Moving to Telluride. (Denver, Leadville, Rico: real estate, rent, house)

[hullo]

Im going to be moving to Telluride Colorado next year. I would like to be settled in before June so I can bring my 3 children down for the summer. Any advice, direction or help would be more than appreciated.

Does anyone:

a) Have advice about living the area?
b) Have knowledge about job opportunities in or around the area?
c) Live in or around the area?
d) Have interest in networking?

Cheers

[jim9251]

You're moving to Telluride without a job???????? Oh my. Um good luck, bring LOTS of money with you. Have you been there?

[Dogmama50]

Originally Posted by jim9251

You're moving to Telluride without a job???????? Oh my. Um good luck, bring LOTS of money with you. Have you been there?

My thoughts exactly.

OP, Why Telluride?

[CosmicWizard]

hullo wrtote: Any advice?

As jazzlover would say....The way to become a millionaire living in Telluride, is to bring at least 2 million with you for starters.

[hullo]

Telluride is pretty much the only place I have spent much time in Colorado. Im looking for a small beautiful place to live for a couple years and Telluride is definitely small and beautiful.

Is everyone living in Telluride a millionaire? There must be some regular blue collar folks living in the town also.

Housing seems to be the only real expensive thing. Im not looking to buy a house just rent for a bit.

Why do you think I would need a million dollars?

Why not Telluride?

[hullo]

They also have music all summer long and that's a huge plus for me

[CosmicWizard]

Certainly not everyone living in Telluride is a millionaire, but most of the property owners are. Many of the blue collar Telluride worker bees live outside of town and commute back and forth to Telluride. Advising you to bring a million dollars is an exaggerartion to make the point that Telluride is an expensive place to live. You don't NEED a million dollars, but it would make life in Telluride ( or anywhere else for that matter ) alot easier. You can make your move alot less stressful by bringing at least 3 to 6 months of living expesnes with you, unless you do OK with scraping by on the seat of your pants.

[Idunn]

Since having visited Telluride, you are surely aware of some of its realities beyond the beautiful scenery. Being isolation of course, but also that it will be expensive.

Whether renting or buying, real estate demands a premium. The affluent frequenting the place may not appreciate as much, but that alone will definitely define the life of anyone working there. Unless having approached town over Lizard Head Pass from Rico, then probably some appreciation for how far removed Telluride is from towns in the other direction, the little nothing of Placerville, etc. Having not done it, I cannot say exactly how employees manage this there, but you can bet they sure are not living the high life in some ski chalet. One can find the same minions in similar places, such as in Summit County, and those working at Taco Bell have to live somewhere. My understanding this often means long commutes from places such as Leadville, etc. Or as not uncommon at times, with more roommates than one might be comfortable with.

Some around here will dismiss a place such as Telluride out of hand as Yuppified and well beyond what it once was. Yet still a great time for those so attuned, and the skiing isn't bad, either. But one downside—aside from the superb scenery everyone gets to enjoy—is that such affluent communities present the stark and growing divide between the affluent and everyone else in this nation. With money, you can live the high life in a near mountain paradise. Without much of it, as in working for a wage, then one is automatically denied access to much of that world, even if presumably within it. The truth then is that compromises are inevitable, and that for having chosen to live in (or at least somewhat near) such a place the price in commuting, less disposable income, etc., will be steeper than if along the Front Range. That is why so many live in Denver and that greater metro area, because life in many respects is easier. They might also say because with a family or what not that they simply could not afford Telluride, but the more exact reason in most cases would be because unwilling (and perhaps quite sensibly) to make the necessary sacrifices to do so.

Of course that discounts and puts a damper on one's dreams. If only for a year or two, living in a place such as Telluride would certainly be an experience few others would have. Moreover one surely fondly remembered, if likely in aspects due the very challenges faced. But while there one might want to angle towards becoming one of the 1%, as all surely then more comfortable.

[Dorthy]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

Certainly not everyone living in Telluride is a millionaire, but most of the property owners are. Many of the blue collar Telluride worker bees live outside of town and commute back and forth to Telluride.

Or they live in the woods. Ski town workers find homes in the hills — High Country News

[suzco]

Originally Posted by Idunn

. . . My understanding this often means long commutes from places such as Leadville, etc. Or as not uncommon at times, with more roommates than one might be comfortable with.
. . .

My mind boggles. What in the world would a commute between Leadville and Telluride look like?

This is not to quibble with anything that Idunn said in his post - I agree with it all. But, even my overactive imagination cannot envision a commute from Leadville to Telluride.