The real estate bust hasn’t just left homeowners, the unemployed and 
those who took out too large of a mortgage on their homes out of luck. A massive guest ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with all the fixings’ is going up for auction.
The Darwin Ranch was listed for $8.5-million, but didn’t sell after more than a year on the market and will be auctioned-off to the highest bidder in mid-September above the reserve price of a mere $4.5-million. The spread is still an exclusive guest ranch for tourists limiting visitors to 14 at a time and is one of the great holding properties in the Rocky Mountain West.
Its the kind of place where cowboys could ride on the range and lasso cattle they round-up to take to market. The 160-acre spread includes the main house, seven guest cabins, out-buildings, a root cellar, two barns and a generator shack. The ranch also comes with all the livestock, equipment needed to keep the place up and running plus all interior furnishings.
“During his 50 plus years of ownership, the current owner created an exclusive guest business,” said Scott Shuman, who is marketing the property.” The guest ranch thrived on word-of-mouth referrals, and repeat guests. It has been featured by a number of top-tier magazines as one of the best guest ranches in the west.”
Then the economy turned and the Darwin Ranch fell on hard times as business slowed. The spread could be an opportunity of a lifetime for the right new owner. A similar ranch sold for $19 million in Cody, Wyoming just a few years ago.