The cost to close on one of our properties is the purchase price of a lot plus a $399 processing fee. We accept the following forms of payment: bank wire transfer, Zelle money transfer, bank cashier's check, or payment with a debit or credit card. There is an additional 3.5% convenience fee added on to the total price for using a debit or credit card to make payment through a secure payment platform called Square.

All of our current properties are found in Costilla County, Colorado, which is part of the beautiful San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado. The Valley is nestled against the magnificent Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range on both the south and east sides, and the La Garita and Conejos-Brazos Mountain Ranges to the north and west. Mt. Blanca, dominating the skyline to the north of our properties, and visible from most from most of our lots, towers into the sky with a height of 14,345 feet, and is the 4^th highest peak in the Rocky Mountain Range. Ute mountain, an extinct volcano, lies just south of our Rio Grande Ranches properties about 3 miles over the border in New Mexico. Views from our ranch properties are amazing. Nights are clear and tranquil, and awesome for stargazing. The San Luis Valley is approximately 125 miles long and over 65 miles wide. The average elevation in this area is 7,664 feet. This region experiences a desert climate but has substantial water resources from the Rio Grande River and groundwater. The San Luis Valley is marked by moderate temperatures in the summer, cold winters, light precipitation, and almost 300 days of sunshine per year. All of our current properties front county dirt roads. Some of these roads are regularly maintained; others are occasionally maintained, and a few are 2-lane tracks. Many of our properties can be accessed with a 2WD vehicle, but we recommend you travel to our lots using a 4WD vehicle, especially after heavy rains. We visit our properties using a 4WD vehicle.

A summer adventure for us most years is to travel to the San Luis Valley to explore the area, and to take pictures and videos of our new properties. During our visits to Southern Colorado, we are always awestruck by the beauty of this area, highlighted by amazing views of mountains in every direction; huge hills full of unique rocks structures and vegetation; the majesty of the Great Sand Dunes; the vastness and beauty of the 17,019 acre San Luis Hills State Wildlife Area formed in 2018 for hunting, hiking, and backcountry camping; an abundance of wildlife including wild mustangs, foxes, elk, pronghorn, rabbits, various types of birds, etc.; the beauty and peacefulness of the Costilla County's four reservoirs; the beautiful Rio Grande River, and Zapata Falls. All this with miles and miles of endless wide-open space is quite breathtaking. All of the people we encounter in and around San Luis, Sanford, Blanca, Fort Garland, and in nearby Alamosa, are always very welcoming and friendly toward us. The food is great, and we have a nice stay at a quality hotel in Alamosa. We believe you will love this place! Our lots are located in one of eight subdivisions in Costilla County: Top of the World, Mount Blanca Valley Ranches, Trinchera Creek Estates, San Luis Valley Ranches, Mount Blanca Estates, Rio Grande Ranches, San Luis Estates South, and the Wild Horse Mesa.

Watch "Building Off The Grid: Season 5, Episode 5- Desert Mountain House," available on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and other online streaming platforms. This is a great documentary of a family of 5 building an off-grid home in the San Luis Valley, along with a great look at recreational opportunities available at the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The following links provide a wealth of information about Costilla County and the San Luis Valley:

Costilla County government website

San Luis Hills State Wildlife Area- over 17,019 acres of public land along the Rio Grande River set aside for hunting, hiking, and backcountry camping

Upper Rio Grande outdoor recreation area in Costilla County

Blanca/Fort Garland Community center- pool, recreation, sports

Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center

Costilla County drone footage put to music- created by Kim Wood

San Luis Valley-new internet connectivity

Growing trees on your property in Costilla County

Alamosa

Sand Dunes Recreation Center -hot springs, camping, and much more!

Minerals of the San Luis Valley

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad

Lobato Bridge over the Rio Grande River

Sanchez Reservoir, San Luis

San Luis Valley activities

Pinion Hills hiking

Hiking and biking in the San Luis Valley

Conejos County Unit 81 Hunting, west side of Rio Grande River

Costilla County towns and nearby activities

Great San Dunes National Park

Zapata Falls

Taos, New Mexico

Whitewater rafting near Taos, NM

Video: Why Alamosa and the surrounding area is a wonderful place to visit and live

Off-grid living

The easiest and most effective way to locate each property is by use of the GPS coordinates that we give you for each property. To get multiple satellite views using Google Earth, and/or visit our properties in person, please use the GPS coordinates provided for each lot. We found it best to use a navigation device when visiting the properties because it is not dependent on an internet signal, but only on satellites. When you put the GPS coordinates for a corner of a lot into the search bar into the navigation device, or into Google Earth or Google Maps, use the following format, being sure to use the comma after the first set of numbers, and the dash before the second set of numbers: 37.0000, -105.0000 (use actual numbers for specific lots to replace the zeros). Our properties were surveyed and staked by the subdivision developers many years ago. Many stakes have been mostly buried over time, but you can often find the original stakes with a small amount of digging. If not, you are able to put new stakes on the corners of a property by use of the GPS coordinates. Plat maps for the subdivisions where our properties are located are available directly from the Costilla County Assessor's office for $12 each.

Two K-12 school systems exist in Costilla County. Both have very nice modern facilities. Sierra Grande School System in Blanca (our Blanca and Fort Garland lots) has about 300 students, and the Centennial School District in San Luis (our lots in San Luis and Sanford) has about 220 students. The student/teacher ratio for both is about 12:1. Adams State University is a very reasonably priced university providing a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees. Adams State University is located in Alamosa and has a population of about 3,000 students.

During our visits to Southern Colorado, we are able to get cellular data signal and cell phone signal in most areas of Costilla County (we have Verizon cellular service). The locals tell us that StraightTalk wireless has the best coverage. We know of people homesteading who use internet calling from their homesteads. Options for internet include Starlink, Dish Network, or HughesNet. Starlink covers all of Costilla County. Many people are using their smartphones to create a mobile hotspot for internet connection to their computer. Like everywhere else, you can stream television through a variety of platforms over the internet.

All of our properties are zoned estate residential. There are no existing HOA's, no HOA fees, and there is no time limit to build on any of our properties (the land can always remain vacant if you like). You may camp on the land in an RV or other camping shelter for up to 14 days every 3 months without a camping permit (56 days per year). A road access permit over a county easement, a minor construction permit, and a driveway permit are required from the County in order to put in a driveway in and clear an area for camping or building a home. Renewable long-term camping permits are available for purchase from the County if you have an approved septic system and a permanent water source in place, and you can camp on the land for up to 1.5 years with the long-term camping permits as long as you are making progress on a home. An approved septic system and permanent water source are required to build. Residences must be a minimum of 600 square feet in size. A wide variety of homes are permitted, including: manufactured homes, modular homes, tiny houses, stick built homes, log cabins, pole barns, barndominiums, earthship homes, etc. One accessory structure is permitted on the land after a residence has been built, such as a pole barn, shed, greenhouse, etc. A permanent water source can be a well, or a cistern utilizing water-haul and/or water catchment system. You are allowed to have domestic animals, and up to 50 chickens in a coop or penned in. Your can also have bee boxes for beekeeping. You are able to grow a garden on the land, but you would have to water what you grow with water that you haul in and/or collect with a water-catchment system. Potatoes, alfalfa, wheat, barley, oats, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, peas, beans, mushrooms, and sunflowers all grow well in Costilla County's climate. If you build a home, you can use your home as a short-term rental (Airbnb/Vrbo), or long-term rental, and no additional permits are required. The Costilla County Planning and Zoning Office website (link below) provides great information about land use codes, residential development procedures, and other useful information about our properties.

Planning & Zoning Office

All of our properties are off-grid, meaning you would need to supply electricity to your property through an alternative power source such as solar, wind, or gas/propane generator. With almost 300 days of sunshine per year, solar panels are a great option used by many people in the San Luis Valley. There are various companies in the San Luis Valley that sell and install solar power systems for off-grid homesteads. You can obtain a substantial federal tax credit when you install solar power for your home (30% tax credit for the years 2022-2032). We do occasionally have properties available for purchase that are close enough to power lines for you to tie into the power grid , and we currently have one such property available: Inca Trail Lot 79 in the Rio Grande Ranches subdivision. Neighbors can agree to share the costs of bringing power to their properties through the San Luis Valley Electric Cooperative located in Monte Vista. They service our properties located in San Luis and Sanford. Xcel Energy in Alamosa services our properties in Blanca and Fort Garland. You are also allowed to set up a wind-powered turbine. Gas or propane powered generators are a good option also. Feel free to get creative and utilize a combination of the above options for your power needs.

All of our properties require you to have an approved septic system installed before building a residence. Each of our lots are able to have a septic system installed. The initial process will be for you to hire a person to come dig a hole on the land to determine the type and extent of septic system that you will need to have installed. Then, you can do some or most of the work yourself, or you can hire someone to do part or all the work. Please contact local septic system contractors to determine the cost of installing a septic system.

The best source of heating a home in the winter would be by propane (tank and furnace), or you could use a wood burning furnace, or both.

A permanent water source (cistern or well) is required before building a home on one of our properties. All of our current properties(except our Trinchera Creek Estates property; cistern only on this lot) allow you to apply for a household well permit (where water can be used for inside the home only) from the Colorado Division of Water Resources in Alamosa. The water rights for our properties are under augmentation plans governed by the State of Colorado Division of Water Resources and owned by the subdivision developers, but you you are able to get a well permit, drill a well, and then use the water for free. Please contact the Colorado Division of Water Resources in Alamosa to obtain a household well permit and to get help in determining the water depth for a specific lot. Their phone number is 719-589-6683. You can also check out this well depth monitoring stations link for Costilla County to see well depths throughout the County. Please contact local well drillers to determine the cost of drilling a well.

Each of our ranches also allow for cistern water using water you purchase for a fee of 10 cents per gallon and haul yourself from the Fort Garland Water and Sanitation Department. Water may also be purchased at the Wild Horse Mesa Community Center. There are local individuals who you can hire at a reasonable price to deliver bulk water to your cistern, or you can haul the water yourself. Cisterns need to be a minimum of 500 gallons and must be buried beneath the frost line. You are also allowed to build a water-catchment system and collect rainwater into 2 x 55 gallon barrels, and then feed this water into your cistern. A 1000 square foot metal roof is able to yield about 6,500 gallons per year from rain and snow runoff using a water-catchment system.