Colorado feels further away than ever (Denver, Colorado Springs: real estate market, 2015, daycare)

[Rocky_Mtn_Expat]

I guess I just feel a need to vent and share my story...

In a nutshell, I long to move back to Colorado but am finding it harder and harder to rationalize the move. It's got me thinking we'll never be able to go back, and I've grown a bit depressed about the whole situation. I'm close to thinking I should just give up on the idea of moving back.

I first posted in this forum a couple of years ago, inquiring about the current Denver real estate market. I grew up in Colorado and lived there from 84 to 08 (with a brief 2 year stint in Seattle from 03 to 05). I'm now 36, wife is 35, two kids aged 4 and 1. We live in northern California and make about 100k combined with me working full time and her part time. She can work odd hours so we only need a nanny a few hours a day, a couple days a week.

Oh, and we have free housing out here, so it's easy to make ends meet.

Back when we got married in 2008 I was nearly broke (had I believe 8k to my name and 10k in student loans) and my wife had about about 60k in student loans and no savings. Part of the idea of living out here in norcal was that we could take advantage of the free housing and save more. It was my hope we could put ourselves in a financial position to move back to CO. Fast forward to 2015 and we've managed to cobble together a nest egg of about 220k and the student loans are down to about 25k. Were we better at budgeting that nest egg would probably be bigger. And with two young kids, one who is in a pricey preschool and the other who needed a lot of extra medical care her first year, our savings ability kind of hit the skids.

I know we have it good in a lot of ways. We have free housing. We don't have to put the kids in daycare. I have a good job. My wife has a pretty bad job in a lot of respects but she has hours that work well for the kids.

But life out here has its own challenges. I spend 2+ hrs per day commuting. My wife's job is extremely stressful and she often has no idea when she'll get home. The weather is oppressively hot. I hate California.

The real kicker though is that I miss Colorado constantly, to the point that I don't even want to visit anymore because I know it will just make me all the more homesick.

Then I look at the housing situation in Denver and it just feels even more like a lost cause. There used to be these little pockets of the metro area that I thought I could find a nice starter home for us in: east side of Standley Lake, some areas of west Littleton around SW Plaza, perhaps near Olde Town Arvada. But now it all just looks way too expensive.

And when I look at our budget, it's just so hard to justify. Between trying to sock away money for retirement, building college funds for the kids, trying to pay down the rest of the student loan debt, all that gets cut way back if we move. My wife thinks it will be hard for her to find a part-time job in her field. I could find a job in mine (though the search could take a little while), but I doubt I'd make as much. Adding on, I'm vested into an old fashioned pension system that really rewards longevity. If I spent my whole career in California, I could probably retire in my mid 50s.

Back when the South Napa quake hit, that did shape our thinking a little. I read the forecasts about the possibility of a "big one" hitting the greater SF bay area in the next 20 years, and it does enter into our thinking. I know you never know what will happen where, and when it will occur, but the earthquake issue in California is a specific known issue.

Anyhow, I'm not sure exactly what the question is in all of this. Perhaps I just needed to share my story. But if anyone managed to read through all that and they feel compelled to say what they would do if they were in my shoes, I'd appreciate the wisdom.

[Okiefrombama]

I'd stay in California, especially since your pension rewards longevity. Also, you have some form of stability. Keep your nest egg and when the time is right -- probably way down the road, find a nice place hidden somewhere in the Colorado mountains. My neighbor-who is financially ready to buy a home-gave up, because they were tired of fighting with people and the bidding wars. Denver is hurting right now -- no matter how "great" the economy is.

PS - For now, Colorado Springs is still more reasonable. I might be more liberal leaning, but if I was in the market for a home, I wouldn't care how many "fundamentalists" are down there. The cost of living in Denver is very unsustainable.

[Rocky_Mtn_Expat]

Originally Posted by Okiefrombama

I'd stay in California, especially since your pension rewards longevity. Also, you have some form of stability. Keep your nest egg and when the time is right -- probably way down the road, find a nice place hidden somewhere in the Colorado mountains. My neighbor-who is financially ready to buy a home-gave up, because they were tired of fighting with people and the bidding wars. Denver is hurting right now -- no matter how "great" the economy is.

PS - For now, Colorado Springs is still more reasonable. I might be more liberal leaning, but if I was in the market for a home, I wouldn't care how many "fundamentalists" are down there. The cost of living in Denver is very unsustainable.

Yeah, good points about the Springs. Personally, I'd go down there but my wife won't. I don't really care what my neighbors' political preferences are, so long as they're friendly and don't let their house fall apart. I'd do Woodland Park too but there's no employment options for me within reasonable driving distance.

And I do feel like there may be another real estate dip/buying opportunity in the next couple of years. The stock market is bound to have a pull back and things just can't move up at this pace for that long.

The problem for me and other out of towners trying to buy into a housing dip is that it can be tough to time it while also finding a job reasonably close to the house. Neither my wife nor I work in fields where the jobs are in central business districts, so it's not like we can just buy some place near downtown or DTC and expect to find a job in that area.

[Count David]

1. Pay off the student loan.

2. Are there preschools that aren't pricey?

3. Save another $220K. With the amount of money you make, and the free housing, it should only take 3-5 years....if you're sloppy.

4. Find a job wherever it is you want to live.

5. Buy a reasonable house, cash.

6.

7. Rinse and repeat.

[Okiefrombama]

LOL You know that's right!!! I grew up in Alabama so the Springs doesn't scare me. We live in Douglas County, because one of us was working in the Springs while the other in Aurora. I actually like the Springs and never ran into any issues.

[ShampooBanana]

Free housing is a HUGE benefit. If you invest your money right and can save at even a slightly higher rate than you have been and invest it wisely, there's no reason you couldn't have over $1 million saved within 10 years and then your options will be very much broadened.

[Rocky_Mtn_Expat]

1 mil in 10 years might be a little unrealistic, but I do get what you're saying. If I assume a 6% portfolio return and can bank 30,000/yr in saving, it would be about 790k in 10 years.

[davidv]

One more thing:

At the present rate of inflation for college tuition, there is no way you can realistically save enough money for two kids' tuition in 14-17 years. Something will have to give.