Welcome to Girdwood's first real estate blog!  I am going to jump in with both feet.  My intent is to blog twice a week, but no less than once a week.  I also want this to be a useful resource for the reader and to contain, not only information on Girdwood and Turnagain Arm real estate, but information about what is happening around town.

With this weather and with the leaves just starting to turn, it is hard to believe that winter is around the corner.  Nevertheless, it is coming and Alyeska Resort season pass prices go up on September 5th.  Buy online at:  http://www.alyeskaresort.com/page.asp?intNodeID=15465&sysStr=PCAT52:action-sList_intCurID-16_sPos-0_class-5507,241052; and beat the price increase.

Speaking of Alyeska Resort, did you see the three stories about the Resort on KTUU this week?  If not, you can see the streaming video on their website at http://www.ktuu.com .  As of this morning, you can see the latest streaming video story near the top of their page on the right hand side.  The previous two streaming video stories have been archived and can be found by clicking on 'Video' part way down their page in the center.  All in all, there is about 16 minutes of streaming video about the Resort.

As expected, activity in the Girdwood real estate market is heating back up after the normal summer slow down.  Reasonably priced properties are still selling quickly.  All in all, it looks like the year may finish higher than the last two years in terms of the number of transactions, but not far off the five year average.  I'll produce some useful statistics at the end of the third quarter.

The condominium market continues to be tight due to a low inventory of units; however, units in the next Snowraven building on Hightower Road have just come available with upgrades not found in the previous two buildings.  Please call me for details if you are interested.  In addition, we may have a unit above The Bake Shop coming available to purchase soon. 

Have a great three day weekend.  We may take a camping trip at a friend's cabin for part of the weekend.

I'm off for a short mountain bike ride before I head to the office.  Can't resist the sunshine.

In my next blog I plan to share my personal experience this week in selecting a real estate Agent out of state.

Wishing you sunshine and blue skies for the weekend.....