Did Vail Resorts leave money on the table in the buying frenzy they choose to create with the ArraBelle at Vail Square?

I personally conditioned my Buyers to expect to see prices in the $1500 per square foot range so was quite shocked when the pricing for the properties was released; some of the least expensive units were offered at just over $700 per square foot albeit in lesser locations in the building. One of the penthouse properties came in at $1569 per square foot. Prior to The ArraBelle pricing releases, other Vail Mountain base area condominiums in much older properties were selling for well over $1000 per square foot with records being set at around $1700 per square foot.

What’s even more amazing is that Vail Resorts choose to list the smallest condominiums in the property for the least amount of money per square foot. In all of my years in resort real estate, I have never seen such a discrepancy whereby the two bedrooms were offered at an average of under $800 per square foot while the three and four bedrooms averaged well over $1100 per square foot…and yes, i have had a great deal of marketing experience and have heard of the principal of lost leaders to energize a real estate offering, but with a ten to one ratio of buyers to units, this seems absurd. Even more so, when the echoing in my head of an overheard conversation between three Vail Valley realtors about a their customer’s willingness to pay $500,000 more for one of the ArraBelle properties only to be trumped by a second customer’s willingness to pay $750,000 more makes me believe that the resort company left quite a bit on the table.

Perhaps FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS?

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.