NWSkiGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Good to know! So I shouldn't move to Bozeman, I guess. It's as expensive as I've heard?
-
Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.
Affordable ski towns
- Thread starter NWSkiGirl
- Start date
geargrrl
Angel Diva
I have lived here for 32 years, skiing here for 32 of them. I've raised two kids here and my hub and I both have retired after owning our own (seperate) businesses. If you have any questions just ask.
geargrrl
Angel Diva
Yes.
I saw this online and thought about this thread. From Business Insider:
Oct 18, 2023, 5:30 AM EDT
Callie Kuchan moved to Breckenridge, Colorado, for the active lifestyle but couldn't afford to live how she wanted to.Courtesy of Callie Kuchan
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Callie Kuchan, 31, about her decision to leave Breckenridge, Colorado, a ski town 80 miles outside Denver, and return to her hometown of Chicago with her husband. She posted about the decision on TikTok. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I'm from suburban Chicago and moved to Colorado in 2018. I lived in Denver for a year, and then I moved up to Breckenridge in 2019.
I moved to Breckenridge for the lifestyle. To hike, bike, ski, cross-country ski — pretty much all of the outdoor sports that I could get myself into.
The No. 1 thing that I think is amazing about living there is just having the mountains in your backyard. I lived where people vacation and spend tens of thousands of dollars, and I definitely tried not to take that for granted.
But there definitely is that element of everyone around you being on vacation and you're not. You're living your mundane life while being surrounded by that environment, which can be challenging mentally.
There's also an element of living in Colorado and having access to all of these things that doesn't make them as glamorous anymore. I love skiing, but I don't have the same excitement for skiing as I did when I would go on my yearly ski vacation.
I definitely had the mindset for most of my time living there that I would live there forever. When I first moved there, I was looking at real estate to buy, and it was more expensive than other places, like Chicago or Denver, but it was still relatively affordable with a salary of $60,000. I was working as an account manager in the hospitality sector for a ski-resort company.
But since COVID, the real estate's just been astronomical. If I wanted to get the smallest, crappiest house that I could find in the area, it would be in the millions of dollars.
I was working three jobs to try to save up some money to put a down payment on a house. I was always looking at the market to see when I could swoop in and buy something. I convinced myself that I would be OK living in a tiny apartment. I just saw the writing on the wall that it wasn't possible long term, affordability-wise, working in the ski industry. Without wanting to leave, I started noticing last winter that I was getting a little burned out.
My husband and I don't necessarily need a fancy home, but we definitely wanted to get as much bang for our buck as we possibly could. I would have been comfortable buying a home for under $600,000 with my spouse. In Breckenridge, you would get a tiny, tiny condo. In the Chicago area, you could get a house with a yard.
If we were going to spend this amount of money for a place to live, we wanted to get more bang for our buck. We didn't necessarily need something big, but we were quickly outgrowing our 900-square-foot condo.
The conclusion that we came to is it would be a good idea to explore other options. We moved into a four-bedroom home in suburban Chicago.
I work a typical desk job Monday through Friday, so I can't ski during the week. So, on the weekends, I'm skiing when everyone's on their weekend trips — when everyone is coming up from Denver for the day — and it's just insanely crowded.
I describe it as people playing "Frogger." You don't actually get to ski; you're just dodging people. So I definitely have thought to myself that it may be better for me to live in a different place and vacation to get more skiing in — I skip days of skiing because it's so crowded, and I don't want to wait 20 or 30 minutes in a lift line.
You're around a lot of like-minded people — a lot of very well-traveled people and adventurous, free-spirited people who I really enjoy being around and who don't take life too seriously. It's not as serious as living in a city.
At the same time, people are very transient. A lot of people move to mountain towns for a season, for a year, or until they get kicked out because of the affordability or lack of job opportunities. So it's hard to have a community, and it's hard to make friends, especially for someone in my age range.
To have a community of people in their early 30s, no kids yet, it's very few and far between. And if there are people there, they usually end up moving down to Denver or moving back to their hometown. It was definitely challenging to find friends because you're constantly starting over when someone moves.
There are definitely a lot of people that come right out of college or, when they're a little bit younger, to work seasonal jobs and do that ski-bum lifestyle where they just work to make ends meet and have fun.
We really missed having a community and having friends and that sort of situation. So we just kept coming back to the idea that this wasn't a good place to do those things.
I moved to a Colorado ski town to live my dream life, but am leaving because it's too expensive and crowded
Jordan PandyOct 18, 2023, 5:30 AM EDT
Callie Kuchan moved to Breckenridge, Colorado, for the active lifestyle but couldn't afford to live how she wanted to.Courtesy of Callie Kuchan
- Callie Kuchan is returning to Illinois after finding a small ski town in Colorado too expensive.
- Kuchan lived in Breckenridge for four years and wanted to stay but couldn't afford to buy a home.
- She also said the town had gotten crowded during the pandemic and it was hard to make friends.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Callie Kuchan, 31, about her decision to leave Breckenridge, Colorado, a ski town 80 miles outside Denver, and return to her hometown of Chicago with her husband. She posted about the decision on TikTok. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I'm from suburban Chicago and moved to Colorado in 2018. I lived in Denver for a year, and then I moved up to Breckenridge in 2019.
I moved to Breckenridge for the lifestyle. To hike, bike, ski, cross-country ski — pretty much all of the outdoor sports that I could get myself into.
The No. 1 thing that I think is amazing about living there is just having the mountains in your backyard. I lived where people vacation and spend tens of thousands of dollars, and I definitely tried not to take that for granted.
But there definitely is that element of everyone around you being on vacation and you're not. You're living your mundane life while being surrounded by that environment, which can be challenging mentally.
There's also an element of living in Colorado and having access to all of these things that doesn't make them as glamorous anymore. I love skiing, but I don't have the same excitement for skiing as I did when I would go on my yearly ski vacation.
Breckenridge is too expensive to live comfortably
We lived in a two-bedroom condo and knew the owner, who gave us a wonderful deal. Our rent was raised one time in the four years we lived there, but it was still under $3,000 a month. We probably would not have been able to live there without this deal.I definitely had the mindset for most of my time living there that I would live there forever. When I first moved there, I was looking at real estate to buy, and it was more expensive than other places, like Chicago or Denver, but it was still relatively affordable with a salary of $60,000. I was working as an account manager in the hospitality sector for a ski-resort company.
But since COVID, the real estate's just been astronomical. If I wanted to get the smallest, crappiest house that I could find in the area, it would be in the millions of dollars.
I was working three jobs to try to save up some money to put a down payment on a house. I was always looking at the market to see when I could swoop in and buy something. I convinced myself that I would be OK living in a tiny apartment. I just saw the writing on the wall that it wasn't possible long term, affordability-wise, working in the ski industry. Without wanting to leave, I started noticing last winter that I was getting a little burned out.
My husband and I don't necessarily need a fancy home, but we definitely wanted to get as much bang for our buck as we possibly could. I would have been comfortable buying a home for under $600,000 with my spouse. In Breckenridge, you would get a tiny, tiny condo. In the Chicago area, you could get a house with a yard.
If we were going to spend this amount of money for a place to live, we wanted to get more bang for our buck. We didn't necessarily need something big, but we were quickly outgrowing our 900-square-foot condo.
The conclusion that we came to is it would be a good idea to explore other options. We moved into a four-bedroom home in suburban Chicago.
It wasn't just the housing prices — the slopes have become way too crowded to enjoy
Once COVID hit, there was literally nowhere to go, and you couldn't do anything that wasn't outside. And I think that drove a lot of people to go places like ski resorts and national parks. So the amount of people at the resort skiing has been just astronomical.I work a typical desk job Monday through Friday, so I can't ski during the week. So, on the weekends, I'm skiing when everyone's on their weekend trips — when everyone is coming up from Denver for the day — and it's just insanely crowded.
I describe it as people playing "Frogger." You don't actually get to ski; you're just dodging people. So I definitely have thought to myself that it may be better for me to live in a different place and vacation to get more skiing in — I skip days of skiing because it's so crowded, and I don't want to wait 20 or 30 minutes in a lift line.
The seasonality of the work makes it hard to have long-lasting connections
Community is the best and worst thing about living in Breckenridge.You're around a lot of like-minded people — a lot of very well-traveled people and adventurous, free-spirited people who I really enjoy being around and who don't take life too seriously. It's not as serious as living in a city.
At the same time, people are very transient. A lot of people move to mountain towns for a season, for a year, or until they get kicked out because of the affordability or lack of job opportunities. So it's hard to have a community, and it's hard to make friends, especially for someone in my age range.
To have a community of people in their early 30s, no kids yet, it's very few and far between. And if there are people there, they usually end up moving down to Denver or moving back to their hometown. It was definitely challenging to find friends because you're constantly starting over when someone moves.
There are definitely a lot of people that come right out of college or, when they're a little bit younger, to work seasonal jobs and do that ski-bum lifestyle where they just work to make ends meet and have fun.
We really missed having a community and having friends and that sort of situation. So we just kept coming back to the idea that this wasn't a good place to do those things.
Amie H
Angel Diva
I am at the airport on my way home from a weekend visit to Duluth, MN and thought I'd share more observations and why folks who enjoy skiing/active lifestyles like OP may want to consider moving here.
Very active community. Hiking trails all over town, highly-ranked mountain bike trails, small community ski hill, Chester Park, run by city parks department, plus the larger Spirit Mountain right in town. Surfing (!) Kayaking, canoeing, golf, disc golf, etc etc. Hiking trails scattered around, both downtown and in residential neighborhoods.
Multiple larger ski areas within a few hours' drive to the West and East (WI/UP MI.)
Great schools, Healthcare.
Ample water supply.
Affordable cost of living compared to other areas out West. Example: gas was $3.39/gal today at an in-town gas station. Food at trendy restaurant we dined in reasonably priced (brunch for 3, $74.)
Little to no traffic but big-city road infrastructure.
If this is important to you, politically very blue area.
High speed internet/5g
Larger supermarket chains plus 2 food co-ops.
Big box stores located outside of town.
Homes reasonably priced, but much of housing stock is older.
Cons: limited service airport (direct to ORD, MSP, supposedly direct flights to DEN in the works.
Very car-centric, limited transit, city spread out.
Cold weather much of the year (not a con for me, personally. )
Limited housing inventory though more is being built.
Some industrial areas & adjacent neighborhoods just beginning revitalization.
I've posted some pics below, and took this vid w my friend on a challenging hike in Congdon Park.
Very active community. Hiking trails all over town, highly-ranked mountain bike trails, small community ski hill, Chester Park, run by city parks department, plus the larger Spirit Mountain right in town. Surfing (!) Kayaking, canoeing, golf, disc golf, etc etc. Hiking trails scattered around, both downtown and in residential neighborhoods.
Multiple larger ski areas within a few hours' drive to the West and East (WI/UP MI.)
Great schools, Healthcare.
Ample water supply.
Affordable cost of living compared to other areas out West. Example: gas was $3.39/gal today at an in-town gas station. Food at trendy restaurant we dined in reasonably priced (brunch for 3, $74.)
Little to no traffic but big-city road infrastructure.
If this is important to you, politically very blue area.
High speed internet/5g
Larger supermarket chains plus 2 food co-ops.
Big box stores located outside of town.
Homes reasonably priced, but much of housing stock is older.
Cons: limited service airport (direct to ORD, MSP, supposedly direct flights to DEN in the works.
Very car-centric, limited transit, city spread out.
Cold weather much of the year (not a con for me, personally. )
Limited housing inventory though more is being built.
Some industrial areas & adjacent neighborhoods just beginning revitalization.
I've posted some pics below, and took this vid w my friend on a challenging hike in Congdon Park.
Attachments
SnowHot
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'll have to tell Phil about Yims, although we do get what we need at Market 168.
This reminds me, we need to have you over for a meal some time soon.
NWSkiGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
For some reason I thought you lived in Whitefish! I will have questions. :-)
NWSkiGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Looks so nice!I am at the airport on my way home from a weekend visit to Duluth, MN and thought I'd share more observations and why folks who enjoy skiing/active lifestyles like OP may want to consider moving here.
Very active community. Hiking trails all over town, highly-ranked mountain bike trails, small community ski hill, Chester Park, run by city parks department, plus the larger Spirit Mountain right in town. Surfing (!) Kayaking, canoeing, golf, disc golf, etc etc. Hiking trails scattered around, both downtown and in residential neighborhoods.
Multiple larger ski areas within a few hours' drive to the West and East (WI/UP MI.)
Great schools, Healthcare.
Ample water supply.
Affordable cost of living compared to other areas out West. Example: gas was $3.39/gal today at an in-town gas station. Food at trendy restaurant we dined in reasonably priced (brunch for 3, $74.)
Little to no traffic but big-city road infrastructure.
If this is important to you, politically very blue area.
High speed internet/5g
Larger supermarket chains plus 2 food co-ops.
Big box stores located outside of town.
Homes reasonably priced, but much of housing stock is older.
Cons: limited service airport (direct to ORD, MSP, supposedly direct flights to DEN in the works.
Very car-centric, limited transit, city spread out.
Cold weather much of the year (not a con for me, personally. )
Limited housing inventory though more is being built.
Some industrial areas & adjacent neighborhoods just beginning revitalization.
I've posted some pics below, and took this vid w my friend on a challenging hike in Congdon Park.
geargrrl
Angel Diva
Whitefish = Sibhusky.
Geargrrl = Spokane
NWSkiGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Awesome! Both seem to be great options.
I talked with a realtor about this home listed for about $499K in 2021: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4460-Shadowglen-Dr_Bozeman_MT_59718_M76824-63804
She also had some new builds in Belgrade. I think they would have been a steal in today's market!
Of course the house sold right away and I was unsure about the neighborhood, and even the state!
NWSkiGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
There seem to be a lot of condos/townhomes in Bozeman right now...
geargrrl
Angel Diva
it's uncontrolled development.
sibhusky
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
There's more and more new condos and apartments coming along here and in Kalispell. I see stuff all over being built. And maybe you can get a small house or condo in the $400k's here. And I see prices dropping, probably because of mortgage rates. But long term rentals are in a separate category.
NWSkiGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I had to Google that, but I'm still not really sure... Meaning everything going up fast without thought to future impact?
NWSkiGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
That's good to hear! Except about the long term rentals, but I can see those would go to vacationers!
geargrrl
Angel Diva
Massive sprawl. I drove by last year after a trip to Grand Targhee and that's what it looked like to me. :-( If it's like most places in the west, they develop first and then figure out how to fix the infrastructure later.
A quick google brought up all sorts of interesting things - screen shots posted below.
Last edited:
marzNC
Angel Diva
Bozeman has a detailed written Community Plan for development from 2020. Whether or not it's already too late is a different question. Developers with enough clout and money for legal action can work around well thought out plans.
Bozeman Community Plan
Discover, analyze and download data from Bozeman Community Plan. Download in CSV, KML, Zip, GeoJSON, GeoTIFF or PNG. Find API links for GeoServices, WMS, and WFS. Analyze with charts and thematic maps. Take the next step and create StoryMaps and Web Maps.
bozeman-community-plan-1-bozeman.hub.arcgis.com
