It's a misperception that Californians are driving housing prices up (Cheyenne: military, work)

[Kristynwy]

Originally Posted by Clay Lady

Kristynwy, I have been speed reading so I may not fully understand your situation. I have been thinking of various ways to build since the price of homes is sooo high. One thing I thought about was having the house "roughed" in - get it constructed to a point that I felt comfortable finishing. Hanging sheet rock, laying tile, painting, etc --- think about what jobs you and your husband would be able to do on your own and only hire someone to do work that you can not do yourself or barter done. You would be amazed at the number of people that would like to barter work it they only knew what you could do in trade. If your husband can do wiring than that is most excellent. Electrical work can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing and costly if you hire someone by the hour. I have have some fun trades. Good luck. Not only is it not over till it's OVER - like your dead, keeping a positive outlook keeps you better able to find a happy outcome. It also really saves on wrinkles!!

Those are great ideas thank you I agree with the positive outlook, it really does help... See I am the "overly optimistic" one and my husband is the "extremely cautious" one... so we balance each other out lol... He is always telling me not to get my hopes up and I am always telling him to have a little faith...
I know RD has guidelines and inspections too, so I am going to have to ask them what we could and could not do also...

Thanks again for your reply

[Little pony]

So you want to blame californians for everything. Time to wake up folks. Most Californians that have money wouldnt touch wyoming with a 10 ft pole. They are used to Ca and the easy life. Wyoming is too harsh for them. On top of that, it is too far away from anything that would interest them. If they do move to wyoming, it is because they are **** poor and need a job. Wyoming has nothing else for them but a big park that stinks of rotten eggs. That is how wyoming is viewed by rich people. Wyoming should blame itself for its own problems. The reason that people are moving in is because of the jobs. If you havent noticed, there is an fuel supply problem in the us right now. Where do you think this fuel is comming from? We sure arent getting alot from the saudi. Wyoming is the cheapest suppy of fuel anywhere. There are so many jobs there that the state is highering people out of state to fill the jobs (doesnt seem that there are enough people from wy that graduated high school). We are Californians that live in Wyoming part time. We love wyoming and hate seeing the prices going up too. We are not even close to rich and barely squeek by to make a living. Dont blame us for your problems. We work our butts off just to try to make ends meet. Houses arent selling here so no one has any money for buying things. Wyoming has a housing shortage now and needs alot more built to substain its working population. Blame wyoming for the government not having the foresight to require enough housing for its workers before opening coal mines and plants. As far as this housing market dropping out in sheridan or anywhere else soon YOURE PARANOID. Get an education and you will do just fine!!! (WANT TO MAKE MONEY INVEST IN AN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY!!) Stop blameing us for your lack of education and for sight. Maybe you are just lazy!!!

[WyoMama]

OK - maybe wherever you live by the oil fields isn't well populated by Cali's, but the larger towns are. And believe me - Cody is FILLED to the brim of ga-zillionaires. Owners of little companies like YKK zippers (you know, those heavy duty zippers in coats, jeans, & most things in the past) have a big place outside Cody here on the way up to that smelly park, Tanya Tucker, Harrison Ford, owner of Tony's Pizza's, and that is only a skiff of the surface that come to mind in less than 30 seconds - and they are all around Jackson & Cody. There are GIGANTIC ranches & many are owned by Californians. Not all LIVE here, but they own the land & build the "summer homes" that are the size of ski lodges. The oil in Wyo has mostly been capped. (I've been here well over 30 years & have watched it all go to crap in that regard - we have lost billions in oil royalties due to capping wells). That is a temporary industry - off & on. The main base of operations for Marathon was in Cody for decades & they completely cleared out in the last 5-6 years. In Wyo we are all very familiar with the oil business here (or lack thereof). Yeah, there is oil here but they are getting it, selling some, capping most. MAYBE saving it for later??? I don't think anybody is blaming California for their problems but when they can sell a junky house for $250,000-300,000 & see what they can come up here & build for that it is wayyy tooo tempting but unfortunately for them many are short-sighted & cannot find the wages here to MAINTAIN that home - or so much as pay the heating bills for very long. Wages are low here, especially compared to the 1970's big boom. THOSE were great times for construction in almost all aspects (highways, power plants, bridges, homes, etc. etc.). But always low on housing because of the boom & busts all the towns experience. I don't think that most of us living in Wyo are lazy. I know more ppl than not who work at least 2 jobs. I worked 2 full-time jobs for 18 years until my kids were grown & gone - thankfully the 2nd one was at home. Life is a trade-off. It was worth it to me to do so to remain here & pay off my home. So, take your bad attitude somewhere else. Not many lazy people in Wyo that have a roof over their head.

[Clay Lady]

Originally Posted by Little pony

Stop blameing us for your lack of education and for sight. Maybe you are just lazy!!!

As a general rule I ignore posts that flame, however I had to laugh at the education slam. Wyoming beats California big time on the results of student testing. I was very impressed with the low student/ teacher ratio Wyoming schools had. The education system in California has gone downhill for the last several years. I am talking about the public education system, not the growing private school system that is booming in response to the poor quality of public schools.

I grew up in Santa Barbara and return as often as possible - I know California to be a very varied state. If you want to see lazy - check out the homeless in SB. Seriously serious numbers hanging out for hand outs. I saw nothing like that in Wyoming.

[Little pony]

As far as posting a note that flames, I apologise. I do not normally like to post that sort of message. But, it has been very irratating hearing that the problems of wyoming are supposed to be all our fault. You guys seem to be confusing Californians with people from other states. Ford and Tucker are not from california. They just came from other states, worked here and left. Not everyone with money came from California. As far as education, there are alot of very smart people in wyoming. Most are good educated people who are wonderful. What I was saying was that there wasnt enough educated people to fill the jobs in wyoming. That is why they are highering people from out of state. Seems that most dont know how to handle the technical equipment and fix the computers that run the equipment. We have 5 universities within 25 miles of each other to teach these things. How about wyoming? There are alot of Californians here who are lazy bums(alot more than WY) but they tend to stay here and never go to WY. Wyoming is too harsh for them. Now, the other thing that you need to understand is that there is a coal to liquid factory that has just been built outside of medicine bow. It produces diesal and is the biggest plant in north america. They are planning to ship coal from all over wyoming and convert it to diesal fuel right there. It is driving housing through the roof. These are not California companies, these are wy and montana and states up there. If you dont believe me, look up coal wy on the internet and read. They are very proud of it. Only, they never got housing for the people to work there. THAT IS WYOMINGS FAULT! CA already has laws about housing workers. As I said, I love wyoming. Ibelieve that it is a beautiful state. Makes CA look ugly in comparison. I love the people there and wish it wouldnt change. But,look around. It is changing faster than we would like. If people dont pull thier heads out of the mud every once in a while, they will be run over by the rich companies that dont care what state it is. I would hate to see the praires become shopping malls. It is the people of wyoming that change wy not CA.

[WyoMama]

Where is here and there for you, LP? You are hard to follow as to whether you are referring to Cali or Wyo. And I don't think anybody was blaming all Wyo's probs on Cali'ans. I think that perhaps being from Cali yourself & loving it, you took it personally. And yes, we do bring in professionals from other states & MANY Wyoming natives come home once they get an education and are able to do many of these jobs. My BIL worked at a gasification plant years ago outside Wamsetter - there are several gasification plants in the state. OK, "several" is a relative statement. I know of at least 3. Our population has remained quite stable for the last 30-40 years hovering around 490,000 up to I believe 520,000 (I could be off by 10,000 or so) but that is what makes Wyo special. I lived in the Wheatland area for many years and know approx'ly where you live to some extent. I know the area. Unfortunately I didn't get to explore as much while I lived there as I would have liked because most of the time I lived in Wheatland I was pregnant & had babies hanging on all hips & in wagons (4 kids in 4-1/2 years - no twins). But my kids know the area like the backs of their hands.

You are taking it personal what things have been said about Cali'ans (you missed other states mentioned such as Colo) and therefore in MY OPINION you have lashed out unfairly at times. I don't take kindly to my kids & myself, husband & friends being considered "uneducated" when many of us have higher educations than many in Cali but one thing Wyo'ites have in general (this is a generalized comment, but see it every day) and that is common sense. Life smarts. I have a letter from a general at Ft. Bragg about how much they love getting enlisted men and women from Wyo & MT (specified those 2 states) as they are able to jerry-rig things that need fixed with what they have on hand to get by temporarily when other stand there with no idea where to start. He refers to them as creative, filled with common sense, and able to make do with what is available. This was a letter I received as the mother of a young enlisted man in Iraq. You don't have to have a degree in things to be educated and intelligent. I appreciate your partial retraction to some of the things you have said.

[dictionary]

I think a lot of Wyoming attitude must be that of insecurity, (that's not name calling by the way).. because in many other states, residents can actuallyhandle criticism of their state... here don't dare! I'm sorry but it's time to take the rose colored glasses off, the common thread is that all residents want fair housing etc. and it's not neccessarily the out of staters, the instate avarice, greed, and ugliness shocks me. Yes, IN-STATE.

And yes, Cody and Jackson are little enclaves, they are like Palm Beach, Santa Barbara, etc.. little hubs of beauty.. and honestly, they aren't really like real Wyoming. ie. the harsh wyoming yes, those areas are booming.

Pony person, I understand, it's hard not to be vitrolic when the frustration seeps out. I too try to balance my words without losing it. I assume you too will move one day and we'll take our money with us. (If we have any left after housing, local fleecing and gouging, etc.) ha ha..

Maybe one day everyone, both local and from out of state will work together to make things better.. and I do tend to agree with pony poster. Many people that I"ve met that have moved from CA were well, kind of considered hillbillies (not name calling, just a term of speech) that the other states were glad to get rid of.

[dictionary]

whoops I didn't mean Californians, I just meant a lot of out of state that came in for some of the oil field jobs weren't um, the loveliest additions to the neighborhood.. but then again, and let me tell you this, "Life smarts" is one thing, but there is an education balance as well. And I've met a lot of "hard workin'" (notice my lack of grammar when I write that ) people that are arrogant, simple, small minded, and have no grasp of aesthetics. Hard workers with an education.. now you've got something.

[WyoMama]

Originally Posted by dictionary

I think a lot of Wyoming attitude must be that of insecurity, (that's not name calling by the way).. because in many other states, residents can actuallyhandle criticism of their state... here don't dare! I'm sorry but it's time to take the rose colored glasses off, the common thread is that all residents want fair housing etc. and it's not neccessarily the out of staters, the instate avarice, greed, and ugliness shocks me. Yes, IN-STATE.

And yes, Cody and Jackson are little enclaves, they are like Palm Beach, Santa Barbara, etc.. little hubs of beauty.. and honestly, they aren't really like real Wyoming. ie. the harsh wyoming yes, those areas are booming.

Pony person, I understand, it's hard not to be vitrolic when the frustration seeps out. I too try to balance my words without losing it. I assume you too will move one day and we'll take our money with us. (If we have any left after housing, local fleecing and gouging, etc.) ha ha..

Maybe one day everyone, both local and from out of state will work together to make things better.. and I do tend to agree with pony poster. Many people that I"ve met that have moved from CA were well, kind of considered hillbillies (not name calling, just a term of speech) that the other states were glad to get rid of.

Gee, no - insecurity is not "name-calling" - it is a personality defect. That is much less inflammatory. We have what is called pride in our state and protect it from becoming the "backyard" for those who would put their touches on it to make it like THEIR homes from where they came.

Gosh - you will ADMIT there are educated hard workers in Wyo? What a turnaround! Thank you - I take that personally! Cody & Jackson are VERY different. But I'd like to point out how many of the giant ranches in these areas - and have the $$ to start a lot of the access / special interest issues - are owned by non-Wyo ppl - movie stars, foreigners (as is true with the Two Dot ranch in Cody & Trail Creek who is owned by an openly fascist Italian & when sued by Park county for blocking publiv access that has been open for near 100 years, turned it over to his kids who are born citizens to make it seem more appropriate from his end - but he still runs it, visits it occasionally, etc.) and by the way, the county won the 5 year war. And don't worry - if Cali's take "their money" with them when they go - guess what? Wyo will exist & we will do JUST fine as we always have.

All states were settled from other territories / states but the people who decided to make it home created the justice system / statutes by which we would live. You know - those silly one like that women could vote.

[Clay Lady]

Originally Posted by Little pony

As far as posting a note that flames, I apologise. .

Apology accepted and understood. Wyoming is a state that has a lot of fairly well paying jobs available because of the energy boom. My husband gets calls all the time from guys out of state wanting work. The demand for workers has created a lot of problems and led to a demand for more housing etc. All across our nation the price of homes has jumped up these last five years or so for a lot of reasons none - IMO - directly tied to any one state or situation. Right now North Dakota is having similiar problems. I heard one town went from 10,000 to 40,000 in a very short period of time! That had to be a sellers market!! In NW Arkansas homes are getting really high. In Santa Barbara - almost any home starts in the one mil range.

Little pony, I'm glad you took the time to explain. The posts on this thread seemed a little harsh.