Researching CO. Looking for friendly, somewhat rural forested living. (Denver: ski resorts, rent)

[Doc_Jim]

Greetings,
I am beginning my research into a potential move for my wife and I (40's...no kids). We currently live in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. We have wooded mountain acreage, bears, coyotes and all the stuff that comes with living in the mountains (here in VA that is).
We are considering a change as this area even though considered expansive by some....is quite the opposite.

Colorado has our interest. I am curious what part of the state might offer dense forest/mountain living that is not $$$. We are not looking for off the grid. However being an hour drive to a Walmart would be fine. We have no interest in 'neighborhoods' and all that. Do not want to live in a densely populated area AT ALL.
We are looking for a few acres with no one around.....perhaps a small, small town nearby...laid back area...friendly country folk...etc.

From just jumping on Trulia and looking around....there appears to be some decent priced stuff that 'looks' nice in the general Durango area.....staying away from metropolitan areas.
1-2 acres....nice cabins...appear to be in the forest..etc...for 130K-200K.

Primarily we want to live in the middle of nature with all that comes with that.....keep to ourselves....stay out of big cities..etc.
I work in design and luckily have a good client base so I can work anywhere I can have a small office and a decent internet connection (which I could rent an office in a nearby town or such).

Any thoughts? Advice? Insight? Ideas? Suggestions?

Thanks!

[kizlykdm]

You may want to check out the area west of Trinidad (between about Weston and La Veta).

[Snikt]

Your budget is going to be extremely limited here. You can barely buy a 2 bedroom condo in Denver for 130K. You can probably find an old cabin in the mountains for 130-200k, but I'm not sure with 1-2 acres?

Many of the areas I can think of that many people don't know about that might be cheap enough don't even have towns really or anyplace to have an office or successful business. Towns with populations of like 200-800

[Doc_Jim]

Kiz - Thanks...I will take a look.

Snikt - Denver? Denver seems (in my limited knowledge) like someplace I want to be FAR away from! Its a big city?
You might go ahead and offer your small towns.....remember I don't need a successful business relying on the area AT ALL. My clients are all around the world.....that is the beauty of it: I can be geographically anywhere....as long as I have a desk and internet.

The town I currently live near is only about pop: 1200.

Thanks.

[jim9251]

Places here that are forested are high in the mountains and expensive. $100,000 will get you a small lot, maybe. I would suggest visiting. If you want to live in a small town high in the mountains, look at Ouray. There you can find a mobile home in your price range. I would suggest visiting, Colorado is a big state and the front range is as different from the western slope as Earth is from Saturn.

[Snikt]

Originally Posted by Doc_Jim

Kiz - Thanks...I will take a look.

Snikt - Denver? Denver seems (in my limited knowledge) like someplace I want to be FAR away from! Its a big city?
You might go ahead and offer your small towns.....remember I don't need a successful business relying on the area AT ALL. My clients are all around the world.....that is the beauty of it: I can be geographically anywhere....as long as I have a desk and internet.

The town I currently live near is only about pop: 1200.

Thanks.

I was just quoting the example because usually city living is much cheaper than mountain living, I wasn't suggesting that as a location. The mountains here are very desirable and are very expensive, at least the areas that have nice amenities and/or close to skiing, towns, etc..

Some I can think of to check would be:

Cuchara
Red Feather Lakes
Paonia
Marble
Creede / Lake City

These are much less well known and off the beaten path.


You didn't mention how you are with snow? Some of these areas the winters are like 8 months long or so and under snow for much of the winter. There are no mountain areas on the east coast that really even compare

[Doc_Jim]

Thanks Jim. Interesting. A visit is absolutely on the agenda at some point. I must find our what areas to target though.

Very interesting regarding property values in the mountains.....out east here....usually it is a bell curve of values: As you move into more rural areas the property values rise as you are still close to amenities and such...paved roads..etc...BUT then as you continue moving out into more and more rural areas the property values fall dramatically as most people dont want to live off a dirt road in the middle of nowhere! So at this point....where you are far from 'civilization'....that is where I have found the best and (for me) most desirable areas.
Perhaps this plays out differently in CO.....

EDIT: Snikt: Thanks! Exactly! I certainly do NOT want to be near a ski town...etc. And I use the word "mountains" loosely.....doesnt specifically have to be on a ridge.....just looking for 'middle of nowhere in the woods'.

Snow? Spent a lot of time in Miami....and also a lot of time in Michigan.....we were also considering AK as well. We are fine with snow. As it is now, when it snows more than 6" we cannot drive down our mountain and must walk through the forest 1.5 miles to our cars to go to work and again back at night.

[Snikt]

Originally Posted by Doc_Jim

Thanks Jim. Interesting. A visit is absolutely on the agenda at some point. I must find our what areas to target though.

Very interesting regarding property values in the mountains.....out east here....usually it is a bell curve of values: As you move into more rural areas the property values rise as you are still close to amenities and such...paved roads..etc...BUT then as you continue moving out into more and more rural areas the property values fall dramatically as most people dont want to live off a dirt road in the middle of nowhere! So at this point....where you are far from 'civilization'....that is where I have found the best and (for me) most desirable areas.
Perhaps this plays out differently in CO.....

EDIT: Snikt: Thanks! Exactly! I certainly do NOT want to be near a ski town...etc. And I use the word "mountains" loosely.....doesnt specifically have to be on a ridge.....just looking for 'middle of nowhere in the woods'.

Snow? Spent a lot of time in Miami....and also a lot of time in Michigan.....we were also considering AK as well. We are fine with snow. As it is now, when it snows more than 6" we cannot drive down our mountain and must walk through the forest 1.5 miles to our cars to go to work and again back at night.

The mountains here are a little different than out east, there are plenty of areas like you described absolutely in the middle of nowhere, much more so than anything you can find east of the Mississippi. The problem is some of those areas are very barren and not forested at all, or are so rugged you wouldn't be able to buy a usable lot.

Example: The San Luis Valley, very cheap, very remote but not a single tree. Very barren




There are also lots of areas like this which are small towns, and you could probably find something in the price range but your lot wouldn't be forested at all. You'd be near mountains and forests though:

[lrmsd]

Check out, also, Cortez and Dolores, about an hour from both Durango and Telluride, along with Pagosa Springs and surrounds.
Otherwise, maybe near Montrose?

The thing w/CO is, it can be 'woods' and then very quickly become 'high desert or plains dry/brown' type of landscape. There aren't a lot of communities 'in the middle of nowhere in the woods' or even loosely populated areas in the type of setting you are asking about (in the middle of the woods). It's hard to explain-but people think CO is covered in trees with woods. It's nothing like VA mountains or east coast in that regard. I think the other poster is saying that most of the 'woodsy' areas are near ski resorts or otherwise desirable foothills communities. But not all of them.

Also check Rollinsville, outside of Nederland [not sure about the acreage requirements in your price range-but worth checking out. Nederland is a very cool small town-although only 30 minutes from boulder, it's a world away for the most part.] Something on the outskirts of Ned or nearby, such as Rollinsville, might work for you. [actually probably closer to 'population/city' than you've stated that you want, but they are really nice spots in the mountains-around 8k feet]. And you'd have woods around.

Also, somewhere heading out of CO Springs might work-there are numerous small towns on the way to Salida [great town!], and further on is Crestone-that's a unique, interesting community that is very isolated but has amenities. And towns surrounding it might work for you, too. I am actually not sure what the names of those towns are off hand, but I do know aroudn Crestone [itself a small community] there are some tiny little communities. Crestone Colorado It's in Saguache County.

Also, Crestone is about an hour to either monte visa, alamosa or salida. [I think there's a walmart in alamosa, for example.] Edit: Crestone is really quiet:"... decibel measurements in the valley. A typical library measures 40 decibels. They were both amazed to report that the Crestone area measured 14 decibels."

[Lugnuts]

Upper Arkansas valley from Twin lakes to Salida