If I decide to move (Denver, Pueblo: motel, house prices, buying)

[Mike from back east]

@CosmicWizard ... nice to see you back in here ...

Since you're in PA, look at the Danville, PA area. As an oldster, I like it for the huge hospital there and the low prices of homes. IIRC there's a thread or two in the PA forum on it.

[CosmicWizard]

Hey Mike ole buddy!

I've looked at only a few places thus far: State College ( I like that area! ), Mount Pocono/Tobyhana ( hated it. too much of a tourist trap, too much traffic ), and the Elk Mountain ski resort area ( very scenic, but didn't feel strongly drawn to that area ). I want to check out Wellsboro, Mansfield, Lock Haven, Emporium, St Marys, Warren, and a few other places who's name elude me at the moment.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

Suzco,

1. Maybe start by figuring out why you want to leave where you live now. Too much traffic? Too many people? Something else?

. . .

That's the first question I'm thinking about it - I don't know if I do want to leave. I do know that I can live comfortably in many parts of denver/boulder metro - that's why "should I stay or should I go is up in the air." If I decide to stay, I know it will be fine. But, I might want adventure.

I want to explore, if only in my mind right now. See what else is out there. Revisit places I've loved, find new ones I don't know yet, continue to find new places. Living through this constitutional conflict and pandemic has sure made me start thinking about what's next.

[2bindenver]

There has to be an athletes old house for sale somewhere...

Do you have to stay in Colorado? I have always like Donner, near Tahoe.

And I’ve like Lake Havasu in AZ, near a lake, but no snow. Near Vegas too for when travel is back on the table.

San Diego, western Florida, but I am showing my “I like the water” bias.

Let us know what’s appealing.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

Hi suzco. You might still remember me ( CosmicWizard ) from a few years back I haven't been active on city-data for the past few years.

In, Sept-'15 I bought a condo in Grand Junction where I lived for 2.5 yrs. After selling it for a nice profit, I rented for 14 months in Grand Junction while looking for another place to buy. Never found a place I liked, and got priced out of the market during my time of procrastination.

So, I moved to Ruidoso-NM in June '19 where I could still afford the cost of real estate to my liking. Although Ruidoso has much to offer, I never felt at home there, so I sold my condo this past October for a decent profit after just 14 months of ownership.

Now I'm back in PA, my state of birth ( maybe I'll get one of those plates ... PA Native! haha - not too likely.). With the nationwide runup in real estate prices, along with the massive decrease of inventory ( fewer properties and not as nice ), I'm starting to think that I might be permanently priced out of owning my own place ever again --- unless a correction occurs soon. I have become rather despondent.

Moral of the story ..... tread cautiously unless money is no object.

How ya be Cosmic? Good to see ya posting!

I know a bit about New Mexico--worked on a pipeline in '82-3, and stayed in Walsenburg, Raton, Tucumcari, and Hobbs. After the job wrapped up I stayed in the state and explored the small towns in all area. I understand your opinion on the area. Until a few years ago I visited a lot of guys I worked with on that line, they were all 15-20 years older than me. They've all passed on now. I still have some friends in the state not construction related--they live in Roswell, Hagerman, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces. My friend in Las Cruces I met through City Data!

[suzco]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

Hi suzco. You might still remember me ( CosmicWizard ) from a few years back I haven't been active on city-data for the past few years.

. . .
Moral of the story ..... tread cautiously unless money is no object.

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

The power of soliciting ideas and options is that someone might mention something you have not previously thought of ... something that really resonates!

So glad to see you here; thanks for telling more of the rest of your story.

Money is no obect, in the sense that I know there are many places that I can make work. Money is a subject I need to consider and plan for, but I have lots of flexibility to make things work.

A place like Aspen is not where I'll land. I lived my ski bum days in towns like Telluride, and the early days of Vail, and Jackson, in the days that those places were already world class magnets, but where I could make a living. I'm talking about 40something years ago, the seventies and early eighties.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by DOUBLE H

How ya be Cosmic? Good to see ya posting!

I know a bit about New Mexico--worked on a pipeline in '82-3, and stayed in Walsenburg, Raton, Tucumcari, and Hobbs. After the job wrapped up I stayed in the state and explored the small towns in all area. I understand your opinion on the area. Until a few years ago I visited a lot of guys I worked with on that line, they were all 15-20 years older than me. They've all passed on now. I still have some friends in the state not construction related--they live in Roswell, Hagerman, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces. My friend in Las Cruces I met through City Data!

Please tell me more about what your friends who live there now think. New Mexico meets every one of my needs. I went to Santa Fe opera every summer for many years; Bandolier is one of my favorite places, the albuquerque bosque is what I need from nature. I know I want to visit Silver City - I've only been there once, about 50 years ago.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

There has to be an athletes old house for sale somewhere...

Do you have to stay in Colorado? I have always like Donner, near Tahoe.

And I’ve like Lake Havasu in AZ, near a lake, but no snow. Near Vegas too for when travel is back on the table.

San Diego, western Florida, but I am showing my “I like the water” bias.

Let us know what’s appealing.

Thanks. All of those except for San diego and southwest (or anywhere) in Florida would work, but so far I haven't heard anything about them that would make me choose to leave where I am now. I've visited all those locations (or at least driven through) in the past. I would never choose San Diego or Florida. If ocean might be okay to replace mountains - the oregon coast is a place that appeals.

[COcheesehead]

There are not a lot of places left in Colorado that aren’t already “discovered” and by that I mean rising real estate prices, crowds and generally moving away from the things that made Colorado an attractive state.

In my experience the few that are left are on the Western Slope.

Cute towns
Paonia
Palisade
Montrose

Rural, rustic and still off the beaten path

Norwood
Gateway
Cimarron
Crawford

On the main highway, but lots to offer
Grand Junction
Fruita
Ouray

We moved off the front range almost two years ago and never looked back.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by suzco

That's the first question I'm thinking about it - I don't know if I do want to leave. I do know that I can live comfortably in many parts of denver/boulder metro - that's why "should I stay or should I go is up in the air." If I decide to stay, I know it will be fine. But, I might want adventure.

I want to explore, if only in my mind right now. See what else is out there. Revisit places I've loved, find new ones I don't know yet, continue to find new places. Living through this constitutional conflict and pandemic has sure made me start thinking about what's next.

There is a lot of New Mexico to explore. It has nothing on Colorado regarding the mountain peaks as Wheeler Peak which is 13,161 ft., south of Red River. is the highest one in the state. But New Mexico has a topography all its own. You can drive 50 miles on flat country and then all of a sudden some jagged mountains and buttes pop up. It has almost as many national parks and monuments as any other state and they are in each corner of the state with a dozen others scattered all over the state. You can drive up to the top of Capulin Monument, east of Raton. Aztec Ruins monument in the northwest corner is an awesome place. And Carlsbad Caverns in the southeast corner? IMO it is one of the crown jewels of the National park System!

But the small towns that look like they are being held together by duct tape, chewing gum, and wishful thinking, well, there are a few that have an interesting history to it. Take Wagon Mound for example. Sixty some miles south of Raton, the area was marked by fur traders and wagon trains traveling the Santa Fe Trail. It saw a bunch of housing around 1941 or so as Reynolds aluminum planned a manufacturing plant there for the war effort. Aptly named as it has a shape like a covered wagon on top of a mound!

Steins is another, a unique ghost town just east of the Arizona border on I-10. At first the area was known to prosectors panning for silver, gold, and copper along the Peloncill Range, then later it was set up as a railroad town. Nowadays the population was long gone decades ago but a fellow bought the place up and restored a bunch of buildings (IIRC, a dozen) and several adobe ruins. According to a guy I talked to in Lordsburg years ago is that when the Southern Pacific rolls through town they give the horn a good size blast, I guess, for nostalgia's sake!

A good book to check out is by T.M. Pierce, called New Mexico Place Names. Lots of good reading regarding the different names of towns, monuments, etc.

Suzco, I'll do another post a bit later!