Getting your player ready...
It’s been one of the most remarkable successes of the past two years, and it had to end sooner or later – but legendary retirement builder Del Webb is down to its last five sites ranches in Anthem Ranch, the 55-and-older community off Highway 7 in Broomfield. Those five are unlikely to last into March – meaning that Del Webb’s ten model show homes will come on the market next month, on some of the best settings ever offered in the community.
Del Webb’s ranch designs – ones that totally clicked with Colorado buyers – were a rare success story during the slowest years of the down market, and became hugely popular over the past two years, sometimes luring 30 home sales in a single month. “Now we’re seeing people that we had talked with two years ago, suddenly anxious to get the best setting here that they can,” says David Foster, who along with Tom Studebaker will show those last sites at Anthem Ranch this weekend. They’ll also show you the amenities created by Del Webb that reflect the Arizona-based company’s 65 years of experience in master plans designed around this kind of buyer. With a pulsating social life centered on its Aspen Lodge community center with resort-style pool, fitness lab and 48 miles of surrounding trail, Anthem Ranch’s buyers are openly expressive of how much they like the lifestyle – not just the trail-wrapped community plan, but the dozens of themed clubs and frequent community events that it spawned. All of that is provided at a surprisingly reasonable HOA – currently $162/month – part of the Del Webb model and of the allure, too. Meanwhile, recent buyers may like those economical amenities, but they’ve been surprisingly less guarded about finished price tags. In 2011 Del Webb opened Quandary Loop, a tier of sites on Anthem Ranch’s western side overlooking Boulder County open space – and saw buyers rush to take advantage; running up finished prices of some homes to $800,000 and more after they loaded on walkout levels, 3-car garages and other options – remarkable numbers considering that Del Webb still has one single-family ranch at Anthem available at around $340,000. With those gone, the company opened another 90 sites last year centered around Hope Circle, close to Aspen Lodge – but they’ve sold like mint juleps at Mardi Gras, and only five are left. That’ll leave the ten model homes, expected to be priced from the $340s for the most petite, to around $900,000 for one loaded with options on a site with the same view as Del Webb’s visitor center: across a lake to the Indian Peaks behind Boulder. Some of those models will have similar views, some with walkout levels; and all of them will back to open space. Studebaker and Foster can put you on a list to notify you when prices for those show homes are released next month. Meanwhile, if you have time to pick a site for a personalized plan on one of those final five sites, you still need to be planning your transition now, Foster says. Buyers are reporting an increasingly better market for their older homes – and many end up having to rent after they sell the old place faster than anticipated. Anthem Ranch, adds Foster, will likely have other homes to come by other builders; but for Del Webb and its designs, this is it. To visit the final lots and those models on their one-of-a-kind sites from Denver, take I-25 north just past 470 to Highway 7, then west three miles to Lowell and south to Anthem Ranch Road; or from Boulder, take Baseline east 12 miles, past Lafayette, to Lowell. WHERE: Anthem Ranch, 55-and-older community, closeout of Del Webb ranch designs; 5 final sites close to community center; sign up for information on release of Del Webb’s 10 designer show homes. 16583 Las Brisas Dr., Broomfield; I-25 north past 470 to Hwy 7, west 3 mi. to Lowell, left (south) 2 blks to Anthem Ranch, west; or from Boulder, take Baseline east 12 miles, past Lafayette, to Lowell.You can see all of Mark Samuelson’s columns at DenverPost.com/RealEstate. Follow Mark Samuelson on Twitter:
@marksamuelson
