On the north side of the Interstate in Edwards, Singletree, a golf community (with a championship course and handsome clubhouse owned by Vail Village’s Sonnenalp) marches up the hillside, mostly Mediterranean-style homes built in the 1980s with a few mountain modern mold-breakers, many occupied year-round by locals. Those who don’t golf live here for the thousands of backcountry acres right out the back door, a network of trails for mountain bikers and hikers winding up the June Creek drainage all the way up to Red & White Mountain.

“I grew up in Vail surrounded by second-home owners who would leave for months at a time, and we were literally the only full-time homeowners on the block,” says Michael Slevin. “We have all the amenities of the club, and our children can ride their bikes to the fieldhouse for soccer practice or the Riverwalk to see a movie. It feels more like a traditional neighborhood community.”

The same can be said about Homestead, an enclave nestled in the hills just south of the Edwards town center. Homes here, most owned and occupied year-round by locals, tend to be smaller but more architecturally diverse than the stock at Singletree. Like Singletree, most back to thousands of acres of open space. From the trailhead off Creamery Road (as the neighborhood name suggests, long before the resorts this land was ranchland), residents can bike, run, or snowshoe along the spine of a ridge paralleling the highway, the river, and the interstate and march east to Arrowhead, Beaver Creek, and, for those who are so inclined, all the way to Vail.

“With all the bike trails and hiking trails all around you, it’s awesome,” adds Slevin. “With everything it has going on—easy access to the mountains, the Riverwalk—the Edwards area, Singletree, and Homestead have become in some respects the heartbeat of the valley.”

Number of active listings on the market, at press time: 8

Median home price of active listings: $1.23M

Number of homes sold in 2020: 92

Median price of homes sold: $1.06M

Average number of days on the market: 118