What Tiger Woods' Wife Could Do with a Divorce Settlement of $100 Million - AOL Finance What Tiger Woods' Wife Could Do with a Divorce Settlement of $100 Million Before you go, we thought you'd like these... Gil Rudawsky, AOL.com Jul 2nd 2010 8:00PM There are shocking divorce settlements, then there's the expected divorce settlement between pro golfer Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren. Media reports around the world have bandied around a $750 million settlement for Woods' estranged wife and mother of their two children. This week, websites with supposed insider information have put the figure at an equally shocking, but somewhat more realistic $100 million. It's a figure that is more in line with Forbes magazine's claim that the settlement has to be a portion of Woods' estimated net worth of $600 million. It's still a heap of money, considering the average American with a bachelor's degree or higher will earn $1.8 million over his or her lifetime, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

$100 Million May Not Go So Far But considering the lifestyle Nordegren is used to, that possible $100 million may not go as far as you'd think. Editors of the Robb Report , a no-holds-barred magazine strictly for the ultra rich -- or those who don't mind spending $37 a year for 12 issues simply to see what the rich are into these days -- can certainly find ways to spend the money in no time. In the report's "Best of the Best 2010," the super rich are presented the top-of-the-line vacations, cars, planes, and clothing and accessories. If you have to ask how much, then this is not for you. Yes, Nordegren could sock away the supposed $100 million and simply live off a modest 5% interest, giving her $5 million a year to spend. But that won't even buy you a home in the Colorado ski town of Aspen, where an average home goes for $5.1 million. And that's an average home, not one anywhere near the ski slopes or upscale restaurants and boutiques.

Homes Will Eat up a Portion of Settlement That $100 million won't go very far in other top-end markets in the U.S. either, let alone overseas. In Monte Carlo, a five-bedroom apartment in town costs $15 million. Real estate isn't much cheaper in Nordegren's native country of Sweden, which was rated the most expensive in the world by International Living magazine. Nordegren, a former model, also must project the right image. Robb Report features a 165th anniversary A. Lange & Söhne watch for $171,800 or custom-designed jewelry from Sylva & Cie in Los Angeles where designs can top out at $50,000. And how about getting around? Nordegren is used to flying around on Woods's personal jet. As the rich will tell you, once you've gotten a taste of flying private, going commercial just isn't an option. She could save money by leasing a jet instead of eating up half of her settlement for her own jet.

Or she could simply buy a one-sixteenth stake in a Learjet 40XR for $560,000, plus a monthly management fee of $7,295 and an hourly rate of $1,825. $1 Million Maybach May Lessen Pain Fnally, Nordegren needs wheels, and no run-of-the-mill SUV like the one Woods crashed, setting off a downward spiral that included allegations of affairs by the top-ranked golfer, followed by rehab, a much-publicized hiatus from golf, and a not-so-stellar return. Certainly a 2011 Maybach 62 can take the edge off with its twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter V-12 engine and 19-inch hi-def television screen, onboard Wi-Fi and perfume atomizer. Prices haven't been released, but considering this year's model ranged from $358,000 to $1.38 million, it's not going to be cheap, even to someone with $100 million or so to spend. Tags Mortgage calculator. House, noney and document.

Here’s what’s going on around Colorado today: HOUSING PLANNED AFFORDABLE HOUSING TO SELL FOR $1.3 MILLION EACH ASPEN, Colo. — The four homes planned for an Aspen affordable housing complex will cost upward of $1.3 million each. The Aspen Times reports the council decided against subsidizing the homes as the city has done with other affordable housing. Land Title Guarantee Co. says the average single-family home price in Aspen was almost $5.9 million last year. Councilman Adam Frisch said selling the homes at cost is still less than the $2 million price they’d carry on the market. A single contractor bid on the project. Aspen’s capital asset director cited the tight market, maxed resources and difficulty getting a deep pool of proposals. Housing lottery eligibility will extend to applicants who don’t meet requirements for subsidized housing but earn too little to purchase on the open market, among other criteria. GOVERNMENT COLORADO CONSIDERS EXPANDING REMOTE AVALANCHE CONTROL SYSTEM DENVER, Colo. — Colorado transportation officials say they are impressed with the success of a remote avalanche control system and are considering expanding its use.

The Denver Post reports that French-made Gazex exploders kept Berthoud Pass on U.S. Route 40 open all winter. The system also kept the pass free of avalanche debris from the Stanley and Loveland slide paths, saved money and limited workers’ exposure to dangerous explosives. Crews used to fire about $200 Avalauncher cannon rounds on Loveland Pass each winter. This year, remote workers used computers to trigger the compressed air blasts from the Gazex system. They used fewer rounds with a higher success rate. The Colorado Department of Transportation hopes to place the Gazex exploders on more of the 278 slide paths that could impact mountain roads. PUBLIC SAFETY STUDENT ACCUSED OF PUNCHING SUBSTITUTE TEACHER OVER GRADE A high school student in El Paso County was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of punching a substitute teacher during an altercation over a grade, officials say. Jacqueline Kirby, a spokeswoman for the county sheriff’s office, said the incident happened Monday at Mesa Ridge High School south of Colorado Springs. “He didn’t agree with the grade she felt he should get,” Kirby said. The physical assault escalated from a verbal altercation, she explained.

The student was taken into custody on suspicion of third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and interfering with staff at an educational institution. The assault ended when other students pulled the suspect student off the teacher, according to Kirby. “The teacher is fine,” Kirby said. “She’s expected to make a full recovery.” KKTV-TV in Colorado Springs, which first reported the case, said the substitute teacher was pregnant. Samantha Briggs, spokeswoman for Widefield School District 3, said she could not discuss the teacher’s personal details. Briggs said the student involved was “appropriately disciplined,” but did not elaborate. TEACHER STABBED IN BOTCHED GOLDEN HOME INVASION IMPROVING GOLDEN, Colo. — A Golden middle school teacher stabbed while trying to defend his home from three intruders who broke into the wrong house is improving as police search for two suspects. Jesse Swift was stabbed by a 21-year-old suspect after confronting them during Monday night’s botched home invasion. The Jefferson County School District said Wednesday that he is in stable condition. Police say Swift, who grabbed a kitchen knife, also stabbed the same suspect, who is also hospitalized.

Police say the young men were expecting to find $10,000 in cash and drugs. RETIRED COLONEL PLEADS GUILTY IN CRASH THAT KILLED TROOPER CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A retired Army colonel involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed a Colorado State Patrol trooper has pleaded guilty to two felonies. Eric Henderson appeared in court in Castle Rock on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide while driving under the influence, as well as evidence tampering stemming from the Nov. 15 crash that killed 33-year-old Trooper Jaimie Jursevics. The Denver Post reports the judge dismissed three other counts as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors say Henderson, who is due for sentencing June 28, spent the day drinking at a Broncos game before he hit the trooper as she investigated a crash on Interstate 25 in Castle Rock. The 52-year-old retired from the Army in June 2013 after a 27-year career. Jursevics left behind a husband and an infant daughter.

SMALL PLANE CRASH IN KIOWA COUNTY LEAVES ONE DEAD A single-engine plane crash in Kiowa County on Wednesday morning has left one person dead, authorities say. Micki Trost, spokeswoman for the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said the crash was reported about 9:30 a.m. by a 911 caller. The crash happened near Kiowa County Road 71 and Colorado 96 southeast of Sheridan Lake. The scene is just west of the Kansas border. The Kiowa County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash and is securing the scene, according to Trost. Allen Kenitzer, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the plane was a Cessna 210 and that it went down under “unknown circumstances.” He said local authorities reported only one person — the pilot — was aboard. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.

— The Associated Press, The Denver Post Aspen Named Most Expensive Town in America | Fox News Aspen Named Most Expensive Town in America Published March 04, 2011 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 livefyre Email Print A $3,350,000 home listed on Zillow.com on 3/4/2011 (Zillow.com) ASPEN, Colo. -- The lowest-priced single-family home on the market in Aspen is listed for $559,000. It is located in a trailer park. While most housing markets in the rest of the country continue to struggle with anemic demand and foreclosures -- and sales at many other luxury ski resorts are still sluggish -- Aspen has forged its own orbit, The Wall Street Journal reported in its Friday edition. The average home price in the mountain town has increased over the past four years, to $6 million in 2010 from $5.4 million in 2006, according to multiple-listings data.

The median price for single-family homes is now the highest in the country at $4.6 million, according to San Francisco-based Altos Research, surpassing the Hamptons, Beverly Hills and Palm Beach. Sales of luxury Aspen estates -- the sorts of over-the-top places with leather walls and outdoor heated infinity pools -- have remained remarkably healthy, thanks in part to foreign buyers. Of the 25 real-estate transactions recorded by Pitkin County for the week of Jan. 19 to 25, five were buyers from abroad, including three Australians and people from Turkey and Hong Kong. Last month, a home in the Maroon Creek neighborhood with an indoor heated swimming pool, basketball court and outdoor hot tub overlooking a waterfall sold for $13 million. The buyer was Russian Alexander Zanadvorov, the 40-year-old owner of Sedmoi Kontinent, a chain of supermarkets. With celebrity regulars like Lance Armstrong and Goldie Hawn , Aspen is an anointed stop on the international jet-set circuit, a place where the wealthy come to play and spend. Increasingly, they are putting down roots there.

"Aspen is like a small Manhattan," says Altunc Kumova, a financial services executive from Istabul, Turkey, who bought a fractional condo at The Little Nell in January. "You can find almost all upscale brands for shopping and restaurants are excellent. Apres-ski in Aspen is very glamorous." Analysts point to numerous reasons why Aspen has held up so well. A small market where only 13 percent of land is able to be developed because of zoning laws and the mountainous landscape, it never suffered the overdevelopment now plaguing other areas. Aspen's distance from a major city and spotty air service help to keep away day tourists. In the past few days Aspen agents have reported showing homes to potential buyers from as wide a range as Russia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Italy and Australia . "I have a long list of Australian friends who are coming to visit," said Anna-Lisa Klettenberg, an artist and investor from Sydney who bought a condo at the luxury Gant Hotel. Klettenberg had been skiing in Aspen for over a decade; she decided in March to look to buy, put an offer on the condo that day, closed in May and was there for the month of July.

She still owns her home in Sydney and has a summer place on Australia's Gold Coast in Queensland, but she plans to spend four months a year in Aspen now. Advertisement Destination Guide - Mountain States - Luxury Mountain Real Estate - A Place in the Still-Wild West - NYTimes.com A Place in the Still-Wild West George Frey for The New York Times Homes dot the landscape of Spanish Valley just south of Moab, Utah. On the horizon are the La Sal Mountains. More Photos > By WENDY KNIGHT Mountain states like Colorado and Utah have always drawn hard-core skiers to their white-knuckle steeps and piles of powder; the growth of sports like snowboarding and snowshoeing has fueled the appeal. Doug Loneman for The New York Times The mountain village of Big Sky sits beneath Lone Mountain in Montana. More Photos » Enlarge This Image Michael Brands for The New York Times Hugh Burrows, a 20-year Aspen resident, heads back to work after a lunch break. The historic Elks Building is bhind him. More Photos > But winter sports are not the only allure. Many second-home owners are gravitating to places like Moab, Utah, and Jackson Hole, Wyo.

(which originated as a summer destination), to bike, hike, climb, kayak, golf and fly-fish. Others prospective buyers fall in love with the wide-open spaces and slower pace during a two-week stay at a dude ranch or a hunting camp and return to buy their piece of paradise. As baby boomers near retirement, many mountain communities have experienced record real estate sales, brokers say. With returns of 30 to 40 percent in many towns, seasonal properties make wise investment choices as an alternative or complement to equities. One-third of vacation buyers in Colorado own two or more investment properties. At least for now, wide swaths of western land remain publicly owned, safeguarding the views and privacy many buyers crave. So while the hedge fund manager may have replaced the cowboy as the emblem of the West, it is still, for the most part, wild. COLORADO With more than 20 alpine ski resorts, the largest number of any state in the country ( ), Colorado has attracted avid skiers, many of whom buy seasonal properties. Along the stateï¿½s Front Range, there is also excellent mountain biking and rock climbing.

According to the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, more than 8 in 10 second-home owners in Eagle, Grand, Jackson, Pitkin and Summit Counties choose housing locations based on outdoor recreation opportunities. In many Colorado counties, a majority of homes belong to second-home owners, otherwise known as ï¿½absentee owners,ï¿½ which is causing some consternation among town planners and longtime residents. Two-thirds of homes in Summit County (which includes Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco and Silverthorne) are not primary residences; 60 percent of residential properties in Pitkin County, where Aspen is located, are second or third homes. Aspen In recent years, no ski town has found itself on the pages of magazines more than Aspen, with the perennially smiling Jack Nicholson as its poster child. Sure, you will find plenty of celebrities (the lounge at the Little Nell is said to have the best people-watching west of the Mississippi) and designer stores (a Ralph Lauren boutique opened here last winter), but it was the 10th Mountain Division of the Army that made Aspen famous ï¿½ for skiing. Aspen is still a place for serious skiers.

Aspen/Snowmass Resort ( ) comprises four mountains encompassing 4,160 acres and boasts the steepest vertical drop (4,406 feet) in Colorado. The former silver-mining town offers plenty of entertainment for nonskiers, including a thriving art scene spearheaded by the Aspen Music Festival ( ), the Cooking School of Aspen ( ) and the Aspen Institute ( ), a public policy educational group. While there is a fair number of 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot homes, new land-use restrictions have limited future home sizes to 5,750 square feet. The average price of a home in Aspen is $5 million, forcing many prospective buyers to look elsewhere in Pitkin County, especially in Basalt, in what is known as the midvalley, between Aspen and Glenwood Springs. Basalt A 25-minute drive to Aspen, Basalt is appealing to a younger, and perhaps less wealthy, clientele who enjoy hiking, fly-fishing and boating on the Ruedi Reservoir.

In addition to people who work in Aspen but cannot afford to live there, Basalt attracts second-home owners who are buying properties in the $1 million to $3 million range. Many of these buyers are ï¿½gravitating toward river properties,ï¿½ said Kristen Maley, a real estate agent with BJ Adams and Company in Aspen. A two-bedroom condo on the Roaring Fork River is on the market for $629,000. Cabins at the Roaring Fork Club, a private golf community, start at $2.35 million. The midvalley, which bridges Pitkin and Eagle Counties, is witnessing a boom in development, with over a dozen mixed-use projects in the works, including the Willits project in El Jebel/West Basalt, which has obtained approval to build 550 single-family homes, town houses and condominiums. One-bedroom condos in the Lofts at Willits start at $567,000. Telluride/Ridgeway/Ouray Surrounded by the serrated San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, Telluride ( ) is considered by many to be the quintessential western mountain town.

With its 19th-century brick buildings and wide Main Street, this former gold and mining town retains a Wild West aura. Yet within minutes, an in-town gondola, which is undergoing a $6 million overhaul, transports skiers directly to Mountain Village, the town on the mountain next to the Telluride ski resort. In Telluride, a two-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot condo sells for $1 million. The Rosewood Telluride, a $200 million development scheduled to break ground in early 2007, will sell 65 two- and three-bedroom condo units. Prices have not been established. Buyers can get more value by looking within 30 to 40 miles of Telluride, in towns like Norwood, Ouray and Ridgeway. In Norwood, 1,200- to 1,400-square-foot homes with two bedrooms sell for $240,000 to $260,000. Ouray attracts world-class ice climbers to its Ouray Ice Park; three-bedroom town houses there hover around $500,000.

A four-bedroom log home with radiant heating, a two-car detached garage and views of the San Juan Mountains in Ridgeway is currently listed for $859,000. IDAHO Overshadowed in the publicï¿½s consciousness by neighboring Montana and Wyoming and not sufficiently north or west to be considered part of the Pacific Northwest, Idaho ( ) is often geographically misunderstood. Yet it is one of the most pristine spots in the country, with the largest amount of protected wilderness area outside Alaska. It is also blessed with natural hot springs and undammed rivers, including the Salmon River, part of which is protected as a National Wild and Scenic River site. Sun Valley W. Averell Harriman, the diplomat and former governor of New York, built the first chairlift in the United States at the Sun Valley Ski Resort ( ) in 1936, transforming the tiny town at the edge of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area into a favorite winter destination for the famous and infamous alike. After years of strong price appreciation, the market has declined in recent years, with a 21 percent drop in total sales this year from last year, said Dick Fenton, a broker with McCann Daesch Fenton Realtors.

ï¿½Itï¿½s gotten too expensive too quick,ï¿½ Mr. Fenton said. The average price of a home near the ski resort fell to $1.23 million this year from $1.3 million, as did the number of homes sold. Total sales volume in nearby Hailey has declined 48 percent since 2005. In Ketchum, a three-bedroom, three-bath town house lists for $1.75 million, while a 1,000-square-foot town house begins at $650,000. Sandpoint Located in the Idaho panhandle on the eastern flank of the Selkirk Mountains, Sandpoint ( ) has had a surge in second-home buying. A year-round destination with a ski resort (Schweitzer Mountain Resort, ) and Idahoï¿½s deepest and largest lake (the 43-mile Lake Pend Oreille), Sandpoint attracts all manner of sporting fanatics. Outdoor play does not supersede culture, though. The popular Festival at Sandpoint draws well-known performers like David Gray in the summer, and the Panida Theater holds year-round cultural events.

On Schweitzer Mountain, the average home price is $333,119, an increase of 39 percent from 2005. In Sandpoint, the average price of a home sold this year has increased by 72 percent. Buyers are looking for coveted lakefront property, said Patrick Werry, a real estate broker with Schweitzer Mountain Resort. Twenty-six homes priced above $400,000 sold in 2002; last year, 150 did. In the same three-year period, the number of houses that sold for less than $100,000 dropped by nearly half. Teton Valley Teton Valley lies on the western side of the Teton mountain range in Idaho. Driggs, Tetonia and Victor have emerged as markets for second-home buyers priced out of Jackson Hole. The median price of a single-family home in Teton Valley was $286,150 in 2005, compared with $912,000 in Jackson Hole, while the median price for a condo/town house was $190,525.

Once a quiet potato farming community in the shadow of Jackson Hole, the valley is transforming itself into a destination in its own right. Straddling the Idaho-Wyoming border, the Grand Targhee Resort ( ) has started a major renovation that proposes to build condominiums, town homes, cabins and single-family lots at the base of the resort. Four new golf-course communities have popped up, and a one-acre parcel can cost $350,000. MONTANA Montana ( ) is the largest Rocky Mountain state, encompassing 147,046 square miles and 17 mountain ranges. Like many western states, it covers varied terrain, including 1,658 square miles of inland water. Hunting and fishing are traditional pastimes. The Bitterroot Range, which divides Idaho and Montana, is an important wildlife corridor for mammals. A strong Native American community comprising seven reservations lives in the state. Paradise and Boulder Valleys Paradise Valley runs south through the Gallatin National Forest from Livingston to Gardiner at the east entrance of Yellowstone Park.

People from California and Texas have been buying property here for decades, though in recent years buyers have ï¿½come from all over,ï¿½ said Sonny Todd, owner of Sonny Todd Real Estate in Big Timber. As Paradise Valley gets a little crowded, buyers are looking east to Boulder Valley, between the Crazy Mountains to the north and the Absaroka Range in the south. Big Timber, a quiet town in the valley between Billings and Bozeman, is ï¿½where people can come and be anonymous,ï¿½ Mr. Todd said. It is also where an increasing number of seasonal buyers are looking. In the last five years, the number of homes selling for $1 million or more has tripled, Mr. Todd said. Unlike in parts of the West with a finite availability of private land, people can still buy large parcels of land in Montana, ranging from 600 to 10,000 acres, with prices starting at $2.5 million. A 160-acre parcel at Hangman Canyon Ranch in Big Timber with mountain views and streams is on the market for $695,000.

This summerï¿½s forest fires burned 200,000 acres in Boulder Valley, which cut land values by up to 50 percent. Kalispell/Whitefish In the upper reaches of Montana, less than 100 miles from the Canadian border, the towns of Kalispell and Whitefish near Flathead Lake are primarily summer destinations. ï¿½Winters are harsh here,ï¿½ said Stephanie Sunshine, a broker with Century 21. People gravitate to the area for lakefront property and lots of acreage, ï¿½which is hard to get,ï¿½ Ms. Sunshine said. A 1.4-acre parcel on the lake recently sold for $1 million. ï¿½Up until last year, home prices were at least doubling,ï¿½ she said. Excluding lakefront property, the median price of a home is $400,000 in Whitefish and $369,000 in the Flathead Valley. Golfing communities like Iron Horse are also popular; a quarter-acre parcel lists for $250,000.

Big Sky Wedged between the Spanish Peaks and the Madison and Gallatin Mountain Ranges, Big Sky is ï¿½red-hot right now,ï¿½ said Mr. Todd, of Sonny Todd Real Estate. The areaï¿½s two alpine ski destinations, Big Sky Resort ( ) and Moonlight Basin ( ), share the same mountain, Lone Peak. Combined, they offer nearly 5,300 acres of skiable terrain. Anglers cast for brown and rainbow trout in the nearby Madison and Gallatin Rivers. Property in Big Sky, which sits at 7,500 feet, is centered in the town of Big Sky, which is known, confusingly, as Meadow Village, and at the ski resorts. Half of the land available at Moonlight Basin (which is also a real estate development company) has been placed into conservation easements to preserve open space and protect wildlife corridors. Parcels of 160 acres and more in Moonlight Basin list for $6 million to $11 million. There are a number of equestrian properties in the area as well. UTAH People buy vacation homes in Utah to play outdoors.

There are five national parks within Utahï¿½s borders, the most of any state ( ), and two dozen national monuments and state recreation areas. The topography is varied. Snow-crusted mountains in the north provide over a dozen ski resorts ( ) with acres of groomed and backcountry terrain. Southern Utah is home to mesmerizing red-rock formations and ancient cliff-side dwellings that are now preserved as national treasures. Park City Set in the Wasatch Mountains less than an hourï¿½s drive east from Salt Lake City, Park City combines the allure of a historic downtown and its requisite galleries and fine dining with some of the most extensive backcountry skiing in the country. It has three major ski resorts (Park City, Deer Valley and the Canyons), and five other resorts are within a 30-mile radius (Alta, Brighton, Snowbird, Sundance and Solitude). The 2002 Winter Olympics gave Park City a jump in housing sales. ï¿½Weï¿½ve seen phenomenal growth since then,ï¿½ said Chris Robertson, regional manager with Prudential Utah Real Estate.

In the last four years, total real estate sales volume has more than tripled; the average sale price of a home is now just over $700,000. Heber City The residual real estate benefits of the Olympic Games have also benefited Heber City, 22 miles from Park City. Soldier Field, the site of the cross-country and biathlon events, is in neighboring Midway. Three reservoirs within 30 miles of Heber City, including Jordanelle Reservoir in Jordanelle State Park, the stateï¿½s newest state park, are popular for boating and windsurfing. Blue-ribbon fly-fishing can be found at the nearby Provo River. A 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom cabin on just under one acre in Heber City is listed for $220,000. Moab/Castle Valley Near Arches National Park ( ) in southeastern Utah, Moab ( ) and Castle Valley are popular retreats for mountain bikers, rock climbers and hikers because they are ï¿½drop-dead gorgeous,ï¿½ said Rick Lamb, a broker with Moab Realty.

Expert mountain bikers flock to Moab for its challenging trails, including the 9.6-mile Slickrock Bike Trail. Just outside Castle Valley, Castleton Tower offers classic desert rock climbing. Surrounded by red-rock monuments, the two towns near the Colorado border have seen home sales ï¿½quadruple in the last year,ï¿½ said Norma Nunn, a longtime agent with Moab Realty. But the market in 2006 is showing signs of ï¿½slowing down some,ï¿½ said Mr. Lamb, who reported fewer phone calls and sales transactions. Buyers, who largely come from the Wasatch Front, Salt Lake City and the Front Range in Colorado (Denver and Boulder), are increasingly purchasing town houses that they often place in a rental program when not using them. Three-bedroom town houses in Castle Valley are priced in the high-$200,000 range. Inventory in Castle Valley is ï¿½particularly tight,ï¿½ Mr. Lamb said, with most houses listing from $200,000 to $400,000. A five-acre parcel in Castle Valley sells for $100,000.

WYOMING Wyoming ( ) is one of the least populated (less than 500,000 residents) and most tax-friendly states in the union. Largely because of its natural gas and mineral wealth, the state does not impose personal or corporate income taxes; property taxes are nominal. Coupled with stunning prairie and mountain landscapes, such tax policies have encouraged home and land ownership. At the edge of Grand Teton National Park ( ) in the northwestern corner of the state, Jackson Hole and the surrounding communities continue to dominate as the stateï¿½s principal vacation home destinations. Jackson Hole Like Aspen, Jackson Hole ( ) has star power. The spectacular Teton mountain range juts a mile into the sky from the valley, creating a skierï¿½s and mountaineerï¿½s paradise, not to mention dramatic views. Anglers, kayakers and rafters gravitate to the Snake River, which winds through town. Only 3 percent of the land in Teton County is private (the remainder is owned by the national government), making property scarce and costly.

Last year, sales exceeded $1 billion in Jackson Hole, and the market ï¿½continues to grow at a healthy pace,ï¿½ said Jarad Spackman, a broker with Sothebyï¿½s International Realty. Inspired by the Jackson Hole Land Trust, a private land conservation group, a strong conservation ethos guides development in Jackson Hole. Newer subdivisions are selling larger parcels ï¿½ 35 acres and more ï¿½ for $5 million and above. Developments with parcels smaller than 35 acres must preserve a portion for open space. Charlie Ross, another broker with Sothebyï¿½s, said prospective buyers priced out of these high-end developments were beginning to look in neighborhoods like Stilson Ranch, where quarter-acre lots sell for $400,000 to $500,000. Alpine A mere 30-minute drive down State Highway 89 through the Grand Canyon of the Snake River (and one of the most breathtaking routes in America) is Alpine, an affordable alternative to Jackson Hole. Surrounded by national forest, Alpine, like Jackson, attracts people passionate about the outdoors.

There is fly-fishing at the confluence of the Salt River, the Grey River and the South Fork of the Snake River, where you can ï¿½catch a six-pound trout five minutes from your door,ï¿½ Mr. Spackman said. Compared with the median price of a single-family home in Teton County ($912,000), the median price in Alpine ($224,000) is a steal. The modest prices help explain the 146 percent increase in total sales volume since 2005. Aspen Split Between Wealthy Visitors and the Working Poor That Serve Them – Skift Aspen Split Between Wealthy Visitors and the Working Poor That Serve Them Nicholas Riccardi, Associated Press - Jan 12, 2015 4:50 pm Luxury homes in Aspen, Colorado. Bill Morrow / Flickr Photo: Bill Morrow / Flickr Share Tweet Post Send Skift Take This plays itself out in many destinations with a large population of tourists: The wealthy that want to visit and the less wealthy that take care of them.

— Jason Clampet At first, Loly Garcia didn’t have to travel far to her jobs in the chic hotels of this fabled tourist town. She shared a tiny studio apartment with her father, brother and a cousin after arriving from El Salvador more than 20 years ago. But after she married and wanted a home of her own, she had to drive 23 miles west, past tracts of empty land and vacant mansions whose owners visit only a couple of weeks a year, to the mobile home park where she now lives. The drive eventually wore her down, and she decided to take lower-paying work closer to home. “That commute — it becomes 10 hours a week. It’s like working an extra day,” said Garcia, 49. “It’s hard to live here.” Resort towns like Aspen dramatically demonstrate an unnerving trend: Across the country, the rich are getting richer while the rest of the country is essentially treading water. From 2009 to 2012, inflation-adjusted income for the wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. households surged 31 percent, according to economist Emmanuel Saez of the University of California, Berkeley.

For everyone else, income inched up just 0.4 percent. In Aspen, the division is especially stark because it goes beyond mere money. The wealth gap is also a geographic divide. The people who clean the vacation homes, maintain the mansions’ gardens and work in the hotels must find housing in mobile home parks or subdivisions squeezed into the few acres of developable space dozens of miles to the west. A lucky few — about half of Aspen’s year-round population of 6,700 — are able to score units in the town’s unusual affordable housing program that, on the open market, would sell for millions of dollars. Meanwhile, residents who struggle to find affordable real estate watch an increasing number of houses in town become rarely inhabited vacation properties. “It’s a mirror image of Detroit, where wealth, not poverty, is driving population down,” said Mick Ireland, a former three-term Aspen mayor. Aspen’s dilemma is similar to that of other resort towns, from Nantucket, Massachusetts, to Park City, Utah, especially those nestled in the jagged terrain of the western United States.

In the West, vast tracts of public land and sheer mountain faces prevent the easy development of suburbs to house workers, pushing clusters of more affordable housing many miles away. The jobs in these communities are largely in the lower-paying service industry, yet the resort towns are a destination for the global upper class, said Bill Hettinger, author of “Living and Working in Paradise,” a book on resort towns. “In New York City, you can house your resort workers in the Bronx or Queens. But in Aspen, they’re in Rifle, (about 70) miles down an icy mountain road,” Hettinger said. “That’s the problem any resort community faces. It has no middle-income base to build on.” Aspen’s median family income of $71,000 is higher than the state average. But the further “down-valley,” or to the west, you drive, the more incomes drop until you hit Glenwood Springs, 51 miles west, where the median family income of $54,000 is below average and carpenters, plumbers and other laborers regularly spend hours commuting to Aspen.

The situation would be worse had Aspen not gone to extraordinary lengths to try to avoid being hollowed out by the departure of middle-class and working-class residents. Financed by a 1.5 percent charge on real estate sales and a mandate that any new projects include affordable housing, the city and county run a 40-year-old program that allows people who have worked for one year or longer in Aspen to rent, or buy, cheap residences. Some of these properties are in prime position, like one-bedroom ski-in, ski-out units at the base of the lifts downtown, added to a new development to comply with the city’s regulations. The properties are allocated in an online lottery. Before the Internet age, the whole town was riveted by suspense over who would win a cherished affordable home. Names were drawn out of a hopper, and the event was broadcast live on the local radio station. Doctors and lawyers, as priced out of most homes here as carpenters and bartenders, take advantage of the program. Everyone in town praises the program for maintaining a critical mass of year-round families that give Aspen a more lived-in feel than many of its competitors.

“Most ski towns are 20 and drunk, and 75 and retired,” said Adam Frisch, 47, an Aspen city councilman, father of two and former banker who was able to buy a house outside the affordable housing program — what’s referred to as a “free market” property. The housing program has helped maintain part of Aspen’s legend, a place where ski bums and teachers rubbed shoulders with rock stars and millionaires in the 1960s and 1970s — and today with billionaires and hedge fund titans. But many in town grumble about inequality. The mordant joke is that the billionaires are pushing out the millionaires. Cheaper eateries frequented by locals are relentlessly replaced by upscale restaurants and high-end shops, and even the Aspen realtor’s association office was pushed out of town because it couldn’t afford to pay the skyrocketing rents in a place where the average property sale is $5 million. Frisch said he doesn’t feel the town has changed, just income inequality nationally, which shows up here in a concentrated form.

“In the 1970s, that upper, upper, upper echelon, they were making 10 times more than the $40,000-a-year teacher,” Frisch said. “That same group that shows up here, they are 100 times wealthier than the painter, than the teacher, than the ski bum, than they were in the ’80s. The homes are bigger, the jets are bigger.” Ireland, however, warned that Aspen’s feel is different than a decade or two ago, when year-round residents lived in all parts of town. “When I moved to town, you could rent a room one of those houses on the west end, and the owner would come out for the music festival in the summer,” said Ireland, who arrived in 1979. “Now the guy doesn’t need your $400-a-month and doesn’t want you trampling on the carpet.” Some here say living amid rampant inequality is just the price one pays for residing in what locals sometimes call “Disneyland for adults.” Elizabeth Milias, a former official in President George W. Bush’s administration who writes a blog critical of Aspen’s political establishment, said she has grown tired of complaints.

“There’s that sense that, my God, their lives would have been so much better if they lived in Cleveland,” she said. “Aspen can’t exist without high-end tourists. They signed up for that.” That’s why Jose Herrera moved to these mountains from Mexico. The 25-year-old construction worker can’t afford the prices in town and lives dozens of miles away in a mobile home park. But he doesn’t resent the wealthy. “The company where I work builds houses for rich people, and because of that it pays well,” Herrera said. “One way or another, we help each other out.” Copyright (2015) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. This article was written by Nicholas Riccardi from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

Question: In what Colorado ski town does the average home sell for over $5 million?
Answer: Aspen