As demolition and new projects get underway, buyers weigh purchasing early against the certainty of a finished home
VAIL, Colorado
Vail, Colorado, is entering its most active construction period in two decades, and the shift is changing how luxury buyers approach the market. With demolition beginning this fall and several projects moving toward groundbreaking after the coming ski season, pre-sales are becoming a central feature of the town’s real estate, according to Mark Gordon, a REALTOR® with Christiania Realty.
Gordon compares the moment to the early-2000s redevelopment that Vail branded as a billion-dollar renaissance, when the town coordinated construction so the guest experience held up through the disruption. A similar wave is now beginning, and with it a growing volume of pre-sale activity he expects to last for years.
In a pre-sale, a buyer purchases at today’s pricing for delivery two or three years out, ideally closing with built-in equity if values rise in the interim. Deposits are typically staged: an initial payment when the purchase and sale agreement is signed, an additional deposit tied to a construction milestone such as demolition, and the balance at closing. Buyers who commit early often gain a window for aesthetic customization that narrows as a building nears completion.
The trade-off, Gordon says, is patience. “The worst thing about a pre-sale is you need to have patience,” he says, likening it to buying a gift months before it can be opened. Resales, by contrast, offer immediacy: a move-in-ready home a buyer can close on and use the same season, sometimes at a favorable price, with the option to renovate to taste.
Gordon’s strongest guidance concerns the paperwork. New-construction purchases in Colorado generally rely on developer contracts rather than the state-approved forms used in most resale transactions, and those developer contracts tend to favor the developer. He advises buyers to engage an experienced real estate attorney to negotiate terms, a step he considers essential in pre-sale deals even though Colorado closings are handled by title companies rather than attorneys.
He also points to a quirk in the local data. Vail’s real estate transfer tax is running below last year, which might suggest a cooling market. Gordon reads it differently: fewer sales above $10 million have closed this year, but more than that are under contract in pre-sales that will not close, or register in the tax data, for a year or two. The transfer tax, he notes, is a lagging indicator, and beneath it demand at the top of the market is stronger than the headline number implies.
For buyers, the practical question is not whether to wait for the market, but which structure fits their timeline and temperament.
About Mark Gordon
Mark Gordon is a REALTOR® with Christiania Realty in Vail, Colorado, specializing in luxury residential real estate in the Vail Valley. He has more than 25 years in the market and serves in Realtor leadership at the national, state, and local level. vailcoluxuryhomes.com
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