Mountain retreat was on the market for just 3 days with multiple offers
By Karen D. Lorentz
The most expensive house in Killington sold last week, on March 28, for $3.475 million after multiple offers, marking the first single-family home in Killington to sell for more than $3 million.
The previous record was $2.725 million, noted Kyle Kershner, broker/owner of Killington Pico Realty, who listed the new record home at $3,250,000.
The single-family home, called Skyward, was built in 2004 by renowned local builder Rick Moore and has never been on the market.
Kershner said, “Skyeward is a slopeside masterpiece offering a rare combination of convenient ski access, beautiful mountain views, and luxury amenities.”
The home features 5,076 square feet of living space on three levels and is located directly on the Great Eastern ski trail. The main level features vaulted ceilings and walls of windows providing an abundance of natural light and an open and airy feel to the living space, Kershner added.
He noted that modern amenities, high-end finishes, York stone flooring imported from England, reclaimed vintage oak beams, mantels and flooring offered a distinctive warmth and rustic charm that appealed to the prospective buyers. There are three bedrooms and three guest suites and all have their own full bathrooms. The primary bedroom suite boasts a fireplace, a soaking tub carved from a single piece of granite, a glass-enclosed marble shower, and a private balcony overlooking the ski trail.
Amenities include a temperature and humidity-controlled wine cellar; a ski vault and cubby room with heated lockers and boot dryers; and a covered hot tub, complete with custom lighting, sound system, retractable canopy and individual towel heaters.
Daniel Pol, associate broker at Killington Pico Realty, was the agent who sold the property. It was on the market for just three days.
Kershner said he listed the property “at 8 on a Friday morning and at 8:12 a.m., the phone rang and by 8:18 a.m., we had our first offer. The prospective buyer called from his ski home at the Yellowstone Club at Big Sky, Montana. His offer was made site-unseen, based on the high-resolution professional photos, videography, and 3-D virtual tour.”
The other three buyers viewed the property in person and all followed through with solid offers, he added.
The responses were indicative of the increasing demand for quality luxury ski-in/ski-out properties, Kershner said. In all the years preceding 2021, there were just 20 sales in Killington over $1 million, but in 2021 and 2022 alone, there were 20 luxury sales above $1 million, including three sales in the mid-to-upper $2 million range.
After lagging other resort towns in Vermont for high-end real estate, Kershner believes that the Killington luxury market has finally attained a “critical mass” and the town now has “a reputation for offering a community of high-end luxury homes.”
Significant demand trend
“This sale is about the demand for luxury, ski-in/ski-out properties,” Kershner observed, adding that, “All 24 of the initial Base Camp at Bear Mountain units have reservations to purchase… These are all positive indicators that there will be significant demand for the product that Great Gulf plans to build as part of the Six Peaks Killington Village.”
Since the Covid pandemic hit in March 2020 and temporarily brought real estate activity to a standstill, the real estate market has rebounded with tremendous demand. That demand was precipitated by several factors, including: short-term rentals (mainly through AirBnB and VRBO); the exodus from the cities of buyers who were interested in Vermont as a safe haven and because working remotely has become increasingly common; and an enhanced reputation of Killington Resort and the town as a year-round vacation destination, Kershner said.
Resort investments in both winter (new lifts, new trail flow, new lodges) and summer attractions and activities (mountain biking, events, adventure park); the hosting of the World Cup; and the offering of a year-round Beast 365 season pass have attracted more vacationers.
The expansion of Killington Mountain School programs and offering of summer children’s camps run by the town also have contributed to the “hot” real estate market in the Killington area that originally began in 2019, Kershner noted.
“A 2019 VACASA study named the Top 25 markets for buying a vacation rental and listed Killington as No. 2 in the nation. If things keep moving in this direction,” Kershner believes, “Killington will soon be ranked as the number one place to buy a vacation property in the nation.”
While real estate in other areas of the country have begun to slow down a bit, only lack of inventory has thus far limited Killington’s growth.
