Housing prices and Mormons in Glenwood Springs, CO (Grand Junction, Parker: real estate, big house)

[SKY234]

Hello! My husband got some info about a job in Glenwood Springs. We visited the town during our trip from Missouri to UT 3yrs ago. We loved the place. Now that we are looking at the real estate, we are a little discouraged with the high prices. How people can afford to live there anyway? Also we would like to know if there are any LDS around the area. We see there is a Ward in GS, but how big it is? Thank you for any info and help

[CosmicWizard]

sky234 wrote:

How people can afford to live there anyway?

I bet that many of them cannot actually afford it. Likely they are in debt up to their ears!

[wanneroo]

A lot of people that are local have moved down to Rifle or even Parachute to escape high prices.

Recently there was a boom with gas and oil projects but a lot of that has been rolled back.

[LemonYellow]

Of the people I have known there... retired or have several extra family members/roomates to pay the bills.

[preppyglam]

I've heard there are a lot of Mormons in Parker. I can't verify this with stats, but I just remembered I read this....probably on this board! (I get a lot of info here!). Search the Colorado forum and you may find more info on your topic. I just read a thread about Jewish areas. I know that proximity to others in anyone's faith is a huge plus. Good luck!

[jazzlover]

Glenwood Springs is still hideously overpriced compared to most local incomes. With the gas industry retrenching, the disparity of income to living costs is getting worse with disappearance of a lot of good paying jobs. Too many people are still transplanting to places like Glenwood seeking to "live the dream." The crushing reality has not quite hit yet.

As to LDS, most of western Colorado has a modest LDS population, but nowhere is it anything beyond a minority. Percentagewise, the largest LDS population in Colorado is in the San Luis Valley, but it is still a minority there, compared to the large, predominantly Hispanic Catholic population in the Valley. In both religious mix and general temperament, Colorado ain't Utah--never was and never will be.

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by SKY234

...Glenwood Springs. We visited the town during our trip from Missouri to UT 3yrs ago. We loved the place.

Let me guess... was it in July? Or August?

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Glenwood Springs is still hideously overpriced compared to most local incomes. With the gas industry retrenching, the disparity of income to living costs is getting worse with disappearance of a lot of good paying jobs. Too many people are still transplanting to places like Glenwood seeking to "live the dream." The crushing reality has not quite hit yet.

As to LDS, most of western Colorado has a modest LDS population, but nowhere is it anything beyond a minority. Percentagewise, the largest LDS population in Colorado is in the San Luis Valley, but it is still a minority there, compared to the large, predominantly Hispanic Catholic population in the Valley. In both religious mix and general temperament, Colorado ain't Utah--never was and never will be.

In my experience, LDS tend to congregate in lower priced communities where they can afford big houses for big families. It would be awfully hard to feed and house a Mormon-sized family in Glenwood Springs on a working class income while paying a 10% tithing to the church.

[CosmicWizard]

Tithing is a practice to keep the money flowing, so money should never be an issue for someone who tithes. I've done it in the past and it never seemed to work that well for me. Guess I didn't expect it to. I know people who swear that tithing is the key to their economic well being.

[55Spud]

Originally Posted by SKY234

Hello! My husband got some info about a job in Glenwood Springs. We visited the town during our trip from Missouri to UT 3yrs ago. We loved the place. Now that we are looking at the real estate, we are a little discouraged with the high prices. How people can afford to live there anyway? Also we would like to know if there are any LDS around the area. We see there is a Ward in GS, but how big it is? Thank you for any info and help

Glenwood is going berserk with the development and ultimately, the prices. In my mind it's kind of become a buffer area for people who can't afford to live in Aspen. It's a great town to visit, but...

Just down the road might be a better bet for you. Grand Junction and the Grand Valley has a large LDS population as does the Cedaredge area just over the Mesa. The climate is moderate for the most part - it does get pretty warm in the summer but then you just head up to one of Grand Mesa's 300+ lakes and chill for a while. You pretty much have everything in the way of landscape within a couple of hours drive.