Bentley: How home prices do change
Wiley Maple, in his column on Sept. 14 “Paradise must be founded,” mentions that his parents bought their Cemetery Lane house for $700K in the remote past (1990s?).
If you google Harvey T. Carter Aspen, Colorado, you will find information about his climbing career. I was his main partner for dozens of practice climbs in 1964 and 1965. In the winter of 1964-65, he proudly showed me the small house, built in 1955, that he had just bought.
Harvey founded Climbing Magazine in 1970. He sold it to Bil Dunaway, of The Aspen Times, in 1972. I was its editor in 1973-74.
The Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder shows that his purchase was recorded on Nov. 24, 1964. The Document Fee Stamps give an estimated cost of $20,950 for the house at 729 W. Francis, which is across the street from a church that is now called the Crossroads Church.
The assessor document now lists the property’s 2023 Actual Value as $3,366,200.
David E. Bentley
Aspen
