Any towns/cities with cheap old buildings?

[Robert5]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

Aside from Trinidad which has a bunch. Trinidad is a gem but the old buildings are falling apart because the code enforcement there is especially stringent . The other problem is a poor economy.
Pueblo has a few?
Anywhere else?

Pueblo has more old buildings than every other CO city (excepting Denver) combined. Monte Vista, Alamosa, Florence, Canon City, Walsenburg, Del Norte, Cripple Creek, Black Hawk have old buildings.
Regarding Trinidad code enforcement.... An LLC of mine acquired a 900 sq ft house in Trinidad via a foreclosure action for about $10,000. A perfectly fine old house with a crappy foundation typical for its age of construction. It had some wavy floors, but it was only one story and in no danger of falling down. Many similar occupied houses exist in Denver (and OMG I was in Boston recently, 20% of the housing there is like this, and they are selling for $350,000+). After a couple of years of renting out without problem, I had to evict a tenant, as is sometimes the case, the tenant claims the property is uninhabitable to stall the eviction process and files paperwork with the building department. Building department/code enforcement guy comes out and tags the building as uninhabitable. I send a contractor down there to get a scope of work from the building department... in addition to some minor issues, they want an entire new foundation! Well it would actually be more cost effective to tear the house down and rebuild then it would to jack the house up and put a new foundation under it. It would cost $110,000 (off the top the head estimate) to tear the house down and build a new one. But the Trindad housing market sucks, that new house would only sell for $90,000 in Trindad. So my LLC walked away from the house. The house sits there vacant collecting weeds and what not. FU Trinidad. So, to answer RockyMtnXpress' question, that is how overly strict code enforcement can cause older buildings to fall apart.

[RockyMtnXpress]

Working with code requirements for over the last three decades, as a designer, I guess I now see the gist of your reply. My lack of understanding your meaning (ocean) and having "Some" understanding how the other side works only added to my confusion. Carry on! Interesting thread.

BTW, Thanks Sunsprit and Robert5 for clarification.

[ocean2026]

Wow Robert sad story - and horrible . I think at some point if the unreasonableness amounted to a
"improper taking" by govt and they couldn't clearly demonstrate the government interest ( meaning was it really a safety issue) Id probably want to sue. Of course I am an attorney but i have plenty to do here. I have to buy a building really cheaply to incur a risk.
I'm not licensed in Colorado so I'm not talking about Robert - there are enough attys in Trinidad - but if i bought one myself and ran into a brick wall.

[Josseppie]

Originally Posted by Robert5

Pueblo has more old buildings than every other CO city (excepting Denver) combined.

This is true. One of the reasons I like it in Pueblo as the historic buildings give it character that other tows lack in the state.