Recently I went on a Ranch Tour which featured seven properties for sale around Steamboat Springs, CO.

There was a bank-owned property within 15 miles of the ski area and minutes from the airport. The Mountain Plains Farm Credit guy who is holding the note said they are super willing to be flexible with financing a new owner. The 108-acres, 4,700 s.f. home, and huge barn has an asking price of $1,495,000. It seems like a good deal, though the house is a bit funky inside, and I’m guessing they’d take less.

We saw acreage, some with great water rights (which is a commodity in the west – 20th century Gold, it’s called) and great fishing as you can imagine. One had multiple lots, great views and paved access near town. And another overlooked Steamboat Lake in the heart of snowmobiling mecca.

But my personal favorite felt like something out of a Gunsmoke western dream. I wanted a horse with reins I could lash to the fence post. To hear cowboys throwing hay bales in the hay loft or mucking out the 2,376 square foot barn, and to watch Elk in the pastures alongside the 1/2 mile of the Little Elk River. My husband would be chopping wood, my son strolling out of the caretaker’s cabin with a future young son of his own on his shoulders. With its conservation easement this place will be unchanged for generations to come. Log home, windows and rock, solid. All that’s missing is Ben and Hoss Cartwright.

Asking price: $2,000,000.00.
Location: 180 acres, ten miles north of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Ability to win your heart and imagination: Gigantic.