Land overlooking San Luis vs. Blanco land (environment, relocate)

[RobertaFromMT]

We are trying to decide which parcel of land to keep, versus which to sell! Which is better living, for family with kids? Thanks!

[sunsprit]

Have you visited either site? Depending upon where they're located, it's mostly desolate country for each. What do you want to do while you're there?

[RobertaFromMT]

We might want to build and then resell on either or both, but the population is so low, and accommodations modest in general, maybe we'd have to build very modest homes or build to suit. One of our 5 acre parcels is overlooking the Valley and San Luis, the other is just on a county road with mountains in the distance and the Smith Reservoire just barely visible. We have one teenager, boy aged 15, and one 7 year old boy and one 2 year old girl. If its too desolate, maybe we would live nearby in some town and build there some other time or resell the raw land later...we have not been there but been operating on photos and videos and are thinking of a Spring Break trip from Montana down there to look it all over. We are a sort of conservative family that likes church + regular people + some culture and outdoor things to do - like country living if city is accessible for variety. Santa Fe New Mexico sounds tempting, but we are intending for Colorado and we could visit Santa Fe and arts just for fun.

[sunsprit]

In my opinion: If you can, sell both and start looking for another property that meets your requirements. There's no "there" there at either location if you want a nearby community with resources. Both are in the poorest economic areas of Colorado, with very little commercial development.

I have friends who just bought 40 acres near San Luis for a retirement place, cheap living costs, just to get away from it all. They're very independent people, but realized that they'll have to snowbird it to survive the lonely winters down there.

They've already encountered problems with trying to get a GC and labor to build their modest pre-fab log cabin, so have scrapped that idea. They're now just hoping to get a well dug by late spring and a septic system installed, and a foundation for a modular house. That way it will be complete on trucking it in and setting it on the foundation.

All this goes to the concern of who would be your likely and capable buyer of a house in this location? The locals don't have much income, and a capable buyer from out of the area would ... most likely ... have their own concept of what a "good" house might be for them. I think it would be problematic to develop your sites and recover you investment ....

[RobertaFromMT]

Hm!!!

Thankyou, Sunsprt! I see your point...invalueable information thanks again!!!

I am sure then, we will resell the raw land or hold off and see if anyone is retiring from out of area and wants to build to suit, like you say, as some are doing.

We saw ads on some of the 40 acre things being sold around San Luis and the farmland does look good at a distance, anyway.

And the number of sunny days a years sounds so good after being fogged and misted to death in the shadow of the mountains on the Western edge of Glacier National Park where we are right now!

I hear the San Luis Valley sits on a huge aquifer, one of the largest in the U.S., and so irrigation and wells, are no problem. So your friends should have good luck with that part of what they are hoping to do by Spring. If the aquifer is so near the surface, the well drilling should be inexpensive.

My husband was injured while water well drilling in Montana, BTW. He will be all right though he did sustain a brain and back injury. The work can be extremely lucrative considering what a construction worker usually makes, though it is very dangerous.

[RobertaFromMT]

One more thing - it sounds like, according to what you said, that no one can find a GC with laborers to do the work of building for even your one friend...well, my husband is hoping to be down there applying for his GC in Colorado by NLTH late Spring...if your friends still want a GC, they can contact Aaron McCaslin at [MOD CUT: Send a PM to the poster].

[majormom]

can u tell me more about the size of the aquifer below the san luis valley. is this a threatened water resource??

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by majormom

can u tell me more about the size of the aquifer below the san luis valley. is this a threatened water resource??

See this old thread, lots of discussion in the CO forums on water.
- What is the water situation in Colorado?

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by RobertaFromMT

We are trying to decide which parcel of land to keep, versus which to sell! Which is better living, for family with kids? Thanks!

A lot of these parcels were sold, sight unseen, over the years. Before counties enacted even some minimal regulations, some parcels were divided with no provision for ingress and egress or any easements for utilities. Much of the land sold in these near-scams is nothing more than sagebrush flats out in the driest parts of the San Luis Valley. The fact that very, very few of them have actually been built upon should tell you something.

I guess from the original poster's handle that she is from Montana. Well, the San Luis Valley can also get as cold as just about anywhere in Montana (like 40 below). Now I happen to love the San Luis Valley and its people--and I have spent a lot of time down there, but it is an area that is unique unto its own. It is the epitome of a high, cold desert (largest alpine valley in the world, I believe). It has delightful cool and relatively dry summers that are pretty short, and long relatively cold but dry winters. The Valley as a whole is heavily Hispanic (some counties up to 75%-80% Hispanic), and many of those Hispanics can trace their roots back more than 130 years there. If one is an Anglo who is not comfortable living in that type of social/ethnic environment, it probably is not a good place to move to. Some of the most impoverished counties in the US are in the San Luis Valley. It is not an easy place to make a living.

The San Luis Valley is a place where many of the old-line natives live in preference to anywhere else, despite the Valley's hardships. For those who relocate there, many stay for a few years and then move on. It definitely is an acquired taste, and many transplants never really adopt the "Valley" way of life.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

A lot of these parcels were sold, sight unseen, over the years.....

Was talking with one of my railroad pals last night. He used to live/work near Como and Hartsel (not sure if that's the area we're talking about). He used to take people out to see the land they bought sight unseen by "mail order." What many saw was sandy/rocky stuff where the wind had blown the dirt from around the roots of the grass. He said some nearly fainted when they saw what they had bought.