Horse Folks making a move OUT of Colorado !!! (Cheyenne, Casper: real estate market, HOA)

[Mr. Cooper]

Well, the liberals have driven us out of Colorado. My wife and I moved to rural southern Colorado four years ago where we purchased 35 acres of what we thought would be privacy and tranquility. Our passion is our horses, country folk and conservative values. We are private, polite and mind our own business but Colorado has changed even in the short four years we've been here. The hordes of marijuana seekers and pot farms are taking over. We've gotta move on and are looking at Wyoming as a possibility. Husband is retired law enforcement and wife works from home planning on retiring in a few years. So......

The questions:

1) We can handle cold but not the heat like in southern Colorado.... Areas?
2) Since we're a tad "long in the teeth" we need to be someplace within an hour so so of decent medical facilities.
3) We understand that the W in Wyoming also means Wind but are there any parts not quite so bad?
4) Are there any places to buy affordable horse properties? (under $300,000 with a little acreage)
5) A whole lot more questions I just haven't thought of at the moment.

Any horse people on this site that care to throw out some ideas?
Thanks !!

[sunsprit]

1) the higher altitudes here don't get hot like I've experienced in SoCO close to NM, so virtually anywhere except the SE corner adjoining NE on the plains will be cooler than you're in now.

2) You'll find decent medical around all of the population centers of WY now. Of course, there's the old stand-by of heading to the larger medical centers of the adjoining states, with places like Ft Collins being pretty close to Laramie or Cheyenne. The NE corner of WY accesses Rapid City, and so forth. As long as you don't require specialized services/surgery best found in major population centers of the USA with more frequent use of the facilities, you'll be OK with most routine medical requirements in WY's medical system.

3) Look at the wind energy density charts. You'll see places like Sheridan/Buffalo have less wind than say, Casper, Cheyenne, Gillette, Cody, Laramie (places I'd rule out for your search due to the winds).

4) Yes. At your budget range, I'd bet that you're just needing a modest place with room to board your horses and not a lot of expensive acreage to take care of ... as long as you have access to places to ride. Right?

I'd be looking at the outlying areas (rural properties, not in subdivisions) near/around Sheridan with just a few acres. Wyoming's in the middle of a "boom" cycle right now due to the energy play now, so a lot of places that were previously going begging where folk could at least have a roof over their heads are now at substantially inflated price points. You'll do better to look at places more remote from the energy boom housing shortages, and, of course, away from the high tourism locations where prices have been way up there for a long time. That will rule out much of the scenic Western Wyoming region, although I'd seen some properties awhile back around the Evanston area which might meet your price point.

Of course, much depends upon what you consider suitable housing. Posters in recent months find what appeared to be a good deal on a place and upon reasonable due diligence, the place was a disaster zone ... but for the right buyer with the time/resources to tackle the project or different expectations, it might yet be a reasonable buy.

I've posted repeatedly about the shady side of Wyoming real estate professionals here, and I urge you to search out some of those threads. The bottom line is the professional performance and ethics that you may have come to take for granted in real estate dealings in other states are a very rare item to find here in Wyoming ... especially in rural real estate marketing.

5) Likely every possible question you could raise about WY has been asked/answered on these pages over the years. Search feature works great .... and there's a lot of folk with local knowledge around the state on this forum.

More questions? What are your requirements for entertainment, transportation access, recreation, shopping?
What do you take for granted now in your daily lives that could be a factor if not readily present in Wyoming where you'd locate?

[Time2Live]

Hey Mr. Cooper,
We're not horse people, but I posted a thread looking for similar things (not horse properties though). The Sheridan area, Cody area, and Star Valley were all suggested.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/wyomi...-hometown.html

You'll find a map in there with a color key for wind courtesy of TNT25

Here's another one with average wind speed at 30 M altitude
WINDExchange: Wyoming 30-Meter Wind Map

[Mr. Cooper]

Thank you Sunsprit. Good info.

Also thanks, Time2Live. We'll read your thread.

[jody_wy]

home of cutter racing Star Valley
The official

Star Valley Wyoming - Star Valley .com

hunkystechnicalservices.com

Welcome to Thayne, Wyoming

[Mr. Cooper]

Thank you jody

[sunsprit]

Jody,

I'm a big fan of the Star Valley area, and like Afton especially, but

are there equine acreage properties available there within the OP's price range?

Star Valley Ranch is on about 1 acre sites, some nice homes, but I don't recall them allowing equine there. Plus it's a HOA controlled subdivision that's pretty restrictive, IMO, and the costs of the HOA add up, too.

[jody_wy]

the farther South you go in the Valley the lower the land prices and land on the Idaho side of the line is lower then the Wyoming side
Real estate matching your search | Star Valley Real Estate=
if they really search there are horse properties with a modest home in their price range

[ScottStielow]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cooper

Well, the liberals have driven us out of Colorado. My wife and I moved to rural southern Colorado four years ago where we purchased 35 acres of what we thought would be privacy and tranquility. Our passion is our horses, country folk and conservative values. We are private, polite and mind our own business but Colorado has changed even in the short four years we've been here. The hordes of marijuana seekers and pot farms are taking over. We've gotta move on and are looking at Wyoming as a possibility. Husband is retired law enforcement and wife works from home planning on retiring in a few years. So......

The questions:

1) We can handle cold but not the heat like in southern Colorado.... Areas?
2) Since we're a tad "long in the teeth" we need to be someplace within an hour so so of decent medical facilities.
3) We understand that the W in Wyoming also means Wind but are there any parts not quite so bad?
4) Are there any places to buy affordable horse properties? (under $300,000 with a little acreage)
5) A whole lot more questions I just haven't thought of at the moment.

Any horse people on this site that care to throw out some ideas?
Thanks !!

Hello Mr. Cooper. Saw when you posted on the Idaho/Idaho Falls Forum.
Sunspirt and Jody are the Residential experts, in these parts Parts of Wyoming.
I' am interested in the Star Valley, up through Cody to Sheridan area's.
Best of luck in your search.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by jody_wy

the farther South you go in the Valley the lower the land prices and land on the Idaho side of the line is lower then the Wyoming side
Real estate matching your search | Star Valley Real Estate=
if they really search there are horse properties with a modest home in their price range

jody,

those 6 properties from your search were nice looking pieces of raw land, undeveloped and without utilities. The lower priced ones just listed at the Salt River ranch didn't appear to have year 'round access, and the one that's been on the market for 7 months ... at $229,00 for 5 acres was interesting in that the seller has already platted subdividing it into 4 residential parcels. Looks to me like they're trying to take all the development upside by selling it now at a pretty hefty premium for raw land without actually doing any development infrastructure.

The bottom line on these properties is that it would be rather difficult for the Cooper's to buy any of these raw land parcels, develop infrastructure & utilities, prepare a site and build or install a house ... and come in within their budget (even with considering a most minimal factory-built house hauled in and set on an on-grade slab). That doesn't even take into account any garage, outbuilding, or equine facilities/corral/fencing. Every one of these places needs a domestic well drilled and completed, and a septic system installed ... not an inexpensive undertaking. How far will they have to bring in power and at what cost?

Unless the Cooper's are functioning as their own GC, architect, and site engineer, they'll be paying professionals to provide these services, too, in addition to the contractor services. My bet is that they don't have all those skills.

You've asserted that there are equine properties in the area that would come in their budget "if they search around". The MLS doesn't appear to have any such listings at this time.


Where else would you suggest they look in the Star Valley area?