help please in selecting the right location for a holiday home (vacation home, elementary school)

[rybert]

catch a Rockies game... I think they're playing Florida.

[CosmicWizard]

shamu01 wrote:

so there i was thinking i would ask a few innocuous questions and maybe not even get a reply.. .. thanks to everyone who responded.. and dont be hard on jazzlover i dont want to ruin his reputation but he sent me some very helpfull personal e mails about the topic.

Hey shamu, I can only speak for myself, but I suspect this to be true for many others as well. I have tremendous respect for jazzlover and other members on this thread, even when I strongly disagree with them, or their style rubs me the wrong way. We give each other a hard time now and then, and we also give each other the space to express who we are in our own ways. The posting here is far more interesting ( to me anyway ) to read than it is on the threads where everyone agrees with each other as if they were calling in to offer praise to guru Rush. Some of us also have a great knack for keeping a thread going and going over the most seemingly mindless details.

Well, back to you. Again, welcome to Colorado. I hope you find what you're looking for. Let us know how your discovery voyage pans out.

[Mike from back east]

Shamu, best advice I can give you is to not tie up a lot of financial capital in a place you'll only visit a few months of the year. Better to find a nice spot and rent on a short term basis, it can be done.

If you really want to buy something, you'll have to compromise your list of requirements to meet your budget. Consider the downtown part of COL SPGS, near a major freight rail line that runs north-south, but no Amtrak. You can get a walkable downtown, decent eateries, some culture, and in two hours you can be up in ski country (Mammoth Mountain).

Perhaps a rental property in Denver, on the light rail system that takes you to Union Station, where you CAN get Amtrak, see lots of freight trains, and even take the Ski Train to Winter Park. No shortage of culture and things to see and do.

I'd focus on such possibilities as these, rather than go for pride of ownership, which we Yanks have fallen for hook, line & sinker. I'm not big on owning lots of stuff; I often believe when we buy pricy possessions it becomes a question of who owns who.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by fombyjambox

I totally agree that Jazzlover provides a tremendous amount of good information. I've credited him for such more than once. That's why I find it amazing that somebody so well schooled on the problems AND passionate about them spends so much time on city-data not-so-subtly blaming the lion’s share of the state/regions problems on everybody that doesn't live life his (i.e. The correct) way. Why not put 1/10th of the effort into actually trying to FIX the problems rather than just bitching about them. No, trying to keep people away from the state on a message board IS NOT FIXING ANYTHING.

Colorado has a long history of localism, just look at the 'native' license plates as an example. Such a welcoming group of folks, to be certain. Perhaps those people that refuse to see the obvious negative slant in his writings fall into that group with him and just don't want to admit what's obvious for most.

Unfortunately, it's just a really plain, sad, but true fact that no amount of planning, conservation, caring, loving--you name it--can mitigate the horrendous damage that exponential population growth coupled with the ability to desecrate the landscape can do once that dynamic reaches a certain point. I can tell you that a lot of my long-time Colorado friends--people who have fought long and hard to protect what they consider sacred about Colorado--are giving up. After years (often decades) of trying to be "positive" and proactive, their reward has been to see their efforts swamped again and again by the growth monster. For them, Colorado is a lost cause. A friend of mine, who was diagnosed with a terminal disease not long ago, told me the other day, "Well, at least I won't be around to see what's left of Colorado destroyed. I sure feel sorry for my kids and grandkids, though." Is he bitter about the hordes who just have to move here and take their little piece of this place? You bet.

If you read between the lines most of the posts by "growth apoligists" (not my term) who take issue with anyone who speaks anything about the negative aspects of growth, it usually comes down to their lack of willingness to admit that they--whether they are natives or they are moving here--are part of the problem, especially when they demand to have their private chunk of Colorado, their nice big house, their X acres of land, and their share of "amenities" (golf courses, shopping, etc., etc.) to suit their hedonistic living arrangement. "I want mine, and the hell with what it does to anyone else, or to the place itself" is their creed.

"We stand today poised on a pinnacle of wealth and power, yet we live in a land of vanishing beauty, of increasing ugliness, of shrinking open space and of an overall environment that is diminished daily by pollution and noise and blight. This, in brief, is the quiet conservation crisis.” - Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall

"'Smart growth' destroys the environment. 'Dumb growth' destroys the environment. The only difference is that 'smart growth' does it with good taste. It's like booking passage on the Titanic. Whether you go first-class or steerage, the result is the same."
--Dr. Albert A. Bartlett, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Colorado; World Population Balance Board of Advisors

[DOUBLE H]

Telluride and adjoining Mountain Village are two good examples of this. I used to enjoy the bluegrass and jazz festivals, but no more. I've grown tired of going to them and being lectured on how I conduct my business, how much gasoline I burn, what I throw away, and on and on. Talk about excess. I can't imagine what a heating bill would be for these 10,000 sq. ft. behemoths. And they are telling me to conserve energy? Yea, right!

[Katiana]

"'Smart growth' destroys the environment. 'Dumb growth' destroys the environment. The only difference is that 'smart growth' does it with good taste. It's like booking passage on the Titanic. Whether you go first-class or steerage, the result is the same."
--Dr. Albert A. Bartlett, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Colorado; World Population Balance Board of Advisors

Al Bartlett himself moved to Boulder from somewhere else, and had four kids. But that's "different". Thirty years ago, I don't think anyone would have predicted the birth rate in Europe in Japan would drop below replacement levels. NO ONE can tell the future!

[shamu01]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Shamu, best advice I can give you is to not tie up a lot of financial capital in a place you'll only visit a few months of the year. Better to find a nice spot and rent on a short term basis, it can be done.

If you really want to buy something, you'll have to compromise your list of requirements to meet your budget. Consider the downtown part of COL SPGS, near a major freight rail line that runs north-south, but no Amtrak. You can get a walkable downtown, decent eateries, some culture, and in two hours you can be up in ski country (Mammoth Mountain).

Perhaps a rental property in Denver, on the light rail system that takes you to Union Station, where you CAN get Amtrak, see lots of freight trains, and even take the Ski Train to Winter Park. No shortage of culture and things to see and do.

I'd focus on such possibilities as these, rather than go for pride of ownership, which we Yanks have fallen for hook, line & sinker. I'm not big on owning lots of stuff; I often believe when we buy pricy possessions it becomes a question of who owns who.

thanks mate i will consider all options and any new ideas like the one you have posted are most welcome

regards shamu

[Timberwolf232]

Originally Posted by fombyjambox

And ALWAYS complaining about anything and everything that has changed Colorado from what it was 30 years ago. Wow, shocking, as a population grows infrastructure grows with it. Egad! Just don't screw up Jazzlover's state, damnit. He's always, and I mean ALWAYS bitching and moaning. I'm sure if the Denver metro area built nothing but high rise apartments to combat the massive sprawl of master planned communities he'd be griping about the skyline. People like Jazzlover just like to ***** and moan and highlight the negative, never the positive. The fact that he's getting patted on the back for it is quite sad.

Well I guess it takes one to know one. I was born and raised in CO also, and I sure miss the "good ole days" too. My old stomping grounds are now covered in yuppie homes, and even if I really wanted to go back there is no way I'd be able to afford to because someone from somewhere else needed a big a** house in the mountains to show off for 2 weeks a year.

It's a bummer, but what can a person do? Sometimes change isn't a good thing when a person is happy where they are!

No offense intended for Shamu either. Seems like a nice person who was just asking a question.. It's just a hard topic for some of us because of prior experiences that's all.

[rybert]

Shamu,

Maybe Southern Colorado or Northern New Mexico would fit better in your price range. Same mountain range... but possibly much less expensive.

[Minx]

Originally Posted by Katiana

and such people do help support our economy

Well said Katiana. I was on this forum about 10 months ago asking for information about moving from Australia to Grand Lake. I did buy a beautiful home and moved there permanently, but my work flys me back and forth every month to Australia for work. I take nothing out of the economy, but I bring back and spend all my income in Grand Lake, contributing to the economy.