Mountain retreat up for auction
Ron Kurucz had a specific buyer in mind when he started construction on a speculative mountain home in Telluride. “I built this house to address the corporate-retreat market,” said Kurucz, owner of San Miguel Development Co. “This is a large house with tremendous master suites. What I had in mind was a CEO who would come up here with a couple of division presidents.”
Kurucz started construction a week before Sept. 11, 2001. By the time the home was completed in 2003, the corporate- retreat market had dried up.
“My timing wasn’t the best, that’s all,” said Kurucz, who has built 16 speculative homes in Telluride since 1993.
Nonetheless, he’s confident he’ll find a buyer for the property when it’s auctioned Oct. 25. Since the National Auction Group Inc. started pitching the auction, more than 125 people have expressed interest. The 14,300-square-foot home, designed by architect Wayne Huff, features four guest suites, a bunk room, six full and four half-baths, and a caretaker’s apartment.
Treasure on market
Cañon City’s great claim is having 13 prisons in the vicinity. But that hasn’t prevented interest in a three-story Victorian-era mansion with a Mansard roof and a $1.495 million price tag. The home includes antique furnishings, a restored 1880s décor and frescoed ceilings. Lyman Robison, a Scot who made his fortune in the mines of Leadville and Cripple Creek, built it in the 1880s. His fortune dried up in the Depression, but the house stayed in the family until 1961, said Lois Kaplan of Century 21 Cañon Land. Banker Darryl Biggerstaff purchased the home in November for $1.3 million. He redid the roof and repainted but never moved in. Biggerstaff, 66, died May 5 from a self- inflicted gunshot wound, according to law officials. His heirs are listing it.
“I wish the city could purchase it. But there is no money,” Kaplan said. “I expect our buyer to come from one of the coasts.”
30-year fixed-rate mortgages back above 6%
The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the United States rose to 6.03 percent this week, the fifth straight increase and the first time it exceeded 6 percent since March, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. The 30-year rate rose from 5.98 percent for the week ended Oct. 6 and 5.74 percent a year earlier. Below are average mortgage rates in Denver, Adams and Arapahoe counties as of Thursday and the previous 52 weeks. The one-year Treasury bill average reported by the Federal Reserve Bank is 4.08 percent. The Cost of Funds Index for August from the Federal Home Loan Bank (11th District) was 2.870 percent.
