How do ppl living in downtown Boulder afford it? (Louisville: mortgage, real estate)

[alvanos]

A year ago I spent a little time with my family in Boulder. We walked around Pearl Street, and all the old homes in the historic district. Basically we fell in love with the place, and thought that it would be the best neighborhood in the world to live in. Then the price shock set in. I live in the Chicago burbs, which are not exactly cheap, and I make what I consider to be a really good salary ($120K+), and I really don't think I could afford living there. So I'm just curious, what do the people who do live there do? How do they afford it?

[TropicanaRose]

Boulder has a large number of people who don't need to work- trust funds, retired early from the dot coms, etc. We also have a fair number of people who sold high in California and had cash to buy here. Then there are those that bought before Boulder went sky high. Lots of people had a feeling about real estate here and started accumulating it.

If you google around you will see that the difference between the median housing price and the median salary is pretty staggering (can't remember it but it makes my eyes bug out).

There are people who choose to live in Boulder and live very simply- there house takes every bit of their housing budget and their extras budget.

I think that you are talking about Mapleton Hill, some of the most expensive housing in Boulder, although I can think of a couple of neighborhoods that I think are a bit pricier. There are other nice, less expensive neighborhoods in Boulder, but none of them are affordable to the "average joe."

[frogandtoad]

There are a lot of jobs which bring in $300K+. Medical sales easily does this (and there is a LOT of medical sales in Boulder. BTW, not to be confused w/pharmaceutical sales which does not bring in anywhere near that much). Specialty physicians (not your internist, but orthopedist, dermatologist, a few others) bring in $300+. Some financial disciplines (not many though), and a few top level executives.

There are a lot of jobs where $300K is an average year, and many where they easily touch on $500K if they're good (and beyond that).

[nelumbo]

I previously lived in Boston on $20k/year, where housing costs were generally higher than in Boulder. I didn't have problems paying rent, food, etc - you can spend more than half your income on housing/utilities if you budget carefully.

Renting seems to be considerably cheaper than buying in many locations right now, including Boulder.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by TropicanaRose

We also have a fair number of people who sold high in California and had cash to buy here. Then there are those that bought before Boulder went sky high.

I think these two categories are the majority.

[frogandtoad]

In addition to those I mentioned above, I thought of another category....those who are comfortable with ridiculous levels of debt and should not be (but are!) spending way too much for their income level!

[Roloc]

Originally Posted by frogandtoad

In addition to those I mentioned above, I thought of another category....those who are comfortable with ridiculous levels of debt and should not be (but are!) spending way too much for their income level!

I thought someone already mentioned Californians....

Sorry I just moved to the area from California and it was just way to easy . That is a large reason for the horrible market where I came from, everyone bought giant houses on adjustable rate mortgages and then took out ever penny for the BMW and all while making $40k.

I love Colorado btw, I can count the number of 20 inch rims I have seen on one hand

As far as the Boulder thing goes, I think a lot of folks bought there a long time ago, especially in the area around Pearl Street. Most of the people I see while walking around in the area (not on Pearl Street) are 50+ I would guess which is an indicator for that in my opinion.

[Neditate]

I agree with Katiana and Roloc. Many of the people who live in those older established neighborhoods have lived there a long time. The downtown Boulder home we sold 11 years ago is worth close to $1M now. We bought the house when homes were still affordable (in 1990).

[frogandtoad]

That's probably true, however we spent last week going around w/a realtor in those areas, as that's where we're looking to buy. He said there are lots of little kids in the area, largely people who moved in the last few years, and they did pay the bigger money. Like I said above, plenty of people do make a lot of money. (And of course some cashed out, but making $300K isn't *that* unusual in many businesses)

I asked on this board about spending up to $1Million and people jumped all over me, saying we wouldn't need to spend anywhere near that. We looked all over the area, and we will end up spending that b/c if you want to live close to Pearl St. in a decent house, in a pretty neighborhood, or other places like Devil's Thumb, that's what it costs.

We looked around Louisville, and other areas but the cookie cutter thing would not work for me, and I'd want to be biking distance to the foothills. So I think taht a lot of the people who have the money aren't spread all over--they are probably concentrated in those areas of Boulder, maybe also in DakotaRidge, Niwot, a few other places.

[Roloc]

Well from what I hear North Boulder is a lot cheaper. Around Pearl street you are going to find those homes but certainly all of them arn't 1 million and to be honest you don't NEED to spend that much for a house but it sounds like you want to.

If Louisville throws off your idea of biking in the foothills then yeah sure you gotta spend that much to get what you want. Although I know plenty of people who start their rides out here, really it just adds another 5 miles and half of that is on south boulder road going 100 mph downhill

In any case I am sure there are people making 300k but if you look at that compared to the average for the area or even the nation it actually is *that* rare seeing as how that is probably in the top 2% of salaries. Just look on city data for the spread of salaries in Boulder and you will see that is uncommon. See below: