First visit to Colorado Springs, a smashing success (foreclose, HOA)

[hollyt00]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to otowi again.

Foiled again!!

[otowi]

Me too You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to hollyt00 again. Thanks.

[lurtsman]

To follow up:

My qualification of "winters that don't suck" was based on my living experience in Iowa and Oregon. Iowa was too cold, and Oregon was too grey. Since you (the person asking) are coming from New Mexico, instead of say... Minnesota, you will find that winters are colder and harsher here than in NM or southern Cali. Compared to Iowa, the difference is vast. Many days the temperature in CoS was a good 15 to 20 degrees higher. Meaning out here it was mid to high 40s, and in Iowa it the highs ranged from high teens to mid 20s. Last winter in Iowa we routinely had highs in the low 30s and I was elated. It was the best winter I had ever had out there by any measure. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. Meanwhile, in CoS the weather.com reported highs were routinely high 40s to low 50s.

If you look at the historical graphs it'll say that Iowa is supposed to normally get up to around 30 to 32, and CoS is only supposed to average 44, but that isn't what I've seen. In my experience CoS has been posting averages a couple degrees higher, and Iowa was posting numbers 5 to 10 degrees colder. Those may not seem like huge differences, but they add up. The humidity and winds further complicate that and expand on the difference.

Finally, due to the position of the mountains and the tendency for winds to go around them we get winds from different places. We will get the occasional cold front from Wyoming, and the warm front from New Mexico. Those few warm days that blow in from AZ and NM are a great relief to anyone who suffers from being cranky when it is cold ALL the time. For me, just going out in the winter in Iowa and having a day that was 40 (ONLY happened this last year, which was very close to the hottest winter on record) was enough to put me in a much better mood.

[StealthRabbit]

I would choose to LIVE in Co Springs EZ over Den.

You would be closer to Breckenridge than Loveland Pass Ski area.

Friends that live in both, seem the snow sports commute crowd from Denver is too intense for enjoyment. CO Springs crowd is very laid back, but MANY days on the mtn. (as compared to those IN know in DEN)

[Sonic_Spork]

I'm sure I'm repeating this story so I'll try to be brief. In Dec. I moved from WA to CoS and all of my coworkers up there smugly informed me I'd be up to my butt in snow from now on. Not a week after I arrived here, my former home in WA (and all of my smug coworkers) got over a foot of snow and ice which completely shut down the entire Olympia region. Because up there, when it snows, everything really does shut down completely. People had no power for 5 days. I did not ~quite~ chuckle at their misfortune, but I did appreciate the irony. I was enjoying temps in the 50's with sunshine and blue skies (which they only get for 2 weeks/year up there anyways.)

I've also lived in Iowa for 8 years. Iowa winters feel actually challenging to survive. Highs in the teens to 30's...how about the night time lows, there, Lurtsman? I remember nights where ten to twenty below zero was typical. If you didn't bundle up every inch of skin, the air would HURT you. Sure it would snow, but it was always too cold to play in it. Nothing closes for snow, you still have to commute to work/school on crappy roads full of idiots in magical SUV's that they believe can brake on ice (which inevitably wind up in the ditch.)

IMO (and I've only been here since right before Christmas, mind) the most remarkable thing has been the wind...and the diversity of the microclimates. Those inquiring about the weather, we have in other threads mentioned about this...different parts of CoS have different weather sometimes. The south part of town where I'm at (Security-Widefield) is a high elevation desert, not mountain foothills. It's a bit warmer and more arid (less snow) but we might get more high winds, I'd think.

[ryanek9freak]

Funny how morons from everywhere else in the country think that we're all living in an episode of South Park.

[Sonic_Spork]

Oddly I didn't have that misconception myself, before I knew anything for sure about Colorado I just had a picture in my head that was something like an off-road vehicle commercial. All rugged rocks and canyons. And that image has not really been too far off-base. I think there is more green here than I expected, especially closer to the mountains.

[ryanek9freak]

Now that, yes isn't too far off, one of the things I'm quite grateful for.

[lurtsman]

Another quick update:

The forecast for today is sunny and 76 with a slight breeze most of the day. The birds are chirping, and it feels like paradise. We're looking to buy a house this winter and have started going out with our agent to view them.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by lurtsman

Another quick update:

The forecast for today is sunny and 76 with a slight breeze most of the day. The birds are chirping, and it feels like paradise. We're looking to buy a house this winter and have started going out with our agent to view them.

Anyone want to comment on the bolded material? I've always heard that houses come off-market late in the year (no one wants to show their home during the holidays) and put it back on the market in the Spring. If that's true, buying in Winter may cause you to miss some gems that will go on, or be back on, the market come Spring.

There is still quite an inventory of homes available, as well as a large shadow inventory that banks aren't dumping on the market to avoid further depressing prices they'll get for their foreclosed and/or non-performing assets.

Some people expect prices to decline a bit more, to a point where the median home price meets the median income. MEDIAN: "In statistics and probability theory, median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half." Median is not the same as the average.