Want to live in a ski town in CO - Suggestions?

[Evergreen]

Hi all!

I was hoping that a CO resident could help me out. My husband and I have been dreaming of living in a small ski town for awhile now. My husband works in IT from home and I am a nurse so we are in the unique situation that we can live just about anywhere. I also have a 9mo old son. We moved out to CO from NY 6mo ago and are living in an apartment in Superior while we decide where to target our housing search.

Summit County, specifically Breck/Frisco/Silverthorne is our first choice but we seem to be priced out of the area (looking for $350-450K). Also have looked at Eagle county but would have to live down valley for it to be affordable and that feels really far from everything. We've considered Evergreen/Genesse which would be close to skiing but I don't relish the commute to Denver even though I would only be doing it 3 days a week. Am I correct that there is no medical center in the area? Another town we are thinking of is Nederland. Its affordable, close to larger towns, and has the Eldora ski area. Or,.... we could just give-up on our dream and live in the suburbs - most likely Louisville.

So as you can see we are really confused! Any feedback or comments would be appreciated!

 

[Robyn]

You might try working with a realtor in the mountain areas if you are not already. If you need some names I have a ton that I would be happy to give you via pm.

Are you set on being near the I-70 corridor? If so, maybe Glenwood Springs? If not, what about Crested Butte, Gunnison, Telluride or those areas?

Nederland is going to be tough in the winter as the drive into Boulder can be a nightmare during storms from what I understand. Evergreen/Genesse area isn't bad but it gives you a longer commute to medical centers and doesn't do a whole lot to reduce your drive to the mountains.

Louisville/Superior is a nice area as far as the burbs go but the drive down 93 to get to I-70 can be a nightmare during windy storms and sometimes ends up closed for days. Looking at burbs you might consider Golden which would put you pretty close to a hospital in Wheat Ridge I think it's Lutheran Hospital (although it's being taken over by a Catholic organization).

 

[pinto]

You might hang on for a while ... some think that the real estate slump has yet to hit the mountains ... if/when it does, you might not be priced out anymore.

I'd first look at Steamboat and Durango if I were you. They are real towns, not resort towns, which I would prefer if I were really settling down.

The Alma-Fairplay area is relatively reasonably priced, and pretty close to Breck. (Closer than down-valley Vail is to Vail. I know what you mean ... we have a place in Copper, and we are closer to Vail - 18 min - than many places in "Vail" are to Vail.)

There is also Leadville, over the pass from Copper. And Crested Butte is a good idea.

Of course, I have family in Silverton, which is a really neat little town, but possibly a bit remote depending on your needs. There are about 350 winter residents, but it is a NEAT little town (did I say that already?). As far as skiing, you have big-time Silverton, little bitty Kendall Mtn (town hill, but perfect for little ones and just a sliding fix anytime), and Durango/Purgatory whatever it's called these days is less than an hour away. Telluride is a couple of hours, I believe. There is a TON of backcountry, too.

 

[SkiNurse]

These are the mountain towns that have hospitals (as opposed to clinics):
Steamboat, Vail, Frisco, Kremmling, Rifle, Glenwood Springs, Aspen, Grand Junction, Gunnison, Alamosa(yes, I consider Alamosa a mountain town!)...maybe Durango, but I think they use St. Mary's in Grand Junction.

Any of the other mountain towns have clinics. So it kinda depends on what you are looking for.

Personally, I'd move to Steamboat.

 

[IttyBittyBetty]

Wait until Spring

I agree with a previous post that recommends waiting a bit. That's what I'm doing, although I'm looking for a second home, probably in the Silverthorne area. I think there will be some home owners up in the mountains who got in over their heads with an ARM and are just hanging on through the ski season before they are forced to sell.

My BF and I went through some of the same thought process you are going through. We both work from home, so we can live pretty much anywhere. We pretty quickly decided that we didn't want to live in between places, i.e., far from civilization and the ski resorts. So, we opted not to buy in Evergreen or Nederland (plus we didn't want to be limited to Eldora). We finally decided to have our primary home down in Boulder where we are close to civlization. Now we are planning to buy a second smaller home up in the mountains so we are really close to the ski resorts. This has meant three years of commuting up and back to the mountains to ski while we save for the second home, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Good luck!

 

[Little Lightning]

Don't hold your breath. We get weekly notices/postcards from realtors in Summit County begging us to sell. One realtor offered $7,000 of the commissions because they can't find properties for the buyers they already have. Once souce said that property values went up 17%. Since most properties are second homes sub prime loans can't be written on them.

We also have a house in Lakewood, near I-70 and C-470. A normal drive to Silverthorne is 1:10 min. A major hospital development is going to occur within the next couple of years on Federal Center land at Kipling and Alameda Ave.

We concentrated our search on the Golden, Morrison area but ended up in South Lakewood.

 

[Evergreen]

Thanks so much everyone - you've given me a lot to think about!

I've liked what I've seen of Golden/Evergreen/Genesse but I don't like the feeling that I'm living in a commuting corridor. I feel like I would always be driving out of town whether for work or skiing. I'm trying to work towards living and working in the same town.

Robyn: Does Glenwood Springs have a medical center or is Vail the closest one? What skiing is nearby? I think Telluride and Creasted Butte is a little too remote for us. I have the same concerns about the road between Nederland and Boulder. We've driven to Vail, Breck, and Copper from Louisville and its taken us anywhere from 1 1/2hrs to 4hrs depending on traffic and weather. I really want to be closer! We've never taken 93 to I70 before - I wonder if it would be faster. If you could PM me some realtors that would be great!

Pinto: Thanks for the Alma/Fairplay suggestion - I'm going to look into that. It might be too far of a drive if I was working in Frisco but its worth looking into. I've heard great things about Steamboat but I haven't been up there. We weren't really looking at that area but maybe we should investigate it. Hmmm,... Leadville looks interesting - I think there is a hospital there. How far is it from Copper?

IttyBittyBetty: This has been our thought process too. We can't be that remote with the new baby and we're thinking about school systems as well. We are considering just staying in Louisville and eventually buying a 2nd home in Summit.

Little Lightning: Good point about the 2nd home/mortgage situation.

 

[meredithCO]

A major hospital development is going to occur within the next couple of years on Federal Center land at Kipling and Alameda Ave.

St. Anthony Hospital/Centura indeed have plans to open a new hospital in Lakewood. But it could be YEARS. [They are a client of mine.] You can read more about it here.

What about the Frisco/Dillon/Silverthorne area? There's Summit Medical Center there, also a part of the St. Anthony/Centura family, that's a level III trauma center. With the shortage of nurses, I would bet they'd be thrilled to hear from you!

Have you thought of something somewhat "nontraditional" like Flight for Life?

I do have contacts at St. Anthony so if you're interested, let's talk!

 

[Evergreen]

meredithCO: I would LOVE to work at Summit Med Cntr. Finding a job is not really the issue. The problem is finding an affordable place to buy. We are priced out of the Silverthorn/Frisco area (budget is $350-450K).

 

[SkiNurse]

There are no hospitals in Leadville, Copper, Buena Vista, Fairplay or Alma. The closest hospitals to Fairplay or Alma might be the ones in Colorado Springs.

Glenwood Springs has a hospital. They just finished (in the last few months) building a state of the art critical care unit. It is small.l Eight beds, I think. But, they are really trying to boost their cardiac & neurosurgical services....with St. Mary's in Grand Junction as their back up. I have a friend that works there and really likes it. She lives in Rifle where her husband is an ortho sugeon at the Rifle hospital. Living in Rifle, they are an hour from Aspen ski areas and 90 minutes from Vail/BC.

Now, there is a huge positive if you take a job with the St. Athony's system. They pretty much have the monopoly on the clinics in Summit & Grand counties. Plus, they own the hospital in Frisco. I have friends that work perdiem for St. As (and work full-time @ other hospitals in Denver). As long as they put in 2 days/month, they can work at ANY of the mountain clinics (depending on the individual clinics scheduling) and receive the "perks" of the regular clinic employees. Which includes: employee housing for $35/night & a season pass.

Why don't I do this??? I don't want to work anymore than I already do!

The hospital in Steamboat allows you to do payroll deduction over the course of 12 months for a season pass. And, I know, the Stedman Clinic (ortho clinic) in Vail also does the same thing.

 

[Robyn]

What about the Frisco/Dillon/Silverthorne area? There's Summit Medical Center there, also a part of the St. Anthony/Centura family, that's a level III trauma center. With the shortage of nurses, I would bet they'd be thrilled to hear from you!

She did mention Summit County which she is being priced out of currently. Although, doing a quick search, I see a number of condo units there for under $450,000.

 

[meredithCO]

meredithCO: I would LOVE to work at Summit Med Cntr. Finding a job is not really the issue. The problem is finding an affordable place to buy. We are priced out of the Silverthorn/Frisco area (budget is $350-450K).

I hear you!

But if you do want to talk about Summit, let me know. I don't know anyone there specifically, but have contacts at St. Anthony Central.

 

[Evergreen]

Hmmm,.... I guess I didn't really consider condos but that is an option. We would need 3 bedrooms or 2 bedrooms and an office (DH works from home).

 

[skigrl27]

Well, count out Aspen unless you want to commute from Glenwood Springs. Even there, prices are outrageous. However, if you look hard enough you may be able to find something. It's about a 45 minute drive into Aspen...but then there are also jobs in Carbondale, Basalt & Glenwood to search for.

The Aspen area real estate market is almost exempt from the real estate slumps.

 

[Robyn]

Evergreen, I just sent you a pm with a resource up in Summit County.

 

[SkiNurse]

Well, there's also the Kremmling area. Half way between Steamboat & Silverthorne. Halfway between Steamboat & Winter Park!

Has a "small" hospital. Not much going on there...exept during hunting season!

 

[Little Lightning]

Hmmm, when I had a severe asthma attack in Leadville I was treated at St. Vincent's? hospital. It was right across the street from the high school. I'm sure it was a pretty small hospital.

Last year one of my ski instructors bought a condo here in Summit. she searched for a long time saying that many listings were already under contract before she got a chance to look at them.

We got ours from a friend and didn't go though a realtor.

 

[Gina23]

we looked at real estate on our drive home today... in that range you are looking at maybe a 3 bedroom condo if you're lucky in the i-70 corridor. if you can spare it, buck up and live in frisco... that would be my first choice. next, dillon.

 

[Evergreen]

Hi all and thanks so much for all of your suggestions!

Well, we've decided that we had to start thinking outside of the box. We just aren't willing to live in a condo after 10+ years of apartment living and with a new baby in tow we are ready for a house! We did a lot of thinking and decided that while it would be ideal to live by a world-class mountain, we would probably be just as happy living in a mountain town with a small local ski area and the ability to drive farther for the big slopes. Soooo,.. we have decided to start looking for a house in Nederland which is about 17 miles west of Boulder. Small mountain town with a local ski area (Eldora) and still close enough to a larger city for shopping and such.

We'll see how it goes!

 

[dvmvail]

Hi Evergreen! I just moved from Vail to Idaho and can testify that housing prices are coming down a bit in the lower price points. (I just sold my duplex).
It sounds like you've made a great choice for your family but thought I'd just throw in a few extra "cent's" worth.
There are several affordable housing projects that allow you to live in a single family home (almost unheard of really) and/or a duplex. I think the area is called Miller's Ranch in Edwards (vail valley). There are some stipulations but it makes housing REALLY affordable (well for that area anyway). There maybe other options in Summit County as well. I will also say that living in Eagle and commuting to Vail is not a big deal. Lots of people do it and the Vail Valley Medical Center (hospital) even provides a commuter bus for transportation. They may also have a similar program in Summit County. Sounds like Robyn gave you a name of someone local to contact. If you'd like to talk further to someone in the Vail area send me a PM and I'll be happy to give you my awesome local contact in Eagle County.
Like I said, it sounds like you've made a great choice! But if you decide you want to explore the mountains a bit more feel free to contact me with any questions. We have a family of 4 and owned our own business.....so we've had a range of experiences in resort living.
Best of luck!!