Another where should I move question. (Denver, Castle Rock: ski resort, apartments, rentals)

[Looking]

Here's what I'm looking for. Any help is of course deeply appreciated.


I currently live on the east coast. I'm looking to move westward. I work about 6 months out of the year, traveling. The other six months I'm off. So I'd like a little place of my own to call home. I don't need to be in or near a big city, since I don't need to work. I love the outdoors, including snowboarding in winter and whatever else outside in summer. I'm looking for an area with reasonably priced homes since I will only be using this home for half the year. I'm figuring by being far away from the expensive metro areas this may be a possibility in CO. I've heard land in Montezuma county is reasonable. Any other ideas and thoughts? Thanks a bunch.

[Crackerjack]

Montezuma County, in which Cortez is the main city, is a small county and town with a mix of desert and rolling hills. It is a nice town. Mesa Verde isn't far, the Ancient Indian Dwellings. It really doesn't get much snow there for any kind of snowboarding but you can go to Telluride or Durango Ski Resort if you don't mind travelling a bit. It is a rural ranch type of community so on the slow side. Not a lot of activity but you can go into Durango for all the nightlife since there are lots of things to do in Durango. It is about 45 miles to Durango. It is much cheaper to live in Cortez. You also might look at Mancos or Hesperus, they are closer to Durango and cheaper but Hesperus gets colder as it is much higher in elevation then Durango or Cortez.

[Looking]

Okay thanks for the info. I'll check those areas out. Durango sounds real nice but getting kind of pricey. Also I haven't had much luck finding rentals in that area, at least on the web. Would like to rent for a while and check the area out in person.

[Crackerjack]

You are welcome. Go to the Durango Herald website and look under apartments there. They are building a lot of new apartments in Durango. In Cortez, it is harder to find apartments but some newcomers rent mobile homes there until they can get into a house since there aren't many apartments in Cortez.

[realestate]

Piece of cake! Castle Rock, Colorado, just south of Denver. Check out removed. Thanks...

[sillygal]

I keep hearing about Castle Rock, when I was out there I seemed to drive right by it and didn't check it out.........What is all the hype about Castle Rock, I heard it has outlet stores.......? Is that it? That is why I just drove by it.......What about history? Isn't it a fairly new area of the city? Does it have mature trees, and a beautiful landscape?

[Crackerjack]

Just keep in mind Castle Rock is growing tremendously and is a southern suburb of Denver. In a few years all that area will be one huge metropolitan place going into Denver. It is just too big for me there, but that is my opinion. It is only 10 miles to Centennial which is the southern fringe of Denver's metro.

[sillygal]

Since I have joined this website, i have read many things of each of these places can someone tell me what the terrain, and historical value are in each of these?
I drove around the entire state and somehow didn't know these places existed. I believe I skipped Durango because it was out in the middle of the desert somewhere, and I skipped castle rock because of the locals told me it was just an outletmall village. Is castle rock treed, and an older city, or is it desert and fairly new place. What is Durango all about?

THANKS

[xxman777]

Castle rock was incorporated in 1881 making it an old town by Colorado standards. However the town did not grow very much until recently. There is an older part of town which has somewhat of an historic feel to it but there really isn't much of a main street, or downtown square feel. The town is interesting because of the sort of mountainous terrain which surrounds the city. Because of its proximeity to I-25 you are a short drive from both Denver and CS, it has a low crime rate, good schools and lots of shopping.

That said, most of the housing stock is made up of suburban style neighborhoods. Few trees, suburban style shopping centers, an outlet mall, and house after house which all look the same.

One thing to remember is trees don't naturally grow in most parts of the plains. Once you get out of the mountains and onto the front range you will have to look at older, established neighborhoods to find trees.

[Crackerjack]

Durango is a good size city but not large in the southwest part of Colorado. Durango isn't in a desert but close to one, you can go south and be in the desert in minutes or up in the thick forested mountains in minutes. It is a green treed city with lots of old trees all around. It is a mecca to artists, mountain bikers, health nuts, liberals, young people, it is mostly made up of young people under 35, and people from New York, NJ, Conn, Maine, California and Texas. Most moving here are liberal but the city has a "live in peace with all" nature. You will see a VW van with a peace sign, next to a Hummer, next to someone in a eco-friendly car, next to people riding their bikes to work. You will see celebrities, musicians, hippies alongside bankers, tres chic women and Native Americans, who are walking past some people protesting anything about Bush. It is a fun loving, health-conscious, hike loving, bike trekking, kayak going bunch of people. If you visit, take the Durango-Silverton train so you can get an idea of what the area looks like and all the different zones of climate there are in the area.