Single-family home on Ridge Road sells for $3.4 million, sets mark for Basalt proper

The single-family home at 240 Ridge Road in Basalt broke a record Monday when it sold for $3.4 million. (Courtesy David Marlow)

The Aspen Times
Aspen CO, Colorado
May 17, 2008



BASALT — Times are tough in the local real estate market, but that didn’t prevent the setting of an apparent record for a single-family-home sales price in Basalt this week.

A $3.4 million deal closed May 12 for a house at 240 Ridge Road. The home is in the Basalt Highlands subdivision and sold to the Barbara L. McMahon Living Trust, according to a deed filed with the Eagle County Clerk and Recorder’s office.

The house size is modest, by today’s standards, at 4,184 square feet, three bedrooms and 31⁄2 bathrooms. The interior features 110-year-old reclaimed heart pine floors and a tongue-and-groove ceiling from a mill in North Carolina. The home was sold furnished.

A top selling point was clearly its commanding position at the top of a hillside overlooking Basalt and offering stunning views of Mount Sopris and the valley floor. The house’s location is in Basalt what the top of Red Mountain is in Aspen.

That record sale was confirmed by data tracked by the Aspen-Glenwood Springs Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The previous highest sale price within Basalt’s town boundaries was $3.35 million for a home in the Roaring Fork Club, which sold in January.

Sales of homes in Emma and in the Fryingpan Valley regularly eclipse the $3.4 million mark, but they are outside the town boundaries.

The house was on the market for about one year and was listed at $3.8 million. The home was designed in 2004 by Carbondale architect Doug Muse and he was the only owner prior to this sale. The house isn’t huge, but it uses the site well. It’s not a cabin but it’s rustic enough to match the desires of many people.

This sale shows that the right home, with a great location and finishes, can sell even in a sluggish market. There are qualified buyers out there, and when a house fits their needs and is appropriately priced, they will buy.

Over the years, Basalt has evolved as more of a destination market — rather than one that captures buyers that spill down from Aspen. Much of that evolution occurred since the Roaring Fork Club was developed in 1996 and brought a different kind of buyer to the midvalley market.

The first single-family home sale to top $1 million in Basalt appeared to occur in July 2003 on Riverside Drive, according to MLS statistics. A home there went for almost $1.3 million. Since then there have been roughly 85 sales in Basalt proper that topped that mark.

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