Another "Retire in CO" thread... (Fort Collins, Boulder: hotels, to buy)

[EricBabula]

That's going to be a big change for us! Here in the Milwaukee, WI area, I'm getting 90-110Mbps, but we're supposed to get 200Mbps. So, going down to 20Mbps will be a change for sure. Oh well, maybe it's better that we unplug and spend more time outside anyway!

[brightdoglover]

Something like 10 percent of residents in my area work from home so I figure the internet is adequate for them. I'd consider it if I needed it to make a living, but not for my usual conversations and reading stuff. Maybe you need it for gaming, I wouldn't know about that.

[LHS79]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

You should read https://www.yelp.com/biz/rise-broadband-englewood-3

Terrible reviews for sure- the parents have moved on and do not use Rise anymore. They never had an issue with it but it was not used much either at their age.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by COcheesehead

Rise is line of sight. Can’t see the tower, can’t get it.

Line of sight is the limitation for us, too. Not that I mind much, since I’d rather have slow Internet in exchange for rural plusses.

Satellite is faster than dial-up modem which was all we had within an hour of Denver (believe it or not). “Fast enough” is a matter of what you compare with, and the tradeoffs you’re willing to make to get urban amenities in places of low population density. I’ll take the low density any day. To give that up, it’d take much, much more important advantages than faster Internet. Advantages that ONLY nature hands out, not big tech.

[COcheesehead]

The problem with slow internet is it limits your choices. We cut the cable TV cord and without high speed internet we couldn’t stream. Streaming alone or streaming with an HD antenna can save you a bunch of dollars.

[waltcolorado]

We spend the warmer half of the year in a cabin near Elevenmile res. We use satellite for TV and the internet options are either sat (Hughes) or cell phone hot spot off a 3G tower. We went with the Verison hot spot.. pretty limited but it at least usually worked for my wifes zoom meetings. We are close to the state park and on weekends when the park fills up, the internet gets a little sketchy with fairly frequent drop outs.

But.. I walked out the front door and usually less than a few miles to take all the pictures in the link below. Or drove to a marina to launch floating stuff about a mile away.. Tradeoffs.. Elevenmile 2020

[COcheesehead]

Originally Posted by waltcolorado

We spend the warmer half of the year in a cabin near Elevenmile res. We use satellite for TV and the internet options are either sat (Hughes) or cell phone hot spot off a 3G tower. We went with the Verison hot spot.. pretty limited but it at least usually worked for my wifes zoom meetings. We are close to the state park and on weekends when the park fills up, the internet gets a little sketchy with fairly frequent drop outs.

But.. I walked out the front door and usually less than a few miles to take all the pictures in the link below. Or drove to a marina to launch floating stuff about a mile away.. Tradeoffs.. Elevenmile 2020

Nice photos!

[EricBabula]

Originally Posted by waltcolorado

We spend the warmer half of the year in a cabin near Elevenmile res. We use satellite for TV and the internet options are either sat (Hughes) or cell phone hot spot off a 3G tower. We went with the Verison hot spot.. pretty limited but it at least usually worked for my wifes zoom meetings. We are close to the state park and on weekends when the park fills up, the internet gets a little sketchy with fairly frequent drop outs.

But.. I walked out the front door and usually less than a few miles to take all the pictures in the link below. Or drove to a marina to launch floating stuff about a mile away.. Tradeoffs.. Elevenmile 2020

1. Beautiful pics! Love the colors you get! What kind of camera setup are you using?
2. Yes, tradeoffs! I'll trade 200Mbps internet for living like you are in those pics, any day! Relaxed life!!!
3. I've never visited Elevenmile Resevoir - after seeing those pics, I might have to go there some day!

[EricBabula]

In trying to figure out where in CO to live, it would be impossible to know which place is exactly perfect for us without extensively visiting every area in the state. So, we’re doing the best we can remotely, and as part of my preliminary research I’ve read a bunch of websites and searched through tons of posts in these forums (where to retire to, where to move to, best places for liberals vs conservatives, best places for retirees, cheapest towns vs most expensive, etc.) and compiled a rudimentary list of about 100 towns that people have suggested in the many posts I’ve read. Every time a town was positively suggested, I put a check mark next to it and wrote some notes, to see which towns were the most suggested. I figure this will help, somewhat, to get us to a shortlist that we should go check out. This summer/fall, as a first reconnaissance trip, my wife and I plan to take the camper back to CO and visit a few areas and check out a number of these towns.

As of now, this is the top 20 according to my tally so far:

Votes Town Population Elevation Median Home Price Average Snowfall
29 Salida 5,800 7,083’ $405K 43”
19 Montrose 19,000 5,807’ $264K 34”
19 Buena Vista 2,800 7,965’ $356K 71”
17 Cañon City 17,000 5,331’ $194K 33”
12 Ridgway 1,000 6,985’ $483K 71”
11 Ouray 2,800 7,965’ $356K 134”
11 Woodland Park 7,600 8,465’ $355K 89”
10 Paonia 1,300 5,682’ $196K 41”
9 Cedaredge 2,400 6,230’ $201K 50”
9 Palisade 2,700 4,728’ $281K 16”
9 Grand Junction 62,100 4,583’ $237K 16”
8 Durango 18,600 6,522’ $471K 67”
8 Gunnison 6,400 7,703’ $275K 48”
7 Nederland 1,400 8,228’ $461K 118”
5 Fruita 13250 4,514’ $285K 16”
4 Berthoud 7,200 5,030’ $448K 39”
4 Estes Park 6,400 7,522’ $453K 82”
3 Silverton 550 9,318’ $324K 116”
2 Allenspark 450 8,428’ $284K 130”
2 Jamestown 202 6,926’ $336K 152”

I removed a few larger cities/towns like Denver, CoS, Loveland, Pueblo…that we’re not really interested in at this time (Grand Junction is iffy in size, but I left it here for now), and some more expensive ones like Telluride, Vail, Evergreen, that we likely can’t afford at this time). Still must talk to my wife about some of these with lots of snowfall – not sure she’ll like that much snow, especially as we age and will need access to healthcare.

Yes, I am considering that this purchase MIGHT NOT be our “forever home”. So, there is a possibility that we live more remotely now, while we’re “young”, and move somewhere a little more urban/suburban later in life, when we’re not as active anymore.

Just a reminder, we’re looking for something in this range: 3+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, about 1,400sf – 2,500sf, kind of remote, mountain views from our deck, hiking, biking, kayaking nearby, but with access to healthcare (~30 min) and airport (~1.5 hours). Budget: ~$500K.

So, as part of our first reconnaissance trip, I was thinking of three camping spots: one near Estes Park, one near Salida, and one near Montrose. Then, we could take day trips to hit a number of these towns on the list. I feel we could get to almost all of them from these three home bases.

Thoughts?

[COcheesehead]

Originally Posted by EricBabula

In trying to figure out where in CO to live, it would be impossible to know which place is exactly perfect for us without extensively visiting every area in the state. So, we’re doing the best we can remotely, and as part of my preliminary research I’ve read a bunch of websites and searched through tons of posts in these forums (where to retire to, where to move to, best places for liberals vs conservatives, best places for retirees, cheapest towns vs most expensive, etc.) and compiled a rudimentary list of about 100 towns that people have suggested in the many posts I’ve read. Every time a town was positively suggested, I put a check mark next to it and wrote some notes, to see which towns were the most suggested. I figure this will help, somewhat, to get us to a shortlist that we should go check out. This summer/fall, as a first reconnaissance trip, my wife and I plan to take the camper back to CO and visit a few areas and check out a number of these towns.

As of now, this is the top 20 according to my tally so far:

Votes Town Population Elevation Median Home Price Average Snowfall
29 Salida 5,800 7,083’ $405K 43”
19 Montrose 19,000 5,807’ $264K 34”
19 Buena Vista 2,800 7,965’ $356K 71”
17 Cañon City 17,000 5,331’ $194K 33”
12 Ridgway 1,000 6,985’ $483K 71”
11 Ouray 2,800 7,965’ $356K 134”
11 Woodland Park 7,600 8,465’ $355K 89”
10 Paonia 1,300 5,682’ $196K 41”
9 Cedaredge 2,400 6,230’ $201K 50”
9 Palisade 2,700 4,728’ $281K 16”
9 Grand Junction 62,100 4,583’ $237K 16”
8 Durango 18,600 6,522’ $471K 67”
8 Gunnison 6,400 7,703’ $275K 48”
7 Nederland 1,400 8,228’ $461K 118”
5 Fruita 13250 4,514’ $285K 16”
4 Berthoud 7,200 5,030’ $448K 39”
4 Estes Park 6,400 7,522’ $453K 82”
3 Silverton 550 9,318’ $324K 116”
2 Allenspark 450 8,428’ $284K 130”
2 Jamestown 202 6,926’ $336K 152”

I removed a few larger cities/towns like Denver, CoS, Loveland, Pueblo…that we’re not really interested in at this time (Grand Junction is iffy in size, but I left it here for now), and some more expensive ones like Telluride, Vail, Evergreen, that we likely can’t afford at this time). Still must talk to my wife about some of these with lots of snowfall – not sure she’ll like that much snow, especially as we age and will need access to healthcare.

Yes, I am considering that this purchase MIGHT NOT be our “forever home”. So, there is a possibility that we live more remotely now, while we’re “young”, and move somewhere a little more urban/suburban later in life, when we’re not as active anymore.

Just a reminder, we’re looking for something in this range: 3+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, about 1,400sf – 2,500sf, kind of remote, mountain views from our deck, hiking, biking, kayaking nearby, but with access to healthcare (~30 min) and airport (~1.5 hours). Budget: ~$500K.

So, as part of our first reconnaissance trip, I was thinking of three camping spots: one near Estes Park, one near Salida, and one near Montrose. Then, we could take day trips to hit a number of these towns on the list. I feel we could get to almost all of them from these three home bases.

Thoughts?

The interesting thing that jumps out to me in your post is Buena Vista was supposed to be in Colorado’s banana belt - not at 71’ of snow - same as Ridgway. That’s a lot of snow. Give me the Grand Valley - Grand Junction, Fruita and Palisade bringing it home at 16” of snow.