Moving to Durango or Bayfield? (Cortez, Ignacio: buyers, school, college)

[colorado native]

Ah yes... Durango is beautifully liberal. War is Hell/Eat the Rich/etc.

I gotta say, I really don't have that much trouble living here. I have a decent-paying (see:low-paying) job, just bought a condo (my first), have time to play and camp and fish... don't have to worry about wearing a damn tie (see: noose)...

Maybe it's a standard of living discrepancy. I have no need to have a huge house and ridiculous car. I don't need to worry about where I'm gonna buy that big-screen tv, 'cause I just read instead.

Live simply and you can live anywhere.

I'm not altogether sure what people are looking for when they come here. They see the beauty and wish to own a piece of it, for some reason, but deep down they want that strip mall and the ugliness of suburbia. They want a car-oriented and air-conditioned community... they need it to feel comfortable. I don't know. A place is what you make it, but don't try and make it something it's not.

[startech]

I know this thread has been around for a while and not active, but I just went to Durango last weekend to check it out. And, not much has changed. The people are very friendly, the real estate market is very expensive and just about everything in this thread is still very true. Everyone still wants to move there and are wondering how to finance the new home. My only question is (after checking out homes for sale), is there a way to find the homes advertised without a buying agent? We searched the MLS, internet, periodicals, newspaper and real estate magazines. We found that most of the ads did not give an address so we could drive by and see the neighborhood or home. So we drove around and just looked where we thought we might want to purchase and found that most of the homes with signs in the front yard, had no flyers with information, such as asking price or anything. I have bought 7 homes and I only used a buying agent the first time. The other 6, I was able to negotiate 3% off the bottom line, because the selling agent did not have to pay a buying agent. Thanks in advance for your input.

[MyPittsburgh]

Startech - My boyfriend and I are headed out to visit Durango next month. We probably won't be moving out there until sometime next year. We are relatively young and don't have a ton of money (we aren't destitute or anything). I have heard that it is cheaper to buy in Durango than rent. Since you have purchased so many homes, could you provide me any advice. Please let me know if you have any information.
Thanks!

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by colorado native

Ah yes... Durango is beautifully liberal. War is Hell/Eat the Rich/etc.

I gotta say, I really don't have that much trouble living here. I have a decent-paying (see:low-paying) job, just bought a condo (my first), have time to play and camp and fish... don't have to worry about wearing a damn tie (see: noose)...

Maybe it's a standard of living discrepancy. I have no need to have a huge house and ridiculous car. I don't need to worry about where I'm gonna buy that big-screen tv, 'cause I just read instead.

Live simply and you can live anywhere.

I'm not altogether sure what people are looking for when they come here. They see the beauty and wish to own a piece of it, for some reason, but deep down they want that strip mall and the ugliness of suburbia. They want a car-oriented and air-conditioned community... they need it to feel comfortable. I don't know. A place is what you make it, but don't try and make it something it's not.

I have to agree with this post up to a point. The part I don't quite agree with is the "Live simply and you can live anywhere" as it relates to Durango. To live in Durango on what most people there can make on a local income means you will be living darned simply--probably in a small 1 or 2 bedroom condo that cost you over $200K-$300K. I suppose if you are one the legions from someplace like California still intoxicated by the formerly robust real estate market there, that might seem cheap. But in a town where a $12/hr. job is considered a very good paying one, the math doesn't work. And, yes, Durango is doing its darnedest to turn into suburbia--the equity locusts who want McMansions and are bringing wheelbarrows full of money with them are seeing to that.

All of that said, Colorado Native's last paragraph is spot on. You see that "we hate where we came from but we're gonna make 'X' town in Colorado just like it--because that is what we are comfortable in" all across Colorado. It's happened/happening in town after town all across the state. You might as well be living in any strip-mall infested auto-dependent hell-hole anywhere in the country when that happens.

[GearJammerOne]

Originally Posted by Crackerjack

I know both areas very well and I have to say Durango is much better unless you like a bedroom community which is what Bayfield is and you have to commute which in Durango, is not a good thing.

Crackerjack, I got a kick out of your post regarding the "commute" into Durango from Bayfield. What commute? Maybe 15 to 20 minutes?? Are you kidding me? Obviously you have never lived in a metropolitan area where you have to leave your house by 6:00 or 6:30 am just to make it to work by 8:00 am, and that is if there isn't a traffic snarl up on the highway. Give me the commute to Durango anyday.
Now to the original post. I also love Durango, but......I would rather reside in Bayfield where there are a few more common sense people still left. Don't get me wrong, I have many friends that live and work in Durango but most of them are brutally liberal in opinions of politics, morals, our individual rights, and the amount of appeasement ( not respect) that they show for those with alternative lifestyles. I suppose some would classify me as a backwoods, narrow-minded, guy from Bayfield, but that's okay too. I think smaller town America has lost a little identity by prostituting itself to the big box stores, mega malls and billion dollar highways. Sure Bayfield may not have a Chili's, Target or Best Buy but that's the way we like it! If you want a small town that sticks together and you see all your friends at the town's activities, and you want your kids to grow up with lifelong friends then Bayfield is for you. Hope that helps! Good luck!

[GearJammerOne]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

All of that said, Colorado Native's last paragraph is spot on. You see that "we hate where we came from but we're gonna make 'X' town in Colorado just like it--because that is what we are comfortable in" all across Colorado. It's happened/happening in town after town all across the state. You might as well be living in any strip-mall infested auto-dependent hell-hole anywhere in the country when that happens.

I had to weigh in on this issue once more. Jazzlover hits it right on the head with his response. These people want to move here to get away from their present "situation" and yet they bring all those same ideas and issues here and try to make it like where they came from. Good post jazzy

[colorado native]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

probably in a small 1 or 2 bedroom condo that cost you over $200K-$300K.

$180K, 2bd 2 bath. Pretty nice, actually.

[startech]

Originally Posted by MyPittsburgh

Startech - My boyfriend and I are headed out to visit Durango next month. We probably won't be moving out there until sometime next year. We are relatively young and don't have a ton of money (we aren't destitute or anything). I have heard that it is cheaper to buy in Durango than rent. Since you have purchased so many homes, could you provide me any advice. Please let me know if you have any information.
Thanks!

We ended up moving to Golden. We decided to rent for now because we both feel the prices of homes have not hit bottom yet. Durango is not off of our list yet. It would be a great place to live. I would reccommend holding off on buying right now, unless you find that home you just can not pass up. Rent is expensive there (and here), but IMHO it would still pay off to rent for now and see where the housing prices go. Plus, it will give you two the opportunity to make sure Durango is where you want to land. You would not be stuck trying to resell your purchase if it does not work out.

When you do decide to buy, I would reccommend driving around to find your home. Then contact the seller directly. If they have a realtor listing, that realtor can become a transaction broker. He represents you and the seller equally. You can then negotiate an additional 3 to 4% off the home because there is no buying agent fee. A buying agent will tell you that it cost you nothing because the seller pays their commissions. That is true, but if there is no buying agent, that leaves the seller another 3 to 4% to discount the home. The savings get passed to the buyer. Why pay a buying agent 10 to 12k just because they have access to the MLS? Durango and area are small enough, that you could cover the neighborhoods yourself for a tank of gas. Plus, you would get a good feel of the area on your own. We used zillow dot com to get an idea of home prices in the area. Remember, a broker that becomes a transaction broker, by law has to look out for the interest of both parties. At the same time, if the seller or buyer become dissatisfied and the deal falls thru, he/she wont make any commission. One last thing. If you are financing your home, try to put down at least 20% to avoid the PMI-premium mortgage insurance. You pay for it, but it does not benefit you. It benefits the lender. Good luck on your move to Colorado. It is a fantastic place to move to...

[brightdoglover]

I'm curious- all the people who are moving to Durango- what is your line of work?
I visited there, considering a possible move. I'm an RN, psychiatric/detox. There was exactly one job in town. The pay was OK by Durango standards, but not very good overall for what they were asking (and getting).
If I wanted to live in a modest condo, it could be done. But I want to be able to have dogs, so that usually means a house.
I saw perfect houses in the Forest Lakes area of Bayfield, but didn't want to live out of town. The commute looked fine, but I'd be making it at night and I've already done that, driving a dark road in bad weather to town. I was curious about living in town more than out, but there were only condos. Of course, the condo type and price varied a lot, but there were some under $200K. I do understand that's hardly affordable on the local wage scale.

[borborygmi]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

I'm curious- all the people who are moving to Durango- what is your line of work?
I visited there, considering a possible move. I'm an RN, psychiatric/detox. There was exactly one job in town. The pay was OK by Durango standards, but not very good overall for what they were asking (and getting).
If I wanted to live in a modest condo, it could be done. But I want to be able to have dogs, so that usually means a house.
I saw perfect houses in the Forest Lakes area of Bayfield, but didn't want to live out of town. The commute looked fine, but I'd be making it at night and I've already done that, driving a dark road in bad weather to town. I was curious about living in town more than out, but there were only condos. Of course, the condo type and price varied a lot, but there were some under $200K. I do understand that's hardly affordable on the local wage scale.

I'm a physician, and I chose Cortez over Durango for mainly these reasons. Pay scale in Durango for health care professionals is rural in scale, while costs of living and housing in town are outrageous. Could I have afforded a home in Durango on the income I could potentially have made? Yes; but I turned it down on general principle. I can live so much better on the same income where I am now.

By the way, regarding the rental market in Durango, I've heard from several good sources that due to the supply-demand imbalance of available decent rentals, becoming now more severe with the seasonal influx of FLC students, competition over rental housing is facilitating landlords' ability to raise rents on units to the point that many non-wealthy (or non-parentally subsidized) renters are being priced out of places they're currently living. It's become a bidding war, and for a few acquaintances I know, the end of their yearly leases were followed by huge rent hikes by their landlords, to the point that they had to leave. Sad.