Here's the update from today...
I spoke with an absentee owner in Columbus*, OH who seems to have a pretty good house that would meet our needs. They rent it out relatively infrequently, mostly just to cover fixed costs, which is the situation we're looking for. [That type of owner tends to have higher quality furnishings and more generic "stuff" than places that are essentially income properties. The place we stayed in Grand Targhee -- while very nice -- was clearly an income producer and not a place the owners really visited as you could tell from the pathetic kitchen accoutrements that did not befit a million dollar home.]
* He claimed not to know "Drug" Cohen or Senor Eskimobar
Anyways, I digress. Here's the details of the place that's available for our time frame.
Location
The home is in the "Ridge Run" sector of Snowmass. There are numerous pockets in this area, as you can see from the map in my prior post. It's about 12 minutes from the Aspen airport, which the owner recommended people fly in to if they can. It's close to a shuttle bus stop, but the owner recommended driving to the bus stop to lug the gear. We would be about 20 minutes from the town of Aspen and the 3 other ski areas there, but obviously super close to Snowmass. Snowmass is where the larger homes as well as ski in/ski out properties are.
Bedding:
The home has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and at least 7 beds. One of the beds can be turned into two twins, in addition. It's pretty big too, about 3800 sq. feet. The main feature is a massive 3 story stone fireplace (that weighs an astonishing 120 tons) along with a rec room. As far as I can tell, the place seems big enough that if we have extra folks show up (I'm budgeting / assuming we have 6-8 people) those people can crash on couches or use the extra bedding. As usual, room rap will be decided by order of payment ... and consumption of gin.
Terms & Conditions
The house is a good deal for the region and quality it represents at $750 per night. That includes taxes and cleaning -- most other rates I've seen sneak those on in the end. In addition, there is a midweek cleaning, which given our slovenliness, is going to be most welcome. Given that the owners are not real investment managers, we can probably buy an extra day stay, if there is sufficient group interest. If we have 8 official people like last year, it will be approx $650/person in lodging costs. If extra folks show up, clearly that drops, but that cost is manageable even without extra folk. They have a handyman on call if something breaks as well as a plowing service to deal with the driveway and walks. (That is something I've found some owners haven't really thought through, so it's good that these are all set up). Terms are 50% upfront to hold the place, with a $500 damage deposit, and a 7 day min. rental with full payment required 60 days prior. Those are standard for owner direct rentals.
I am hoping, although this may be naive, that we can exist with either no rental car, or a much smaller one. (We spent $1338 on the truck and associated expenses last year, and it was a terrible value. Our comparable cost for a similar vehicle at Vail was $900, which was still too high, I think)
The owners son in law made a web site www.snowmasshome.com/index.htm and it does a pretty good job covering the details. Please take a look at it, and hopefully we can discuss later this week. I've looked at a number of places over the internet in the last several days and I'm pleasantly surprised by this. I had kind of given up hope on a quality owner direct rental.
Frask,
Plant
PS: Bruha has booked his airline tix ; he is flying into Denver direct from LHR on Brit Air, arriving Friday, Jan 20 and departing Sunday, Jan 29. Some of you may want to convoy with him.
PPS: Also, Okemo up in Vermont has 6-18 in of snow covering the mountain already and is opening up next weekend, which seems extraordinarily early.
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