We’re closing on 2 acres in Bailey on Monday!

We are closing on 2 beautiful acres of land on the side of a mountain in Bailey on Monday October 23, 2017 – let the journey begin! Well, this journey began, as it often does, with an idea. If you want to learn more about how this journey began, click the Continue Reading button below…

Anyone who really knows me also knows that I read a lot. I love to read the news from different perspectives, fiction (historical fiction is a favorite), travel, history, etc. etc. One day, I read with interest that the #1 listing on Airbnb was a treehouse in suburban Atalanta Georgia. I’ve spent a lot of time in Atlanta working with a client in the mid 1990’s when I was an investment banker. Atlanta is a beautiful city with a lot to offer. I adore Buckhead (what I think is the best part of town). But for treehouse? That gets $375/night, two night minimum, and is booked a year out?

Note that Atlanta has a major mosquito infestation problem, so having the windows open and sleeping outdoors is probably not a good idea without mosquito netting.

Also note that you have to go next-door to the owner’s own typical suburban house to use the bathroom. Not exactly what I would picture as a super desirable treehouse experience. Yet, the success of this property is clear – people love the idea of sleeping in a treehouse!

So, I thought surely there would be some cool treehouse offerings in Colorado on Airbnb. To my surprise, there wasn’t any REALLY good treehouses in our entire state! So, this is where the idea started. Having a few years of experience listing some of our properties on Airbnb, I knew that the first thing I needed to do was to check with the county planning departments to see what county would be the easiest to build in and operate a short-term rental out of. My search ended with Park County, Colorado having no short term rental rules whatsoever. Then I looked where in Park County might be the best place for our treehouse with the main requirement being that it is close to Denver. I settled on searching in and around Bailey, CO, which is only an hour from Downtown Denver, 1:15 from Boulder, and under 2 hours from Colorado Springs.

Having narrowed the search, we contacted our realtor Keith Dodd. I told him what we were looking for (raw land in Bailey, CO with a lot of trees) and he set up a search for us. We were lucky. We quickly found the 2 acre lot that we will purchase on Monday. It has everything that we wanted:

• Close to town (just up 285 and no I70 driving!)
• Only 5 minutes of dirt road – the rest is paved highway or two lane
• Amazing views!
• A lot of trees
• Sloping lot

So, this is our first big step in this project. The next step will be to hire an architect and builder. We are in discussions with some folks right now and will hope to have some news in the next week or so. Since we don’t have a sketch yet, here is some of the highlights of what we have envisioned:

• A walking bridge from the road takes you to the main house.
• The main house is only about 800-1,000 square feet and contains a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. It is elevated at least 15-20′ above the forrest floor.
• There are floor to ceiling windows facing the view.
• There is a big, expansive deck with trees coming through and a nice fire pit to sit around to watch the sunrise with a cup of coffee or one of our beautiful Colorado sunsets with a glass of wine.
• A rope bridge from the deck takes you to the second bedroom.
• This bedroom has it’s own bathroom, floor to ceiling windows, a large deck, and fire pit.
• There are no televisions.
• There is an indoor/outdoor Sonos system with specially curated music to help people relax while they are our guests.
• The look is mountain contemporary comfortable – like a warm blanket on a beautiful cold snowy day, the home embraces you and wicks whatever stress you have away. It smells good, it feels good, it sounds good (thanks to Sonos), and it looks amazing thanks go great architecture and the amazing Rocky Mountain setting.

We look forward to sharing the journey to make this dream a reality in late 2018! As soon as we know when the treehouse will be completed, we will post a booking schedule so you can be some of the first guests in this amazing property. Be sure to sign up for updates so you can keep up with our progress and be the first to know when it’s available to book!

Thanks for following along with us,

Peter and Delinda