Wanting out of Denver, thinking of relocating to Western NE (Omaha: real estate, apartment complexes)

[Seguinite]

Originally Posted by jmgg

I'd look into crossing the border to the east to maybe Shenandoah, Iowa since you're looking at retirement. A nice size town that has struggled of late as to keeping jobs, but that's not your concern. Housing is very cheap and you'll save a lot in taxes over Nebraska. It's just a few miles off of I-29 with easy access to Omaha, St. Josephs MO, Lincoln NE, and Kansas City.

Lots of towns in SE Nebraska that are nice, yet you still have the taxes issue.

Bough the place a couple years ago.

[downtownnola]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Kansas has taxes just as bad if not worse than Nebraska in terms of being regressive, (sales taxes are very high there). Neither state has significant other revenue streams to add the general fund like tourism or gambling. No one seems to want to be the bad guy and consolidate schools in rapidly declining areas either that would lower property taxes and administrative costs.

Kansas is basically a case study in how not to run an economy.

OP, yes Colorado is expensive and getting rather crowded. But, you get what you pay for and for better or worse, there is a reason why people are flocking to Colorado.

[vicky3vicky]

I live in Beulah, colorado. It is in the mountains, only 30 minutes away from Pueblo -pueblo, incidentally I hated living there.Lots of multi-million dollar homes.Also tons of vacant fixer-uppers. We bought ours for $80,000 3 years ago. There are still many vacant homes that need some work.

My husband and I are both elderly and disabled, but, doing just an hour or so on our home most days we have made it into the home of our dreams.

The reason that there are so many vacant homes with owners eager to sell is beccause of Beulah's history. Beulah was settled in the 1870's and years later people from outside of the village bought land and built summer homes. Fewer and fewer people are still coming to their homes in Beulah for the summer and so many remain vacant and can be bought for a low price. It's beautiful. It's in the mountains. It is not far from a city and the amenities that come with it. We love it here.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by downtownnola

Kansas is basically a case study in how not to run an economy.

OP, yes Colorado is expensive and getting rather crowded. But, you get what you pay for and for better or worse, there is a reason why people are flocking to Colorado.

Correct, Kansas has some poor ways of doing things in terms of taxes and economic development. They put most of their eggs in the Johnson County bucket by Kansas City. There are very few other counties in the state that are performing well, and JOCO is now a more expensive, higher tax, high COL area anyway.

[denimflyz]

North Platte has nothing. I know, I live here. Please look at North Platte forum.
They are trying to implement a multi-million dollar packing plant in 2 years here. The railroad is laying off. There is no culture, no entertainment except NebraskaLand days, which is a joke. There is no shopping.
My suggestion is Kearney. I shop, buy groceries there. Kearney is a small college city and has art and culture. Please read my answers to North Platte questions. Please don't make it a mistake to move here.

[wilberry]

Nebraska .....BRRRRR>>>>> so Cold, there are still a lot of Places in Co that are not overrun with people and DO NOT have a Ridiculous high cost of living.
Lamar. Quiet and rural, Lamar is a wonderful city for families with a variety of parks and a strong sense of community. ...and BORING but inexpensive.
Brush. ...small towards NEB
Fort Morgan. ...small same
Sterling. ...might as well be in NEBRASKA but inexpensive
Trinidad. ...( Hmmm... it has the Blues festival ))
Pueblo. WEST ...(soon will be overrun by Colorado springs developers )
Clifton. where the heck is Clifton?
Durango .... very friendly, nice not so Inexpensive
Grand Junction has an incredible view of Utah! and it has PALISADE the fruit and Wine town to go to on Weekends
Colorado City ... I know many conservative senior citizens have retired there and don't know if there are any vacancies.
AND yes BEULAH .... very pretty town ...Buba and Beaulah live there somewhere

[Steverino63]

Sounds like an upper-middle-class urbanite expecting that a small town "should" have all the amenities (and none of the problems) of the big city. Wrong.


Cliqueishness, socioeconmic and other class issues and more all get magnified in smaller communities. And, while they have lower crime rates, they don't have farmer's markets, they don't have Whole Foods, they don't even have Fiscalini cloth bandage cheddar even at Kroger or whatever and that's that.

[ctr88]

Originally Posted by wilberry

Nebraska .....BRRRRR>>>>> so Cold, there are still a lot of Places in Co that are not overrun with people and DO NOT have a Ridiculous high cost of living.
Lamar. Quiet and rural, Lamar is a wonderful city for families with a variety of parks and a strong sense of community. ...and BORING but inexpensive.
Brush. ...small towards NEB
Fort Morgan. ...small same
Sterling. ...might as well be in NEBRASKA but inexpensive
Trinidad. ...( Hmmm... it has the Blues festival ))
Pueblo. WEST ...(soon will be overrun by Colorado springs developers )
Clifton. where the heck is Clifton?
Durango .... very friendly, nice not so Inexpensive
Grand Junction has an incredible view of Utah! and it has PALISADE the fruit and Wine town to go to on Weekends
Colorado City ... I know many conservative senior citizens have retired there and don't know if there are any vacancies.
AND yes BEULAH .... very pretty town ...Buba and Beaulah live there somewhere

Durango not so expensive???

[ctr88]

Actually I read that wrong initially. You said Durango "not so inexpensive"....disregard my earlier previous comment. Not so inexpensive it is!

[katharsis]

Originally Posted by Steverino63

Sounds like an upper-middle-class urbanite expecting that a small town "should" have all the amenities (and none of the problems) of the big city. Wrong.


Cliqueishness, socioeconmic and other class issues and more all get magnified in smaller communities. And, while they have lower crime rates, they don't have farmer's markets, they don't have Whole Foods, they don't even have Fiscalini cloth bandage cheddar even at Kroger or whatever and that's that.

Just want to correct the bold -- or at least where I live, there is a farmer's market almost every day of the week from late May through August. (The local towns take turns.)

I also want to point out that although my little Wisconsin village has a population of under 300 year-round residents, there are not class issues because all the year-rounders are pretty much alike in all demographics. Also, I am 15 minutes away from a Pic n' Save (Kroger's), and an even larger local supermarket. But, no, we do not have a Whole Foods and I haven't even heard of Fiscalini Cheddar, but there are two artisan cheesemakers within 20 minutes of us, as well as about ten local wineries in our county (pop. 30,000).

(However, we are a tourist and agriculture-based community where many very affluent people have their summer homes, so where I live is not typical of most rural communities, I think, but I just wanted to point out that all small town communities are not alike. Btw, I spent 30 years in metro Denver, and I could not be happier that we moved!)