Hankering to possess an idyllic mountain golf course in the shadow of the Black Canyon?
You already own one.
Itching to get your hands on a multimillion-dollar ski condo at Steamboat?
It’s yours.
Eager to invest in a potentially lucrative gas station on the Front Range?
The service bays await you in tiny Eaton.
Colorado taxpayers own dozens of properties because of federal takeovers of failed banks — from nearly worthless vacant lots to golf courses and the most expensive government-repossessed houses in the nation. When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over New Frontier and other wayward Colorado banks, feds and taxpayers inherited land and property ranging from cows to cars to condos.
Bargains abound, but so do the woeful tales of how luxuries ended up on sale.
That cushy condo duplex in Steamboat has seen its price cut from $3.4 million for the biggest unit to $1.3 million now. The price plummet makes the $30,000 in remaining finishing costs look relatively cheap.
“They were three or four weeks out from finishing both units” when New Frontier in Greeley had to foreclose on the developer, said Prudential real-estate agent Jim Walters, who is marketing the properties for the FDIC’s property manager. The FDIC then took over New Frontier — and all its foreclosed holdings — in April in a high-profile failure of the bank’s dubious real-estate and agriculture loans.
The big condo, on Alpenglow Way, has 5,400 square feet, a four-car garage, a heated driveway and a closet that can be converted into an elevator. The buyer will need to set a sink, grout the tile and wire a few lights.
“New Frontier was saying at one point, ‘If we could just sell this golf course, we could finish up Alpenglow,’ ” Walters said.
Little drive to buy golf course
The golf course in question is Bridges Golf & Country Club in Montrose, a burden New Frontier couldn’t unload at $7 million.
The taxpayer-owned Bridges is a Jack Nicklaus-designed course with stunning views and ample executive-home sites. Problem is, says northern Colorado real-estate broker James Frazee, “Montrose is not on fire over there.”
The 317 acres include 205 building sites, “and that’s a lot of lots,” said Frazee, who has clients interested in buying the golf club. “I can almost guarantee you whoever buys it will shut down the golf course and sell it for lots.”
Current managers at Bridges and FDIC supervisors declined to comment specifically on the property.
The FDIC insures bank deposits and seizes and sells failing banks — 124 across the nation so far this year, up sharply from previous years as more risky loans go unpaid. The federal agency tries to sell branches, deposits, loans and other assets of the failed banks to stronger banks but ends up with lots of real estate on its books that healthier institutions don’t want to touch.
“The aim is to liquidate and get the best deals, and put it back into reserves,” said FDIC spokesman Greg Hernandez. Anything the government makes back on real- estate sales goes to repay the deposit-insurance fund.
From wedding rings to livestock, anything that might have a loan attached is likely to be found in the FDIC’s property lists.
The FDIC wants to unload properties but also risks accusations of fire sales that cost the government a potential payback.
That can make for a slow day in local real-estate offices. Brokers showing premium properties such as the Steamboat condos want freedom to lower prices in a down market, but such pricing suggestions can take months to get through channels.
“I don’t get to set the values, and sometimes my opinion is trumped versus other people’s values,” said Frazee, who is also trying to sell such former New Frontier properties as a shuttered gas station in Eaton for a listed $202,400.
“(The feds) have a lot of people to answer to,” he said. “Taxpayers are the ones on the hook, and they’re doing a pretty good job protecting them.”
Ups and downs of the market
Kristen Specketer has watched the FDIC lower and raise the price of an attractive Washington Park home dumped by New Frontier. In 2008, the two-story redevelopment at 651 S. Race St. was listed at $899,000 by New Frontier. The FDIC initially raised the price, then agreed to lower it to $854,000 in November.
“We’re learning as we go,” Specketer said of her work on foreclosure listings.
After consulting again with brokers, the property was lowered again to $811,000. Specketer now has an offer, and the pitch first has to go to the FDIC’s property manager, Prescient Asset Management, and then up the ladder to an FDIC office.
The federal government’s real-estate listings are likely to get deeper. The FDIC’s national list of problem banks nearing collapse grew to 552 in the third quarter. The FDIC shut down Pueblo’s Southern Colorado National Bank in October.
The FDIC sold $727 million in buildings and land in the first nine months of 2009, the highest since the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s and early ’90s forced creation of the Resolution Trust Corp. to sell government-foreclosed assets.
FDIC listings include at least 70 properties in Colorado, from potential subdivisions such as Stark Farms near Ault for $957,000 to a former New Frontier bank branch in Longmont for $1.9 million.
Since the last price cut, the Steamboat condos are much closer to a sale, according to broker Walters.
He has forwarded an offer on the larger duplex, and shoppers are flying in from Indiana, Kansas and elsewhere to look at the second unit.
Real-estate bargain hunters can find gems in foreclosures and government property if they have the right attitude accompanying their checkbook, Walters said.
“There’s opportunity there, if they have patience,” he said.
Michael Booth: 303-954-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com
Research before buying
As with all foreclosed real estate, bargains and quagmires exist in listings of FDIC-owned properties. Here are some places to start researching:
is the main website for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. On the lower left side of the main page, click “Investors,” which takes you to listings and frequently asked questions about government-owned real estate. The search page allows you to sort properties by state, price range or property type.
shows the listings of international real-estate manager CB Richard Ellis, a primary handler of properties for the FDIC.
has listings for Prescient Asset Management, another major property handler for the FDIC.
