By Mark Samuelson

The Community of the Year for the entire Denver Metro Area: Homebuyers are showing every sign that they already know that coveted award was won this year by BackCountry – Highlands Ranch’s final chapter unfolding against 8,200 acres of scenic open space.

Sundial House, Gold Nugget award winning clubhouse, is luring large numbers of visitors behind BackCountry’s gates. Its Pikes Pub bar overlooks the 467-acre – South Rim.

And those buyers are arriving to see BackCountry in big numbers – up to 100 visitors a weekend despite the winter weather. more »

Ninety minutes west of town, Granby Ranch and SolVista ski area are tracking the best ski-visitor year they’ve ever seen, on pace to beat last year’s record. “Families that live here are up here every weekend,” says Jennifer Colley, sales director.

Builder Ken Ash and Sales Rep Jennifer Colley show the trail layout for the two homes at Granby Ranch; and have ski passes for families that tour.

“People tell me ‘We know our neighbors here; we don’t necessarily know our neighbors in Denver.’” Colley will show you two resort homes that could put you in that mix…at prices that sound more like townhomes than single-family. more »

Developer Clark Lipscomb has Craftsman-styled resort homes with views of the Continental Divide and three ponds brimming with rainbows…seven minutes from the ski lifts at Winter Park. The location is 90 minutes from Coors Field and prices are $300,000 less than they were a few years back…but it’s local property owners from out of state that are getting the deals; not Denverites.

Developer Clark Lipscomb of Cornerstone Holdings casts into a resident’s pond nearby Grand Park’s first neighborhood, Cozens Meadow in Winter Park.

Lipscomb’s Grand Park resort beside the new Grand Park Rec Center, has three homes closing this week and next; but recent buyers, says Lipscomb, tend to be from California, Washington or back east – people who already own older places in Winter Park and who have watched the market, waiting for the moment to move up. more »