Aspen properties are charming. Many are turnkey. Aspen is enchanting with its sprawling mountain estates. We are perched. Savory. Iconic. Powder-dusted. Basking. And best of all — nestled.
You heard that right. Aspen properties are often nestled in one cozy nook or another. As you are about to find out, nestled properties, although numerous, are costly. The higher the price, the more likely the nestling.
I’m in the wrong business. Instead of sweating out this column for peanuts on a weekly grind, I could be writing real estate copy, enticing the gullible rich to spend a whole lot of money on being part of Aspen. And if they have enough liquid assets, nestling is part of the deal. Impeccable craftsmanship? Cozy condo? Exhilarating and refined? I got this.
Sometimes words pop up in the foamy sewage of advertising or among news pundits and politicians, and they catch my ear. For decades, I have been hearing and seeing that high-end real estate is nestled. Is it just me and my over-sensitivity? Nope. The word is being sprinkled around like raindrops in Florida.
I simply clicked on a link to a real estate ad in the online edition of this paper and I was off to the races. The very first listing was a sweet wave of verification. “The property is nestled above the Roaring Fork River with Aspen Mountain as the centerpiece view.” Sounds good!
The third listing for an Aspen property, coming in at just shy of $28 million, is indeed nestled, too. “Nestled on a 2.4-acre property, this land is subdivided, allowing for a second home of 5,750 square feet and the potential to build up to 9,250 square feet for the main house.”
So, yes, nestling can occur on land without a house — even on what some might consider small amounts of acreage. But it’s fun to think of how many years of banging, nailing, sawing and cementing will have to go down before the nestling begins. And it begs the question, can we nestle in our newly finished 9,250-square-foot house if the neighbor just started to build their nest?
This got me wondering. Can a condominium be nestled? What about downvalley communities? The good news is that nestling sprawls further down the valley than you might think. Did you know this? “Basalt is a hidden gem nestled at the confluence of the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork Rivers?” Now you do! I recently took a stroll through some Basalt neighborhoods and I can attest that Basalt is indeed charming, caters to outdoor enthusiasts and as you would expect, many of the listed properties are wonderfully nestled.
Life in Aspen, as reflected in local real estate copy, is as rarified and luxurious as one can imagine. If only people appreciated the appointments and finishes as much as they are supposed to. If you are in one of these places are you savoring the impeccable craftsmanship? Do you have diverse tastes and desires? Are you immersing yourself in art galleries, gourmet restaurants and hiking paths that are waiting just outside your nestled, vaulted estate? If you are lucky enough to be living a nestled life you owe it to the rest of us to savor and celebrate every minute of it.
And how amazing is it to step outside and into a community that has a small-town vibe, fitting right in with torn jeans and Patagonia puffball jackets? This can be extended by purchasing high-end Mercedes Sprinter Vans with all the luxuries, where you can perch for magnificent views, providing for extreme, almost camp-like nestling.
Celebrity sightings? They’re part of the nestled lifestyle — practically guaranteed. The former homes of celebrities like Jack Nicholson, John Denver, Prince Bandar, Don Henley, Cher and Ringo Starr are almost certainly deeply nestled. Back in the day, celebrities lived here incognito; walking and dining side by side with the bootless and unhorsed. I knew a few of them myself. Many of their properties were indeed nestled, but not all were sprawling.
Most of today’s Aspen celebrities are not familiar to me. I occasionally read of celebrities performing at private gigs or scooping up loose cash at campaign fundraisers or misbehaving at Cloud Nine. And maybe they blend right in when they are not doing celebrity things. I think that many folks like that just want to be left alone by the locals and their problems. They would rather stay nestled off the ground, with views of cleared fields brimming with wildlife and quaking aspen trees in places from which others are excluded.
Just to be fair, I shopped at various real estate sites and the colorful language borders on soft pornography, but dig deep enough and you will find properties that are wholesomely nestled. One such place is, “A glorious hideaway from the nearby center of Aspen, nestled just below the trailhead to the Conundrum Hot Springs, perfect for hiking or horseback riding, with world class cycling on Castle Creek Road just minutes away.” That level of nestling costs over $18 million. And who doesn’t want to live in a “zen modern masterpiece?” I don’t know anyone.
With $3.1 billion in sales in 2023, the local real estate market is said to remain “robust.” That is very good news indeed.
They say that money can’t buy you love — but money can buy you nestling — and nestling feels a lot like love for a while until the thrill wears off.
I for one am ready for sprawling, art deco antiques and glorious sunrises and sunsets. If they occur in a nestled place, all the better.