In Winter Park, Brits are finding value…and a style they like, too
While Winter Park works to shed its image as a slightly dated ski town with a bit too much chalet-gingerbread architecture, one market that hasn’t minded are vacationers from the British Isles.
An exceptionally snowy winter and the low dollar are adding to the allure of Grand County to purchasers from the British Isles, who have long favored Winter Park.
“Winter Park has always appealed to the British,” says Denise O’Connell, Broker Associate with Coldwell Banker Mountain Properties, who was part of a team of local real estate specialists who flew to London several years ago to present at a travel exhibition.
Now, O’Connell’s newest buyers for a custom home in Grand County are British. “They’ve had fabulous packages on Winter Park travel for years,” she says, adding that those opportunities have only become better as United has begun offering London-DIA non-stops in competition with British Airways; and as the dollar’s fall has made a vacation to the U.S. something akin to the way Americans view travel to Mexico.
Some Winter Park bed-n-breakfasts have long catered to European visitors…but the airlines’ extra baggage charges ($147 for a pair of skis), says O’Connell, are prompting Brits to wonder whether they’d be better off to own a place and keep the gear here. She adds they like the funky style, including the ‘pub’ life; and after a year of exceptionally heavy snows, they’re carrying home great stories about the skiing, too.
Tags: British, Colorado, dollar Euro, European, exchange value, Real Estate, Rockies, ski, UK, Winter Park
