Realty Executives of Flagstaff
In the days before the internet, when people were looking for a professional – a contractor, for example – they would often ask a friend or neighbor, “Do you know a good Plumber?”
Well, guess what? The same thing still happens today! It’s just done a little differently. These days, people often ask for recommendations online, such as on their community’s Facebook page.
However it’s done, the intention is obvious. People prefer to work with professionals who are recommended. That definitely includes real estate professionals.
In our business, we work hard to be the kind of trusted real estate professionals that clients rely on to help sell their property, find their next home, and make the entire process go smoothly. In addition, we stay in touch long-term to be an ongoing resource of information and advice.
In fact, that’s one of the reasons we send you this informative e-newsletter.
So, if friends or neighbors ask for a real estate agent recommendation, we hope you’ll feel comfortable giving them our names. We’d really appreciate your support!
Renee and Jeff
Strong Home Sales in 2021 - 6 Month Housing Review
The below data was pulled on July 21st and as expected the strong 2020 market has carried through to 2021.
We have sold 9.7% more homes this year than the year prior. Flagstaff's Median Sales Price jumped from $413,459 to $515,000, an increase of 24.6%. Number of new listings is up 5% but one of the most drastic data points and what fuels the misconception of fewer homes available is the decrease in Days on Market. The average Days on Market in 2020 was 107 and with a decrease of 40.2% that puts the average Days on Market in 2021 at only 64.
The Absorption Rate currently sits at 1.68% which means we have less than a 2 months supply of homes available. As we have mentioned in previous updates the Real Estate experts say that a 6 month supply is ideal, any less indicates a Seller's Market, any more indicates a Buyer's Market.
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Hiking into the Chicago Basin outside of Durango Colorado
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What an adventure we had planned as we head up to Durango Colorado, spending 7 days in the vast Weminuche Wilderness. At 499,771 acres, the Weminuche Wilderness isthe largest wilderness area in Colorado, and as a comparison, ¾ the size of Rhode Island. After talking to many locals, the general thought is leave the ‘E’ off the end when you pronounce the Weminuche(whem-a-nooch). The trip started months ahead of time, with planning the route, the timing when we wanted to get into Chicago Basin, preparing the meals for every day, doing some dehydrating of assorted things, and of course picking up the first mornings Breakfast and that evening’s dinner, which I cover more later. Once we finally got started on Sunday morning, the 5 plus hour drive up was uneventful, we got to Durango midafternoon, giving us time to explore the downtown. |
Our first Day
Up early today, we car camped last night at the end of Vallecito Lake, wanted to be on the trail by 7.
For Breakfast, out of the cooler before we started our hike, I had the traditional Flagstaff Best Breakfast Burro from the Dog Haus, a great way to start this adventure.
The overall plan, we will hike up the Vallecito River, to Johnson Creek, over Columbine Pass (12,665ft) to the eastern edge of Chicago Basin, then west out through the basin to the Animas River and back to Durango.
This is the seldom taken route into Chicago Basin and when I say seldom, we saw no one for the first 3 ½ days.
Most will come in on the west side riding the Silverton-Durango Railway up the Animus River to a spot the train lets off at times over 50 hikers a day, so they can scramble as fast as they can into Chicago Basin to find camp sites. We chose not to be in that race up into the basin, so came in the longer, harder, better route from the East.
We knew that the Train let hikers off at 11:00 every morning and will take those hikers at least 2 hours to get into the basin. So our plan was to get into the Eastern edge of the Basin by 1:00 on Wednesday Day 3, just in case it was hard to find a great camp spot.
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The days started out nice, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Trail conditions were excellent all day as we hike along the Vallecito River gently climbed from 7900 feet to our camp spot at Deadhorse Creek at 9,100 feet.
The treat of the hike, we did not have to carry gallon+ of water which would have added 8.32 lbs. of weight to our pack. Instead, as we crossed little creeks and such, I got out my BeFree Water Filter I would highly recommend for any hikes.
Throughout the day we passed through meadows of flowers, Jack and Rob stopped to fish, though not successfully I might add.
Close to camp we had to navigate an approximate 100 ft river crossing of the Vallecito River. We are in the wilderness now and when that bridge was washed out a few years back, since in the wilderness it could not be rebuilt.
Was a sketchy crossing but with hiking poles to help braced against the current we made it safe, though a little wet
Exciting way to end the day, shortly after the crossing we found a great level spot to camp for the night. Tonight, for me was the Pizza I mentioned above, traditionally I take 4-5 piece of NiMarcos Pizza I get the day before our hike, cool, wrap and put in the top of my pack. Pretty hard to smash cold pizza any more than it already is, and gosh, was a treat out on the trail
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Our Second Day, Once again it was a nice casual hike all the way to the Johnson Creek trail junction, fortunately the trail Bridge was still up and a good place to fish, both Jack and Rob were successful. From that point it was a steady climb to 11,069 feet. The trail maintenance of this section was not as good, seemed like every time we turned around, we were climbing over downed trees, this section did not appear to have much use. This was the second day we have not seen a single other person on the trail. Perfect camp sight and came with two, very welcoming Marmots. My tent, they stayed away from, maybe my secret deterrent from critters, Cat Hair. I brush the cats and bring some of their hair with me in the pack on each adventure, tends to work, so far
Day 3 What we found out was hardly anyone from the Basin comes to this end. This was a planned layover day and for the next two days, we only saw 2 couples stop by in their exploration of our side of the basin. This is a layover day in the splendor of the Chicago Basin. Today we head up to Twin Lakes, elevation 12,655 ft, to hopefully do some fishing.
Day 5 As we headed out of Chicago basin, we realized how fortunate we were to have come into the Basin from the east,
Day 6 As we left our first night on the Animas River, we realize that our timing for this trip was the best. So far, our camp sites have been the very best, only one camp site did we see others. Got in to camp early found a great camp site right by the bridge that will take us over the Animas since at this point it is a fully fledge river, and not possible to wade across. Up early today, this is our last day on the trail. The trail out was gentle uphill, through the Crescent Creek canyon, with the creek falling further and further below us. The closer we got to our takeout point and vehicle, the more folks we started to see, We are back to the takeout spot mid-morning, cleaned up some, then had to go pick up Robs vehicle. This was not a loop, so took two vehicles, maybe 1+ hour drive time between start point to where we ended the adventure. We had heard that Chicago Basin was a must-see adventure to take, and we proved that right. We took a chance going in from the Vallecito Creek Trail head and it paid off in huge dividends; in the sights we got to see, the serene wilderness, the lack of other hikers’ day after day, and the quality of camp sites as a group were as good as we have ever had.
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Jeff Ross * Renee Gaun 928-607-5556 Jeff
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15 E. Cherry Ave |
Where the experts are - Serving Flagstaff and Northern Arizona since 1977
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