This Weekend in Ellicottville & Surrounding Areas!

This Valentine’s Day Weekend a lot of fun winter events are occuring in Ellicottville, NY and the surrounding communities!  We still have a lot of snow, so instead of feeling the winter blues, go outside and take advantage of some of these great adventures!  You may be wondering, what is there to do in the Ellicottville area besides ski? …. Well find out below!

Sleigh Rides – The Crosspatch Horse Ranch in Salamanca, NY is offering sleigh rides through February 26th (weather permitting).  Take your Valentine, or you whole family on a sleigh ride and enjoy the snow in this beautiful area!  Call the Crosspatch Horse Ranch 716-938-6313 for more information.

Girls Night Out – Chocolate Indulgence – Pamper yourself, or treat your Valentine to this great event! On February 11 and February 18, L’image Salon and Spa in Allegany, NY will be hosting Girls Night Out – 3-6pm or 6-9pm.  Choose two spa services for $20. Call the salon 716-373-6414 for reservations.  FREE hors d’oeuvres, (chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate) wine & non-alcoholic beverages.

Boarding for Breast Cancer – Holiday Valley Mountain Resort in Ellicottville is hosting a Boarding for Breast Cancer event all day Saturday, Feb. 12th.  This is a nationwide event, providing a fun day to raise awareness of breast cancer.  There will be many ways to donate &  many opportunites for winning prizes provided by top companies in the snowboarding industry, along with a park clinic for women, demos by Burton and a rail jam contest. Visit Holiday Valley’s website for more details!

Introduction to Snowshoeing – On Saturday, Feb. 12th from 10AM – 12PM learn how to snowshoe at the Pfeiffer Nature Center in Portville, NY.  Instructions and a guided tour provided by Paths Peaks and Paddles. Call 716-933-0187 for more information!

If  you are visiting the Ellicottville area, or if you’d like to plan a romantic weekend getaway with your Valentine, call a reservationist at Team VP today! (716) 699-4800

We offer fully furnished & equipped vacation rental homes, chalets and townhomes!  You may start your search here, and even book online!  Let us know how we can help you make your weekend getaway perfect!

Offering a Higher Level of Expertise Enables Agents to Meet the Needs of Today’s Buyers and Sellers

By Nick Caruso

RISMEDIA, January 20, 2011—Today’s real estate customers and clients have access to much more information than they did in the past. As their access to information will continue to increase with the introduction of new technology, real estate professionals must stay ahead of the curve to offer a greater degree of value to meet the needs of today’s customers. Here, Bill Soffel, president and CEO, broker of ERA Team VP Real Estate in Chautauqua, New York discusses how he is giving his agents the tools they need to be the experts in today’s market, and well into the future.

 
Bill Soffel
President & CEO / Broker
ERA Team VP Real Estate
Chautauqua, New York & Ellicottville, New York

Regions served: Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties of New York
Years in real estate: 28
Number of agents: 50
Average listing price: $175,000
Average days on market: 151

Best advice for real estate rookies: From the very beginning, conduct your real estate practice as a business and spend considerable time on market research, budgeting, goal-setting and performance tracking.

Key to staying profitable: Formal business planning is the key to profitability, and never more so than during a challenging market like we find ourselves in right now. Profit must be budgeted and planned for. A solid business plan provides the foundation or template from which to make adjustments as market conditions change.

What is your biggest challenge in today’s market and how is your company taking it on?
Our greatest challenge is offering the right type of training and support to our agents so they can successfully navigate through this tough market. Many of the tools and strategies they used when the market was at its peak just aren’t working anymore. We need to help them adapt, and at the same time, help them refocus on the basics.

How are you keeping consumers educated about today’s buying opportunities?
We are certainly moving away from the traditional methods, like print advertising, and focusing more on new technology. Since over 90% of buyers start their property search on the Internet, we are pushing our listings to as many real estate websites as we can, constantly updating and refreshing our own website, and are jumping heavily into social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

What have been some of your most effective strategies for working in today’s market?
Inventory management has been a real focus and it has yielded results for us. We are updating our CMAs for our sellers more frequently, recommending price adjustments accordingly, and frankly, are more willing to decline listings that cannot be properly priced. When sellers have followed our advice on pricing their properties ahead of the market trend, we have seen a higher list-to-sale price ratio and a reduction in days on market.

How do you determine your marketing spend?
We break down our marketing budget into two components: one for the money we will spend as a company to build our image and brand recognition, and one for money we will make available to our agents for their self promotion and promotion of their properties. We require that our agents submit a business plan if they want to access these company-provided marketing dollars, and we determine the allocation amount for each agent based on past production and the strength of their plan for the upcoming year. This allows us to direct our resources to the agents who can provide the best return on our investment.

What do you tell sellers about this market?
Seek out the real estate agent and company with the most knowledge and expertise in your local market, and follow their advice on the best pricing strategy for current market conditions. Too often, sellers insist on setting an asking price based on old market conditions or based on factors unrelated to the market, and end up overpricing. Buyers have many resources available to them with today’s technology and are very educated on the market. They don’t respond well to overpriced listings.

What is essential to your company’s ongoing success?
We have to be successful in providing a greater degree of value in order to meet the needs of the new age of buyers and sellers. Our customers and clients are very knowledgeable by the time they connect with us; we have to offer a much higher level of expertise than they are able to obtain on their own. At the same time, we have to find better ways to attract young, tech-savvy agents into our profession.

Have you heard about RISMedia’s Real Estate Information Network® (RREIN)? RREIN is an elite network of leading real estate companies dedicated to providing consumers and their agents with leading real estate information, and committed to the belief that Information Share Equals Market Share. Having only launched this past June 2010, the RREIN network is already comprised of 40 leading brokerages, which make up 575 offices, 30,000 agents, 167,000 closings and represents over $41 billion in transactions.

Copyright© 2011 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

Hit the Slopes during the Holidays!

We’ve already had 2 big snow storms here in the Southern Tier, and it’s not even technically winter yet!  Why not spend some time this holiday season with your family and friends and take advantage of all of this snow by going skiing or snowboarding!  Some of our biggest ski resorts are now open – Holiday Valley & HoliMont, both in Ellicottville, NY!  Did you know that Team VP offers awesome vacation rentals at each of these ski resorts?  Whether you live nearby or are planning to visit the area during the holidays, wouldn’t it be fun to stay in a slopeside chalet or a ski in/ski out condo or townhome?  Bring your whole family, a group of friends, or plan a romantic weekend getaway!

Imagine yourself crossing through this beautiful trail at HoliMont

HoliMont Ski Resort (in Ellicottville, NY) is open to non-members Monday – Friday.  They currently have 1 lift open (Exhibition), giving access to 7 trails, but according to their website (http://www.holimont.com/) “After a solid opening weekend and a favorable looking forecast for the coming week, it is our goal to open three more lifts this coming weekend [December 18-19].  On top of Exhibition we also plan on opening Cascade, Sunset and Chipmunk.  If all goes according to plan that will provide access to Wild Turkey, Cascade, Homerun, Top of Meadow, Condo Line, Lullaby Lane, ABC Gully, Exhibition, West Connection, The Ridge, Sunset, Chipmunk, High Road, Low Road, and Loch Lomond.”

HoliMont Ski Resort Rates: (weekdays)
Adult Full Day $47
Adult Half Day (after 1:00pm) $44
Junior (ages 6-11) Full Day $37
Junior Half Day (after 1:00pm) $34
Beginner Area $18
Group (15+) $35/each
Seniors (70+) $35

Here are some Where – To – Stay suggestions for HoliMont visitors:
– call Team VP @ 716-699-4800 for any rental questions/information
– book online and view available properties @ http://www.ellicottville.com/ (click Vacation Rentals)

1.  HoliMont 2 – walk to the slopes!


4 bedrooms
2.5 baths
– features a fireplace & outdoor hot tub!


2.  The Woods Unit 81 – walk to the chair lift!


3 bedrooms + loft!
2 baths
– wood burning fireplace & views of the Sunset Slope!


 

Holiday Valley Ski Resort (in Ellicottville, NY) reports on their website (http://www.holidayvalley.com/) that they have a 10-40″ base of snow and 10″ of snow have fallen in the last 48 hours!  They also say “we’ll be operating 7 lifts Friday [Dec. 17] and 8 lifts on Saturday [Dec. 18].

Holiday Valley Rates: (weekdays)
Adult 8 hour pass $48
Adult 4 hour pass $45
Junior or Senior 8 hour pass $38
Junior or Senior 4 hour pass $35

Holiday Valley Rates: (weekends & peak time)
– Holidays: December 26 – January 2, January 17, February 21 – 25
Adult All-Weekend pass (8:30 AM Sat – 4:30 PM Sun) $98
Junior All-Weekend pass $75
Adult 8 hour pass $57
Adult 4 hour pass (non-holiday Sundays) $53
Junior 8 hour pass $43
Junior 4 hour pass (non-holiday Sundays) $38

Here are some Where – To – Stay suggestions for Holiday Valley visitors:
– call Team VP @ 716-699-4800 for any rental questions/information
– book online and view available properties @ http://www.ellicottville.com/ (click Vacation Rentals)

1.  Mountain Watch – walk to the chairlift!

4 bedrooms
2 bath
– fireplaces in master bedroom & living room, outdoor hot tub, wireless internet, weekday ski lift discounts!

2.  Valley Village – short walk to the Chute chairlift!

3 bedrooms + loft!
2.5 baths
– 3 level townhouse, hot tub on the rear deck!

These are just a few of the many vacation rental options that we offer in Ellicottville!  Call Team VP (716) 699-4800 any time to find out more information, or visit our website. available domains domain tech info .

Wine Weekends in Western New York

Are you looking for a fun fall activity?  Take advantage of our local wineries and breweries at these great events the next 2 weekends!  Want to turn your trip into a weekend getaway?  Call Team VP and we can help you find the perfect place to stay!

November 6th & 7th or 13th & 14thVisit the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail for their Harvest Wine Weekend!  Visit 21 wineries for $35/ticket: enjoy wonderful food & wine pairings, receive a commemorative wine glass, a gift and a $5 voucher.  Pre-purchase tickets online at www.chautauquawinetrail.org or call 877.326.6561

*Featured Properties for rent along the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail (all less than 5 min. from Mazza Chautauqua Cellars on the Wine Trail)

88 Stoessel, Chautauqua  sleeps 10

 

  • 5 bedrooms
  • 4.5 baths (2 with jacuzzi tubs)
  • 3 separate living areas
  • large deck w/ gas grill

Hunt Lea Condominiums  sleeps 8

  • brand new condominium!
  • 3 bedrooms
  • 2 baths
  • open living area & full kitchen

NorthShore Townhome  sleeps 8

  • 2 bedrooms + loft
  • 2.5 baths
  • living/dining area with gas fireplace

 

November 12th & 13th   3:30 – 7:30

The 7th Annual Beer and Wine Festival, hosted by Ellicottville Brewing Company and Southern Tier Brewing Company, will be held at Holiday Valley Ski Resort’s Yodeler Lodge in Ellicottville, NY.  Guests will be able to sample hand-crafted beers from over 30 of the best NY State and American craft breweries and wines from New York State, Southern Ontario and Ellicottville vintners.

Pre-sale tickets: $40  Purchase Online HERE
Ticekts at the door: $47

*Featured properties for rent near Holiday Valley Ski Resort

Winter Winds Chalet  sleeps 10  (Walk to the Yodeler Lodge!)

  • 4 bedrooms
  • 3 baths
  • woodburning fireplace
  • gorgeous views of the slopes and winter foliage!

Valley Village # 3  sleeps 8  (Walk to the Yodeler Lodge!)

  • 3 bedrooms + loft
  • 2.5 baths
  • 3-level townhouse
  • rear deck w/ Hot Tub & gas grill

Valley Village # 17  sleeps 11  (Walk to the Yodeler Lodge!)

  • 3 bedrooms + loft
  • 2 baths
  • beautiful hardwood floors & leather furniture
  • gas fireplace
  • beautiful slopeside location

 

Have you been to any of these festivals in the past?  What were your favorite wines and/or craft beers?  We’d love to hear from you!

We’re Still the Same Great Team!

ERA Team VP Real Estate & Vacation Rentals… (formerly ERA Vacation Properties) we have refreshed our name & our logo to reflect all that our team has to offer you!

ERATeamVPlogo

And guess what??  Our BRAND NEW website has officially launched!  Visit www.myteamvp.com to easily search all properties listed for sale in both Chautauqua & Cattaraugus Counties.  Looking for a house in Jamestown, Chautauqua, Bemus Point, Mayville, Lakewood, Ellicottville, Salamanca, Great Valley, etc, etc… our website will give you the ability to view property pictures, details, a map & directions, a satellite image, community info… see for yourself!

Looking for a Vacation Rental near the ski slopes in Ellicottville, on Chautauqua Lake, in Chautauqua Institution, or any of the surrounding areas?  View all properties available and easily book online!

We also provide full service property management, including: property association management, repair & maintenance and cleaning and housekeeping services!

Take a look at our website and let us know what you think!  We hope you’ll continue to use our site as your favorite place to search for properties, vacation rentals or area information! server ip domain expiring . webhosting info . compare hotel prices . domain analysis