Last year, you couldn’t find a builder starting any new models in mountain resort communities…but this weekend, 70 minutes west of Denver, Rendezvous is doing just that: bringing new homes on line, ranch-style townhomes with finished walk-outs and attached garages that were fast sellers in 2006 and 2007, when the mountain market sizzled.

Silvio DeBartolomeis of Koelbel and Company shows off large ranch-style resort townhomes with garages and walk-out lower levels, the first home starts in Grand County.

With temperatures sizzling in Denver, this is a great day to drive over Berthoud Pass (high in Winter Park today, 76 F) and see those new, bright, very private ProngHorn townhomes and the new prices that go with them: From as low as $419,900, with views of the back ranges, trails and amenities, a free shuttle to the lifts during winter, just five minutes from Winter Park’s shops, bars and dining. more »

Bell Mountain Ranch, south of Castle Rock, is at the epicenter of two worlds this summer–maybe the prettiest views in Douglas County, facing west toward the Ramparts and the back ranges; with plenty of buttes and piney forests right inside the neighborhood. Bell Mountain is also the center of a bell curve of luxury home listings that mounted after 2008, when the market turned south. Right now, there are around 30, roughly the same number as last spring; but with realistic sounding prices that put them within striking range of people selling homes under $500,000.

Realtor Joan Pratt with RE/MAX Professionals shows off the stocked trout pond to goes with a walk-out ranch, one of five homes open today in Bell Mountain Ranch.

Realtor Joan Pratt with RE/MAX PRofessionals can show you five houses ranging from $750,000 down to $560,000; just a tad over the half-million mark that’s a rough dividing line between buyer’s and seller’s markets now. “Properties are selling at a faster rate than a year ago,” says Pratt, who lives in and specializes in Bell Mountain Ranch. more »

When Tony and Lisa Nolan of Highlands Ranch took off skiing in Winter Park over the holidays, they had no idea that they would end up captivated by an entirely different mountain…or that they’d put down a deposit on a new ski-in, ski-out condo…one with a price $150,000 less than when the project opened last year.

Watching the kids ski at Sol Vista, homeowners gather for wine-n-cheese at Base Camp One; including Tony and Lisa Nolan, left; developer Greg Finch, center, and his daughter Amy and wife Sharon to the right.

Last week the Nolans were back with their young kids to see their place at Base Camp One, by the lifts at Sol Vista in Granby Ranch, 15 miles beyond Winter Park. “I had no idea this was here,” Lisa Nolan said, spending their first weekend skiing at Sol Vista, where the condo is set to close this week. “It just makes so much sense.” more »