Getting your player ready...
Two years ago, builder Ward Ritter of Chartered Homes re-engineered his enclave of home sites beside Colorado National Golf Club in Erie for ranch plans – ones designed for very-low-maintenance lots, with finished basement space included in the price. The new ranches caught the rising tide of the market – and Latitude at Vista Ridge zipped through 70 sales, most of them in the past year, leaving only nine remaining sites for the busiest months of the real estate year.
“It’s amazing how this location has taken off,” said Ritter, who was walking the enclave, checking on several ranches under construction that each show customized elements ordered by their purchasers, filling in the few remaining spaces in Latitude, off Highway 7 two miles west of I-25. A mile east of the area, he notes, University of Colorado Health is planning a 66-acre campus, close to where Children’s Hospital is expanding. A mile south, the new 470 Northwest Parkway carries shoppers and commuters west into Flatirons in eight minutes; east to DIA or south to downtown in 20 minutes. There’s new shopping at Orchard Town Center; close to yet another soon-to-arrive med center. East, west and south of the site, that new connectivity has drawn some major master planned communities devoted exclusively to age-55-and-older buyers – but Latitude has no age restrictions, and offers much the same breadth of recreational amenities as those other larger areas, at well off their price points. “The 55-and-older master plans are getting lots of attention now, but they can run $100,000 higher than this,” says R.D. Baker, who will show you two ranch models, plus an extra-large “St. Andrews” ranch that’s set to be delivered to its buyer soon. Prices on the nine remaining home-and-site packages, all with added basement space finished, will run from around $290,000 to $420,000 – that for a final remaining site that backs to a trail corridor off the golf course. You can see Vista Ridge’s rec center, two community pools and tennis courts, and trails that reach west from the enclave to the golf clubhouse, with its grille and bar. The amenities, along with front yard landscape and snow removal, are all wrapped into a single HOA fee that’s currently $143 per month. Meanwhile, says Baker, some sales traffic arriving to see those last sites has nothing to do with low prices: They’re people from south metro towns like Highlands Ranch and Castle Pines who can find nothing in the way of low-maintenance, lock-n-leave ranches in their own areas. To reach from Denver, take I-25 north from 120th seven miles, just past E470, to Highway 7; then head west two miles to Vista Ridge’s entry at Mountain View. Or from Boulder, take Baseline east 13 miles. WHERE: Close-out of Latitude at Vista Ridge; nine remaining low-maintenance ranch homes by Chartered Homes, golf & amenities; lock-n-leave lifestyle; no age restriction; finished basement standard. 1963 Fairway Pointe Drive, Erie; Hwy 7 at Mountain View Blvd (Vista Ridge entry nearest I-25). Take I-25 north one exit past E470 to Hwy 7, west 2 mi. to Mountain View; or from Boulder take Baseline east to Mountain View PRICE: From high $200s
