Searching for Ski Cabins? Here's Where to Start

(MoneyWatch)  Dear Ali;
I found your column today while searching for data on the number of ski properties in the U.S. Do you have any suggestions on getting reasonably accurate data about how many ski homes/condos/cottages/etc. there are currently in the country?
A: Shame on you for asking this question in July -- I was tempted to save it for this winter where it would go under the heading of "tax-deductible research."

As it was, I spent some time on ResortScape.com just flipping through pretty pictures of for-sale ski properties. Don't you like this little log cabin in Michigan for a cross-country ski getaway? It's for sale for $164,900 by Brad Nichols of Remerica Real Estate.

However, you aroused my reporter's instincts, so I called Mike Berry, the president of the National Ski Areas Association, a collection of more than 300 ski-area resort operators around the country. Mr. Berry's answer to the question of "who would have statistics on the number of ski homes in the U.S.?" was short and succinct: "No one." The problem, Berry explains, is that real estate development at resorts is mostly local. There's no big Donald Trump or KB Homes that just puts up condos in the country's ski areas. (Maybe you want to be that person? If so, be my friend!)

For real estate development done at the resorts themselves, Boulder, Colo.-based RRC Associates, a consulting firm, puts out the Kottke report, where 140 resorts surveyed mentioned that they planned to increase real estate spending from $135 million in the 2007/08 season to $242 million in the 2008/09 season. You can buy the full Kottke report from the NSAA for $175, but it only seems to talk about spending on real estate by resorts, not by local developers. (Berry notes that the "vast majority" of ski real estate development is local and not done by the resorts themselves.)

Our old friends at the National Association of Realtors (of which I am a member) do watch the purchase of second homes. They say there are 8.1 million vacation homes in the U.S. What's more, an NAR report called the 2008 Vacation and Investment Home Buyers Survey tells us, for example, that a little more than half-a-million vacation homes were sold last year. However, whether those are ski houses or beach houses or golf condos is a little tougher to sort out.

So if you want to get a better hold of a number between "zero" and 8.1 million," you might want to adopt Berry's next suggestion, which is to build out your data collection by focusing on a few big resorts. You can ask the nice people in Pitkin County, Colo., to tell you about Aspen, and the nice people in Eagle County, Colorado to tell you about Vail. Local boards of realtors such as the Aspen Board of Realtors can be great resources.

I hope that helps. If you end up writing the definitive report, send me a copy!