southeastern Colorado struggles to attract homebuilders (Branson: fit in, sale, apartment)

[otowi]

Even when they have the need and market for homes, they struggle to attract the companies to come build them.

https://coloradosun.com/2022/01/27/c...eid=de26e9e9ba

[Vision67]

Seems to me that a manufactured home would work.

[otowi]

Probably, but just because you're in a small town doesn't mean that should automatically be your only choice. Especially as tornadoes are more of an issue, potentially.

[cowboyxjon]

I admit to not fully reading the article (read part of it but lost interest), but my guess is that new development in the larger cities is easier and more lucrative than sending people and supplies out to the isolated communities on the Eastern Plains. Also not sure how current supply costs compare to property values in those communities, probably less of a market and less potential for profit.

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

I admit to not fully reading the article (read part of it but lost interest), but my guess is that new development in the larger cities is easier and more lucrative than sending people and supplies out to the isolated communities on the Eastern Plains. Also not sure how current supply costs compare to property values in those communities, probably less of a market and less potential for profit.

Lumber prices are again approaching last summer's record highs, steel building products remain at record highs, available of materials to build things like windows and doors have inflated prices and extended lead times to 3 months or more, and labor shortages have pushed wages up.

All in all, there's not much motivation for a private developer to invest in affordable housing for the working class, especially on as small a scale as this.

[Mike from back east]

Whether it's S.E. COLO, or any other sparsely populated rural area in the country, it's usually the same issue: there's no "there" there. No jobs. No amenities. No services. Nothing on which to build a vibrant city that can stand on its own. Most employers have left rural areas for cities that have the labor pools they need (including off-shore cities) and many rural hospitals have closed for lack of paying patients.

When Amazon picked Arlington, VA for a major office campus they chose that site because it already had the infrastructure Amazon wanted: mass transit, huge housing market, many universities, amenities of a large urban area, and a labor pool already in-place. My wife and I lived in that exact area 45 years ago and loved much about it, even then, as it was adjacent to National Airport and had a subway stop in the basement of the apartment building with an underground, walkable area for shopping, eats, movies and services.

In our "cut my taxes" mentality that relies on for-profit entities for everything there's just no motive for firms to invest in gigantic gyms, full-service medical centers, huge car dealerships, destination eateries, multiplex cinemas, big box stores, etc, since they will sit almost totally empty in rural areas. The tax base in rural areas can't provide the funds for large upgrades to water, sewer, electricity and natural gas utilities.

We've had many great threads on this over the years and it always boils down to realizing that big cities have the critical mass that draws people to them from rural areas, a dynamic that began when mechanization of farm work took off 150 years ago and the industrial revolution sucked up all the labor it could get, be they farm kids or immigrants. We have a poster (Bovinedivine) who sometimes posts from S. E. Colorado (Branson, CO?) about life in a very small town. Here are two of her threads:
- https://www.city-data.com/forum/colo...ch-town-w.html
- https://www.city-data.com/forum/rura...n-looking.html

The only salvation I can see for places like S. E. COLO is the internet can bring them merchandise from e-commerce websites, movies, TV shows, on-line educational services, and a kind of socialization via keyboards and facetime, etc. The tough nuts to crack are building medical facilities and lots of affordable homes since the for-profit motive only works well in larger metro areas like the one here in the Phoenix area where developers build homes by the thousands with tons of amenities nearby as well as a full range of medical services within reach.

The funds provided by the Federal stimulus program might kickstart a return to rural areas which could blossom if enough people are attracted to them. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

[Arrby]

Mike from back east, what you say is true. However, there is an even more fundamental factor at work: workers and subcontractors. It is one think to see a market, it is another thing to serve it. How is a contractor going to get construction workers in a place like S.E. Colorado? There is no place for them to live. There is no long term future for their families if they had a place to live.

It is theoretically possible to move in temporary housing, but aside from the expense why would anyone agree to live that way when they can get all the work they want in communities their families want to live in? The same issue arises with subs. They do not need the expense and hassle of a 100 mile commute.

We face this same problem on a smaller scale up in Teller County.

[jwiley]

The problem in those areas are that the cost to build is just too high for the price you can sale houses for. You can still buy livable houses in some of those small towns for less than $100,000. Between the cost of lumber and importing construction personnel you cannot build a house for anywhere close to that.The cost to build runs around $170 per sq ft according to my home builder friend, and that is without the cost of running utility lines and buying the land. That puts a 1500 sq ft home at around $350,000 for a sale price, after developing the land, building the house, and putting about 10% profit into the homebuilder's company. How many people in those towns can afford that? Having spent some time in those areas over the last few months, and considering buying some rental homes down there, I can tell you that it is not enough for a major housing developer or homebuilder to get involved.

[Mike from back east]

Exactly. My post was too long as it was to go into the issues of labor supply since there's probably little to no skilled construction labor out there. Mostly they would import such labor from south of the border as we also see much of that here in the Phoenix area too. As a nation we seem to lack such labor because too many people send their kids to college, and we've almost no trade schools teaching manufacturing and construction skills. It's like a perfect storm . . .

[otowi]

In this case, it appears a lack of housing is standing in the way of growth in some of those small towns - they have more workers than they have housing for, according to the article.