In Cripple Creek's Newest Homes, the Land Is Leased and the Upside Is Shared

"Affordable Housing Subsidy Available · Leasehold Title Interest in Land · Sold As Is."

That line appears under "Important notices" on the High Country Haven listing for 203 W Womack Ave, a new three-bedroom home in High Country Haven. A few lines higher, the same listing says "No HOA, no covenants." Both statements are true, and read together they describe what comes with the roughly $283,000 assisted price that showed up in local coverage this summer. You buy the house. Elevation Community Land Trust owns the ground under it and leases it to you. When you sell, there are limits on how much profit you can take. No HOA governs any of this. The land lease does.

High Country Haven is a 16-home development two blocks from downtown Cripple Creek. Steve Marmel's Ground Floor Holdings is the lead developer, working with Timberwolf Construction, the City of Cripple Creek, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, Elevation Community Land Trust and Gold Camp Housing Partners. If you're comparing Teller County towns on price, this is a different kind of purchase from a conventional resale a few streets away, even when the square footage looks about the same.

One House, Six Prices

Ask what a High Country Haven home costs and you'll get several answers, depending on which document you're reading.

The project's own affordability chart shows how one number turns into the next. It's filed as Exhibit D for Colorado Division of Housing project #34-466, AHOP High Country Haven. For a two-person household earning 100% of area median income, the chart lists a $350,000 sale price. It subtracts $13,732 for gifted land and $75,000 in down payment assistance, which leaves $286,268 to finance. For households of three or more, the assistance in the chart drops to $30,000. That leaves $306,268 for a three-person household and $322,968 for households of four to six. The one-person column reads "Doesn't Qualify" in the sale price row.

Those are amounts left to finance, not sale prices. They show how much the assistance amount moves with household size, and the largest amount goes to the smallest qualifying households. The press figure of about $283,000 is a separate number, which the Gazette described as depending on buyer qualifications and available assistance. The chart calls itself an example and not a commitment. It's built on a 6.875% interest rate, and it notes that results depend on household size, rates, available assistance, income and debt. Your own number depends on which column you fall into.

Where the Discount Comes From, and Why It Stays With the House

The Gazette credits the gap between appraised value and assisted price to the project's partnerships. City leaders helped secure More Housing Now funding, which paid for infrastructure on land that had none. Mountain Jackpot reported that the assistance comes through the Colorado State Affordable Housing Fund, which voters created in 2022 by passing Proposition 123. Gold Camp Housing Partners helped Marmel through the Proposition 123 process. Elevation Community Land Trust provides the down payment assistance.

The High Country Haven site is clear about what that assistance is. It says the money isn't a typical loan you repay, and that it stays with the home to help the next buyer as well. That detail drives the whole model. The subsidy is meant to stay attached to the house for good, so the resale price has to stay low enough for another qualifying buyer to afford. Your equity grows, but on a schedule set by the program, not by the Cripple Creek market.

Your Future Sale Price Is Written Into the Lease You Sign Now

The project materials describe the trade in plain terms. Profit on resale is limited, so this "isn't a 'flip it and cash out big' situation." Owners still build equity but share part of the upside. The monthly land lease fee is described as affordable, and the site says it can be reduced or paused in some cases.

The public pages don't give a dollar amount for that fee, and they don't give a resale formula. None of the project pages reviewed for this post include the ground lease or a deed restriction. That makes the lease itself the most important document in this purchase, and the program includes a free attorney review of it before you sign.

Elevation's published materials from other programs show what kinds of terms to look for. They are examples, not High Country Haven's terms:

• Elevation describes its land leases as typically running 99 years.
• An Elevation condo listing in Denver carried a $100 monthly land lease fee on top of the HOA fee.
• In Elevation's Stay In Place program, the owner keeps 25% of market appreciation. If the home loses value, the owner bears 25% of the loss and the land trust bears 75%.
• Owners in that program can sell at any time, but only to another buyer who qualifies under the land trust's rules, at the formula price.

Improvements are where the marketing and the fine print need to be lined up. The High Country Haven site says owners can add an ADU, build a garage or carport, or upgrade over time, and that "Those improvements are yours." Elevation's homeowner guidance says a Qualified Capital Improvement raises the resale price only if it's approved in writing before work begins. It lists energy efficiency, accessibility, and adding a bedroom or bathroom to unfinished space as qualifying categories, with a $2,000 minimum project cost. A garage isn't on that list. Before you plan one, find out how this project's lease credits it at resale.

Which Income Table Applies Depends on Who Funds the Loan

The affordability chart on the project site is labeled "2025 INCOME LIMITS." It sets 100% of area median income as the maximum, with examples of $72,100 for one person, $82,400 for two, $92,700 for three and $103,000 for four. The site's eligibility snapshot uses a different test. It says total borrower income must not exceed CHFA's limits. Newer tables have come out since that chart was made, and they don't match it or each other:

CHFA's Preferred and SmartStep products go higher, with a $178,920 qualifying-income limit as of June 2026. The project site acknowledges the spread, noting that the numbers change depending on the funding source. A household that clears one table can fail another. The limit that actually applies depends on which assistance and which loan product end up in your file.

The other requirements are simpler:

• Meet the program's occupancy, homeownership-history, credit, savings and down-payment requirements, and agree to the program rules designed to keep the homes affordable over the long term

HUD's FY2026 HOME table and CHFA's June 2026 limit sheet are both public if you want to check the numbers yourself.

The House Itself

The house is the same as anything else on the block. The way you hold the land is what's different. The 203 W Womack listing describes a two-story detached home built in 2025. It has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,160 square feet on a 4,269-square-foot lot. It sits on a crawl space, uses forced-air natural gas heat with no cooling, and is on municipal water and city sewer. There's no garage, and access is by a gravel alley driveway off a gravel city street. The 201 W Womack listing shows two beds, two baths and 1,307 square feet. The 207 W Womack listing is a two-bed, two-bath ranch with a covered deck. Buyers also get a year of free high-speed internet from Teller Fiber, valued at $780.

The listings page marks 203 W Womack "Now Available," but its detail page shows the listing status as "Incomplete." Confirm availability before you plan around a specific address. Phase II homes are scheduled for early 2027, and the High Country Haven listings page says buyers who qualify before construction can choose interior and exterior colors.

Questions to Put in Writing Before You Sign

1. What is the monthly land lease fee, and under what conditions can it rise, be reduced or be paused?
2. What resale formula does this lease use, and what share of appreciation stays with you?
3. How long does the lease run, and is it renewable?
4. Who can you sell to, and what income ceiling will that next buyer need to meet?
5. Which improvements raise your resale price, and does a garage, carport or ADU count?
6. Which income table and loan product will decide your eligibility for this purchase?
7. Is the specific home you want still available, and what's left before it's complete?

If you're weighing a High Country Haven home against a conventional resale in Cripple Creek or elsewhere in Teller County, The Case Advantage can go through the lease terms, the resale math and the alternatives with you before you commit to either one. Schedule a consultation and bring the questions above.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.