Mt. Snow Condo Purchase = a go! Some questions...

[jaywbigred]

Haven't been on AZ in awhile, and wanted to report that we are closing on a condo at Mt. Snow on Friday!

Its in the Mountaineer complex, which is right across the street from Carinthia base. 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, prior owners did a lot of work on it (I think they might have been trying to do a sort of "mini-flip" where they used it for 4 winters and did renovations for 4 summers, ~1 room per summer), we are very excited.

We have a couple or related questions and were hoping some AZers, both Mt. Snow aficionados and otherwise, could lend their expertise:

1) Can anyone recommend a (sports) bar in the Mt. Snow area that would lend itself to watching college football?

2) Can anyone tell me how they go about renting their ski condo? I'm esp. interested in people that use their condo a fair amount but rent it out a few weekends a year, e.g. the holiday weekends plus a couple others. Do you use an agency? A website? Gorilla marketing (e.g. posting on your local deli's bulletin board)? We plan on renting it out for Xmas/New Years, MLK weekend and Presidents Weekend (i.e. weekends we don't want to be at the mountain bc of crowds). Also, as obligations arise, we foresee probably 2-3 other weekends during the winter where we won't be able to use it...

3) Can anyone recommend a good cleaning service that we can have come in after a renter has been in? How have your experiences been with cleaning services whose work you are not able to directly oversee?

4) What cable/dish service do you use? Duncan cable seems to be a touch expensive in our opinion, charging close to $50 for 70 channels. If you go with the "Family" plan, you get 34 channels, but this does not even include ESPN.

Thanks folks! My stoke is officially ON.

 

[SkiDork]

Congrats! Best of luck with it.

One question: You guys have kids? If so, do you plan on enrolling them in Mt Snow ski programs?

 

[jaywbigred]

Congrats! Best of luck with it.

One question: You guys have kids? If so, do you plan on enrolling them in Mt Snow ski programs?

Nope, no kids yet. Not even married/engaged yet.

After seeing some of the youngsters in the freestyle program last year though, sometimes I wish I could enroll myself.

 

[mlctvt]

Congrats on your purchase. I hope it transforms your life as much as our condo purchase did for my wife and I.
We're neighbors! We're up the road less than a mile away at Bears Crossing . Sorry I can't answer all of your questions but I have some info.

We used Palmiter realty to rent our place. They did a great job for us although we rented our place as a yearly 1/2 or 1/4 share and not just a few select weeks.

Your tenants will be responsible for the cleaning after they leave. Palmiter required the tenant to pay for their cleaning service as part of the rental. I think it was $110 or so for a 2-3 bedroom unit. We cleaned the unit prior to tenants arriving so we didn't hire a cleaning service ourselves.

unfortuately Duncans your only Cable TV choice unless your Condo Association will allow you to install a Sat Dish?

 

[Vortex]

Congrats. Don't rent much. Many assocaition have rules or contracts on how to do it. Do ask don't tell may be the way to handle renting if you have a set policy.

 

[Glenn]

Congrats! We'll have to have some sort of "AZ/Mt. Snow Crew" gathering this season.

My wife and I like the Maple Leaf Brewery wich is south of the mountain at the intersection of 9 and 100. I can't say much about their TV selections since we've eaten in the restaraunt part of the place. There's a whole bunch of other places to choose from on 100 though.

 

[powhunter]

Congrats!!!!!!! Weve got to get together and rip Beartrap this year!!!!!

steveo

 

[Johnskiismore]

Congrats!! Pretty exciting news!

Follow Bobr's advice when it comes to renting your unit

 

[WJenness]

Congrats!

I think I am going to do the same in a few years... (Probably Sunday River, but who knows)

-w

 

[2knees]

when's the first kegger?

i have nothing to add other than congratulations.

 

[RootDKJ]

when's the first kegger?

i have nothing to add other than congratulations.

Ditto

 

[vcunning]

Jay,

Again. Congratulations. We've done seasonal rentals through Palmiter and their cleaning services are great. They also facilitate weekend rentals. If you need a contact, send me a PM.

Duncan Cable does digital TV. So if you have a digital tuner in your TV, you can get some hi-def channels in one of the basic packages. No NFL network though. You probably can't get a WiFi signal from my unit (just across the street), but you're welcome to park outside or come in for a beer.

As far as sports bars, I would gravitate to The Silo (they've got a few TVs in the bar area) or even Cuzzins. They are a little closer than the Wilmington sites. If you're a Steeler fan, you can bring your terrible towels and come over to our unit at Glen Run. If you're a Patriot fan, you'll have to cheat and talk to DrJeff.

Just make sure you're there February 5th through 7th . . . The Winter Dew Tour is having the finals at Mount Snow. You're easily in walking distance!

VC
www.CaptainFanGun.com

 

[Newpylong]

That's awesome, congratulations. I hope to be in a position to make a similar rent/purchase in a few years.

Since I lived fairly close to the mountain I never really frequented any of the local watering holes - but I have some friends who did. I will ask my friends where they used to go in Wilmington for you...

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

awesome now I have another place to crash at Mount Snow if I wear out my welcome at Dr. Jeffs or MLCTV place..lol

Is the place furnished???

 

[drjeff]

Jay,

Again. Congratulations. We've done seasonal rentals through Palmiter and their cleaning services are great. They also facilitate weekend rentals. If you need a contact, send me a PM.

Duncan Cable does digital TV. So if you have a digital tuner in your TV, you can get some hi-def channels in one of the basic packages. No NFL network though. You probably can't get a WiFi signal from my unit (just across the street), but you're welcome to park outside or come in for a beer.

As far as sports bars, I would gravitate to The Silo (they've got a few TVs in the bar area) or even Cuzzins. They are a little closer than the Wilmington sites. If you're a Steeler fan, you can bring your terrible towels and come over to our unit at Glen Run. If you're a Patriot fan, you'll have to cheat and talk to DrJeff.

Just make sure you're there February 5th through 7th . . . The Winter Dew Tour is having the finals at Mount Snow. You're easily in walking distance!

VC
www.CaptainFanGun.com

What V said! Especially about the Patriots part (although if they've got a home game during ski season then more than likely I'm NOT in West Dover that day but in Foxboro ) If it's a Steeler's Game, I can vouch that Vcunning's Beertender pours a mighty tasty and COLD brewski! :beer:

College Football wise. 2 choices a) the forementioned Silo - bigger selection of TV's or basically across the street from The Silo at The Dover Bar and Grill (little smaller TV selection BUT it's the locals bar)

Duncan or Satellite if allowed at your unit. Smartphone wise, all that I'll say is last season atleast, my blackberry on Verizon had a few more features working reliably and quickly than Vcunning's iphone and my Verizon wireless card keeps my laptop humming along at a nice clip! (Verizon has a nice tower on Mount Snow at the junction of Sundance and Drop not too far from the base of the Sundance Triple)

 

[Glenn]

Random question...any issues securing financing? When we bought our place in March, our mortgage broker told me getting a loan for a condo recently became rather difficult; especially if other units in the development were for rent. I also read a similar blurb in the most recent issue of the VT Property Owner's Report.

 

[jaywbigred]

What V said! Especially about the Patriots part (although if they've got a home game during ski season then more than likely I'm NOT in West Dover that day but in Foxboro ) If it's a Steeler's Game, I can vouch that Vcunning's Beertender pours a mighty tasty and COLD brewski! :beer:

College Football wise. 2 choices a) the forementioned Silo - bigger selection of TV's or basically across the street from The Silo at The Dover Bar and Grill (little smaller TV selection BUT it's the locals bar)

Duncan or Satellite if allowed at your unit. Smartphone wise, all that I'll say is last season atleast, my blackberry on Verizon had a few more features working reliably and quickly than Vcunning's iphone and my Verizon wireless card keeps my laptop humming along at a nice clip! (Verizon has a nice tower on Mount Snow at the junction of Sundance and Drop not too far from the base of the Sundance Triple)

What about Giants fans??? :blink: I'm not a huge NFL fan though, if it's between skiing and a regular season Giants game, I'm going to pick skiing most of the time. College football (Ohio State)...that's another story.

Thanks for the info re: Silo & Dover Bar. The big game this weekend is on ESPN, so prob. either will do.

Also, thanks for the Verizon info. Our phones are on Verizon so we should be all set there. My gf's wireless card for her laptop is paid by work, so it has to be TMobile (I think). We have found that she is generally out of luck in most of VT.

Jay,

Again. Congratulations. We've done seasonal rentals through Palmiter and their cleaning services are great. They also facilitate weekend rentals. If you need a contact, send me a PM.

Duncan Cable does digital TV. So if you have a digital tuner in your TV, you can get some hi-def channels in one of the basic packages. No NFL network though. You probably can't get a WiFi signal from my unit (just across the street), but you're welcome to park outside or come in for a beer.

As far as sports bars, I would gravitate to The Silo (they've got a few TVs in the bar area) or even Cuzzins. They are a little closer than the Wilmington sites. If you're a Steeler fan, you can bring your terrible towels and come over to our unit at Glen Run. If you're a Patriot fan, you'll have to cheat and talk to DrJeff.

Just make sure you're there February 5th through 7th . . . The Winter Dew Tour is having the finals at Mount Snow. You're easily in walking distance!

VC
www.CaptainFanGun.com

Nice! Circling those dates now for the Dew Tour. Wilmington is prob too far for us to go just to find a TV with ESPN. If we go with an agency, its sounds like Palmiter is the way to go. Thanks for the info!

Congrats. Don't rent much. Many assocaition have rules or contracts on how to do it. Do ask don't tell may be the way to handle renting if you have a set policy.

Bob, does that mean you wouldn't be too public with the rental? I.e. you'd try to privately rent it and make arrangements for getting the key to renters and such?

Random question...any issues securing financing? When we bought our place in March, our mortgage broker told me getting a loan for a condo recently became rather difficult; especially if other units in the development were for rent. I also read a similar blurb in the most recent issue of the VT Property Owner's Report.

Glenn, this purchase is actually my gf's, in her name alone. Initially she had trouble finding a bank that would finance a condo, but eventually she was able to do it, I think it's a regional, rather than national bank. Of course, since the closing hasn't occurred yet, things could still fall through at the last second, so we are just keeping our fingers crossed

I bought a place here in NJ in March (bid accepted) and closed in June. I actually blew through my commitment date because of this exact issue. The place I was buying was a co-op, which has similar restrictions as a condo. I was working with a family friend, a mortgage broker with Citigroup who has 30+ years of experience. Trying to time the rates the best we could, he had me waiting until the last minute (10 days before commitment due date) to send in my application. It wasn't until that day that he realized that Citi had new regulations (like every national bank) regarding lending to condo/co-op buyers, and by "new regulations" he meant "they will not do it no matter what." I scrambled and found a lender through my real estate agent (Coldwell Banker Mortgage) who, in the long run was able to provide the financing but who was certainly not very pleasant to work with. My attorney for closing (my uncle) told me later that I should have consulted him and looked for a local/regional bank rather than a national one, which is what the gf did on the VT property.


Thanks for all the input folks!

One more question: Anyone have experience playing the Mt. Snow golf course??

 

[Glenn]

Wow! Glad you were able to make the deal in NJ work! And I've got my fingers crossed for you guys in VT. Keep us posted and best of luck!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Wow..29 years old with two homes..you go boy!!!!

 

[Vortex]

Talk among those you trust.

I would leave your condo board and the mountain out of it.If you bring them in your are tied to them.

My point is if you have a contract or your assocaition does with the mountain or a rental agency. not all situations are the same , but it may mean any rental you have goes through them.


You then do not get the 100% of the rental even if you did the work. You have to be careful when you block your unit out for rental. If you rent it, but its still open under the rental block you can be double booking issues.

The other issue is parking passes for your guests if you need them. Keys are an issue as well. It you have an outdie entrance a lock box takes care ot that. It you have a mani entrance only access, then that becomes another issue. It is a bit of a cat and mouse game.