Colorado Real Estate Prices - Sticker Shock! (Montrose, Cedaredge: foreclosed, mortgage)

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Bideshi

Of the builders still in business in COS today, which would you use to build a house?

Without a doubt, Keller Homes. We have one and we'd have another one in a heartbeat.

[jacoby23]

Expensive? Don't look at the East Coast...or Boulder.

[Ulysses61]

If you think Colorado is expensive, don't even think of looking at Southern California. We who live in So. CA move or retire to Colorado because of the LOW real estate prices. Everything is relative.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by Coloradohh

Judging from the evidence I've gathered, it looks like the Colorado housing market never experienced a housing crisis.

Oh, it did. Only now is it rebounding gradually but slower than other parts of the country. We had friends whose homes sat on the market in 2009 and 2010 for a year. We were LUCKY to sell our home there in a relatively short amount of time, in contrast to the comps, in 2011. And Denver's job market took the corresponding hit too.

As others have said, home prices are based on demand -- what the majority are willing to pay. It is a highly desirable place to live for a plethora of reasons, as evidence by this forum's traffic. I'm not sure what is causing your confusion. It's the reason why cost of living calculators exist - because every area is different.

While I know it's not for me, I completely understand why my Bay Area friends' 1200 sq ft, two bedroom condos with 70s kitchens and baths are 600K.

[CosmicWizard]

Coloradohh wrote: Judging from the evidence I've gathered, it looks like the Colorado housing market never experienced a housing crisis.

Based on this statement, you obviously take the task of gathering evidence very lightly. If I was ever accused of a crime, I hope that you would be the person in charge of gathering evidence against me. I'd walk away scott free!

[Neditate]

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

If you think Colorado is expensive, don't even think of looking at Southern California. We who live in So. CA move or retire to Colorado because of the LOW real estate prices. Everything is relative.

+1

[ryanek9freak]

Originally Posted by Snikt

You can easily get something nice here for 250k, maybe not in Cherry Creek though..

Real estate prices are also based on demand, Colorado is very desirable and people want to live here. You can buy a 4 bedroom house for <100k in Boonville, Missouri where my brother lives. Why? Nobody wants to live there.

DING DING DING!!

My DW always comments about this, cause she's from northeast Ohio, where youo can buy a house for the price of a used BMW. It's like she just can't grasp the concept of LOCATION!

Houses cost $50,000 in Cleveland, because it's a garbage hole with no jobs and nothing pretty to look at.

Colorado's front range has what I refer to as the Scenery Tax.

[Coloradohh]

@Snikit – I totally agree with your post! Colorado is a very desirable area and lots of folks do want to live there.. I too am one of those folks.


@reed303 – I know it’s a bit unfair to compare both places, but let’s be honest, West Haven is very close to the mountains. The views are phenomenal! Too bad my wife has really bad misconceptions about Utah. The 2 times we visited, I loved it! Just like Colorado, I could easily live there. She just seems to be caught up on the religious stuff. Not one person bothered us while we were there. Not 1 person has bothered my relatives in the 5+yrs they have been there. But hey, this is about Colorado, let’s stop the Utah talk...


@Oldtrader – That is one good investment you made back in 1970… But let’s be honest here, real estate prices are driven by speculation. My current neighborhood is a prime example. I live in the Far NW Suburbs of Chicago and I paid $195,000 for a 3bedroom 2bath home. This was a little high for me because of my personal views on real estate. I just felt that $195K was way too high for such a small house. Mind you this was during the collapse of 2008… Sure enough, fast forward to today and now my house is worth $110K on a good day. My neighborhood is littered with Foreclosures and some of the people who have walked away, only did so, so that they could buy/upgrade to a bigger house in the same neighborhood at half the cost of their old one. The banks allowed them to do this too! Why? Banks are in business to flip and sell your loan. My bank did this to me after 6months… I don’t want to turn this into a conspiracy theory, but why debt yourself $350K-$400K just to pay outrageous real estate taxes, fees etc…. The low to middle class has a limit on how much home they can buy. Again, this is my personal opinion based on what I have seen in my neighborhood. New home prices were $296K in 2007 and now they have plummeted to the $100.000’s….
Colorado hasn’t seen much of this because of the fact that people who are moving from high cost areas like California, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Fran, etc… Are used to paying 3x that for a home. Therefore this is what’s driving this market. Not the availability of ski resorts… Let’s face it, weekend traffic on the i70 is a nightmare! One way in, one way out. But I still love you Colorado!


@Ulysses61 – Yes, I agree! Southern Cali is very expensive. Look at the end of the day, its about the quality of your life, not how much you would like to be in debt. Living in San Diego would be a dream, but being house poor and just living to pay my mortgage would be a nightmare!


@Cosmic Wizard - Ahhhh I know you. I have posted on here before under different names. I’m just here to have fun and get perspectives and views of others opinions. Maybe I did not do my homework all the way. Could be, but this is because my move isn’t scheduled to occur until 2014… Why bother doing much digging now when things are going to just go up, up, up…..



@Idlewile – You friends are crazy! Yes, San Fran is very expensive. I don’t understand how low income people can even afford to work there. No matter the city! I just could not work myself up to purchasing an apartment for 600K… That’s at least a Million plus after interest… talk about having the banks in your pocket for the rest of your life. Good luck if that pice ever came down. I already think it’s too high for most people to even consider.



To all those I may have missed. Thank you for your reply’s… I have read each and every one of them. Colorado is a great state. My family and I absolutely love Colorado. I really hope that things work out for us real estate wise…

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by Coloradohh

Colorado real estate prices - sticker shock!

Colorado, I love you! I absolutely love you, but just don’t understand why it’s so darn expensive to live there.

As others have noted, its not Colorado per se but rather the perspective from which you are viewing Colorado. Spend the next 10 years in San Francisco, LA, Boston, Greater NYC, San Diego, etc. and then come back and look at Colorado real estate (excluding Aspen, etc., which is effectively a suburb of Greenwich, CT rather than a mountain town in Colorado). You will be shocked at how CHEAP and laughably affordable front-range land/housing is. Its all a matter of what you're comparing it to.

[80skeys]

Try Collbran, Cedaredge, Montrose or Paonia Western Colorado.

As for why the Denver area is more expensive, it is a a popular and desirable place for people to move to, same reason you want to live there. If you think Denver is sticker shock, come to Northern California where you'll find it's 5x more expensive.