I have been in a lot of continuing ed classes regarding appraisals and home pricing up here in the mountains since I started this wonderful career in real estate.

I have been in a lot of continuing ed classes regarding appraisals and home pricing up here in the mountains since I started this wonderful career in real estate. There are many reasons why owning a recreational property is such a good investment, and I would be happy to share some of these reasons with you.

Even before I started as a broker and buying and selling on behalf of clients I did it as a personal business. As we all know to price a home correctly is one of the most important aspects of our job. We all wish Zillow was actually right more than it is wrong. So we use numbers, data and our own gut instinct.  We are trying to get the best possible price for our client so we need those Zillow numbers and data to be as accurate as possible. For example, if it says that a home is worth $400,000 then that means that someone will pay us about $400,000 for it when we sell it. If a home is listed at $425,000 but cannot sell for any less than $407,500 then we know something must be wrong with the Zillow data.

I have been involved in real estate in Colorado and Florida as a licensed agent and broker. One of the most interesting things I learned early on from almost every appraiser I have spoken to or heard speak in class is you can't actually assign a value to a view.... at least not a number value. A view certainly has a view but how can you put a dollar figure on it? You can't. My common sense tells me there has got to be a way to do it but the numbers prove that isn't the case. So the old phrase "million dollar view" is indeed just a little fluffery mountain Realtors take part in. to make a sale.The number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States is overextension of credit. The number two cause is medical bills (based on statistics). So if someone says they owe $1,000,000 to their credit card companies how much do they really owe? It would be hard to say unless you knew what their income was and the rate at which they were paying off the balance on their cards. If somebody has $10,000 in credit card debt.

How can that be? You ask. It is actually pretty easy to say it's just a little difficult to wrap your head around. As an agent and homeowner you think, look at that view it has to be worth something. It is worth something. As I mentioned above it adds "value" but not in the way you would think. 

I am a full time agent and part time homeowner. I buy, sell, rent and manage real estate. I love my job and am grateful for the opportunity to help people find their perfect home.

The way a nice mountain view would add value to your home is it makes it more desirable to the market. Buyers move to Colorado for outdoor living, hiking and looking at the beautiful scenery. .A nice view is definitely something that would add value to your home. When a home becomes more desirable, it will get more traffic during showings. More traffic means more offers and offers faster. So a home with a mountain view will sell faster than a home next door with no mountain view. a view with buyers pushing the price up with more offers. That home will close for more than a home without a view only because it is much more marketable and the seller does not have to take less than list price. So once again it is impossible to an actual dollar amount on a view.

There is a lot of real estate in the world, and yet some homes have a view that is worth a million bucks. The average house has around 10-15% of its value attributed to location. But what happens when you compare a home on the water to one that's not?

With that being said a mountain view home certainly has more value than one without.