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Is Summit County Worth It?

[0:00] Is Summit County actually worth looking at for retiring? Or is it just a bunch of hype for a bunch of powder chasing tourists? Well, as someone who's watched retirees move in, burn out, and thrive here, I know what the brochures are never going to mention to you. So, in this video, I'm going to show you how to get the good life here, how to avoid the pitfalls, and how to decide if some of really delivers on the hype that you hear out there. Now, for the past 15 years, I've helped retirees figure out where to land in Colorado. And Summit County is one of the most requested spots for people who want adventure, who want just an unbeatable scenery. I mean, it's next to Montana on the scene of Yellowstone. It's as good as you get.

[0:44] And for people who want that resort lifestyle, you know, whether it's Breen Ridge, Frisco, Dylan, Silverthorn, each community kind of has its own unique feel, but together they make Summit County one of the premier retirement destinations in Colorado. Now, if you are debating things and you need to cut to the chase and clear things up, you can just call or text me here, or you can also download my luxury retirement guide that'll take you through a much deeper dive of all the areas you might be considering. You know, Summit County is active living at its finest. And here in Colorado, we're already active no matter where you are. But Summit County is a whole another level. Retirees that are come here don't slow down. They're looking for the good life, the high life, the active life. You know, they're training in commutes and city noise for ski passes, hiking boots, bikes, horses.

Lifestyle and Seasonal Vibes

[1:37] You're going to see groups of retirees skiing here midweek every single day of the week, biking the paved wreck path that goes through town which stretches for miles or meeting up at local coffee shops after morning hikes. You know, the vibe here definitely shifts with the different seasons. Summers are really laidback, communitydriven, filled with festivals, farmers markets, lake activities. You do get quite a few tourists, but maybe not as many as the winter. Uh, and then you've kind of got your mud season, which is part of spring, part of fall, super quiet, right? If you've got an Airbnb up here, this is the time of year where it's not booked up for 50 or 75% of the time. I love the spring and I love the fall up in Summit County, you know, and winters, they're going to bring more of an international crowd. Lots more tourists kind of poured in for ski season, obviously, which adds a totally different energy and vibe to it, but it also makes things busier. Now, most profile buyers here in vacations here are typically going to be more affluent, right? Lots of young 60s active uh more interested in lifestyle than conveniences because it is a mountain community. Often times a lot of these houses are at 10,000 ft or above and that makes for some challenging conditions, you know, but if you've always dreamed of living in a mountain town where recreation is literally out your back door and part of your lifestyle, like Summit County is almost impossible to beat anywhere in the world. All right, now real estate and housing. Let's just get this out of the way. Uh you're not living here to save money. Um, and just to give you an idea to look at Summit County, you know, we tend to think of places like Silverthorn, Frisco, Breen Ridge. Uh, but it encompasses quite a large map here. Of course, Lake Dylan right in the middle, uh, with Silverthorn here in the middle of Summit County, but it goes further north than you might think. Um, and then you got Keystone over here to the east. Then you got Breen Ridge over to the south here and Blue River. So, real estate wise, you know, you're going to have kind of your pick of the litter.

[3:50] Uh, under a million dollars isn't so easy. Even for condos and town homes, I'll just put that right out there. Uh, single family homes, depending on what you're wanting out of a home. If you're wanting something that doesn't need a lot of work to it, a couple of million is kind of the starting point. But for what you get here, it's unbelievable. So, just starting with the ease, right? Let's talk about condos. If you want a lock and leave it sort of situation, you do have a number of options. In the last couple of years, okay, in the real estate world, Airbnb laws have changed in the state of Colorado, specifically in Summit County, where too many people were buying properties for short-term rentals. It was screwing up the housing market, and they needed to kind of correct things. So, you now have to get a license. You now have to be put on a wait list. It might be a couple of years long, uh, depending on where the property is located. There's tons of different zones. It is not easy to figure out if a property can be rented short-term. So, right off the bat, if you're looking for something that is just going to be uh purely, hey, let's just buy this. We'll short-term rent it when we're not there sort of situation, like that might be a couple years down the road. So, plan on buying for what you want, where you want, and then working with whatever short-term rental uh kind of obstacles and hoops you have to jump through because it can be really lucrative once you get your short-term rental license. So, starting off with Silverthorn area, Silverthorn does not have a ski resort right here. Closest ski resort is probably going to be Keystone to the east by about 15 minutes or so. Then you're going to have Breck to the south by about 20 25 minutes.

Rental Restrictions and Planning

[5:26] Okay? Then you're going to have Copper to the west here by about another 15 to 20 minutes. That's why Silverthornne is such an amazing hub to own. You don't get ski in, ski out condos here, but it's Silverthorn, one of the bigger towns around. Uh so condo-wise, you could be right near their somewhat downtown area. Um you know, we're looking at 850 900 million and a lot of these are going to be on the newer side.

Neighborhood Showcase

[5:52] Silverthorn has had explosive growth here. Now, HOAs are not going to be cheap. This one itself, $600 a month HOA. Now, you do get things in return for that HOA. Insurance has been a big challenge in Summit County in Colorado. Hell, it's been a big challenge throughout the country the last few years. So, you get generally a good insurance policy and then you just have to get your drywall in policy, which might be 50 to 100 bucks a month. Okay.

[6:20] Uh so in this unit, you know, you're going to have parking, which most of the units are going to have, which is a big deal. And then inside, like you're going to have a nice unit. You know, this is recently updated. Uh and you're going to have nice builder grade sort of amenities, but again, you're buying this for ease. Lock it, leave it. Two bedrooms, two baths, thousand square ft, million dollars. $1,000 a square foot is a good benchmark to have in your mind in most of Summit County. Okay. Uh on the other side of town, let's see what we got here. 1.08 million, two baths, two beds, 1,000 square ft. Looks pretty similar. And you're going to have dozens and dozens and dozens of options, but these are going to be very walkable properties, right? You can take a bus up here. You can take a ski ride up here from the airport. you can get directly dropped off at your condo and then you can take buses to the ski resorts, right? And that's going to be this lifestyle. You know, Silverthorn, like I said, has done a lot of building over the last few years. Uh, and it's making it really, really nice. Now, we can go a little bit further south into Breen Ridge. And again, look at all the options here. There are quite a few places. There's even some ski in, ski out places. We've got something like this at 2.4 right at the base of maybe peak eight. It looks like three bedrooms, three baths, 1,400 square ft², you know. So, this is a little bit over 1,000 a square foot, but for where you're located, I mean, you're located at the ski lodge for crying out loud.

[7:55] This is as good as you can get. Not going to be super updated for the most part. Mountain properties do not demand the same level of upgrades that really nice luxury houses would have, let's say, a Denver proper where you're expecting Viking uh, you know, Thermodor appliances, things like that. You know, it might just be regular granite countertops or regular cabinets. Everything in the mountains is more expensive and more difficult to get done because finding a quality contractor in the mountains that's going to show up and do what they say when they say they're going to do it is challenging.

[8:30] So, a lot of people just kind of take what they can get. You know, uh the priority here is location and lifestyle. I mean, you can sit here, have coffee, and watch people ski and fall all day long. Like, I don't know. This is, you know, where we're looking personally now. Uh, I've fallen in love with Summit County lately, and yes, I'm one of those, you know, who's making it worse because it's making things more expensive, blah, blah, blah. But this is this is as fabul fabulous as you get in this world. And I could not pick a better lifestyle for myself. Now, you can get a little bit further out of town. Let's say Blue River down south of Breen Ridge, a little bit more affordable, 600,000, 3bedroom, two bath, 850 ft². Uh, and it's going to be a nice unit. you know, it's going to be is what it is, but for a short drive to skiing and being in Breen Ridge, you know, it's a great option. Then north of Silverthorn, uh we've got friends with property up here, helped a few buyers lately, uh just get north of the Silverthorn area. Not a whole lot of condos, going to be mostly single families. If town homes are your thing, uh there's going to be some options here as well. Little bit more expensive. You know, you're going to get some outdoor space. uh you're going to get little bit bigger properties, maybe not quite as new because as it's become more expensive to develop, town homes make less and less less and less sense to build. Uh most of the things that make sense where developers can make money are going to be on condos where you can stack people 2, three, four high, right? So this 2500 ft, 2.265 million, a little bit under 1,000 bucks a square foot. Getting back to that number, keep that in your head. and not super updated, right? Um, looking at here, it could probably use, you know, it's probably got 20-y old carpet in there. It's been wellmaintained, don't get me wrong, but it's not new by any means. But location here again is going to be stellar. Uh, you're going to be able to walk to shops. You know, this is Breen Ridge right here. And a few blocks to the west, here's Main Street on Breen Ridge, right? That's a lifestyle in itself. You get here, you have the kids with you, grandkids with you, and then the ski hill is, you know, less than a mile away. So, you can hop on a bus on Main Street, uh, get dropped off right at the ski hill and be gone all day, every single day. Um, and ski passes, just get the get the epic local pass.

[10:58] Uh, it's the Veil Resort Pass. It's about 700 bucks right now for most all of their mountains. But because a day pass these days is like I don't even know a break. 230 240 bucks a day. They've made it near impossible just to do day passes. Not even worth it. Just get the pass. If you're going to go more than three days a year, that's what you want to do. Um all right, townhouse wise, let's go up into Silverthorn and Dylan area. Uh you know, we can take a look at these new were built. Um three bedrooms, four baths, 2300 ft², 1.15. So here much more affordable price per square foot. If you're looking for more space, you can get the option when it comes to a town home. Now single family wise, uh I could I could spend all day talking about single family homes in Sumac County because these views are just off-the-wall. There's something straight out of a movie. I'll show you one in a neighborhood where I've got clients under contract right now. This is in I don't know the exact name of the the neighborhood. I think it's Elkrun.

Luxury Properties and Amenities

[12:00] Um and for 2.4 six bedrooms, five baths, 4,500 square feet. The house is not phenomenal, but these views when you see them, they're breathtaking. You're going to stop in your tracks here. I mean, look at this. I again, I don't know how you can beat this. Uh you do have some properties with land. So, this looks like potentially a 20 acre lot, maybe a 40 acre lot. And the thing is with how Summit County has been developed, you can't just buy one of these 40 acre properties and divide it into 40 properties. You can't do it. So, what's here is going to be what's here. You're surrounded by a lot of protected open space. And so, what's here is what's going to be here in 20 years from now.

[12:46] Again, not super updated, right? tile countertops, uh, oak cabinets, black appliances, but you're paying to be in one of the most incredible places in the world. Now, you can spend as much as you want, right? There is almost no ceiling on the limit of how much you can spend, but again, look, 5 million, right? Seven beds, six baths, 7,000 ft. You can't really need much more home. And if I told you that this was the set for a movie, you'd buy it. I'd buy it, right?

[13:21] This is just as good as it gets. This is right off Blue River, which is some of the most worldrenowned fishing uh fly fishing in the world. And I mean, yeah, I can go look at these properties all day and just love life looking at these properties because of how incredible they are. Lots of log cabin style, right? lots of Texas Ranch style. Uh, lots of big money has been put in to build these types of homes with high-end finishes for the most part. Um, but you do have to spend the money in order to get there. Other than that, people have built here because they want to be here.

[13:59] Now, those are north of town. You can be in Silverthorn properly if you want, you know, a little more access to things and you can have something like this. Still a 5,000 foot house at 2.3 million. Like still not terrible. I know I'm saying that it's not terrible. Uh but it's all relative, right? Um if you want to get further down into Breen Ridge, you got some bigger options. Breen Ridge was been being built out for a long time.

[14:28] Um, you can one community I wanted to hit on real quick here. Uh, so in Summit County it depending on what lifestyle you're looking for, you can have it. Um, and what I mean by that is what amenities you want, right? Whether that's golfing, um, whether that's a community center. So, this is Summit Sky Ranch. Really popular uh, community here. Actually, me and my wife got married at their community center. I know we got married in HOA community center, but this community center is bonkers. Um, they've got beer and wine on tap. And this is not a huge house.

[15:03] 2,300 ft², $2 million, so around 1,000 bucks a square foot. But the neighborhood here is killer. Um, you've got a full-size pool, you've got multiple hot tubs, you have they built in their own dog park, they built in their own reservoir for paddle boarding and swimming. Yes, you can swim there. Uh water is awfully cold, but it is what it is. This is their community center. Okay, so when I say we got married here, don't don't give me a hard time. This is their community center, right? This is what they have access to at any given time. Events, uh you know, it was it was awesome. And a lot of these communities like this one, this is their community center. Okay, they uh this is their pool. Obviously, hot tub areas, uh gym, workout facilities, like and this place, Summit Sky Ranch in particular, has a handful of houses that the community Airbnbs out. So, we had family coming in from all over the country and they rented houses down the street and they came to our friend's house that we were staying at and why we were here getting married in the first place. And like it was just an amazing feeling like this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing that my family was enjoying that you know this is something we do every few weeks here, right? We live in Denver and we vacation an hour and a half west here into Summit County. Like no joke when I say this is the lifestyle. I've been here for 25 years. I still want to be in Summit County every chance I get. Um all right, heading south towards Breen Ridge. If you want something like a ski in, ski out single family house, uh again, you have your options, but we're talking premium price points, right? We're talking you've got something like this at 21 million. Uh now you're getting an 8,000 square foot house. Um and you're getting literal ski in, ski out. Uh but how it gets any better than this, I have no idea. So, this in the summertime is gorgeous. Uh, the weather here is just phenomenal. You don't need air conditioning. It cools off so well at night. Just open all the windows and doors and it'll be 60° in the house in no time. Um, you know, premium properties like this do not come up for sale very often. Most of the sellers here don't need to sell. You will never have a motivated seller on the ski slopes unless we have an economy crash like we did in 2008. Um, but you get very unique once in a-lifetime generational type properties and you can have that with Breen Ridge Keystone, not so much. Uh, there's not very many ski in ski out places there. Copper, you've got a few, but more on the condo side.

[17:42] Really single family wise, if you want ski in, ski out, you kind of got to go to Breen Ridge. Um, but yeah, again, it's almost hard to know what to say because these properties are so luxury, so unique, um, so phenomenal, and I feel blessed just being able to talk to people about these types of properties. All right, on to outdoor access and recreation. Man, I feel like every segment of this video could be its entirely own video. Uh, but if you're going to be retiring to Summit County, this is probably the section you care most about. Skiing is, of course, the headline. You've got Breen Ridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, and a BAS and Lovelin. All within 30 minutes. Keystone even closer, 10 to 15. Heck, like I said, we were just looking at some properties, ski and ski out. Veil is just over the pass, right? So, you're about 30 to 40 minutes tops to Vale, Beaver Creek, which is maybe our favorite ski resort because it's so calm and chill there. So, if you've never been to Beaver Creek, put it on your list. Uh you should go. But the summer is arguably just as good here. You've got dozens and dozens of hiking trails from easy morning walks to 14ers if you're up for it, right? Biking here is also huge. Mountain trails, uh you've got the paved wreck path right through town here that loops through the entire county. And Lake Dylan is a centerpiece of summer activity with sailing, paddle boarding, kaying, or just scenic walks around. And we were just camping in Lake Dylan a couple weeks ago, right? And you can't overlook a lot of things like tennis and pickle ball, right? The Breen Ridge Rec Center and Silverthorn both have strong programs and courts. Uh, pickle ball in particular has exploded here among retirees. Golf. Oh, the golf courses here. Breen Ridge, Keystone, Silverthorn all have mountain courses that are as scenic as they are challenging. And again, just being on these courses is it's almost hard to play because it's so beautiful, right?

Outdoor Recreation Access

Daily Living and Amenities

[19:38] Day-to-day living in Summit County. uh amenities and daily conveniences. This is where we start to have a little bit of some challenges happening. It's going to be quite a bit different than Denver, of course. Uh but you're still going to have most of what everything you need, right? Groceries, there's a Safeway, there's a Whole Foods here, there's a City Market, which is Albertson's. You're also going to find local butchers, specialty shops, um restaurants, tons, right? We got some worldclass food here, options for restaurants. anything from casual brewing breweries and pizza joints to fine dining in Breen Ridge uh and Frisco.

[20:14] Silverthorn has the outlet stores, right, which give you a lot more traditional shopping, right? Frisco and brick lean a lot more boutique shops and you're going to be able to find fitness studios, yoga, wellness centers scattered across the county which cater to an active lifestyle that most people here lead. Right now, what you won't get is the variety of a big city. You're not going to find a Cherry Creek style shopping center district or endless options. But if you're okay with a smaller pool of choices and you value quality over quantity, you're going to be just fine. Now, health care, some more challenges here. Health care is an important one, you know, especially if you are of retirement age. And Summit County is solid, but it has limited options. You have St. Anthony Summit Medical Center here in Frisco as the main hospital. that has an ER and offers a lot of range of services. There are also some urgent care centers in Brex, Silverthorn, and Dylan for everyday needs. But where it gets tricky is specialized care. If you need a specialist or major procedure, you're probably going to be heading down to Denver. Okay, that's about an hour and a half drive in decent conditions. But in the winter storms, it can be even longer and it could be a little bit of a challenge to get down the mountain. uh you know for many retirees that's fine if you're generally healthy and active but if your health care is your number one priority you're going to need to weigh that very carefully if you want to be in Summit County traveling and connection to the rest of the city. Uh again Summit County comes with its challenges. It feels like a mountain retreat here because it is but it's still really accessible for the most part. You have I70 uh which takes you down to Denver in about hour and a half, hour and 15 minutes or so. Um DIA about an hour and 45 minutes away depending on what time of day it is, if it's the weekend or not. And that's something you're going to hear a lot is the unpredictability of I70. It can take you a couple hours on some days to get up and down. It can take you up to three hours depending on if there's construction going on, if there's a snowstorm hitting, like if there's an accident. It happens. Now, on the flip side, you do have something like Summit Stage, which is a free bus system that connects the towns and the resorts. It's convenient if you don't want to drive anywhere once you're here. Now, that said, most retirees do rely on their car, and four-wheel drive is a priority here. Like you're not going to live in Summit County without four-wheel drive and having snow tires on it. It just is what it is. Sometimes you need that just to get out of your driveway. So upside, right? Let's talk about the big pros here. So what are the biggest perks of retiring in Summit County? Well, the lifestyle is unmatched. You've got worldclass recreation all year round.

Pros and Cons Summary

[23:05] You've got cooler summers compared to Denver and everywhere else in the country. And you have a community of people who are just as active and adventurous as you are. The scenery is breathtaking, next to none, and the real estate here tends to hold value because demand doesn't really ever go away because it is such a unique place to be. Now, cons, what to look out for. Of course, no place is perfect, housing costs are high, and it's a competitive market. Tourist traffic is very real, especially in ski season. So getting groceries on a Saturday afternoon in Breck is something you're not going to want to do. Health care is okay, but it's limited when it comes to specialists. The altitude, usually around 9,000 to 10,000 ft, can be tough for some people to adjust to. And winters are long, snowy, and cold. You really need to love the mountain climate to make this work. If our snow season down here is 4 months long, it's solidly 6 months up there. It is the middle of September. We had our first snowstorm there uh just the other day where the peaks were covered. So, it's not uncommon to get snow in September and it's not uncommon to get snow in May.

[24:20] Summit County, that's what it is. So, is Summit County the right place for you to retire? Well, if you're active, you love the outdoors, and you're willing to pay a premium for the lifestyle, then it's hard to beat. And again, if you need help figuring this out, give me a call, shoot me a text message, or download my luxury retirement guide, which will go much further into detail about the Denver market and what might be right for you retiring wise. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, if you're thinking of retiring in downtown Denver, you're going to want to check out this video because I go over the top places that you can retire in the Denver proper area.