Retired and coming to CS (fit in, HOA, low crime)

[vnodak]

First I want to thank everyone who has given me lots of info on the area in the last few years and answered all my questions. We have sold our home and closing is April 2. We bought a house and closing for it is April 15. We should be in the Springs April 19. We are very excited and this forum has been totally the best for great info and advise. I am so looking forward to being there. It certainly has been worth the time and effort to research the area over the years. I feel very informed. Thanks so much!!!! I do have one question and that is what do you think of solar panels for your home?? Is it worth the effort and what about hail??

[otowi]

I don't see many solar panels here residentially. I think they run expensive enough here that it takes a number of years to get back your investment. And yeah, they could be prone to hail damage and require a lot of cleaning. There are a few solar farms, though.....

[Jalhop]

I've read that typical solar panels can handle hail. Maybe not baseball-sized though, I don't know. Hopefully your house is south-facing or you otherwise have a way to face them south at a 38-degree angle (the latitude of the Springs). Despite the long cost break-even time (typically 20 or 30 years, not counting that it can improve the property value) I think it's a shame that more people don't take advantage of all the sun COS gets, to generate power. I hope solar panels get even cheaper with mass production.

More often than solar panels I've seen solar water heaters on roofs in COS. I read up on this and found that the break-even time is very long because the newest hot water heaters are more efficient. Still the idea of having the sun heat the water is appealing. If one doesn't care about permits, a DIY solar water heater (that assists the normal water heater) can be made for about $500. If your house is sufficiently south-facing there is a real cheap option to make inserts that fit into the inside of the windows and emit heat through a vent at the top, no permit needed. If you're interested let me know and I'll find the article.

If it's not too personal, what general area of COS did you choose and why? Living in Seattle as well, I'm a bit envious of your move! It'll be a few years for me until a kid exits high school.

[vnodak]

Originally Posted by Jalhop

I've read that typical solar panels can handle hail. Maybe not baseball-sized though, I don't know. Hopefully your house is south-facing or you otherwise have a way to face them south at a 38-degree angle (the latitude of the Springs). Despite the long cost break-even time (typically 20 or 30 years, not counting that it can improve the property value) I think it's a shame that more people don't take advantage of all the sun COS gets, to generate power. I hope solar panels get even cheaper with mass production.

More often than solar panels I've seen solar water heaters on roofs in COS. I read up on this and found that the break-even time is very long because the newest hot water heaters are more efficient. Still the idea of having the sun heat the water is appealing. If one doesn't care about permits, a DIY solar water heater (that assists the normal water heater) can be made for about $500. If your house is sufficiently south-facing there is a real cheap option to make inserts that fit into the inside of the windows and emit heat through a vent at the top, no permit needed. If you're interested let me know and I'll find the article.

If it's not too personal, what general area of COS did you choose and why? Living in Seattle as well, I'm a bit envious of your move! It'll be a few years for me until a kid exits high school.

A long time ago, I lived in Colorado for about a year and a half. I always have liked the area and the people. We needed to move to an area that is more cost effective for us. We needed an area that has low crime, good medical care, cheap housing, sun and a dryer climate. We also wanted an area that is people friendly and easier to get around in than in Seattle. Tax issues were also our concern. Of course Costco and Trader Joes are the icing on the cake. I am pretty much done with fir boughs and pine needles, mold,gray skies and rain!! We wanted to go to a place where their are a lot of out door activities. We did not want to live in a place that is too hot or too cold. The only thing I will miss in Seattle are the Sea Hawks, restaurants, and bald eagles. Seattle is a great place to visit but not too live.
We looked at homes in TRI Lakes, Briar, North Gate, North Falcon. I picked these areas as I do not like cookie cutter areas and I have two dogs. We bought a house in Merridan Ranch area and it backs to a golf course so their are no homes behind us and the view is beautiful. The house was $325 and is 3320 sq ft with a three car garage(ranch house with a walk out basement.)The area is quiet and fire station and rec center are close. It is an HOA so we pay $115 a year to use the rec center which has a pool and all sorts of classes etc. The yard is small and easy to maintain.Their are a lot of other nice areas but this fits our needs at this point in our life.

[lurtsman]

Welcome to the area.

The cost effectiveness of solar panels depends entirely on how much install work you are interested in doing. The companies that install them are occasionally fly-by-night operations and will charge something like $80/hour for labor while employing people with no formal training and paying $10/hour. On the other hand, if you're willing to order Chinese panels online and set up the system yourself (no $cost on labor) then the return on a larger system (big enough to power a house) is excellent.

The two major costs you're dealing with the are the "installers" having large mark ups and the cost of the equipment that hooks the system into your power grid. The panels themselves are remarkably affordable after a surplus of the raw ingredients was manufactured and the Chinese companies became highly competitive in selling panels at a loss to cover part of their fixed costs.

Unlike most products you may be familiar with, solar panels produced in China are actually superior to the equivalents produced here due to differences in the technology employed.

Basically, if you have extensive experience as a handyman and DIYer, you may be able to install the panels yourself and get a great deal. If you have to hire someone to do it, it probably won't be worth it. It blows my mind that the solar panel manufacturers haven't redesigned their packaging and process so they can sell large sets at Home Depots and Lowe's, when that happens I'd expect panels to go mainstream within a couple years. When we reach the point that the install is so simple that a quarter of the population can do it themselves, we'll see the panels really take off. That is also the point when I will probably get them and install them. I don't have the handyman experience, so I need the product to become more mainstream with a simplified install process.

PS. You absolutely do not want to do business with anyone offering $0 down or some other BS financing scheme. I've seen house sellers get into trouble where they use that scheme to finance the solar panels and then try to sell their house. When the buyer finds out the panels aren't actually owned by the sellers, they can get pretty mad and back out of the deal.