Is there a neighborhood that’s the single-best setting for access to trails into the metro Denver area’s natural surroundings? That would be Ken Caryl Valley in South Jefferson County, tucked behind the Dakota Hogback and wrapped in 4,800 acres of scenic, private open space, a half hour from either downtown or the Denver Tech Center.

Re/Max Professionals agent Eva Stadelmaier will show potential buyers a custom main-floor-master plan with a walkout basement there that backs to the scenery and has trailheads within steps.

It came out of the ground in 1983, when the former ranch was attracting the top builders and when two annual Denver Metro parades of homes were staged there to show off the setting and the imaginative site plan. One of the selling points then was that only 3,350 homes would ever be built in the valley — a limit long since passed, meaning that the only way in now is through buying a resale home.

EQUESTRIAN CENTER

Even in a stagnant year for the real estate market, Stadelmaier is currently doing more than $60 million a year in sales there, ranking her as the top Re/Max agent in Denver and one of the top-10 in the country — partly owing to how uncommonly attractive this location is.

“What you get is amazing,” she said, ticking off amenities that include three pools, tennis and pickleball courts, 11 playgrounds, a nationally rated K-through-8 school, and an equestrian center — not to mention a hilltop manor house that had overlooked the historic ranch, now an event center for weddings and community-wide celebrations. Residents in the Valley get all of that, including the red-rocked open space, for $78 a month — plus an extra $25 for the all-custom North Ranch neighborhood where this one sits.

The price is $1.995 million, in a general real estate market where Stadelmaier said she sees lots of buyers sitting on the fence.

“It has views and it’s completely updated top-to-bottom,” she said of the four-bedroom custom home at 7 Red Fox in the Valley’s North Ranch. It has a view-swept family room and separate study, a chef’s kitchen with a big walk-in pantry, two overhead lofts including one that’s a second home office, new Andersen windows, a big laundry with cabinetry and a dog wash, and a finished walkout with guest suite and bath, wet bar, gas fireplace and a patio spa overlooking the custom landscaping.

TIME ON THE MARKET

“The market is definitely feeling the hit,” Stadelmaier said; but she adds that the average time on the market now in the Valley is around 60 days, well under the average for the broader area. Her sale price is just a bit beyond the $1.8 million median-priced home in the custom North Ranch area of the community.

Stadelmaier adds that the listing has been on the market just 30 days, and unlike the price cuts seen up-and-down the state this past season, the price on this one will hold. She’ll have it open this Sunday, Nov. 16, from 11-to-1.

OPEN THIS SUNDAY:

WHERE: 7 Red Fox Lane, Littleton (North Ranch in Ken-Caryl Valley); from C-470 at Ken Caryl exit, head west on Ken Caryl Avenue, continue right at fork to stay on Ken Caryl, proceed 1 mile, merge right onto North Ranch Road, continue 1 mile to Red Fox.

SIZE: 4 bedrooms/5 baths, 5,551 square feet. 

PRICE: $1,995,000 

WEB: HomesInLittleton.com 

OPEN: Sunday, Nov. 16, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.  

AGENT: Eva Stadelmaier, (303) 619-4880