Colorado log cabin vacation home

[MuirWannabe]

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Originally Posted by sparky08 I don't know that I'll be much help. We bought a house in CO last year. We plan to permanently move there some day, so we wanted it located near the I70 corridor. We prefer to ski in Vail, so we wanted to stay west of Vail Pass. (On a snow day, the pass is often closed). Having an airport nearby (EGE) is a nice plus. It will likely continue to be a hot market, so a good realtor can be a big help. Ours clued us in on a great house that was coming back on the market (previous deal fell through because of financing). We were on a plane the next day and were quick with an offer. Good luck!

We spent a week in Vail recently. Very nice, but it’s getting even further away from Dallas for us. And prices there make Breckinridge look cheap. And as you say, that Vail Pass is impressive and steep. It was my first time to travel over it. But it’s a great area and I hope you are happy with your home!

[ivinsfan]

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Originally Posted by MuirWannabe I don’t know about it being a suburb, but it is true that many Breckinridge workers live over Hoosier Pass. I should mention we are also looking in Blue River which is on the Breckinridge side of the pass. There was one neighborhood near Fairplay we really liked, called Valley of the Sun. But it’s 20 minutes of dirt roads just to get from the homes to the hiway. That makes it 45 minutes from Breckinridge in the summer. I’m a little concerned about that distance even though I loved the neighborhood. Also concerned about the accessibility of those neighborhood dirt roads in the winter. We will blow more dough and buy a 4x4, but still concerned about it.

Re my comments about fire issues....that sounds pretty remote and not very quick to exit a problem area. If you only wanted to stay there in winter you don't need to worry about fire safety problems. But that's not your plan.

[DINKFIRE]

We own a condo near Winter Park Colorado, last year the Troublesome fire passed through Grand Lake and everyone in the building was really stressed out, but fortunately the fire didn't get closer. The insurance premium skyrocketed in the last couple of years. A lot of people prefer tree lots for their homes, but it poses fire risk. Many home owners also are required to do annual fire mitigation which is a lot of work. A friend of ours owns a tree lot he has to chop down many trees every year to keep the fire danger low. We saw a large lot in Granby sold at steep discount this summer after all the trees on the lot were killed by the Troublesome fire.

I also heard some places in the Colorado mountains where the wells went dry this summer, so that's another thing to worry able unless the home is supplied by city tap. The building costs varies, but expect to pay a lot higher near ski towns, the latest I heard was over $300/sqft, and the builders are currently booked through 2023.

[Sunset]

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Originally Posted by folivier Last year we bought an RV lot in Arrowhead Ranch between Gunnison and Montrose. It's at 9400 ft elevation, 5 miles up a dirt road. It's unique in that the lots are circles which gives green space between lots. Our community has a lodge with rooms for rent, restaurant, bar, bands on weekends, a UTV/snowmobile rental place, Firewise rated fire department, security patrol, and fantastic views. We enjoy it so much we're buying a cabin here. But we're 1 hour from anything which may or may not be what you're looking for. If it sounds nice here are the cabin for sale listings: https://www.tamarackatarrowhead.com/...ad-cimarron-co

Looks nice, very tempting.
Thanks for the link, it was interesting to look at some of those lovely places.

[zinger1457]

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Originally Posted by DINKFIRE I also heard some places in the Colorado mountains where the wells went dry this summer, so that's another thing to worry able unless the home is supplied by city tap. The building costs varies, but expect to pay a lot higher near ski towns, the latest I heard was over $300/sqft, and the builders are currently booked through 2023.

In Breckenridge the cost for existing homes on the market is well above that, many are over $800/sq-ft, although the land cost needs to be factored in.

[MuirWannabe]

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Originally Posted by zinger1457 In Breckenridge the cost for existing homes on the market is well above that, many are over $800/sq-ft.

I’ve been seeing prices in the $400-450/sqft range where we’ve been looking. That’s high enough. We don’t plan on building. Just prefer to find an existing home. We also don’t plan on renting via VRBO. The homes we’ve seen that are VRBO homes are just utterly worn out, beat up, and just basically destroyed. I don’t think we will do that. Yes, I know, we are foregoing a lot of rental income. For us, this home is not an investment. It’s a treat.

[folivier]

At least in our area and probably others due to the winter snow most of the construction takes place only during the summer. So building could easily take 2 years or longer.