COLORADO LAND 36.63 ACRE HORSE PROPERTY HOBBY FARM SKI
Real Estate
COLORADO LAND 36.63 ACRE HORSE PROPERTY HOBBY FARM SKIHORSE, CATTLE, ALPACA, GOAT RANCHES !!!SKI TAOS
Hello and Welcome to Reichwein Ranches!!! We are offering for auction a FANTASTIC 36.63 acre tract in our Reichwein Ranches Cumbra Vista Subdivision. This is Filing 4 Tract 57. Costilla County is not allowing any new subdivisions so this will be our last 35 acre subdivision, so for those of you whom have been waiting and wanting . This is a recorded, platted and surveyed subdivision with Costilla County, Colorado 81152. It is Surveyed with Russell Surveying whom has been doing all of our Surveying for the last 25+ years out of Alamosa, Colorado. For those techies of you that like to look things up on Google Earth, Look for the Intersection of Cty Rd X and Cty Rd 12 which is the intersection of this property. This is in Filing 4 and is 3 tracts South of Cty Rd X which is a major Cty Rd running East/West and will run all the way East to Hwy 159. This tract has direct access by a simple County Rd which is highlighted in Orange on the platte map for you and goes right to Sioux Rd which is also a major County Rd which runs North/South. Both Cty Rd X and Sioux Rd have the major power poles running along them and they are considered major County Roads. They are not paved but are very well maintained Cty Rds and even have speed limit signs on them and are County maintained roads. Filing 1 runs along Cty Rd 12 North of Cty Rd X. Filings 2,3, and 4 are South of Cty Rd X as Cumbra Vista runs for 3 more miles along Cty Rd 12 South of Cty Rd 12 and also runs 3 miles East as well as this is a large subdivision which is coming very close to being sold out completely. Now Tract 3 does sit right on Cty Rd frontage and has 1951.98 of actual road frontage. The measurements of Tract #57 are 1520.48 feet by 1022.01 feet by 1614.17 feet by 1022.01 feet for a total of 36.63 acres. It is approximately 10 minutes from the town of San Luis. This tract is the yellow highlighted tract on the right hand corner and is a Cty Rd frontage tract. This is 36.63 acres with an indoor/outdoor well permit with 5 acres of outdoor water usage making ot a perfect tract for the Hobby Farm/Organic Hobbyist or Equestrian Farm and has plenty of room for some goats, llamas or a few head of cattle. The sales price is $47,619.00 and we will owner finance it for up to 30 years at 6% interest and this is an auction for down payment only. The down payment is applied towards the sales price. The auction starts at $400.00 down payment and if the winning down payment is $400 the monthly payment will be $283.10 each month. We do not charge **any fees** to our customers and the winning buyer pays the down payment only which goes towards the final selling price of $47,619.00 and that is owner financed for up to 30 years at 6% interest. We offer a 2 year interest free loan to all buyers as well. There are no billing billing fees or hidden fees of any kind. Annual property taxes are $150 a year and we will prorate those over 12 months for you. This is a recorded, platted subdivision with Costilla County with our name Reichwein Ranches Cumbra Vista Filing 4 Tract 57 on it and we are the only seller on Ebay that is a registered developer with multiple subdivisions filed, recorded and platted with the Costilla County Recorders Office so when you buy any tract of land from our family you can buy with confidence. This is a surveyed ,platted and recorded subdivision and surveyed by Russell Surveying out of Alamosa whom has been doing our surveying for the past 25 years. This property is 10 minutes from the town of San Luis, 25 minutes from the town of Alamosa, an hour and 10 minutes from the ski resort of Taos and an hour from the ski resort of Red River. Smith Reservoir is approximately 6 miles to the north of this tract on Cty Rd 12. **************I am going to enclose a HUUUGE article about our area that just happened 2 weeks ago. It was a sale of the Forbes Ranch here and it makes it the largest family estate in all of the United Estates by over $50 million dollars. There is an estate in Aspen that a Saudi Prince has had on the market for years at $135,000,000 million and he just took it off the market because he couldn't sell it. And then Donald Trump's house in Florida has been overpriced at 120,000 million for severals and those two were competing to see whom sell the most expensive house in the United States. And then the Forbes Family sells to a Hedge Fund Billionaire whom is a noted conservationist and buys the Forbes Ranchs for 175 MILLION. There is no contest left as Louis Bacon is the undisputed owner of the most expensive family estate in all of the United States and it is in Costilla County NOT Aspen Not Vail, NOT Beaver Creek, NOT Telluride But it is RIGHT HERE in the San Luis Valley FOR $175,000,000 MILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The reason he bought here is because it is everything that I have been saying in my description. It has unspoiled beauty that you won't find anywhere else and we have some of the greatest weather in the country to enjoy outdoor activities year round as we live in an outdoor recreational paradise for horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking, skiing, ATVing, snowmobiling, fishing and hunting as we have some of the largest elk herds anywhere in the country here. ***********In fact Rural America is where the Wealthy Folks Are Choosing to Put their Money According to a Recent Wall Street Journal Article that I will post at the bottom of my listing and of course Colorado and its Scenic beauty Is One of the Top Choices and they are coming to areas like ours for its tranquil beauty, awesome mountain views, closeness to 2 ski resorts, the endless recreational opportunites to be able to be enjoyed in the fresh mountain air in the Colorado Sunshine without the city traffic and/or pollution of the bigger towns. According to the Journal, Baby Boomers and The Previous Generation are Moving to Rural Areas In Increasing Numbers. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains Chain that starts in Buena Vista, Colorado and goes thru the San Luis Valley including Costilla County, the town of San Luis,Blanca and Ft. Garland, and into the Northern Loop of New Mexico known as the Enchanted Circle. This is where the ski areas of Red River, New Mexico and Taos, New Mexico are located. This area was highlighted in the article as part of the growth area. It sits in a beautiful scenic valley right next to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and is within an hours drive of the 2 ski resorts, Red River and Taos, in New Mexico. Our area is also home to some of the best hunting and fishing to be found because we are a rural area. We have quadruple size elk herds numbering 50- 150 in size here and 18 -24 inch Rocky Mountain Trout in Mountain Streams and Lakes. Our area is also famous for its many herds of Wild Horses that hang out along the main corridors of Hwy 159 for many to see just grazing alongside the highway for all to see or maybe to get a drink out of the lake alongside the highway just a few miles South of town, the town of San Luis, that is. CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/FILE The 171,000-acre Forbes Trinchera Ranch near Fort Garland has been purchased by Louis Moore Bacon. Forbes Trinchera Ranch purchased for $175 million Hedge-fund manager Louis Moore Bacon buys 171,000-acre property in San Luis Valley. By MATT HILDNERTHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN One of the country's wealthiest investors has purchased the Forbes Trinchera Ranch in northern Costilla County. Louis Moore Bacon bought the 171,000-acre ranch earlier this month for $175 million. A spokesman for Bacon called the ranch an extraordinary property for its scenic grandeur and unspoiled natural habitat. Bacon, 51, founded Moore Capital Management in 1989. Forbes.com ranks the hedge fund manager among the 400 richest Americans and estimates his net worth at $1.7 billion. The transaction brings a close to the nearly four decades of ownership by the Forbes family. Malcolm Forbes bought the ranch in 1969 and expanded it in 1982 with the purchase of the adjacent Blanca Ranch. The Forbes family used the ranch as a hunting preserve, for corporate entertaining and as an executive retreat. Steve Forbes, president and chief executive officer of Forbes, praised the new owner for his commitment to conservation. "Louis Bacon has passionately devoted much of his life and resources to the protection of extraordinary properties," he said. "By finding such a committed owner, we are certain Trinchera will thrive and be enjoyed, as it is, for years to come." Bacon set up the Moore Charitable Foundation in 1992 to aid nonprofit groups that focus primarily on conservation and the protection of natural resources. He's also gone on to make significant conservation gifts, including the 1997 donation of a conservation easement to the Nature Conservancy for Robins Island, a 434-acre property on the south shore of Long Island. In 2001, Bacon protected the 540-acre Cow Neck Farm in the town of Southampton, N.Y., by donating a conservation easement to the Peconic Land Trust. Bacon does not have any specific plans for the property beyond spending part of the year there with family and friends for recreation. THIS IS SUNDAY NIGHT AND I AM JUST GETTING READY TO ADD SOME STATISTICS FROM THE TAOS, NEW MEXICO BOARD OF REALTORS THAT I NEED TO ADD TO ALL OF OUR LISTINGS. OUR AREA AND THE REAL ESTATE VALUES COME NOT ONLY FROM THE SURROUNDING AREAS IN COLORADO BUT ALSO MANY LAND BUYERS COME FROM THE SOUTH AS LAND IS SO EXPENSIVE IN THE RESORT AREA OF TAOS SO BUYERS GO NORTH LOOKING TO PURCHASE MORE LAND FOR THEIR DOLLAR. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO NOT THAT THE AVERAGE LAND SALE PRICE HAS GONE FROM $122,833 IN 2005 TO $163,854 IN 2006 TO $196,291 FOR RIGHT NOW. (These are 33% increases from 2005 to 2006 and 32% increases from 2006 to 2007. This is why people are coming North and driving the prices up all around the areas surround the Taos area because the costs of real estate in the Taos are increasing so incredibly fast.) THEY DO A BREAKDOWN OF ALL OF THE DIFFERENT SUBDIVISIONS IN THE TAOS AREA AND THIS IS NOT FOR JUST THE PREMIER SUBDIVISIONS. THE LAND COST FOR THE STARTER SUBDIVISION IN TAOS CALLED THE LAS COLONIAS/BLUEBERRY HILL AREA WHICH IS 10 MIUNTES TO THE NORTHWEST OF TAOS AND IS TOTALLY FLAT AND IS VERY DISTANT FROM THE MOUNTAINS WHICH ARE IN ONE DIRECTION ONLY. THE OTHER THREE DIRECTIONS HAVE NO MOUNTAIN VIEWS. THE LAND IS TOTALLY FLAT AND IS PRETTY BARREN AND IS 20 TO 25 MINUTES MINIMUM FROM THE MOUNTAINS AND I WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO SAY IT EVEN HAD ANY MOUNTAIN VIEWS BECAUSE IT IS PRETTY DISTANT FROM THE MOUNTAINS IN THAT DIRECTION. THE AVERAGE LAND/LOT PRICE IS $149,788. MANY OF THESE ARE SOLAR GAIN TRACTS AS MANY TAOS RESIDENTS ARE BIG BELIEVERS IN BUILDING GREEN. THERE ARE LAND LOTS FOR SALE IN THE TAOS CANYON AREA FOR $536,000 FOR 1 ACRE TRACTS NOW. OBVIOUSLY THAT IS THE HIGHER END BUT IT IS SHOWING YOU HOW CRAZY THE REAL ESTATE PRICES ARE GOING FOR THE MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES AS PEOPLE JUST WANT TO GET OUT OF THE CITIES AND LIVE IN A BEAUTIFUL PLACE AWAY FROM IT ALL. TAOS, NEW MEXICO 2005-2006 COMPARISON REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY 2006 2005 %Change 2007 %Change Residential Sold Properties Average Sold Price $307,624 $301,060 +2% $345,313 14% LAND SOLD PROPERTIES AVERAGE SOLD PRICE $163,854 $122,833 +33% $196,291 +32% Credit crunch hits hard in some real estate markets but the wealthy clientele of Taos,NM remain unaffected. Wall Street Journal Thursday, August 23, 2007By Glenn Roberts Jr.Inman News Taos, N.M. The outlook is not so glum in Taos, N.M., said James Kimmons, a sponsoring broker for Gallery Realty of Taos. "I can't tell you there's any difference in perception for buyers ... and they don't seem to be having any more trouble getting mortgages than they did before," Kimmons said. The area is a strong vacation-home and resort market, he said, so buyers typically have strong credit and bring plenty of money to the closing table. "I can't say there's a buyer or seller who has expressed any kind of mortgage-related or mortgage news-related concern," he said. "This area's just not typical." Smith Reservoir and Trinchera Creek are just a few miles to the North of this property on Cty Rd 12 and that is the creek included in the pictures I have provided. This land is perfect for the buyer looking to have horses,goats, llamas maybe a few head of cattle or maybe the hobby farmer. This tract of land has a guaranteed inside/outside well permit that also allows 5 acres of water usage allowing for 5 acres of hobby type of farming so perfect for the hobby farmer or organic farmer as organic farming does not take alot of land. The Taos, New Mexico area is one of the leading areas in the country for the organic lifestyle and so this is the perfect tract of land for retirees not 100% ready for retirement but looking to retire to more of their passion and take the skills they have acquired during their careeers and put them to use to their retirement career, hobby farming/organic farming. Hobby Farms Colorado, Oklahoma and Florida At the other extreme from city living are so-called lifestyle farms -- farms run mainly for pleasure, rather than as a primary livelihood. "There's this yearning to get back to a simpler life, to play in the dirt, to know a little more about where your food comes from," says Carol Ekarius, who ran a commercial farm with her husband in Minnesota for a decade before moving to Colorado to do smaller-scale livestock farming and write about it in articles and a book called "Hobby Farm." "The same kind of people who like to go to a farmer's market and buy organic food like to get into hobby farming," she says. Sue Gray is a horticulturalist in the Tulsa County office of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. She was fielding so many questions from inexperienced people interested in farming that she started a class several years ago called "Green Acres" to offer help. Most of her students are "in their early 50s, planning for retirement, and want to fulfill a dream they couldn't before due to the mortgage, children and college educations," she says. Her role often is to stop them from biting off more than they can chew. "People come in and say, 'I need 20 acres of land, and I'm going to grow 10 acres of vegetables.' I say, 'Do you know what's involved in growing 10 acres of vegetables?' You generally need one person for every acre." But people exploring farming as a second career often bring their own strengths to the venture. "A lot of people are retiring in their mid-50s, have a lot of energy and bring a lot of business skills to farming," Ms. Gray says. "I'm seeing a lot of people with a different view of marketing that is unique." One of her star pupils, Pam Von Rhee, a 52-year-old native of Massapequa Park, N.Y., now lives on a 29-acre spread she and her husband bought four years ago in Coweta, Okla. He still works full time as a geologist, but she has tackled farming full time, planting 150 blackberry bushes two years ago that yielded 170 pounds of fruit last year, much of which she turned into jam and pie fillings that sold out at local markets. Ms. Von Rhee notes that her blackberries aren't certified as organic ("you have to know what was processed on the land five to seven years before planting"), but she grows her crop without using chemical products and does the weeding and harvesting herself. "It's amazing -- I learned how to do irrigation," Ms. Von Rhee says. "It's all a learning process, and it's something you love." Some developers see farms as simply places to play in the country. This fall, St. Joe Co., a Jacksonville, Fla., real-estate development company that owns more than 850,000 acres primarily in northwest Florida, is rolling out WhiteFence Farms-Red Hills, the company's first farm development, about eight miles from the middle of Tallahassee. St. Joe calls it "new ruralism." Instead of homes arranged around a golf course, the plans call for several groups of as many as nine "farmsteads" (61 in all) to ring orchards and fields tended by an on-staff farmer, says Kevin Fox, St. Joe's senior vice president of development. The plots themselves would be relatively small -- three to 10 acres each, at a cost of $250,000 to $750,000 -- and the clusters are to be connected by tractor trails. Residents "can farm if they want to," Mr. Fox says. "In all honesty, most people won't. I expect some people will build a barn or stable and put horses in it or buy a tractor." They can hire help through the community's on-staff farmer if their ambition overwhelms their ability. I HAVE 2 ARTICLES FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS LISTING TALKING ABOUT THE VERY GOOD VALUE OF INVESTING IN LAND. THE NEWEST ARTICLE JUST CAME OUT APRIL 25TH, 2007. I TRIED TO STAR THE HIGHLIGHTS OF IT BUT THE JIST OF IT IS THAT SOME OF THE WEALTHIEST SELF MADE INDIVIDUALS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE BUYING AS MUCH LAND AS THEY CAN BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT LASTS IS THE QUOTE FROM TED TURNER WHOM IS THIS COUNTRY'S LARGEST LANDOWNER WITH 2 MILLION ACRES. AS A RESULT OF THESE WEALTHY INDIVIDUALS BUYING OF LAND IN SUCH LARGE QUANTITIES THEY HAVE DRIVEN UP LAND PRICES 155 FROM JUST 2005 TO 2006 ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. THE WEALTH ACCUMULATED IN THE LAST DECADE BY AGING DECADE BY AGING BABY BOOMERS HAS LEFT THEM LOOKING FOR PLACES TO PUT THEIR MONEY. AS URBAN AREAS HAVE GROWN , SOME WELL OFF CITY DWELLERS HAVE PURCHASED SPREADS IN *REMOTE PLACES* , THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM THE TYPICAL PLAYGROUNDS OF THE WEALTHY. IN VACATION LOG HOMES, THEY JUST DID THEIR ANNUAL SEARCH FOR THE BEST PLACES TO BUY VACATION PROPERTY(SUMMIT COUNTY,COLORADO CAME IN #3, SALIDA,COLORADO CAME IN #4 & TAOS,NEW MEXICO CAME IN #4 WHICH WE ARE ALL ALONG THE SAME ROCKY MOUNTAIN BELT AND WITHIN A 4 HOUR DRIVE FROM BRECKENRIDGE'S SKI RESORT'S IN COLORAD TO TO THE ARKANSAS HEADWATERS OF THE SALIDA/BUENA VISTA SUNBELT REGION WHICH CONTINUES SOUTHBOUND TOWARDS THE COMBININATION OUTDOOR SKI RESORT/INTERNATIONAL SOUTHWESTERN ART CENTER. OUR AREA IS IS UNUSUAL IN THAT WE ARE IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE STATE SO WE HAVE THE MILD WEATHER BUT ARE BORDERED BY THE MOUNTAINS, SO FOR THOSE THAT LOVE THE SNOW AND DON'T FEEL COMPLETE UNLESS THEY ARE SCRAPING SNOW OFF OF THEIR WINDSHIELDS WHICH I PERSONALLY WILL BE HAPPY TO NEVER DO AGAIN AS LONG AS I LIVE, BUT SNOW IS JUST MINUTES AWAY IN THE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS THAT BORDER OUR AREA. THERE IS SNOWSHOEING, CROSS COUNTRY SKIING, DOWNHILL SKIING, DOWN HILL SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING TO ANY SNOW LOVERS FILL AS THESE MOUNTAINS ARE STEEP AND DEEP IN RED RIVER AND TAOS. THEY TAKE IN SEVERAL FACTORS BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS RECRETIONAL ACTIVITIES, A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO LIVE, A YEAR ROUND CLIMATE THAT PEOPLE CAN ENJOY RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND ALSO AND ANOTHER BIG FACTOR IS A CENTRALIZED LOCATION. MANY PEOPLE WANT TO BE ABLE TO BE ABLE TO DRIVE THEIR LAND WITHIN A DAY AND/OR BUILD A VACATION HOME ON THEIR LAND AND USE THEIR VACATION PROPERTY FOR THEIR VACATIONS AND HOLIDAYS AND LOAD UP THEIR CARS AND BE ABLE TO DRIVE TO THEIR VACATION PROPERTY AND KEEP ALL OF THEIR RECREATIONAL TOYS LIKE SKIS, SNOWMOBILES, BOATS OR WHAT NOT AT THEIR VACATION PROPERTY AND READY AND WAITING FOR THEM WHEN THEY GET THERE. THIS AREA HAS EVERY RECREATIONAL SPORT AVAILABLE FOR ALL OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS EXCEPT FOR SCUBA DIVING PLUS IS AN INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS DESTINATION SO IS A COMBINATION OF SPORT AND CULTURE AND HAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE HERE. THIS IS ALSO A MECCA FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE. TAOS IS A MECCA OF ORGANIC LIFESTYLE, AND JUST PEOPLE IN GENERAL LOOKING FOR A MORE GENERAL HEALTHIER LOWER STRESS STYLE OF LIFE. THIS IS THE HUGE DRAW FOR THOSE ATTRACTED TO TO THE SOUTHERN COLORADO AREA AND NORTHERN NEW MEXICO AREA AS MOST ARE LOOKING FOR A SLOWER PACE OF LIFE, FOR A LIFE WHERE YOU LIVE IN A SMALLER COMMUNITY AND GET TO KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS AND A PLACE WHERE WE STILL HAVE MORE CATTLE THAN PEOPLE IN OUR CENSUS COUNT AND THEY ARE NOT REQUIRED TO BE ON A LEASH HERE YET. THEY TAKE IN QUALITY OF LIFE WHICH MEANS RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES AVAILABLE AS TODAYS RETIREES ARE LOOKING FOR PLACES WHERE THEY CAN BE VERY ACTIVE. THEY WANT TO BE ABLE TO HIKE TO SKI OR FISH. ALSO GOLF IS HUGE AND THIS AGAIN COMES BACK TO OUR MILD CLIMATE AND TAOS'S MILD CLIMATE. I WOULD HAVE TO SAY THAT ONE COULD PLAY GOLF 350 DAYS OF THE YEAR AND I BELONG TO THE TAOS TENNIS AND SPA CLUB WHICH HAS OUTDOOR TENNIS COURTS AND SWIMMING POOL AND THEY KEEP THE OUTDOOR SWIMMING POOL OPEN THRU NOVEMBER. YOU CAN PLAY TENNIS OUTSIDE YEAR ROUND THERE OR HEAD INTO THE MOUNTAINS AND SKI TAOS OR RED RIVER. THIS IS THE BEAUTY OF THE AREA IS THAT YOU CAN SKI AND RIDE YOUR BIKE OR GOLF IN THE SAME DAY. THERE IS NO OTHER RESORT AREA THAT OFFERS THIS AS MOST SKI RESORTS HAVE YOU LIVING IN THE SNOW IF YOU WANT TO SKI BUT THIS IS THE BEAUTY OF TAOS IS THAT THE SKI AREA AND THE TOWN AND TWO SEPARATE AREAS AND ARE SEPARATE BY 30 MINUTES AND ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CLIMATES. THE SKI AREA IS THE HARSH MOUNTAIN CLIMATE THAT IS NEEDED FOR A SKI MOUNTAIN AND THEN THERE IS THE TOWN OF TAOS WHICH IS SEVERAL THOUSAND FEET LOWER IN ALTITUDE AND IS VERY MILD IN WEATHER. THIS IS WHAT MAKES IT SUCH THE IDEAL AND UNIQUE RESORT TO HAVE AS OUR NEIGHBOR AND TOTALLY UNIQUE FROM ANY OTHER SKI RESORT IN THE COUNTRY. THIS IS WHY IT HAS SUCH A UNIQUE DRAW OF INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE CHOOSING IT AS THE PLACE THAT THEY WANT TO CALL HOME. THIS IS THE REASON THAT TAOS HAS EXPLODED IN SIZE OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS TO A PLACE THAT JULIA ROBERTS NOW CONSIDERS HER SECOND HOME AND THE LIKES OF SANDRA BULLOCK VACATION HERE. MANY ARE LOOKING TO DO ACTIVITIES FROM THEIR CHILDHOOD WHICH THEY JUST COULDN'T AFFORD IN THE CITY AND THAT BIGGIE IS TO HAVE A FEW HORSES. MANY COLORADANS ARE AVID CYCLISTS BOTH MOUNTAIN AND ROAD AND BECAUSE OF THE WIDE OPEN SPACES AROUND HERE IT IS A CYCLING PARADISE FOR BOTH. WE ALSO HAVE THE RIO GRANDE RIVER WHICH GOES FROM QUIET ENOUGH FOR A CANOER TO WHITE WATER THRILLS FOR THE ADVENTURE SEEKING KAYAKERS AND PROFESSIONALLY GUIDED RAFTING TRIPS. BECAUSE OF OUR MILD WEATHER HERE YEAR ROUND GOLFERS ARE ABLE TO PLAY OUTSIDE YEAR ROUND ON ALL OF THE PROFESSIONALLY DESIGNED RESORT COURSES IN TAOS, NEW MEXICO. THIS BRINGS ME BACK TO WHY WE RECEIVED THE RANKINGS WE RECEIVED. THEY PLACED THE TAOS AND RED RIVER, NEW MEXICO AS THE " NUMBER 12 SPOT" ON THEIR LIST FOR ALL OF THESE REASONS AS WELL AS FOR THE SOUTHWESTERN ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE. THIS IS THE NUMBER 12 SPOT IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY AND THIS IS FOLLOWING THE #3 AND #4 SPOT DOWN THE LINE WHICH PUTS THIS WHOLE ROCKY MOUNTAIN AREA WITH 3 OF THE TOP 12 SPOTS IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY!!!!!!!! THIS DOESN'T SURPRISE ME AS I HAVE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR SO MANY YEARS AND OF COURSE WATCHING SO MANY OTHERS DISCOVER WHAT I ALREADY KNOW AND MANY OTHERS KNOW BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME TO SEE IT IN PRINT WITH ALL OF THESE AREAS TIED TOGETHER ON THE SAME LIST. ** THE TAOS AREA IS KNOWN AS THE ENCHANTED CIRCLE AND IS AN 86 MILE TRIP THRU THE SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAINS. NOW THE ARTICLE ALSO LISTS THE AVERAGE LOT PRICE WHICH IS $90,000 WHICH IS ACCURATE AND A LOT IS AN ACRE THERE WHICH IS THE REASON THAT THE TAOS REAL ESTATE MARKET HAS ALOT TO DO WITH THE FORCES OF DRIVING PRICES UP IN THE SAN LUIS VALLEY. WE GET THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. AS I LOVE LIVING IN SAN LUIS BECAUSE I LOVE HAVING MY LARGE HORSE FARM AND HAVING ALL OF THE WIDE OPEN SPACES BECAUSE AT $196,000 AN ACRE I KNOW I CAN'T HAVE A LARGE HORSE FARM AND JULIA ROBERTS I'M NOT, WHICH MOST OF US AREN'T. THAT IS WHY FOR THOSE OF US THAT OWNING SOME LAND IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE WE WANT TO HAVE SOME SPACE BUT WE ARE LIKE ALOT OF PEOPLE IN THAT WE WANT IT ALL, MEANING THAT WE WANT WHAT TAOS HAS TO OFFER BUT WE CAN'T AFFORD THOSE TAOS PRICES. THIS IS WHY I THINK IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BE WITHIN THAT HOUR DRIVE TO TAOS. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE THAT DON'T HAVE $90,000 AN ACRE AND WANT A NICE LARGER TRACT WOULD RATHER BUY HERE IN SAN LUIS AND GET ALOT MORE LAND FOR THEIR DOLLAR. THEY JUST MAKE THE DRIVE TO TAOS A FEW DAYS A WEEK FOR SOCIAL LIVES. THIS IS AN OUTDOOR PERSONS PARADISE WITH OUR WEATHER IN SOUTHERN COLORADO BEING MILDER FOR THE MOST PART(I CONSIDER THIS AREA A BANANA BELT 85% OF THE TIME AS THE SNOW ACCUMULATES ON THE MOUNTAINS THAT BORDER US LEAVING US SNOW FREE A GOOD CHUNK OF THE TIME EXCEPT FOR A FEW HEAVIER SPRING STORMS. I HAVE LIVED IN THE SKI AREAS OF COLORADO FOR MANY YEARS AND I CAN TELL YOU FROM EXPERIENCE IT IS MUCH BETTER TO LIVE VERY CLOSE TO THE SKI AREAS BUT NOT LIVE IN THE SNOW 8 MONTHS OF THE YEAR AND JUST ADMIRE THOSE SNOW COVERED PEAKSWHILE SITTING OUT IN MY LAWN CHAIR ON DECK ON A 60DEGREE NOVEMBER TYPICAL SOUTHERN COLORADO DAY. ANOTHER FAST FACT. MANY PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW THIS BUT AFTER HURRICAN KATRINA SOME COMPANY TOOK ALL SORTS OF FACTORS INTO PLAY TO SEE WHAT STATE HAD THE BEST WEATHER IN THE COUNTRY AND THE TOOK HURRICANES, EARTHQUAKES, TORNADOES, RAIN, EXTRME HEAT AND FLOODS INTO THE FACTOR AND THE STATE THEY CAME UP WITH WAS "NEW MEXICO". IT ACTUALLY WASN'T SURPRISING BECAUSE WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME ANYONE HAS EVER HEARD ANYTHING BAD NATURE WISE ABOUT NEW MEXICO. WELL THE BEAUTY OF LIVING IN SOUTHERN COLORADO IS THAT YOU HAVE ALL OF THE BEAUTY THAT IS STILL "COLORADO" BUT WE GET THE WEATHER OF NEW MEXICO BECAUSE WE ARE ONLY 16 MILES FROM THE NEW MEXICO BORDER. THE #4 PLACE WAS SALIDA,COLORADO WHICH IS ALSO CALLED THE BANANA BELT OF COLORADO AND IS A TRULY GORGEOUS PLACE. THIS IS A PLACE THAT IS JUST NORTH OF TAOS AND CRUISES THRU SAN LUIS AND THRU ALAMOSA AND NORTH INTO SALIDAWHICH KEEPS THIS WHOLE VALLEY IN THIS EXPLODING REAL ESTATE VALLEY WHERE WOLF CREEK'S EXPANSION IS GREATLY AFFECTING REAL ESTATE VALUES. ANYWAYS A 2 ACRE REAL ESTATE TRACT IN SALIDA GOES FOR $75,000 AND THEY ARE MAKING ZONING CHANGES THERE THAT WILL MAKE THAT TOWN A TOWN WHERE ONLY THE TRUE RESORT CROWD CAN AFFORD TO LIVE THERE. THESE CHANGES ARE EXPECTED TO TAKE PLACE THE BEGINNING OF NOVEMBER AND HOMEOWNERS OF $500,000 AND UNDER WILL BE DRIVEN OUT BECAUSE OF CHANGES TAKING PLACE THERE. OUR AREA IS RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF ALL OF THIS AND IT IS WHY OUR AREAS LAND PRICES HAVE BEEN STEADILY GOING UP FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS. BECAUSE OF THE SKY HIGH PRICES ALL AROUND US OUR AREA HAS NOT EVEN BEGUN TO SEE THE POTENTIAL IN THE LAND VALUES THAT ARE STILL OUT THERE. Wall Street Journal January 5th, 2006 Article reported; "Realty Check"/ Troy McMullen Colorado Ski Territory Real-estate values continue to soar in some popular Colorado ski areas; MEDIAN HOME PRICE % CHANGE FROM A YEAR EARLIER* SNOWMASS $3.11 MILLION 51.7% INCREASE ASPEN $4.26 MILLION 25.5% INCREASE BEAVER CREAK $3.82 MILLION 12.5 % INCREASE *12 MONTH PERIOD ENDING NOV 30TH SOURCE: LAND TITLE GUARANTEE COMPANY ASPEN, COLORADO ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE TAOS PAPER FOR THE JAN 4TH THRU THE 10TH WEEK ONE OF THE LEAD ARTICLES IS; "COUNTY SUBDIVISION PROJECTS TO ACCELERATE IN 2007" The 2006 totals are in: Only four housing subdivisions received approval to build in Taos County the past year. But so are the 2007 forecasts: The new year promises to be much, much busier for county planners, with as many as 40 residential subdivisions looming on the horizon. The article continues on with the details of what Taos's County Commissioner's are struggling with as far as getting a handle on growth and expansion with many Baby Boomers retiring to small mountain towns out west in record numbers. Many are looking for areas to be able to retire in that they will have plenty of recreational opportunities once they retire while also having a sense of community. Since many love the climate out west with all of this packaged together it is why this area has been chosen consistently as a great place to live. I HAVE A LONG DESCRIPTION SO I DON'T WANT TO ADD TOO MUCH TO IT BUT WHAT I DO WANT TO ADD TO IT IS THAT WHATEVER SPECS YOU MAY BE SEEING ARE QUICKLY BEING OUTDATED. I LIVE HERE AND AM NOT EXAGERRATING WHEN I SAY THAT WHEN I DO NOT LEAVE HOME AND THEN GO OUT TO TAKE PICTURES ANYMORE THAT LATELY I AM SEEING HOMES STARTING TO POP UP EVERYWHERE AND QUICKLY. ALSO I NORMALLY HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT HIGH LAND COSTS IN THE TAOS AREA DRIVING THE LAND PRICES UP HERE BUT WHAT I AM SEEING HAPPEN HERE LATELY IS THE WOLF CREEK EXPANSION TAKING EFFECT. THE WOLF CREEK SKI AREA IS AN HOUR WEST OF THE ALAMOSA AREA AND IS NORTH AMERICA'S POWDER CAPITAL AND IN SOME WAYS HAS SADLY BECOME DISCOVERED AND IN A BIG, BIG WAY. BUILDING HAS BEGUN EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A LARGE GROUP THAT WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT NOT GO THRU AS COLORADO IS GROWING SO QUICKLY OR TOO QUICKLY IN ALOT OF AREAS AND SO THE GROWTH IS REALLY STARTING TO BE FELT IN SOUTHERN COLORADO OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS AND WILL DO NOTHING BUT GET MORE AND MORE POPULAR AS OTHER AREAS HAVE JUST GOTTEN TOO PRICEY FOR MANY OR TOO CROWDED. I WOULD RECOMMEND CHECKING OUT THE WOLF CREEK SKI AREA'S WEBSITE TO CHECK OUT THE LATEST PROGRESS BECAUSE I LIVE HERE AND EVEN I AM TAKEN ABACK RECENTLY AT HOW QUICKLY THINGS LATELY SEEM TO JUST BE LITERALLY BE EXPLODING IN THIS VALLEY. IT IS THE BABY BOOMERS COMING IN A BIG WAY AND WOLF CREEK SKI AREA AND THE BILLION DOLLAR EXPANSION BEING FUELED BY ONE TEXAS OIL BILLIONAIRE THAT IS NOW DRIVING GROWTH FROM THE WEST AS WELL. ALAMOSA QUITE LITERALLY HAS NEW HOTELS, SEVERAL NEW RESTAURANTS, NEW STRIP MALLS, NEW MEDICAL CLINICS, HOSPITAL EXPANSION, NEW OFFICE BUILDINGS, A NEW SENIOR LIVINGCENTER, NEW BUILDING, BUILDINGS, BUILDINGS UNDER CONSTRUCTIONS. ANYWAYS I HAVE LIVED IN COLORADO LONG ENOUGH AND WATCHED ENOUGH SMALL MOUNTAIN TOWNS GO FROM SMALL TOWNS TO BIG MAJOR SKI RESORTS OR BIG MOUNTAIN TOWNS TO RECOGNIZE THE SIGNS IN A BIG WAY OF THE MASSES ON THE WAY AND THEY ARE ON THE WAY. SKI TOURISM DOLLARS ARE BIG MONEY AND SKI TOURISM BABY BOOMER LAND OWNERS ARE BIG DOLLAR PEOPLE AND THAT IS WHY MOST LAND IN THESE AREAS IS SO EXPENSIVE THAT THEY DON'T EVEN SELL IT AS A SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL UNIT (MEANING FOR A HOME AND WANTING THEM TO BE FOR CONDOS). THIS IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR THE AVERAGE MIDDLE CLASS PERSON TO BE ABLE TO LIVE IN A BEAUTIFUL PLACE THAT THEY GET IN BEFORE THE LAND COSTS GET OVER THEIR AFFORDABILITY LEVELS. SO GO CHECK OUT WOLF CREEK SKI AREA'S WEBSITE TO SEE THE LATEST ON THEIR EXPANSION. AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS DESCRIPTION I AM GOING TO INCLUDE PARTS OF A RECENT ARTICLE IN THE WALL STREET JOURNALS JULY 22ND ISSUE TALKING ABOUT HOW THERE IS A SURGE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE BUYING RAW LAND TODAY VS NEW HOMES. THEY ALSO TALKED ABOUT HOW ONE OF THE VERY IMPORTANT THINGS IN BUYING RAW LAND IS BUYING LAND FROM SOMEONE THAT IS LOCAL AND KNOWS THE LOCAL ISSUES. WE ARE ON THE COUNTY'S LIST OF LAND DEVELOPERS THAT HAS DEVELOPED MANY SUBDIVISIONS OVER THE YEARS AND SINCE WE ARE LOCALS WE ARE AROUND TO SHOW OUR BUYERS THE LAND AFTER THE SALE AND WE ARE THE ONLY SELLER ON EBAY THAT IS ABLE TO DO THAT. LAND IS A WISE INVESTMENT AS THE WALL STREET JOURNAL SAYS AND THEY DO TALK A COUPLE OF TIMES ABOUT PRICING IN THE SOUTHWEST PART OF COLORADO AND IN GENERAL TALK ABOUT BUYING LAND IN THE MORE AFFORDABLE AREAS THAT ARE CLOSE TO THE TOO HIGH DOLLAR REAL ESTATE MARKETS LIKE SKI AREAS, BEACH MARKETS, LAKEFRONT LAND ECT AND THIS AREA IS GAINING A FOOTHOLD BECAUSE OF ITS PROXIMITY TO SEVERAL SKI AREAS AND ITS EXCELLENT HIKING, BIKING, HORSEBACK RIDING TRAILS, ITS EXCELLENT FISHING AND RAFTING IN THE RIO GRANDE RIVER, ITS GREAT HUNTING WITH ITS QUADRUPLE ELK HERDS AND ITS PROXIMITY TO SO MANY HIGH DOLLAR RESORT TOWNS THAT MAKE DAYTRIPPING OR WEEKEND TRIPS IN THE CAR AN ENDLESS VACATION PLAYGROUND WITHIN WHICH TO LIVE YEAR ROUND IN AND HOW CAN ONE ASK MORE THAN THAT? Colorado and the Rocky Mountain High that John Denver made so famous. Our family vacationed here all the time while I was growing up as I child and my parents vacationed here while they were growing up here and my grandparents before them coming to Estes Park riding horses and always dreaming of moving to Colorado to have a horse ranch and do some fishing and live the Colorado lifestyle. Our state is known for its beautiful mountains, crystal clear mountain streams, high mountain lakes with mountain trout just waiting to be caught by a fisherman on a break while laying against a stone sunning himself in the high sun of one of our famous Colorado afternoons dreaming of returning to ski down one of our powder filled slopes on another sun filled afternoon. Well this is just part of what our state is known for as far as recreational activities as there is also hiking, biking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, rock climbing, ice climbing and the list goes on and on. Did I mention that our state is filled with transplants from all of the other 49 states because of the popularity of living the Colorado lifestyle? One of the signs in Colorado Springs says "Do you know how lucky you are to live here when others spend thousands to travel here for just one week?" I thought that was a great sign. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and it wasn't a bad place to live but it was a place that you definitely lived to get away on vacations. In Colorado we are very fortunate that after work we can get time to squeeze in time to go mountain biking for a couple of hours or maybe rotate it with a hike or for those that are water lovers maybe go and take the kayak out for a couple of hours and then decide which of several ski resorts you want to hit over the weekend to go and go skiing or snowboarding and the next day go out and go snowmobiling or maybe snowshoeing. Where else can you live and you don't need to get on an airplane and spend thousands of dollars that you don't have to go on vacation because you already live there. Do you know what my average day is comprised of after work? I take my dogs for a hike every day in the mountains for an hour and in the summer will go longer. In the summer I will ride my mountain bike 3 times a week and I will kayak 3 to 4 times a week. During the winter I go skiing once a week and if we get a really great powder day I will go snowboarding as I am just a beginner level at snowboarding. I ride my horses 4 to 5 times a week and more often during the summer time. I will travel thruout the year thru Northern New Mexico and Colorado doing 2 to 3 day trips for fun for hiking or mini ski trips thru out the year as we are within 3 hours of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Breckenridge, Keystone, Aspen, Crested Butte, Vail, Durango, Purgatory, Telluride, Wolf Creek, Monarch,Colorado and our backyard is Red River, Angel Fire and Taos, New Mexico. The biggest problem we have recreationally is having so much to do here and trying to figure out what to do and the best part is that once you have your hiking boots, tent, mountain bike, skis, kayak except for ski lift tickets it is all free to enjoy as mother nature doesn't charge. Once you live here you no longer have to pay for rental cars, airplane tickets to get here, hotels, restaurant meals as you are now one of us and are a "LOCAL". There is one last good thing about Colorado and that is that we are all transplants and so that means we are all friendly and we are all open to newcomers and new friends. We are not stuck with friendships that we have had since kindegarten and cliques since grade school that don't allow new friends because we all have been in your shoes at some point and we made the same decision that you are making and that is a 100% total lifestyle change to a place that we love to have a life that we love. This land is not for big city people though as this is country living and the Colorado lifestyle. This is for people that are looking for some open space and this tract is right in the town of San Luis(for all functioning needs plus restaurants) and an hour from Taos which is going to be your major resort town that you will spend time in as well as Red River which is a little bit smaller though but about 15 minutes closer. Yes "TAOS REAL ESTATE PRICES ARE HEADED THIS WAY FOR REAL ESTATE TRACTS ON HWY 159 FROM THE TOWN OF SAN LUIS AREA AND SOUTHWARD AND THEY ARE BEING DRIVEN FROM THE RESORT PRICES OF TAOS,NEW MEXICO WHERE A 2.4 ACRE REAL ESTATE TRACT 2 MILES FROM THE DOWNTOWN AREA GOES FOR $199,000.00 AND SO THE PEOPLE WITH MONEY ARE BRINGING THEIR MONEY NORTH AND LUSTING AFTER LAND. REAL ESTATE PRICES HAVE BEEN STEADILY ESCALATING IN OUR AREA FOR MANY YEARS AND THIS SUMMER A SAN LUIS RANCHER TURNED DOWN AN OFFER OF $5,000 AN ACRE FOR HIS 235 ACRE RANCH ALONG CULEBRA ON HWY 159 AND ANOTHER RANCHER TURNED DOWN $10,000 AN ACRE FOR A SIMILAR RANCH NEARBY FINDING IT PREFERABLE TO ANOTHER RANCH HE HAD PURCHASED IN NEW MEXICO. BOTH OF THESE OFFERS WERE DECLINED ACCORDING TO THE REPORTS IN THE LaSIERRA , SAN LUIS'S LOCAL NEWSPAPER WHICH DID A FEATURE STORY ON ESCALATING REAL ESTATE PRICES IN SAN LUIS IN THEIR OCT. 7TH ISSUE THIS YEAR. THE MONEY IS COMING FROM THE TOWN OF TAOS, NEW MEXICO WHICH IS KNOWN AS AN INTERNATIONAL TOURIST DESTINATION BECAUSE OF ITS SKIING, HIKING, BIKING AND IT IS ALSO KNOWN INTERNATIONALLY AS AN ART MECCA AND DRAWS PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER TO VISIT THE QUALITY ART GALLERIES, FESTIVALS AND MUSEUMS. HIGH TAOS PRICES HAVE BEEN PUSHING GROWTH TO THE NORTH FOR YEARS WHERE LAND USED TO BE CALLED AFFORDABLE BUT THAT HAS LONG SINCE CHANGED SINCE THE TAOS PRICES HAVE BEEN STEADILY HEADING NORTH UP HWY 159 INTO THE TOWN OF SAN LUIS WHERE IT IS ONLY AN HOURS DRIVE TO THE TOWN OF TAOS. IN COSTILLA COUNTY SOMERANCHERS ASKED TO BE UNNAMED IN THE STORY AND HAD TURNED DOWN $5,000 AN ACRE BUT SAID THE REASON THEY HAD WAS THERE WAS NOWHERE IN COLORADO THAT YOU COULD GO AND BUY LAND TO REPLACE WHAT THEY HAD JUST SOLD FOR THAT SO THEY SAW NO REASON TO SELL. LAND HAS GONE FROM $800 AN ACRE TO OVER $16,000 AN ACRE IN JUST 10 YEARS AND IS STILL ON THE RISE ACORDING TO THIS ARTICLE AND IT LEAVES LOCAL RANCHERS IN AWE OF HOW QUICKLY THINGS HAVE CHANGED IN THIS VALLEY AND THEY ARE STILL RISING EXTREMELY FAST. A TRACT IN SAN CRISTOBAL, NEW MEXICO ALONG HWY 159 WHICH IS ABOUT HALFWAY BETWEEN SAN LUIS AND TAOS IS SELLING FOR $275,000.00 FOR A 7.8 ACRE TRACT AND THEN AS YOU TRAVEL UP NORTH INTO THE TOWN OF SAN LUIS ON HWY 159 APPROXIMATELY A MILE SOUTH OF THE TOWN OF SAN LUIS A THREE BEDROOM HOUSE CAN BE YOURS FOR $16,000.00 AN ACRE OR $1,104,000.00. Since I live here and spend alot of my free time in Taos I thought I would peruse the real estate section and type in word for word a few of the ads for you to show you what our southern neighbors are paying for things solar so you don't have to take my word for it: So here goes a few examples of a couple of homes and a couple of land parcels. These are solar eco powered though!! 1)Country Club Area 1bd/2ba solar passive adobe home is located near the golf course. W/prime bldg site for main home. Stunning views & sunsets. Listed for $195,000.00 MLS#79323 (building site solar tract w/small employee house on site) This is a flat tract w/sagebrush and views of Taos Mtn and no mtn views in any other directions. 2)Lower Las Colonias Beautiful 1.00 acre with excellent solar gain, and full views of the Taos Mountain. Listed for $35,000.00 MLS #79349(Land Only building site solar tract) This is a flat tract w/sagebrush and no trees or anything on it and mtn views of Taos in only one direction. 3)3400 sqft thoughtfully designed solar home; 3 bdrm. 2.5 ba;w/office/studio,deck,jacuzzi tub. Adobe and pumice construction. Located in Arroyo HondoValley on 1.75 acres. Many extras. $419,000.00 MLS#78121. This is also a flat tract w/sagebrush on it and no trees and views of Taos Mtn and no views of mtns in any other direction. 4)Architectural Delight! Right out of a Magazine!!This is a beauty. Quality craftmanship, unique detailing and lighting, smart floor plan and many specialty featureshelp this home stand above the rest. Made of Energy Efficient E-Crete. the interior walls are finished with "Master of Plaster Finishing Systems" to create an antique plaster, similar to many historical buildings. Environmentally safe "Milk Paint" adds color with a statement. Designed by Minimalists who value form and function, this must be seen to be appreciated. Great portals, beautiful landscaping & spectacular water feature complete the oasis. Land is less than one acre.MLS#79001 Same as all others flat w/sagebrush and biews of Taos Mtn but no views in any other directions. 5)In Town 3 acres solar tract. Beautiful 3.00 acres is available to build your next house or to let the horses roam. Pick your site to build and enjoy the beautiful Taos sunsets and Taos mountain. MLS #78556 $165,000.00 This is a flat tract w/sagebrush on it and no trees or anything on it. Views of Taos Mtn but other 3 directions there are no mtn views. . **************ALL OF THE PICTURES ARE TAKEN BY ME PERSONALLY SINCE I LIVE HERE . The entire Cumbra Vista subdivision is fenced in with this 5 strand barbed wire fence with green and white fence posts so this is how I tell everyone you can easily tell the borders as well as all of the tracts are pinned by our surveyor. The pictures taken are by me and are different view pictures from the land and I took a couple of pictures of some of the really pretty summer wildflowers that we have here that I love that Colorado is famous for and one of my personal favorites is the sunflower as they blanket our valley with their sunny enthusiasm. I also had to include a couple of pictures of my horses and my goats on our ranch here not because they needed their pictures taken but because we are selling this land as land that is perfect as a mini ranchette and this land is actually just a few miles from our ranch and I am also the proud mother of 4 horses, 6 goats, 2 llamas, 1 cat, and 6 dogs so I can speak first hand that this land is excellent land for someone looking to buy this land for a mini ranchette as I ride my horses outside year round. Also I take all of the pictures first hand myself and I live here year round so we do not download any pictures from the Internet or borrow pirtures from anyone. I also have included a picture of Smith Reservoir which is approximately 5-6 miles North on Cty Rd 12 of this property. This land as you can see is a sagebrush covered property with some wildflowers in the summer and fall with mountain views. ************ This is surveyed, platted, has a clear title with no money owed on it or encumbrances on it as our family has owned land free and clear in this valley for roughly 30 years. We are the only seller on Ebay that has our name on The Costilla County Comprehensive Plan and we are by far the largest landowner of land free and clear of any seller on Ebay with over 14,000 acres owned free and clear. When you are trying to figure whom you want to do business with we are the family that has been the largest landowner in this county for many years and we will continue to be for many more years. We are the only name that is known in every business in San Luis, in the County and has our name on signs throughout property in this county as we own miles and miles of land on Hwy 159, Hwy 142 and the major Cty Rds 12 and X and have developed several large subdivisions in this area. We never sold CD’s or figurines 6 months ago and we don’t liquidate jewelry & sell land w/out well permits or sell barren land w/pictures of Vail, Colorado from Florida. "This has a central location close to San Luis and is only ten minutes away. As they say with real estate it is all about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION and this tract has it along with views." You can build on your property immediately but there is no time limit. Also this tract does get alot of wildlife on it as well as far as elk, antelope and deer are the three main types of wildlife that I normally see here myself every time I am here taking pictures or driving around. The wild horses do not come up here though and do hang out down closer to the highway and I have not seen them actually come up here but the antelope love it up here as I always see them up here and the elk do as well and occasionally I'll see deer but not like I see the antelope and elk. There are also alot of birds like the eagles and many other species. Our family has been in Colorado for over 25 years and it is the place we call home. Our family ranch "REICHWEIN RANCHES" is here and we will continue to call it home for the rest of our lives. I know the area very well and Colorado in general because I have lived here for so long. I love Colorado and their is no place else that I would ever call home so I love showing off the area. I went to college here and have lived in Colorado, hiked in Colorado, skied in Colorado, biked in Colorado, rafted in Colorado, camped in Colorado, rode my horses in Colorado, met my husband in Colorado and made alot of friends and built my life in Colorado. There is still much to be explored and will continue to live in and love Colorado. I even still take mini vacations in different areas of Colorado because there is so much to do here that when I leave it is to go overseas and do something different but there is just so much to do here in this state as it is an outdoor lovers paradise. With having Taos,Taos,Taos,Taos so close we have the extra bonus of having international quality art galleries and weekend art shows and music festivals or Native American Festivals of some type going on almost every weekend and then another hour south we have Santa Fe, New Mexico so we have the artistic and cultural cream of the crop in our back yard here that people travel from all over the world to vacation for a week to come and see and we can drive down and see it anytime we want to just with a daytrip. We do have a local hotel called the San Luis Inn for those wishing to come see their property and it is fine for those of you whom love to camp and want to come and camp on your property when you come and visit. We have alot of people that love to do that and it gives you a great opportunity to see alot of the wildlife up close. Alot of people have told me that they have seen antelope, elk, hear the coyotes, some will see fox, deer, rabbits, eagles, and then view our awesome sunrises to the east thru the LaGarita Mountains and spectacular fiery red sunsets to the west with all of the big mesas. For those that prefer to enjoy nature by day and have restaurants that stay open later at night and shops til you drop then I recommend staying in Taos, New Mexico as it is one of the premier artistic communities in the world and only an hour from Santa Fe. There is also Red River, New Mexico which is a small mountain ski town that has a few restaurants and shops and a mountain stream with things staying open later than they do here in San Luis but it is still a relaxed small mountain town that is very beautiful and a great place to stay at night while visiting your land. You can have a great vacation and visit your land all in the same week. Also most shopping can be done here and I try and support the local businesses as much as I can. I love to go to Taos for recreation so I just tie errands and Alamosa has great modern shopping and in alot of ways has some shopping that is more modern than Taos offers but between the two you can get just about anything you want. San Luis has a medical clinic but we just broke ground on a new large medical clinic and that will be open with the latest and greatest the end of 2007. Taos, NM is an hour South of the town of San Luis and is a world class ski resort as well as part of the Enchanted Circle of Northern New Mexico. Taos and Santa Fe offer International Class Artists and Galleries so it is really amazing actually to get to live within driving distance of this and there are many weekends with different Fairs and Festivals going on. Santa Fe is only an hour further south with all that it has to offer. Fire protection is furnished by the San Luis Volunteer Fire Department which operates year round. Police protection is furnished by the San Luis County Sheriff's Department in San Luis, Colorado. The nearest hospital is either in Taos, New Mexico or in Alamosa, Colorado but there is a nice new medical clinic right here in San Luis. Ambulance service is provided by Alamosa City and County Ambulance, Dial 911. The property lies in the San Luis Valley, with the Sangre de Cristo mountain range lying to the northwest, the Lagarita Range to the east and the San Juans to the west . The land is rolling hills gently and very buildable and covered with sagebrush and wild grasses with an elevation of 7900 feet or higher. WE WILL CONTACT THE WINNING BIDDER AT THE CLOSE OF THE AUCTION AND THE WINNING BIDDER DOES NEED TO BE PREPARED TO GIVE US ALL OF THEIR INFORMATION AT THE CLOSE OF THE AUCTION. We need your full name, address and phone number to send your land contract to you upon your purchase of the land. WE HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO EMAIL ALL QUESTIONS "UP FRONT" AND/OR CALL OR DO BOTH. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL OUR TOLL FREE NUMBER (888-723-0503) AND TALK TO FRANK AND OR EMAIL JULIE, THAT IS ME. ONCE THE AUCTION IS OVER, WE WILL CONTACT YOU RIGHT AWAY AND NEED YOUR NAME, ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER FOR PAPERWORK TO BE OVERNIGHTED AS WELL AS PAYMENT INFORMATION. PAYPAL IS PREFERRED AND WE WILL ACCEPT CASHIERS CHECKS OR MONEY ORDERS AND ONCE PAYMENT IS RECEIVED WE WILL PRIORITY YOUR PAPERWORK TO YOU. PAPERWORK PROCESSING FEE THAT NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED WITH THE WINNING BID FOR DOWN PAYMENT. WE ALSO NEED TO KNOW IF YOU WANT WHICH OWNER FINANCING OPTION PLAN YOU ARE CHOOSING SO THAT WE CAN FILL OUT THE PAPERWORK ACCORDINGLY. You have views of Mt.Blanca which is a 14,000 foot mountain. The town of San Luis which is the oldest town in Colorado is within a few minutes drive. Taos, New Mexico is 60minutes away. Ideal for people that want to live in a beautiful area and close to many mountain towns including Red River, New Mexico which is only a 40 minute drive. It is also within an hour and a half of Wolf Creek Colorado skiing area. Wolf Creek is also said to be undergoing a major expansion to put it on a class with Breckenridge Ski Resort because it is known to have the best snow in Colorado but there are alot of us that actually hope it stays the way it is, small and personable with a whole lot of snow. During the spring, summer and fall their will be a multitude of wildflowers with the winter having occasional snowstorms of 4-5 inches that typically will melt within a few days as winters are usually very sunny days and great for outdoor activities. The San Luis Valley is place where cattle ranchers still are the norm and trendy boutiques are 50 - 60 miles away in Red River, or Taos, New Mexico. This is a place where all the neighbors know who you are and they all wave at you when they drive past your house and I say this because they all do this to me every day as I am out feeding my horses. This is small town living so for those looking for museums, dancing and all of that, this is probably not going to be what you want if you are looking for it out your front door but Taos has International Quality Art Museums and has many Art Festivals on the weekends and another hour south is Santa Fe which is the greatest art and cultural center in the world. www.taoschamber.com . I spend usually one day a week in Taos and I love it down there and Red River is also a great little town and a really fun and quaint little ski and snowboarding mountain so I really love both of those towns. Also for those looking for ski in/ski out condos this is not the place. This is for people that don't mind driving an hour to have that because they would rather have a 35 acre spread to have a nice log cabin and some space around them. This is also an area ideal for people that are lovers of big herds of deer, ELK, antelope and yes we even have WILD HORSES running free here in southern Colorado. Our elk herds are quadruple the size the game wardens would like them to be which makes this area very popular for hunters and those that just are lovers of wildlife. When people come here to see there property and see all the elk signs on the highway they ask me"Are those for real?" and I tell them I can vouch firsthand . Yes, they are. My husband and I hit a 1300 pound male elk Christmas night coming home from Denver in our Subaru and it was so big my first thoughts were that I was hitting a moose. It totaled our car and other than it not being our time to meet our maker, we were fortunate enough to walk away but Mr.Elk was not. So I tell everyone those signs are for real and be careful when you are driving at night here. We also have wild horses that hang out on Hwy 159 just south of San Luis and can be seen grazing thruout the day. We have alot of birdlife here as well with one of my favorites being the red spotted hawk. There is one lady moved here always dreamed of having a camel and shopped the Internet and brought a trainer in from Australia and bought herself a camel and got trained to ride it. We have alot of horse trainers in the area with big equestrian operations for racing and showing and some just for personal pleasure and alot for hunting and packing into the mountains. Llamas are also popular but the area is great for people looking for space and to do things that you just can't do in the cities. We have alot of retirees and because of satellite and the Internet making the area a place where people can now have second homes where ten years ago this wasn't possible. Our area is centrally located for alot of outdoor activities for those loving the great outdoors. To the south there is Carson National Forest which covers the mountainous areas of Taos and Red River, New Mexico and it has some of the most beautiful hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking trails in the western United States. www.taoschamber.com To the North is the entire Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range and our flagship mountain Mt. Blanca which is a 14teener in addition to the six 14,000 plus mountain peaks plus several other mountains in the range which you can spend a lifetime exploring the hiking, biking and horseback riding trails. The beauty of our trails is that since we are in the south central mountains when you set out to go hiking or whatever, you do not go hiking with 300 plus people, like you do when you go hiking in the mountains close to the front range as they are so busy you wonder if you are walking on a busy sidewalk in downtown Denver during lunchtime. To the east is the Lagarita Mountains and to the west is the San Juan and Uncompagre Mountain Ranges which also has 14,000 plus mountains and has Wolf Creek ski area, Pagosa Springs area, and you can travel a little bit further to Durango and Purgatory or Telluride. The Rio Grande River runs thru the San Luis Valley and is great for fishing and we have several streams for fishing and within a couple of hours drive we have some of the worlds greatest rivers for whitewater rafting and kayaking. Our area is home to huge herds of antelope, deer, elk, moose, wild horses, bear and mountain lions. Hunting is very popular in the area for elk and deer. Our weather here is very sunny year round and therefore the area is very popular for eco friendly solar type homes. Coloradans in general are very environmental friendly type of people so eco type of homes are popular and because of the sunny climate it is something we are seeing more and more of here in the area. With the high cost of energy the eco homes are becoming more and more popular as utility bills can become larger than ones mortgage. The San Luis Valley is the last place in Colorado where life is still like the old west. We still have cattle ranchers that free graze their cattle and you can get on your own horses and ride out your back yard and ride for miles and miles and run into nothing but cattle, or maybe herds of deer or elk or wild horses. From your property you have full views of Mt.Blanca and the San de Cristos Mountain Range. The Rush to Invest in Land Undeveloped Plots Draw Buyers As the Housing Market Softens; The 'Jed Clampett' Problem By JEFF D. OPDYKE July 22, 2006; Page B1 The real-estate market has a new cry: Land ho! As the nation's housing market cools, there's a rush to snap up undeveloped property as buyers stake their claim on everything from New England creek-front parcels, to mountainous woodlands in Tennessee, to big-sky vistas in Montana. Some people are buying dream lots now, while the land is available and prices affordable, with plans to one day build a vacation or retirement home. Others are investing in recreational property they want to use today: In rural west Texas, for example, scrubland that wouldn't even sell a few years ago has become so popular with deer hunters and the offroad-vehicle set that it now fetches premium prices from buyers flying in from Florida, Illinois and California. Keith and Mary Payden of Minneapolis a few years ago bought 35 acres of land in a wooded canyon in southwestern Colorado. They've put in a well and set up temporary living quarters above a barn to use when they visit. "This is where we want to spend our retirement," says the 59-year-old Mr. Payden, an information-technology consultant. The land "fits our hobbies, since there's horseback riding, skiing and golf nearby." Their eventual plan: Put up a small house they can use there. In the face of demand like this, prices for undeveloped land in many parts of the country are shooting up. Around the country last year, farmland values rose at their highest year-over-year rate -- 11% -- since 1981, according to the Agriculture Department. Rural land in Texas hit a historic high of nearly $1,500 an acre on average last year, up about 75% since 2000, according to Texas A&M University Real Estate Center. Robert R. Johns, a 68-year-old retired gas-pipeline worker, recently bought 400 acres of corn and soybean fields in central Illinois. The land, which the Johnses lease to farmers, serves mainly as an investment, generating what he expects will be rental returns of as much as 5% a year plus any long-term price appreciation. But the couple, who live near Chicago, also enjoy visiting friends and shopping for antiques in the area, and plan to park a camper there to visit, "almost like a weekend vacation." In some ways, buying land and buying a second home are similar. Both are capable of generating income -- a house through rental income; land through leases for farming, hunting, fishing, ranching or mineral rights. And in both cases, the first three rules of a successful purchase are LOCATION, LOCATION AND LOCATION!!. Some buyers are heading farther afield to find affordable acreage. Charlie Chernak, owner of Bear Island Land Co., in Ely, Minn., near the Canadian border, says *****"remote backlands are now becoming popular because people are getting priced out of lakeshore properties."****** Land also comes with its own set of snafus that can quickly turn a picture-perfect parcel into just that -- something that's pretty to look at, but not much else. Among the important questions: If you plan to build a vacation home there or eventually live there, can you get electric power onto the property? And can the land support a water well and septic system? The U.S. has roughly 1.5 billion acres of rural land, excluding public lands, representing about 65% of the country. Prices vary widely: Rural land can fetch $250 an acre in the brush country of far southwest Texas, to $3,000 an acre for timber and pasture land in Iowa, to a scenic, 37-acre property in southwest Colorado straddling both sides of a river for nearly $27,000 an acre. Of course, not all plots are in the depths of the wilderness. Wagner Brothers Land Co., in Dunlap, Tenn., charges $20,000 to $30,000 an acre for parcels in the mountains north of Chattanooga that come equipped with utilities, but no house. In Colorado, ranch-size properties overlooking the snowcapped La Plata Mountains are attracting buyers from Hawaii, Florida, California and Arizona, says developer Durango Alpine Realty. These tracts, which are a minimum 35 acres, generally go for $10,000 an acre." In some circumstances, it can make a lot of sense to buy land well in advance of your intention to build on it, especially if you find a scenic plot you're particularly fond of. Over the course of years or decades, the price of the land is likely to escalate faster than the cost of one day building a house on it. On undeveloped land, real-estate taxes are typically lower, and you have no expenses for electricity, water and insurance. There are many pitfalls. First, even before you buy, consider having a survey done of the land you're interested in, or at least work through a local land agent who knows the area and terrain. Property lines aren't always well defined, and soils may be too wet to support a building in the spot you really want to build. Also, pay attention to how you access the land. In some places, makeshift roads that cross a variety of property lines have become semipermanent through the years -- although nothing about them is legal. As a result, you may not have legal access to your property, resulting in lawsuits. In urban developments, lots are often zoned to prevent certain types of construction or businesses. But that's not always true with rural land, meaning you could find one day that your dream property is bordered by a new mobile-home park. A local real-estate agent with land expertise will know the zoning and covenants in place. Land prices often don't move in the same way home prices do. Despite the run-up in recent years in some housing markets, home prices are typically expected to rise alongside the rate of inflation. But with land, price appreciation is traditionally more closely tied to how much money it can generate from activities such as farming or grazing. And in general, land prices, when they cool, don't tend to fall as much as an overpriced residential market might, largely because while a housing market can be overbuilt, land can't. Increasingly, however, recreational demand is defining land prices. Land has become such a popular investment. One final consideration: Mineral rights. In some instances -- particularly in energy-rich Texas and the Rocky Mountain states -- sellers retain the rights to oil or minerals buried beneath the land you own. This can have ramifications years or decades later. Not only does it deny you your own Jed Clampett moment of discovering bubbling crude oil and striking it rich, but more importantly it means that the owner of those mineral rights can drill or mine on your property, and you must allow it. John Bailey, an officer at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Specialty Asset Group, recently bought grazing land for himself 100 miles west of Fort Worth. Part of the property came with mineral rights, but the other portion didn't, which means the owner of those mineral rights must be allowed to come onto the land and drill for oil and gas. Mr. Bailey points out that "they must pay you surface damages" for the loss of land use. "At your Shangri-la, you must be cognizant of this issue," he says. 'It's the Only Thing That Lasts' For Some Rich Americans, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Wednesday,April 25,2007 B1 Accumulating Land Is LikeCollecting Art and Autos By THADDEUS HERRICK April 25, 2007; In 2001, Kentucky native Brad Kelley sold his cigarette manufacturing company Commonwealth Brands Inc. for some $1 billion and promptly went on a shopping spree. He didn't go to Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue -- he set his sights on the range. Mr. Kelley bought hundreds of thousands of acres of West Texas ranchland. In Florida, he snapped up some 60,000 acres near Sarasota, where he breeds animals such as antelope and anoa, a miniature water buffalo native to Indonesia. Today he is the seventh-largest landowner in the U.S., according to the debut issue of The Land Report, a publication that bills itself as the magazine of the American landowner. THE WEALTHIEST ENTREPRENEURS ARE ACCUMULATING OPEN SPACES ACROSS THE U.S. MUCH AS THEY HAVE WITH VACATION HOMES, AUTOMOBILES AND RARE ART IN THE PAST. AS URBAN AREAS HAVE GROWN , SOME WELL OFF CITY DWELLERS HAVE PURCHASED SPREADS IN REMOTE PLACES , THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM THE TYPICAL PLAYGROUNDS OF THE WEALTHY. "IT’S LIKE RARE ART," SAYS JIM TAYLOR, PRESIDENT OF HALL AND HALL, A BILLINGS, MONTANA REAL ESTATE FIRM THAT HAS WORKED WITH CNN FOUNDER TED TURNER, AMOUNG OTHER LAND BUYERS. << InWest Texas, for example, Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos has acquired several ranches in recent years totaling about 300,000 acres, making him No. 23 on The Land Report's list of the nation's top 100 landowners (Mr. Bezos declined comment for this story). <<<<<<<<<<<<***************The push to amass acreage among the rich is part of a broader boom in which Americans outside the agricultural sector have been pouring money into land, pushing up prices. Farm real estate rose 15% in 2006 from 2005 to $1,900 per acre, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the Rich Know It’s The Only Thing That Last’s.*****************>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<****************The wealth accumulated in the last decade by aging baby boomers has left them looking for places to put their money and overwhelmingly they are choosing to buy land .******************>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> At the same time, in the agricultural stretches of America, the population is aging and the economy is in many cases unable to sustain ranches and farms. A study published in the journal Society and Natural Resources said between 1990 and 2001 only about a quarter of those who bought parcels of 400 acres or larger in 10 Montana and Wyoming counties were traditional ranchers. ******************More recently, real-estate brokers say, buyers have been scouring the Great Plains for spreads that offer hunting and fishing, wooed by brokerage outfits spearheaded by retailers such as Orvis Co. and Cabela's Inc.***************** *************While the typical land buyer these days is looking for a remote piece of wilderness or ranchland for outdoor sporting activities, or simply to admire the beauty of the landscape, the top landowners tend to be driven by more varied interests like hiking, horsebackriding, skiing, hunting, fishing, skiing, mountain biking, cross country skiing and snowmobiling.**************. Longfellow Ranches near Van Horn, Texas; the property is owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Mr. Bezos, for example, used his parched land in the far reaches of West Texas last year to test a developmental vehicle for his space-flight company, Blue Origin LLC, while Roxanne Quimby, co-founder of cosmetics and candle company Burt's Bees, has acquired acreage in the northwoods of Maine for conservation. To be sure, the nation's rich have long owned large tracts of land. *******But population growth and urban development have made far-flung property more desirable, while advances in transportation and communication have made it more accessible. *******That, combined with the sort of wealth made by Mr. Bezos of Amazon.com ($4.3 billion, according to Forbes Magazine's 2006 estimate) and the woes of the agricultural economy, has sustained the land boom for the very wealthy. The owners of the Dallas-based Land Report LLC, publisher of the magazine, believe the phenomenon merits monthly coverage. With a circulation of 40,000, The Land Report is distributed free to 30,000 of the nation's largest landowners and to some 10,000 industry professionals, such as real-estate brokers. <<<<<<<<"There is an enormous niche that was completely underserved," says Eric O'Keefe, the magazine's editor.>>>>>>> But the concentration of land in the hands of a privileged few could yield a backlash. Ms. Quimby, who sold Burt's Bees in 2002 to private equity firm AEA Investors LLC for $177 million (she retained 20% ownership in the company), wants to assemble about 100,000 acres to help realize a decade-old dream among Maine conservationists to create a national park. She says she has amassed 80,000 acres so far. No. 100 on The Land Report list, Ms. Quimby agreed to allow a year of hunting and motorized access on her latest purchase, the 25,000-acre Sand Stream Sanctuary, which came last September. But she is unapologetic about her plans for her newly acquired property, much of which she has purchased from logging companies. "I don't have to argue the environmental merits of anything," says Ms. Quimby. "I own it." One of Ted Turner's many properties, the Flying D Ranch in Gallatin Gateway, Mont. The nation's largest private landowner is Ted Turner, whose portfolio includes 15 ranches in seven Western states and a total of about two million acres. Long intrigued by bison and how close the animal came to extinction, Mr. Turner acquired his land over the past 30 years in large part to raise livestock. Today his herd of about 45,000 bison allows most of his ranches to pay for themselves in part through sales of steaks and burgers around the country and Mr. Turner's restaurant chain, Ted's Montana Grill. **************Mr. Turner's latest acquisition came in 2005 in Nebraska, where he bought almost 65,000 acres for about $19 million. Russ Miller, general manager of Turner Enterprises Inc., which manages Mr. Turner's land, says the profound economic and demographic change under way in the Great Plains have enabled Mr. Turner to assemble such a large swath. Why so much? "It's the only thing that lasts," says Mr. Miller. It's a declaration Mr. Turner has made in the past, echoing the famous line from "Gone With the Wind."************* Mr. Kelley, who was raised on a farm, says he amassed about half of his landholdings before selling his cigarette manufacturing company. (The Land Report says he has 789,851 acres, but he puts the total at about 1.2 million acres.) Since 2001 he has redoubled his efforts to build a ranching empire, acquiring cattle operations across the country and breeding hoofstock in conjunction with zoos. One place of particular interest for Mr. Kelley has been the Big Bend region of Texas, a vast expanse in the state's western corner. In Brewster County, the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined, Mr. Kelley owns a total of 429,366 acres, according to the county appraisal office. "I have an appreciation for land," says Mr. Kelley. "That's sort of where my heart's at." But Mr. Kelley dismisses the notion that he is a land collector, albeit No. 7 on the list of the nation's top 100. "It's not a hobby," he says. "If you're a hedge fund you buy stocks. If you're a rancher, you buy land." By Conor Dougherty From The Wall Street Journal Online Amid decades of change in Arch Wagner's life, Montana's Boulder River Ranch was the constant. Thirty years ago, Mr. Wagner, then a radiologist in Virginia, spotted the ranch's ad in the back of a fishing magazine. He visited for a week, then returned nearly every summer, teaching his children to fish on the river that runs through the ranch, sprinkling his late wife's ashes there and riding horses with his grandchildren through its 600 acres. Last summer, he didn't go back. Thanks to rising land prices, the family that owned the ranch since 1918 sold to a group of investors that included newscaster Tom Brokaw, and the property stopped taking guests. "Three generations of us went there," says Mr. Wagner. For a century of summers, American travelers have headed to Western ranches, saddled up their horses and galloped away from the tedium of modern life. Now, the future of dude ranching is being threatened by rising land prices and the reach of development. Some ranches are being sold off to a new generation of wealthy investors seeking private retreats, while others are attracting neighbors with names like McDonald's and Starbucks. At the same time, dude ranches that stay in business are racing to catch up with travelers' changing tastes, which increasingly tend toward massages and shopping. At the heart of this is a fact: Many dude ranches rest on land that is now far more valuable than the business on top. More money means more choices. Ranches can continue as if nothing has changed, and many have. They can increase revenue by adding amenities and taking more guests. Or they can cash out, by subdividing the ranch or selling it in its entirety. In 1968, Sherry and Dave Farny bought Skyline Ranch near Telluride, Colo., for $168,000. So when eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman offered to buy their 150 acres a few years ago and, they say, eventually increased her offer to just under $20 million, the Farnys sold. "We would go to bed at night totally exhausted saying, 'What are we doing this for?' " Mrs. Farny says. "We're sitting on a gold mine." Skyline Ranch closed to guests last summer. A spokesman for Ms. Whitman confirmed she bought the property. Ranchland Prices Rise For the one-year period ended March 31, the price of ranch land increased 20% in Wyoming and Colorado, both dude-ranch-heavy states, according to Federal Reserve surveys of agricultural bankers. Ranch values in California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington are up about 19% to $1,642 per acre. The last option has been increasingly lucrative. At a time when so many Americans buy and flip properties for profit, the ranch business stands out for its relatively slow churn. Many ranches have been in the same family for almost a century, and first-time ranchers -- often executives who flee the corporation for a simpler life -- buy with the intent of running the ranch for several years. What's changed is that many new owners have stopped taking guests or have overhauled the property. So the number of dude ranches is slowly decreasing. The Dude Ranchers' Association, a grouping of guest properties west of the Mississippi in the U.S. and Canada, reports that its membership has fallen to 114 ranches last year from 116 in 2003. The Colorado Dude & Guest Ranch Association counts 30 members this year, down from 36 in 1999. The Colorado association estimates three of its ranches are now for sale. Pete Kunz, a retired sales executive who has run the Rawah Ranch in the Colorado Rockies since 1989, recently put the ranch on the market for $2.5 million. He estimates that of the 20 potential buyers he's met with only half or so are interested in the guest-ranch business. He says he's resigned to the idea that new owners may not take guests, but he'd be upset to see it filled with "a bunch of starter castles." Dude ranching traces its roots to the late 19th century, when working cattle ranches took in boarders for extra cash. By the early 20th century, new ranches opened solely to serve city-slicker guests, or dudes. Today, ranches typically charge guests $1,000 to $3,000 per week, which generally pays for activities and three square meals a day. Guests eat family-style, often with the ranch's owners, and they're expected to settle up later if they grab a beer from the lodge fridge. Guests can hike or fish, and may get a chance to help round up cattle. Rooms typically don't have Internet access, or even phones. That's how Tim Murphy likes it. The lawyer from Orinda, Calif., says Montana's Nine Quarter Circle Ranch still looks the same as it did when he started taking his family there in 1979, and he keeps returning for its weekly softball games and Saturday square dances. The ranch's guest rooms don't have TVs, cellphones don't get reception -- there's a land line in the laundry room -- and Mr. Murphy recalls his disappointment when Federal Express started delivering to the ranch more than a decade ago. "It sounds very limiting, but it's very freeing," he says. "The only thing you can do is hang out." But in many ranch areas, the outside world is drawing closer. The Lake Mancos Ranch in Mancos, Colo., is celebrating its 50th year of guiding riders through the San Juan Mountains and taking guests trout fishing in streams where prospectors once panned for gold. Todd Sehnert, its second-generation owner, remembers looking out the lodge window as a child and seeing nothing but trees and cattle. Now, he says, visitors can see three homes and a fourth under construction. The ranch is about five miles out of town on a road that used to have four families living along it; now there are more than 60 addresses. The Sehnert family has put the 235-acre spread on the market for $4 million, and Mr. Sehnert says he expects it won't last much longer as a guest ranch. "Maybe lean more toward a resort or something," he says. Other ranchers have become developers. The owners of the 8,000-acre C Lazy U Ranch in Colorado are selling 35-acre plots for $1 million to $1.5 million. The Home Ranch, also in Colorado, next year plans to sell about 10 home sites a few miles from the dude ranch at about the same price ($1 million for a 35-acre plot). "What we're trying to do is get some money out, but preserve the look and feel," says John Fisher, manager of the Home Ranch. 'Drop-Dead Charming' Of course, not all owners are building rural subdivisions. In many cases, relative newcomers and high-profile owners continue to invite guests: Ted Turner's Vermejo Park Ranch and Val Kilmer's Pecos River Ranch -- both in New Mexico -- take guests. (Pecos River Ranch is on the market for $18 million but will continue to take guests at least until October, the ranch says.) Others say they aim to preserve the land. Mr. Brokaw says he and his partners -- including actor Michael Keaton, musician Dave Grusin and former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin -- had little interest in continuing to run a guest operation at Boulder River Ranch, where Mr. Wagner took his family. "It is an absolutely drop-dead charming place, but it's not where Generation X is looking to go," says Mr. Brokaw, who has owned property nearby for 17 years. "What we were trying to do is keep it from getting chopped up into 25-acre ranch plots." Dude ranches make up a shrinking sliver of the travel industry. The average guest ranch takes about 40 people at a time, and the 114 ranches in the Dude Ranchers' Association have a total capacity of about 4,200 guests. That's fewer than the number of people who can fit on Royal Caribbean's new Freedom of the Seas cruise ship, with a total occupancy of 4,375 passengers. Meanwhile, competition is increasing from spa-style resorts, which typically offer shorter stays and more pampering. According to trade group the International Spa Association, there were 1,662 U.S. resort and hotel spas in 2004, the last year available, compared with 473 in 2000. Many ranches are responding by offering resort-type touches of their own. The Bar Lazy J Guest Ranch in Parshall, Colo., now offers a "spa ride," a four-hour horseback trip to the Hot Sulphur Springs Resort & Spa, where guests can soak in the tubs or get an "herbal wrap" with a vitamin C facial. (The ranch shuttles guest back to camp in a van.) Guests at Arizona's Tanque Verde Ranch can cap off a day of horseback riding with the $150 "Rawhide Renewal," including a creosote-bush scrub, jojoba-butter rub and massage. The Three Bars Cattle & Guest Ranch in Cranbrook, British Columbia, has five golf resorts nearby, and about one-quarter of the ranch's guests skip a morning or afternoon ride to get in a round. Janet Becker and her husband, Jerry, recently went looking for a dude ranch and picked the White Stallion Ranch in Tucson, Ariz. Mrs. Becker made the decision after looking at a Web site with several Arizona ranches, a list of amenities and next to that a column of check boxes. The White Stallion had checks next to almost everything, including hot tub, tennis court and maid service. "I was just thinking if they offered more it would be something we'd like better," says the accounting professor from Pickerington, Ohio. "We didn't want to really rough it." Belgian Draft Horses The influx of treadmills and massage tables has reignited an age-old fight among ranchers over what constitutes a "real" dude ranch. The Dude Ranchers' Association, formed in 1926, requires its members to have horses, offer meals and activities for a single price and have guests stay for at least three nights. While the association's rules don't prohibit spas, golf courses, yoga or phones, old-guard ranchers believe extra trappings diminish the experience. "We don't take change real lightly," says Jeff Cahill, a third-generation owner of the Sixty Three Ranch in Montana. Mr. Cahill says of the newer dude ranches he's seen, "very few of them exemplify the dude ranch." Others are making smaller concessions to modern life. Approaching the Kay El Bar Guest Ranch in Wickenburg, Ariz., guests take a two-lane highway past a small town before veering off onto a bumpy dirt road. The smell of horses permeates the air and the floorboards creak at the main lodge, which is decorated with cattle brands, stirrups and a canteen collection. One of the ranch's recent improvements wasn't a spa, but two Belgian draft horses that can accommodate guests weighing up to 300 pounds. (The ranch's quarter horses can take riders up to 240 pounds.) But just beyond the Kay El Bar a ranch-home development is going in, and on a recent horseback ride one could get glances of construction equipment and fresh home foundations. "You can feel the world is coming," says Nancy Loftis, who owns the ranch with her husband, John. Over the past four decades, Russell True has watched the world change around his family's land. His White Stallion Ranch, on a patch in the Arizona desert, used to be more than a half-hour from the nearest supermarket. Now, though the ranch looks like it's in the middle of nowhere, a five-minute car trip takes guests to a McDonald's, a Starbucks and a Wal-Mart Supercenter, part of the Tucson sprawl that lies just over a buff-colored mountain. With nearby resorts offering golf courses and spas, Mr. True has recently added a fitness center, a small movie theater and in-room manicures. On a recent night Mr. True sliced barbecued pork onto the dinner plates of about 100 guests and later announced a breakfast ride. After walking table to table with a sign-up sheet, he surveyed the patio as guests watched a performer named "Loop Rawlins" twirl guns, crack a whip and jump through hoops of spinning lasso. Longtime dudes walked up to check in with Mr. True, and a grade-school-aged girl jumped into his arms and asked if she could live at the ranch. Mr. True says he gets two or three calls a month from developers, compared with about one annually a year ago. "I've never been tempted for a minute -- that doesn't mean it isn't the most absurd business ever if you figure out what we make versus what the ranch is worth," he says. "But it's what we like to do." Music's Tommy MottolaPays $47 Million for Ranch By Ben Casselman and Troy McMullen From The Wall Street Journal Online Music-industry veteran Tommy Mottola paid $47 million for a 900-acre-plus ranch near Aspen, Colo. The all-cash deal by the former chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment closed yesterday and is thought to be the most ever paid for a single-family home in the state, local brokers say, besting the $46 million Hollywood mogul Peter Guber got for his 650-acre Mandalay Ranch in 2004. Richard Jelinek, a retired medical-industry executive, sold the property, public records show. Mr. Jelinek owned the property for at least 10 years, local brokers say. The property spent about three months on the market with a $48.5 million asking price, according to the town's multiple listing service. Creek and Private Lake Known as Crystal Island Ranch, the property sits in the town of Redstone, about 33 miles northwest of downtown Aspen. A main house of about 12,000 square feet has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The property includes a creek and private lake equipped for water sports, according to its listing. Josh Saslove, of Joshua & Co. real estate in Aspen, handled the transaction. Mr. Mottola, who turns 56 years old today, is the former husband of pop star Mariah Carey (the couple divorced in 1998). After leaving Sony in 2003, Mr. Mottola took the top post at Casablanca Records, where he has signed artists including Lindsay Lohan. He is also producing "StarTomorrow," an Internet-only reality show planned for NBC's site. Mr. Mottola's purchase comes in the same week that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., listed his Aspen-area mansion for $135 million. The price is thought to be the highest ever for a single-family home in the U.S., surpassing the $125 million asking price for an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Fla. Built in 1990, the prince's 95-acre estate includes a main residence that measures 56,000 square feet with 15 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, an indoor swimming pool, an elevator and dumbwaiters. Mr. Saslove has that listing as well. Dr. Quinn, Motivated Seller Actress Jane Seymour is seeking $14.9 million for a Malibu, Calif., villa she bought 2.5 years ago, renovated extensively, but never lived in. She and her husband, actor and director James Keach, say they bought the 1953 house for $4.5 million two years ago from Mr. Keach's brother, the actor Stacy Keach, who had owned it for 25 years. Ms. Seymour and her husband gutted and began to renovate the house and listed it in February for $16 million, a broker with the listing agent says. After finishing the house in May, they cut the price last month. The 9,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa sits atop a gated, six-acre knoll overlooking the Pacific Ocean that once served as a Coast Guard lookout station during World War II. The seven-bedroom, six-bathroom house features a screening room, gym and 3,000 square feet of wrap-around balconies, which were added during the $5 million renovation. The property also includes a three-car garage, pool with pool house, and a two-bedroom guest house, which Ms. Seymour said could be redeveloped separately and sold off. Irene Dazzan-Palmer of Coldwell Banker Previews has the listing. A Millennium of 'Deferred Maintenance' The 55-year-old Ms. Seymour and her husband, 58, say they never intended to live in the house, preferring to remain in their home on Malibu Bluffs, 10 minutes away. In the renovation, everything "was picked out and thought out by us," she says. The couple has renovated several houses in California, without living in them, over the past several decades. Recently they renovated St. Catherine's Court, a manor house near Bath, England, dating from around 950 A.D.: "It was 1,000 years of deferred maintenance," she says. (They rent out that Music's Tommy MottolaPays $47 Million for Ranch By Ben Casselman and Troy McMullen From The Wall Street Journal Online Music-industry veteran Tommy Mottola paid $47 million for a 900-acre-plus ranch near Aspen, Colo. The all-cash deal by the former chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment closed yesterday and is thought to be the most ever paid for a single-family home in the state, local brokers say, besting the $46 million Hollywood mogul Peter Guber got for his 650-acre Mandalay Ranch in 2004. Richard Jelinek, a retired medical-industry executive, sold the property, public records show. Mr. Jelinek owned the property for at least 10 years, local brokers say. The property spent about three months on the market with a $48.5 million asking price, according to the town's multiple listing service. Creek and Private Lake Known as Crystal Island Ranch, the property sits in the town of Redstone, about 33 miles northwest of downtown Aspen. A main house of about 12,000 square feet has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The property includes a creek and private lake equipped for water sports, according to its listing. Josh Saslove, of Joshua & Co. real estate in Aspen, handled the transaction. Mr. Mottola, who turns 56 years old today, is the former husband of pop star Mariah Carey (the couple divorced in 1998). After leaving Sony in 2003, Mr. Mottola took the top post at Casablanca Records, where he has signed artists including Lindsay Lohan. He is also producing "StarTomorrow," an Internet-only reality show planned for NBC's site. Mr. Mottola's purchase comes in the same week that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., listed his Aspen-area mansion for $135 million. The price is thought to be the highest ever for a single-family home in the U.S., surpassing the $125 million asking price for an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Fla. Built in 1990, the prince's 95-acre estate includes a main residence that measures 56,000 square feet with 15 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, an indoor swimming pool, an elevator and dumbwaiters. Mr. Saslove has that listing as well. Dr. Quinn, Motivated Seller Actress Jane Seymour is seeking $14.9 million for a Malibu, Calif., villa she bought 2.5 years ago, renovated extensively, but never lived in. She and her husband, actor and director James Keach, say they bought the 1953 house for $4.5 million two years ago from Mr. Keach's brother, the actor Stacy Keach, who had owned it for 25 years. Ms. Seymour and her husband gutted and began to renovate the house and listed it in February for $16 million, a broker with the listing agent says. After finishing the house in May, they cut the price last month. The 9,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa sits atop a gated, six-acre knoll overlooking the Pacific Ocean that once served as a Coast Guard lookout station during World War II. The seven-bedroom, six-bathroom house features a screening room, gym and 3,000 square feet of wrap-around balconies, which were added during the $5 million renovation. The property also includes a three-car garage, pool with pool house, and a two-bedroom guest house, which Ms. Seymour said could be redeveloped separately and sold off. Irene Dazzan-Palmer of Coldwell Banker Previews has the listing. A Millennium of 'Deferred Maintenance' The 55-year-old Ms. Seymour and her husband, 58, say they never intended to live in the house, preferring to remain in their home on Malibu Bluffs, 10 minutes away. In the renovation, everything "was picked out and thought out by us," she says. The couple has renovated several houses in California, without living in them, over the past several decades. Recently they renovated St. Catherine's Court, a manor house near Bath, England, dating from around 950 A.D.: "It was 1,000 years of deferred maintenance," she says. (They rent out that house most of the year.) Known for playing a Wild West doctor in the 1990s drama series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," Ms. Seymour had a new series this year, the WB comedy "Modern Men," but it was quickly canceled. house most of the year.) Known for playing a Wild West doctor in the 1990s drama series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," Ms. Seymour had a new series this year, the WB comedy "Modern Men," but it was quickly canceled. WE ARE A LOCAL FAMILY(THE REICHWEINS) AND HAVE BEEN A LARGE LANDOWNER AND LAND DEVELOPER IN THIS COUNTY FOR MANY YEARS AND KNOW THIS AREA VERY WELL AS WELL AS HAVE A DEEP LOVE FOR IT. I HOPE THAT THE LOVE FOR THE AREA. THIS AREA IS NOT FOR EVERYONE BUT IS FOR THE PERSON THAT IS LOOKING FOR A PIECE OF LAND IN A PRETTY PLACE WHERE THEY ARE LOOKING TO EITHER BUILD A VACATION CABIN OR RETIREMENT HOME SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE WHERE THEY CAN HAVE SOME HORSES, MAYBE SOME ATV'S OR SOME SNOWMOBILES, DO SOME SKIING, THEIR DOGS DON'T HAVE TO BE ON LEASHES, THE SMALL TOWN THEY LIVE IN IS SMALL AND FRIENDLY BUT HAS BASIC SERVICES LIKE GROCERY, POLICE, FIRE, RESTAURANTS, GAS AND A BRAND NEW HEALTH CLINIC THAT HAS JUST BROKE GROUND AND IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED BY THE END OF 2007. THIS IS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS PERSON THAT WANTS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO LIVE AND WANTS TO BE CLOSE TO ALL THAT THE MORE EXPENSIVE RESORTS OFFER WITHOUT ACTUALLY LIVING THERE WHILE BEING ABLE TO OWN A PIECE OF LAND AS THE LAND ALL AROUND IS SKYROCKETING TO $AMOUNTS THAT IS MAKING OWNING LAND IN THE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN TOWNS OF COLORADO A THING OF THE PAST FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON. THIS IS A VERY PRETTY TRACT THAT IS FLAT AND COVERED WITH WILD GRASSES AND SAGEBRUSHES AND HAS MOUNTAIN VIEWS. THIS LAND IS PERFECT FOR THE PERSON LOOKING FOR A MINI RANCHETTE WANTING TO HAVE SOME HORSES, MAYBE A FEW CATTLE, SOME GOATS, A COUPLE OF LLAMAS AND DO A LITTLE FARMING AS YOU GET 5 ACRES OF IRRIGATION RIGHTS TO HAVE A MINI FARM OR DO MINI ORGANIC FARM WITH THE WELL RIGHTS THAT COMES WITH THE WELL WELL PERMIT THAT COMES WITH THIS TRACT OF LAND. Actor Sells Ranch in Colorado,One of the Priciest in the State By Troy McMullen From The Wall Street Journal Online After a price cut, actor Rick Schroder has found a buyer who'll pay $27 million for his 15,000-acre ranch near Grand Junction in Western Colorado. Mr. Schroder has owned the property, known as Mesa Mood Ranch, for nearly 16 years, and listed the land more than a year ago for $29 million. Despite the recent $2 million discount, the property still ranks as one of the priciest in the state, local brokers say. The prospective buyer wasn't named. The working ranch borders the Grand Mesa National Forest and Colorado National Monument. Mr. Schroder built a 2,500-square-foot log house on the property as well as three guest cabins and several sets of livestock corrals. The property includes forested land and dozens of springs, lakes, and streams. Billy Long, of Ranch Marketing Associates in Denver, has the Colorado listing. The 36-year-old Mr. Schroder, perhaps best known for playing Detective Danny Sorenson on the TV show "NYPD Blue," has had a busy 10 months in the real-estate world. In March, the actor sold his Scottsdale, Ariz., house for close to its $4 million asking price. Last June, the Schroders bought a 21-acre ranch in Topanga, Calif., 28 miles west of Los Angeles, for about $4.2 million. Touchdown! (After Discount) A steep discount helped Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins football team, find a buyer for his Bethesda, Md., house. Mr. Snyder and his wife, Tanya, had bought the property for $1.94 million in 1995, according to public records, and listed it last year as high as $5.39 million. It just sold for $3.65 million to Frank and Jodi Hessel. The seven-bedroom property sits on less than an acre, with four fireplaces, a heated pool, spa, a three-car garage and a wine cellar that can hold 3,000 bottles. It's about eight miles outside Washington, D.C. The Snyders had been using the property while another house they own in nearby Potomac, Md., underwent renovations. That property, bought in July 2001 for $8.6 million, was previously owned by the late King Hussein of Jordan. Mr. Snyder, 41, bought the Redskins in 1999 for $800 million and helped make the franchise one of the National Football League's most profitable. Last year, he led a successful proxy contest to remove the chief executive and other board members of the Six Flags theme-park company. He now serves as nonexecutive chairman. The New American Gentry Wealthy folks are colonizing rural areas, bringing cash, culture -- and controversy By CONOR DOUGHERTYJanuary 19, 2008; Page A1 McCall, Idaho The word "gentrification" conjures up images of once-poor urban neighborhoods invaded by cappuccino bars and million-dollar condos. Now, broad swaths of rural America -- from New England to the Rocky Mountain West -- are being gussied up, too Affluent retirees and other high-income types have descended on these remote areas, creating new demand for amenities like interior-design stores, spas and organic markets. For many communities, it's the biggest change since the interstate highway system came barreling through in the 1960s and 1970s. With the Internet allowing people to work from almost anywhere, the distinction between first and second homes has become blurred. Many people are buying retirement property while they're still employed. Millions of soon-to-retire baby boomers, say demographers, will propel this trend for years to come. "What we're seeing is a class colonization," says Peter Nelson, an associate professor of geography at Middlebury College and an expert on rural migration. "It really represents a shift in the nature of the economy from a resource-extraction economy to an aesthetic-based economy." Such change can create social tensions, as longtime residents are either driven away because they can no longer afford housing or are forced to adapt to new careers. The impact of rural gentrification is playing out in this lakeside town, situated roughly 100 miles from Boise in Valley County. For decades it's been home to ranchers, farmers and timber workers. It has also served as a weekend retreat for residents throughout the state who flocked to Payette Lake for summer fishing and boating. Today, Valley County is attracting newcomers from as far away as New York and Sydney. They're putting up second and third residences costing well over $1 million -- price levels once reserved for the few waterfront properties. In recent years, developers have snatched up land for $100,000 an acre in some cases, or 40 times what it fetched as farmland. Though home prices here are declining as in other parts of the nation, houses still cost about 60% more than in 2004. After the close of a sawmill, an Idaho town is embracing tourism. The influx of money is creating new jobs in hotels and restaurants as traditional industries like farming and timber fade out. Tamarack ski resort in nearby Donnelly helped super-charge growth in the area. Opened in 2004, the resort, the nation's newest downhill ski destination, is expected to cost about $1.5 billion when fully completed in a decade or so. Retail sales in the Valley County area increased 30% between 2003 and 2005, according to local research. New members in the McCall Chamber of Commerce include a jewelry store and two art galleries. Jeff Bowlby, a Seattle cabinet manufacturer, has purchased three properties here over the past six years. Along the way, he's noticed an explosion of new services and goods for sale. One local fly-fishing store, for instance, now sells rubber waders for $750 a pair. Spa del Sol offers a $125 Salmon River stone massage, using heated local stones that have been carefully selected "for their shape and energy." Remarks Mr. Bowlby: "The notion of getting a massage five years ago was pretty crazy." City Market & Wine shop opened here about a year ago and caters to epicureans with $200 bottles of Italian Barolo and two dozen varieties of olive oil. For Thanksgiving, the store posted a sign-up sheet for organic turkeys. "Probably every Range Rover in town shops here," says Mark Colafranceschi, a Canadian transplant who owns the shop with his fiancée. Uneven Development Rural gentrification, and the trappings that go with it, isn't unique to Idaho. Washington's Methow Valley, once a logging community, now attracts cross-county skiiers. Its Twisp Municipal Airport boasts about 30 hangars for private planes, or double the number 10 years ago. Virginia's Bath County, tucked into the Allegheny Mountains, encompasses a number of land grants given to colonists in the 1600s. A longtime favorite among hunters, boaters and fishermen, it began sprouting second homes in the 1990s. And yet gentrification is selective. Rural America makes up about three-quarters of the nation's land mass, but has just 17% of the population, about 50 million people. Many mining towns and Great Plains' farming communities have stagnating or shrinking populations while more scenic communities are soaking up new residents. One indicator of rural gentrification: An increase in residents' total dividend, interest and rent income. That measurement, tracked by the Commerce Department, is a sign that new residents -- usually retirees -- are living off their investments rather than salaries. In Teton County, Wyo., home of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, total dividend, interest and rent income has risen 177% between 1996 and 2005, one of the largest increases in rural America. Other resort counties have seen similar increases. Eagle County, Colo., which includes Vail, has had a 109% increase in non-wage income , while Mono County, Calif., where Yosemite National Park is located, has had a 94% rise. In Valley County and elsewhere, the influx of city money can be a challenge for rural economies. Infrastructure like roads and sewers becomes strained. Fire departments, which often rely on volunteers, don't expand as quickly as the housing stock. and the newcomers push prices up, in some cases forcing locals to outlying towns. To lure teachers, the McCall-Donnelly Joint School District three years ago created a $250,000 housing fund , and rents apartments to teachers at subsidized rates of $500 to $1,000 a month. But a number of veteran teachers have moved to nearby New Meadows, in adjacent Adams County, where real estate is cheaper. Kurt Dwello is one of them. A sixth-grade math and science teacher, he moved to McCall in the early 1980s and spent $40,000 building a house there. When he looked out his window, he saw an open pasture and grazing cattle. Three years ago, when he packed up for New Meadows, the view had been transformed -- to one of a golf course and several new houses. "It was getting too busy here and things were getting really expensive," he says. The area, though, has not been immune to the real-estate bust. Construction has slowed and building permits today are down. If they were to sell today, people who bought at the peak in 2005 would most likely lose money. But demographic trends indicate that people will continue coming here. One reason: baby boomers and the previous generation are moving to rural areas in increasing numbers. Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute, says 76% more people over age 50 moved to "recreation counties" -- places with lots of amenities and seasonal housing -- in the 1990s than in the 1980s. "This suggests that people who are now in their 50s and 60s are moving into these recreation counties more than in the past," he says. Ripple Effects Jim Jones is the kind of person who, without a career change, couldn't have lived here before the Internet. Mr. Jones, a 59-year-old sales consultant, moved to McCall full-time from Issaquah, Wash. about nine months ago after tiring of traffic, people and noise. He still works a six- or seven-day week and spends a lot of time on the road. But living in McCall has its bonuses -- like afternoon skiing. "It's been discovered and that's a good thing," he says. "Communities like this have to grow, because they've got too much to offer not to." In Valley County, as with a great many gentrifying areas, some local residents are turning to the political process to try to keep the area from becoming another Aspen or Vail. Over the past few years, the McCall City Council has placed limits on chain restaurants and passed an ordinance prohibiting gated communities. A measure to increase the height limit on lakefront buildings to 50 feet from the current 35 feet was shot down. One of the more contentious issues has been the local airport, which doesn't yet have commercial service. Those who support the area's changes would like to lengthen the runway and add a passenger terminal. Those against growth would prefer to see the airport stay just as it is. "Are you going to be a government for the people who live here or are you going to be a government for the people who want to come here and develop?" says Tuck Miller , a ski coach and McCall native who recently ran for City Council and lost. "That's what every one of these fights is about." The ripples of gentrification can even be felt in nearby Cascade, a blue-collar town whose culture once revolved around the timber industry and the now-defunct Boise Cascade saw mill. "It used to be only locals," says Karen Cowper, a bartender at the Valley Club, which has walls adorned with mounted moose heads, a selection of hard hats and a sign that reads: "We support the timber industry." These days, the bar is packed with construction workers and ski bums who come up to work and play. Ms. Cowper, 54 years old, says she now makes about $150 on a weekend evening -- triple what she collected in tips three years ago. To keep up with changing tastes , the bar now stocks Guinness and microbrews, says Ms. Cowper, who scrawls new drink recipes on index cards and keeps them in a flip-top metal box. She isn't the only one learning new tricks. With the closing of the saw mill, many workers retooled their skills and moved to service jobs. Ron Lundquist, who had operated a forklift at the mill, earned a degree in hotel management. Today, the 52-year-old is marketing director at the Ashley Inn, a new hotel in Cascade. Instead of hauling lumber from the conveyor to train, he does things like traveling to snowmobile-trade shows to promote the area. Though he misses the camaraderie of the sawmill, he says "I'm proud of what everybody has pulled together to make happen here." Evolving Fortunes Valley County has tracked the arc of rural gentrification. Like much of the West, its first growth spurt followed the Civil War. The Homestead Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, provided up to 160 acres of western land to anyone willing to live on and farm it. Eastern farmers and immigrants headed west. But rural growth slowed almost as quickly as it surged. By the turn-of-the-century, with much of the desirable western land settled, most of America's immigrants began pouring into cities. They were joined by descendants of the original homesteaders. With mechanized farming reducing the need for labor, young people left the farm for urban jobs. The shift to the cities continued over the next several decades. Until recently, Valley County's economy rose and fell on farming and timber. In the 1970s, when the local timber industry was at its peak, there were five mills in the vicinity. In later decades, mills were shuttered as a result of job-displacing technology and federal limits on logging in national forests. Rural counties gained population in the 1990s, a development that surprised demographers who dubbed it the "rural rebound." This movement continued in 2001 and after. One area that picked up traction was Valley County. Between 2003 and 2006 , the county issued an average of 530 new housing permits a year, compared with an average of 167 a year in the previous three years. The population increased 16% to 8,836 between 2000 and 2006 , and almost all the growth was due to people moving in. Roughly 54% of the county's homes are occupied by part-time residents. A Fancier Playground Valley County long has been a recreation hub. Payette Lake, a glacier lake that sits on the edge of McCall , is a summer draw for boaters and fisherman. But it's become a lot fancier: Hotel McCall recently added a restaurant. And it replaced its room keys, which were attached to wooden buoys that could float, with plastic key cards. Winter sports have taken on increasing importance. In 1961, the Brundage Mountain Resort opened with financing from J.R. Simplot, the billionaire potato magnate. More recently, the Tamarack Ski Resort has spent millions on magazine ads and radio commercials to broadcast the virtues of Valley County to wealthy homebuyers around the world. People like Scott Pine have come here for good. A few years ago, Mr. Pine, a 54-year-old high-tech entrepreneur who spent his career in Silicon Valley and Seattle, began looking at homes in Bend, Ore., and Minden, Nev., near Lake Tahoe. After the opening of Tamarack, he and his wife spent $1.1 million building a four bedroom house in McCall. It sits on the ninth hole of a golf course and has views of the northern Rockies. "You have all this open space and nobody is around you," he says. Some are finding it hard to let go of the past. Ken Roberts, an Idaho state representative, has spent his entire adult life farming hay, grass and oats on land that has been in his family since 1901. That was the year his grandfather arrived in a horse-pulled wagon whose splintered, rusted remains sit under a canopy of ponderosa and aspen pine trees on the edge of the family farm. Now that Valley County has been discovered, the value of Mr. Roberts's family land has shot up from about $1,500 an acre a few years ago to more than $100,000 in some places. When his mother, who is in her late 70s, passes on, he estimates the federal tax bill could exceed the total earnings of three family generations. Despite the huge tax hit, Mr. Roberts says his goal is to keep at least some of the 600 acres in the family. "There's 106 years of family history down there, and I love to farm," he said on a recent evening, as he sat in his truck and looked down on his land. Mr. Roberts acknowledges that his problem is a good one to have. But unless he sells the land to a developer, his family will remain land rich and cash poor. So now he's looking to develop certain parcels, and use the money to preserve the rest as farmland. He's also found a way to supplement the farm's modest income: he started a construction company. | ||||||||||||||
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