Us Vail real estate insiders have been talking quite a bit lately about the enormous size of some of the new condominiums built in Vail Village during the real estate boom and how it would be nice to have smaller properties that are more buy-able for a more diverse buyer net worth. Of course, that means a price of 1 million for a new Vail condo versus 10 million; it is still a very affluent second home purchase.
Apparently, there are allot of luxury developers that are taking this approach in many resort markets in the Rocky Mountains and throughout the rest of the vacation world. The article below reviews several resort community developers new strategy of building affordable but luxurious homes for the affluent.
The ultimate goal as the Wall Street Journal suggest is to attract new buyers to homes that are close to the amenities that we all enjoy the most. In Vail, Aspen and Steamboat Springs, that would be the ski mountain access and beautiful summer filled mountain activities, golf, trout fishing, rafting, hiking, etc.that these ski resort markets offer.
One such project in the Vail Valley located at the Red Sky Ranch community is Juniper Trail by Hermes Resort Properties. The developer, Rick Hermes, effectively reduced the purchase price, size of the property and building costs and sold out all but one of the 27 golf course homes in this enclave.
Real Estate sales in ski resort markets have rebounded back nicely from 2009 so now might be a good time to look at property in ski country. There are great deals for all kinds of real estate, small and large in the high country. | 
