Real Estate Near Ski Areas (Denver, Loveland: condos, townhomes, neighborhood)

[MountainViews]

Would anyone happen to know if it is realistic to hope to find homes within a 30 - 45 minute drive time of ski areas west of Denver in the $350K - $500K price range? We are looking for a home with a minimum of 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, perhaps 2,000+ sq. ft., free standing home not condos or townhomes.

Good schools are important, and I realize that may rule out some ski areas that are not necessarily year-round family oriented.

Thank you very much in advance.

[SheridanL]

There are lots of homes that fit your criteria.
Dillon, Silverthorne, ....google Summit County.

[jazzlover]

Yeah, well after the pine beetle gets done doing its thing, and the Colorado real estate bubble finally collapses (along with the rest of the national economy), you may be able to buy any property you want up in those areas plenty cheap. Of course, there probably won't be a lot of money for little things like fire protection, law enforcement, schools, etc.--but, what the hell?--who needs that stuff, anyway?

People still just "don't get it" when it comes to what lies ahead for us.

[motoracer51]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Yeah, well after the pine beetle gets done doing its thing, and the Colorado real estate bubble finally collapses (along with the rest of the national economy), you may be able to buy any property you want up in those areas plenty cheap. Of course, there probably won't be a lot of money for little things like fire protection, law enforcement, schools, etc.--but, what the hell?--who needs that stuff, anyway?

People still just "don't get it" when it comes to what lies ahead for us.

You are the most pessimistic, negative poster I've come across on the net.

I also wont deny the fact that your know a lot about Colorado, but it seems as if you are constantly running around yelling the sky is falling.

OP. Do a search on Realtor.com or something similar, and you should be able to find something that fits your criteria.

[borborygmi]

Originally Posted by MountainViews

Would anyone happen to know if it is realistic to hope to find homes within a 30 - 45 minute drive time of ski areas west of Denver in the $350K - $500K price range? We are looking for a home with a minimum of 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, perhaps 2,000+ sq. ft., free standing home not condos or townhomes.

Good schools are important, and I realize that may rule out some ski areas that are not necessarily year-round family oriented.

Thank you very much in advance.

In the Durango area, certainly you could find something similar to your description on the outskirts of town under 45 minutes from Purgatory in that price range- the operative word there being "outskirts". In town, forget it.

The problem here is that, living here, you won't be very close to anything except skiing. Getting to anywhere else from here is a bit of a problem, therefore you certainly have to learn to like Durango b/c escaping from it is difficult and expensive, and is likely to get more so as the airlines continue to cut flights and raise fares. But if you don't care about the isolation, well, maybe it's an option to consider.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by motoracer51

You are the most pessimistic, negative poster I've come across on the net.

He's also one of the most interesting. I'd rather read controversial posts/threads than "Where's the best pizza...?" threads.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Charles

He's also one of the most interesting. I'd rather read controversial posts/threads than "Where's the best pizza...?" threads.

Pizza? Yeah, we got that covered.

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by motoracer51

You are the most pessimistic, negative poster I've come across on the net.

I also wont deny the fact that your know a lot about Colorado, but it seems as if you are constantly running around yelling the sky is falling.

OP. Do a search on Realtor.com or something similar, and you should be able to find something that fits your criteria.

If you think his posts don't have merit, you should look at some of the posts in the Michigan and Wisconsin forums about north woods real estate. People from the cities have done the same thing to the north woods that they've done to Colorado's mountains, and a lot of them are having to sell for a quarter of what they paid a few years ago.

[sunsprit]

West/South Denver metro suburbs are going to be your best bet ... as they have access to the I-70 corridor for your trip up to the ski areas.

Try looking in KenCaryl Ranch around the Williamsburg subdivision, or the areas West of the shopping centers along South Kipling in the subdivisions there. Your should be able to find a fair number of houses in that area in your price range and size. Pretty good schools, too, in the Jeffco school district.

Wih the access of C-470, it wasn't too much time to get to Loveland, and typically takes about 1.5 hours to Vail ... I-70 takes you past the access to Keystone or the Summit County ski areas, or right past Copper Mtn. Of course, you need to have an appropriate snow weather vehicle and travel in the non-peak hours to make it up the hill in a reasonable time frame; leaving on a Saturday morning at 7 AM might have a lot of traffic blocked up by the time you reach Idaho Springs. Similarly, returning down the hill on late Sunday afternoon will generally have the tunnel traffic in a long snake all the way past Frisco, if not the canyon up towards Copper mtn.

[CTC]

Originally Posted by MountainViews

Would anyone happen to know if it is realistic to hope to find homes within a 30 - 45 minute drive time of ski areas west of Denver in the $350K - $500K price range? We are looking for a home with a minimum of 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, perhaps 2,000+ sq. ft., free standing home not condos or townhomes.

Good schools are important, and I realize that may rule out some ski areas that are not necessarily year-round family oriented.

Thank you very much in advance.

Check out Gypsum-not much to look at from I-70, but actually very nice when you get past the round about. 30 minutes to Beaver Creek (no front range traffic ever) and another 15 minutes to Vail. Newer middle/elementary schools within walklng distance as well.

There are homes in our neighborhood (Chatfield Corners) where we own property in your price range-



During the summer flights are very reasonable in/out of Eagle county airport (I flew RT from Billings,MT a few times for only 250$ last summer. Eagle county has good public trans as well-the buses run from Dotsero to Minturn (5$ one way the last time I rode) Also, one of the big employers in the area, Vail Valley Medical Center has a free employee shuttle from Gypsum.

Glenwood Springs is only 30 minutes to the west-and is a nice historic town.

Things were overbuilt (lots of inventory), and now with the downturn it is a good time to buy.