasonal too with you guys up there for us especially because that’s when our buyers are around. I don’t know what you foresee the rest of the year looking like or if you foresee the same type
Michael Latousek (22:31):
Of – I’ve been watching Ken, I’ve been watching a lot of your stuff. Yo guys seem to have a busy winter. You guys were definitely putting some properties on the market this winter.
(22:42):
I’m probably busier in the summer. It’s become a year-round market. I always urge my buyers to shop during off season, the shoulder seasons, in the April, May, and the October, November, because most of the homes are empty, and so it’s a really nice time to come here and the crowds aren’t here. So properties are on the market, you can go through 10 houses in a day if you wanted to, and it’s much easier to get around. Also, sellers aren’t always suspecting, they’re not always sensing they’re going to get an offer in off season because they feel like the market’s over. I always say, if I’m representing a buyer and it’s beginning in November and this property’s been on the market since June, I’m like, “Let’s hit him, hit him hard, hit him low.” I mean, he’s not expecting. He hasn’t seen anything in months and let’s give it a shot.
(23:42):
That way he doesn’t have to wait all winter to hang onto it. So that’s usually my advice is aiming for the off seasons because that’s when sellers are at least expecting any activity. So it’s kind of a bonus.
Haley (23:54):
Especially before the holidays, it’s like, “Oh God, I need to get this off my plate. I can’t deal with this anymore.” And
Michael Latousek (24:00):
Same breath for a buyer too. We’ve had buyers that come in at Thanksgiving and just say, “Hey, I want to make sure we’re in here by Christmas.” So that’s when you’re calling the title company and saying, “Hey, we’re going to do a two-week deal, so get ready here.”
Haley (24:14):
And do you foresee this strong market that we’re having? Do you think this will continue for the next, at least the rest of the year into 2025?
Michael Latousek (24:22):
Well, yeah, I mean, I’m an optimist. As a realtor, you’ve got to be an optimist. And I’ve never sold real estate in any other market, but the Aspen area market. So any slowdowns we’ve had has really just been sort of catastrophic with the recession that hit us in about 09 and 10. And then COVID, it only hit us for about a month or two, and then it took off. So if anything, we’re going to see a slow here, and unless there’s something or an economic disaster with, say, the commercial banks, commercial real estate banks, who knows where that could head to. True. I think if anything, we’re going to hit our typical plateau and might take off again. Rates are holding things up for sure, but again, that’s more our market under probably five million. The higher end over that isn’t affected by it so much, being cash buyers.
(25:21):
So again, I just think we might see a stall in transactions. Hopefully we’ll see some price reductions. Again, I’m an optimist. I don’t care so much where the prices go. I just want to see transactions and give people a chance to get in the market, if that helps with some price reduction and maybe motivated sellers. But I still think it’s going to be pretty healthy for here on out unless something drastic hits us all.
Haley (25:49):
And in 10 years, that Willoughby Way house will be 120 million. Exactly.
Michael Latousek (25:55):
Well, that’s what’s interesting. We talked about since we hit the hundred million mark. I mean, the high was. There were two records set in two weeks. It was 77 million and then 108 million. So I know other markets like Palm Beach. I’m real tight with some brokers in Palm Beach. I just referred a deal down there. Obviously, the Manhattan market. We’re tight with Beverly Hills Malibu markets as well, and we keep in touch with them. And those, especially South Florida, they’re consistently seeing that 100 million plus. And I think now that Aspen broke that barrier, I know, and I’ve got clients that are building homes that I know they’re investing 50, 60, $70 million.
(26:40):
And in places like Pitkin County and Aspen and what your dad and I are dealing with on the monastery with the restrictions on what you can build, that to have an owner seller put a gorgeous property on there and go through all the hurdles and the red tape that the county restrictions have, and these caucuses, these neighborhood caucuses, some of these properties are taking three to five years to get them to turn or even to get them operable, to get a C of O on them, that when someone comes in and sees what they like and there’s a premium on it, they get it if they understand how long it takes. So point being is approaching that hundred million dollar barrier, I think it’s going to happen even more and more because everything’s gone up. So when we’re selling vacant pieces of land for 25 million, then single family lots, of course, with the construction costs, et cetera, that’s obviously going to bring it to much higher prices.
Haley (27:53):
And you bring up a good point for those listening about Picking County, and Picking County’s a very different county compared to other resort counties like Route and Eagle, but what are some of you were talking about these neighborhood caucuses and we can then start going into St. Benedict’s. For those listening who are interested in Aspen, what are those and what kind of restrictions might you find with some of those?
Michael Latousek (28:17):
Well, basically these caucuses, and probably the most prominent one is a snowmass one. They call it the Snow Cap, which is Snowmass Capitol Creek Caucus. And it’s basically a lot of the longtime homeowners that have been there and have gotten together, and it’s almost like forming their own large HOA, and they are going to put restrictions on what home sizes can be built. If you saw the journal today, the last day, that’s been the biggest criteria is home sizes. It sounds like it’s happening nationally now. The mega mansions, as they’re calling them, this was huge. The max single family home size built around Pitkin County was 15,000 square feet up until, I think it was November 1st of last year. And they had a committee put together and basically for efficiency, green built homes, they dropped that to 9,250 from 15,000 to 9,250. That’s a big jump.
(29:27):
And then in certain rural areas, it’s actually 8,250, 8,250 square feet. Primarily in the Aspen City area, it’s 5,750. 5,750 is the max built. Certain areas, it depends on zoning such as St. Benedict’s monastery even, which is part of the Snowmass Caucus, that they put a restriction that it’s going to be 5,750 no matter what on any building sites. No TDR is allowed, and a TDR is a transferable development right that you can buy around here. Take off a rural piece of property that’s not going to build and you take their development right and it basically adds 2,500 square feet to your plans or your existing home if you need it. So you can go up to 8,250. But even the Stonemass Caucus said, nope, we’re not even going to allow any TDRs. So it’s basically become a neighborhood watch committee and they’re trying to keep the rural integrity of these properties. And I get it.
(30:34):
I think people have gotten pretty well used to Pitton County’s restrictions that they know that if there is something that maybe has been grandfathered in to do 12,000 or 13,000 or 15,000 square feet, it’s going to be worth a lot more. And then there’s some that just come from the background that, hey, we don’t need a home that big. That’s going to be plenty that works. So it all depends. But I think Pitkin County appreciates it when they do have these caucuses because it kind of helps them keep localized things and it basically will manage these little micro markets and these valleys that come up in counties. So they’re very active and yeah, that’s what we’re seeing a little bit more of.
Haley (31:23):
I appreciate that they’re trying to retain some of the view sheds and the vibe of that rural aspect. And that brings up, we’ve talked about the monastery a few times and we’ve talked about the market in Aspen in Pitkin County. What makes this offering so different than anything you’ve seen hit the market up there?
Michael Latousek (31:45):
Yeah, no, this has been a really neat opportunity to work with Ken and be able to co-market, co-list this with him because there’s not one person in the valley that hasn’t had some sort of experience with the monastery, whether it’s going there for midnight mass on Christmas. And they used to bake cookies and get those out and the monks were all there. They used to be up to 30 monks there. And they had retreats there. They’ve got all the retreat cabins. But what’s so special about it is basically it’s the largest offering, largest land, piece of land, amazing piece of land in Pitkin County to be offered for sale. It’s 3,700. We’re going to have a survey in a couple weeks, anywhere between 3,700 to 3,800 square feet. And it was bought, donated, however, the transaction took place back in 1956 with the St. Benedictine monks that came out from Spencer, Massachusetts.
(32:53):
Word has it from Father Damien on the property. They were potentially heading towards California to do another monastery there, but they already had enough monasteries in California back in the early 50s, so they decided to retreat back. How they found this little piece of paradise in 1956, I don’t know. They must have known someone in there. But anyways, it is as many times as I’ve toured it lately with Ken and with some potential buyers, it’s unbelievable. It’s just such a pristine, I like to call it the main piece, it’s like an amphitheater and the views and the privacy where it sits is just one of a kind. It’s got amazing water. There’s three creeks going through it, Capitol, Lime Creek, Sopas Creek, and as well a bunch of ditches that supply great water, great irrigation. I think we’ve got 1,200 irrigated acres on this. So it’s going to be, and your dad, Ken’s done a great job as well as some other Picking County representatives to already set the tone through some newspaper articles, et cetera, that it’s going to take a very conservative conservation-minded buyer to be buying the monastery.
(34:12):
And it’s not a development. Yes, we’ve already gotten the calls from Miami developers and I got a call yesterday from someone to see if they could put a golf course in there. That doesn’t happen here and that’s not going to happen. So we nip that in the bud right away. We’ve already been talking closely to Pitkin County about what can we tell people? So we’re considering it’s probably going to be something that’ll be in 500 acre sort of family compound type property. Ideally, one family to buy it and have it and keep it as is. And they’re limited to 5,750 square feet and no TDRs. And whether they get a handful of building sites is still yet to be agreed upon with Pitkin County. But for the setting there and that close to Aspen, I think it’s what, about 20 minutes from Aspen Airport, 30 minutes to skiing.
(35:11):
Yeah, it’s just been a dream property to represent and to have the component with the monks. I’m raised Catholic. I did 16 years of Jesuit and Catholic schools. And so to see these guys, my dad would get a kick out of it that here representing Catholic church and the monks and selling this amazing campus for them. So it’s been fun so far and look forward to bringing it on to the next generation. I mean, it’s been 68 years I think in the hands of the monks. And we’re being very sensitive to the community and what they are looking for and we’re just trying to gauge what a buyer may be looking for and if it’s the right fit. And I think Ken and I are going to be able to find that right buyer for sure.
Haley (36:07):
And for those listening who are maybe familiar with Aspen, but maybe not necessarily where this is located, can you give a little insight into this kind of neighborhood? I know the property, it’s on the other side of the ridge from Snowmass, so the property just sits a little west from there.
Michael Latousek (36:24):
It’s basically tucked in. It’s really neat because it’s off of Highway 82, I think about six miles up of Highway 82. And this whole community of old Snowmass is made up of similar, not as big as this, but it’s ranchettes. Properties anywheres from couple acres up to communities, horse communities with 10 to 20 acre properties. There’s a handful of ranches with 100 to 500. Next door was 3000 acres. So the rural feel there is what everyone wants to keep because it’s separated from the rest of the valley and it’s in its own valley. It’s the old Snowmass Valley. So that’s one thing they want to contain. And it is just, you can see the snowmass ski area from parts of this property. Some of the back roads will take you into Vasalt into a little farming community called Emma just down street and some of the hiking back there to get up to Capitol Peak and Willow Lake is up there.
(37:33):
Apparently that’s where John Denver rode Rocky Mountain High back in the day. Wow. He had his Windstar Ranch and Old Snowmass just around the corner from the Monastery. Jimmy Buffet used to live just downstream from the Monastery property here, which in turn his property went to Glen Fry and Glen Fry had it until he passed away. Yeah, it’s got some characters. Kurt and Goldie Hawn have their, it’s called Home Run Ranch. They’ve had forever up there, probably at least 40 years I think. So yeah, it’s a really, really neat community still with some thriving cattle operations and an agricultural field. There’s even some polo fields up there. So yeah, it’s a neat spot.
Haley (38:23):
No, it’s very special. And to your point, I mean the monks have been incredible stewards. I can’t wait to meet them one day, but they love the land more than anyone could love it. So it’s great to be the stewards to help them say goodbye, but also find someone that’ll take care of it just like they did. Exactly,
Michael Latousek (38:46):
Exactly. And I think that buyer’s out there and fortunately with the PR that Pitkin County has done for itself, most people know that they’re not coming in to build a resort or anything of that capacity. It’s going to maintain its really neat agricultural and Rocky Mountain feel that everyone enjoys. And that’s what a buyer’s looking for in a property like this.
Haley (39:13):
No, and what better person to help us with this listing than you. I mean, just hearing your insight in the Aspen market and how it is similar to the ranch real estate market with the types of buyers that we might be working with, but very different all in the same capacity because you guys are working with a lot more transactions, a lot more people coming through the door, and it’s important to have a heartbeat on the community and what’s important to the community. So having you on board has just been awesome. So I think I feel good about this team and finding the right buyer for this spot. So we’re
Michael Latousek (39:50):
Excited. Me too. No, this has been great and I think it’s a great partnership here because what I typically deal with around Aspen and those types of buyers, I know Ken is funny about some of his ranch visits that typically will take two, three, four hours or a whole afternoon. Whereas I know these types of buyers that are coming in and they might tell me in the first two minutes, “Nope, this doesn’t work,” and they walk out and that’s the way it is. But having me up here locally, again, whether I’m going to help facilitate some of the pesky local Aspen realtors that Ken doesn’t have to deal with, I’m happy to take them on. I kind of pride myself that I can deal with about 99% of the Aspen realtors and get along fine with them and I have a good reputation with them.
(40:49):
So I’m happy to take that on just to get through some of that stuff and help Ken with the local knowledge, which is what it’s all about. And especially with Douglas Elliman too, our outreach that we’ve got, and we haven’t even tapped into the Knight Frank side of it yet too on the European side, but Douglas Elliman, as you’ve come to experience a little bit here with the marketing and the PR at more of a national and international level has been just the best. And we pride ourselves on trophy properties like this to market them the right way and to get them out there in front of that buyer. And again, I think that’s where we get a lot of some of these special and unique listings is because Elliman’s PR and marketing is by far the best I’ve experienced in the 24 years I’ve been in the business and they know how to get into the right people.
(41:48):
We’ve got a PR department in Beverly Hills, New York City, and anytime we get an interesting listing, a unique listing like this, they’re the first ones to call me and say, “Michael, what are we doing? What can we do to help you? Let’s get this out there.” And yeah, within moments time, it’s in front of all the high-end markets that we are in. So that’s been a huge benefit.
Haley (42:13):
Yeah. And it’s a benefit to us too because we’re known as the premier ranch brokerage in Colorado, but that reach of those types of buyers that might not be necessarily looking for ranches, they might just be looking, they though they wanted a house in Aspen, they thought they wanted this luxury real estate, and then they’re like, “Oh my gosh, all of a sudden I could buy this for 150.” It’s good that you guys have that. And I can say shout out to Priyanka because for those listening, this’ll be coming on to podcasts and everything a little bit later, but we do have a really good business insider coming out this week. So we’ll send that out to everyone once it comes out. But that was a big help from Douglas Elliman and the PR reach of your team. So excited to see where that goes.
Michael Latousek (43:03):
Yeah, I think one quick note too, making on with St. Benedict’s with the monastery too, because it’s an existing church monastery that what we’ve noticed with a couple buyers that have come through to look at it that visually there’s no massive trophy home on it yet that the Aspen type of buyer’s looking for. But once they go through it and then they go look at some other properties in the area that may be nice, it might have a nice home on it, a state home, but maybe has five acres or 10 acres or even 20 acres. And then they come back and once they sort of analyze, digest it all, then they go, “Okay, you’re right. That is something really special.” The 3,700 acres, I mean you can spend three days touring all that acre. And so that’s where it lies that the appreciation of that much land that close because yeah, there’s one that sold by last couple years ago, the Wheeler property at 42 million, gorgeous home, 22,000 square foot home on 800 acres, but it had highway exposure.
(44:22):
And so that used to be one of the largest estate homes, ranchette type homes in the old snowmass area. This is, what is it, five times the size of it. It’s big. It’s really special. Yeah.
Haley (44:47):
And now we’re just going to do a broker speed round with Michael. So here we go. Favorite restaurant in Aspen?
Michael Latousek (44:55):
Caribou Club.
Haley (44:57):
Oh, nice.
Michael Latousek (44:58):
Yes.
Haley (44:58):
Haven’t been there yet. I need to try it.
Michael Latousek (45:01):
Yeah, we’ve been members since the day they opened and yeah, Caribou Club by far.
Haley (45:07):
Awesome. Well, next time I’m up there, you’ll have to take me.
Michael Latousek (45:10):
For sure. Yeah.
Haley (45:12):
Must see hidden gem in the Aspen area. And if you don’t want people knowing about it, you don’t have to say it. You can give your second favorite.
Michael Latousek (45:19):
Yeah. I mean, the usuals are room bells, Fryingpan Valley, Fryingpan River Valley by far. Yep.
Haley (45:29):
I would agree. I love it up there. Favorite time of year in Aspen?
Michael Latousek (45:35):
Yes. I go back and forth. My favorite months have typically been March and September because I’m a big time skier. March, because we usually get the most snow and the weather gets a little friendlier, but the fall is September into October could be the best as well. It’s unmatched.
Haley (46:06):
Yeah. I love it up there during that time. Best way to relax after a long day of showings or skiing. Fly fishing. Fly fishing.
Michael Latousek (46:15):
It’s either fly fishing or mountain biking by far because living in the soul – How
Haley (46:19):
Nice.
Michael Latousek (46:20):
One of the reasons why we all have big SUVs living here and we treat our cars like lockers because I drive a Yukon and I keep my fishing gear or my ski gear or my mountain bike in the car depending on the time of year, because after showing and driving home, yeah, I’ll usually peel off and go do something for myself after a long day showings.
Haley (46:49):
That’s so nice. I’m wanting to go up there now. Yeah, it’s just too hot down here. Preferred mode of transportation around Aspen. I would imagine it’d be the Yukon, but then the bike after that.
Michael Latousek (47:03):
It’s all by foot. Yeah. Yeah. I always recommend people, especially this time of year, summertime, because Independence Pass is open. So it’s so much busier in the summertime than winter because Pass isn’t open in the winter. So a lot of times people are staying in Glenwood Springs or staying in Buena Vista and they’ll drive through Aspen for the day. They’ll get their ice cream cone and their t-shirt and then they’ll drive on. I
Haley (47:30):
Know. Yeah.
Michael Latousek (47:31):
So it’s packed. So I park my car and then I just walk all day long around there.
Haley (47:36):
Yeah. I feel like traffic can get pretty bad at certain points of the day. Yeah.
Michael Latousek (47:40):
And that’s the thing. I mean, the traffic’s gotten bad out in all these desirable mountain communities and you just got to time it, either going early or going midday and you just got to time your way around the traffic for sure. And dealing with construction, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, it’s by foot.
Haley (47:58):
And the Roaring Fork bus system is super nice.
Michael Latousek (48:02):
Yes.
Haley (48:02):
I love it.
Michael Latousek (48:04):
Yeah. Rafta if you have to. Rafta, yeah, the Boozer Cruiser, whatever you want to call it, the vomit comment. It’s amazing. And everyone around here, their kids start riding the bus at around 12 years old on their own.
Haley (48:18):
I love that.
Michael Latousek (48:19):
I mean,
Haley (48:20):
As you should, I think it’s important to trust the bus system.
Michael Latousek (48:24):
Yeah.
Haley (48:24):
Okay. And then favorite luxury amenity and high-end properties. So you sell a lot of these beautiful homes. What’s your favorite thing that’s been built into these that you’ve been like, “Okay, I can incorporate that into my house one day.”
Michael Latousek (48:39):
Yeah. I mean, from the high-end dog washes that you see in the garages are really plush. The outdoor kitchens, I was at an open house today on the river in Woody Creek. This home was stunning, and they’ve got an outdoor kitchen that blew my indoor kitchen away. So that’s typically it. And I always, probably the hardest thing here, one of the biggest recommendations I have for people here for investment wise, everyone’s got a beautiful home, you bought a beautiful place, but landscaping is so crucial here because of the seasons that beat crap out of your landscaping. It’s always a hard time when we take a listing in the spring, because as you know, it’s the worst time to be taking photos.
Haley (49:31):
It’s
Michael Latousek (49:32):
Muddy. Yeah. The leaves aren’t on the trees yet, so come into May, June, but probably biggest amenities is by far the landscaping. And I’m trying to think one of the most latest, coolest features, but probably what usually gives me the wow factors in a lot of these homes is kitchens and then the bunk rooms that they do for kids, because a lot of these big homes are going to hold a lot of kids and they do the most elaborate bunk rooms. And I swear, I keep saying someone needs to do a coffee table book on ski property bunk rooms because they’re so cool. The bunk
Haley (50:11):
Rooms of
Michael Latousek (50:12):
Aspen. I’m sure it’s where everyone ends up hanging out.
Haley (50:15):
Oh yeah. Yeah.
Michael Latousek (50:17):
Yeah.
Haley (50:18):
Growing up in Denver, I had a couple buddies with some big houses up in Aspen, and it was fun as a kid to have those things. Right. And last question, best view in Aspen for sunrise and sunset?
Michael Latousek (50:35):
Probably for sunrise, your best view is probably going to be hiking up Buttermilk because you’re going to be looking back to the east. So in the winter, if we’re skinning up on Buttermilk, you can see the sunrise coming up over Hunter Creek. And for sunset, my favorite always was McLean Flats Road or Starwood, where my parents used to live, being north side of the valley, looking south and looking west. So I’d say from Starwood, from that side, looking at the sunsets is by far the best. And you can take those in from McLean Flats Road or even Smuggler, if you hike up Smuggler Road is the way to do it.
Haley (51:23):
Love that. Well, we’ll have to do a sunrise skin this winter sometime.
Michael Latousek (51:26):
Yes. Love to. That’d
Haley (51:27):
Be perfect. Sweet. Well, it’s been really awesome working with you again, Michael. We’re really excited to see where this leads. Like he said, we’ve had a couple buyers look at the monastery, but there’s a lot of other listings out there that Michael is listed or Douglas Elliman’s listed if the monastery is not your cup of tea. So if you have questions about the Aspen market or anything like that, we’re happy to connect you with Michael, but I just want to thank you again for taking the time today to talk about what you’re seeing up there.
Michael Latousek (51:55):
Awesome. Yeah, I’m happy to do it and I appreciate it and love working with all of you at Murr Ranch Group. And Haley, you’ve been a huge help in welcoming myself in here. And yeah, there’s a lot of good real estate out there. And I think between Elliman and Myrr Ranch Group, a lot of good inventory for people to take a look at.
Haley (52:18):
Awesome. Well, thanks so much again for coming on the show. We’ll chat soon.
Michael Latousek (52:22):
Great. Thanks, Haley.
Haley (52:25):
Thanks for joining us today. To learn more about the ranch real estate market or our ranch marketing process, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our website at mirranchgroup.com or give us a call at 303-623-4545. See you next time.
