Pros/Cons of buying in one of the canyons? (Boulder, 4 Mile, Coal Creek, Left Hand, etc)

My wife and I are at the point where we are ready to buy a home. We both have good jobs with long term security (well, as much as we can assume) in Boulder, so we obviously are sticking around here, but since buying in Boulder is impossible unless you have a trust fund, we are looking a little further afield. One of the options on the table is moving up into "them thar hills" to actually be able to afford a house with more than .15 acres and no garage.

Hoping you fine folks can share some insight into what life is actually like living in a Canyon. I'm most interested in the "less obvious" things I should be aware of now before starting to go look at houses and put in offers. What surprises are in store for me? Thanks!

Make sure you have proper sun exposure to your driveway in the winter months.

Agree, mountain shadow can be a killer during the winter

CON: Sportbikes buzzing up and down the canyon roads when the weather is nice.

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Originally Posted by kidicarus13

CON: Sportbikes buzzing up and down the canyon roads when the weather is nice.

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and stupid bicyclists who think they can control traffic by riding in the middle of a 2-lane road w/o shoulder.

and moron people who drive 30 mph b/c they're afraid they'll drive over the cliff.

Pickenup should be able to get you some info.

Remember just a little while ago when the flooded?

Coal creek and boulder canyon are amazing. In my experience coal Creek is plowed slightly better

4 Mile, fires and floods. Beautiful area but look at recent history.
Boulder Canyon, constant traffic noise and no sun.
Left Hand Canyon, pick something up high.
Coal Creek Canyon, nice but look at the side roads.

I'm looking outside of Boulder Co. Tired of the "Nanny state".

Try looking in Gilpin County too. Cheap as hell taxes and only a few more minutes to Boulder.

By the way, we'll be moving in the next 1-2 months. No garage here though if that's a necessesity for you. 3 bed, 2 bath.

Coal Creek Canyon.
Look at anything off Camp Eden Road for maximum "mountain" feel, and no sport bike noise, but 99 percent of the homes in the canyon are not actually on HWY 72 (canyon). Also you have two fire stations in that area to help with insurance.
The commute is gravy, 30 minutes of scenery and almost never had a problem with snow.
We lived there for over three years and it was as good as it gets without being where we are now.
Sun exposure for driveway, cross breeze for AC, fire mitigation, multiple road exit points for forest fire, well depth and static level, entrance points ( Arctic or mud room) to home that allow dumping of snow boots, etc. And just like all of Colorado, nobody actually parks in the garage. We had a two car, and never once put a car in there. You also want to look at trees in area for blow down areas. We had 100mph+ winds regularly, but our neighbor across the street was protected by our property and was fine.
You can also find homes that are off Camp Eden that are Gilpin not Boulder county.
PM me if you want to chat.
Most importantly... LAND AND LOCATION over structure. You can always remodel. Once you get up there you won't care about granite countertops when you are outside enjoying what really matters.

I have two homes on the river in a canyon NW of Boulder--family has been there since the 1930's. The comments above are spot on. My advice:

1. Avoid buying in Boulder County
2. Do not buy a house on the south side of the canyon. Most of those properties are cold, dark, and depressing nine months of the year. Your heating costs will be higher and you'll have a hard time selling when the time comes.
3. If it's near a state highway you'll be assaulted by vehicle noise from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Motorcycles are the worst.
4. Make sure it's well above the 100 year flood plain. At higher elevation there will be fewer tributaries that add to flood levels.
5. Mountain top locations will be very windy in the winter. Higher elevations will get more snow.
6. Think about winter access; does it have a long or steep driveway? You may need a snowplow or snowblower costing more time and money.
7. A garage will make life easier, especially in the winter.
8. The commute will wear more on vehicles, especially tires.
9. Services and contractors will cost more.
10. Higher elevations get more rain and snow releasing from the Continental Divide. Thus higher elevations have richer soils and greater plant and animal diversity.
11. The farther you are from the city the less likely you'll want to drive back for shopping or entertainment in the evening.
12. Once you live in the mountains you'll never want to live in a city again (if you make it past the first year).



http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ps19fb41d3.jpg
6.

Guys this is fantastic info. Lots of stuff I never would have even considered. Much, much appreciated. Please keep it coming.

You'll need to consider buying a Subaru, Jeep, old Nissan truck, or a Scout.

Pro: easy to secure - only one road in or out
Con: easy to get stuck - only one road in or out

Talk to the neighbors!
I was looking to buy in the upper Coal Creek Canyon area and found out that wells were going dry a few months a year.
Many neighbors had large water tanks in the garage for those periods when the wells were producing red water or were temporarily dry.
I also found that the previous owner of a lot I was interested in had drilled a dry well.
I checked out the Well Permit and found the Driller and was able to see the log.
Changed my mind.
I also found out about trash pick-up, road plowing, emergency response in the area, and general conditions.
Most people want to share their experiences - good and bad.

Ah yeah. Water. My main concern, followed closely by reliable high speed broadband. I work in IT from home, so a spotty internet connection is pretty much a deal breaker. As I understand it, it's highly variable from property to property. Some have cable lines already tapped, some have nothing but low speed satellite.

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Originally Posted by ClangClang

Ah yeah. Water. My main concern, followed closely by reliable high speed broadband. I work in IT from home, so a spotty internet connection is pretty much a deal breaker. As I understand it, it's highly variable from property to property. Some have cable lines already tapped, some have nothing but low speed satellite.

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I just happened to have gone up Coal Creek Canyon today for an appointment. Both my Sprint phone, and Verizon tablet had zero internet. I'm sure you're not working via a mobile connection, just wanted to share my experience.

Funny mentioning sport bikes. I find the loud ass slow moving Harleys are more of a problem.

Internet in CCC is fine if you can handle DSL. Half my neighbors were stay at home IT guys and they were able to work.
People with low producing wells usually have holding tanks in their garage so that their well can produce water 24/7 and have plenty on tap in tanks if they need a lot at one time. Most of CCC is just fine with water production.

If you need the fastest internet, perfectly manicured roads, 100% wireless coverage regardless of carrier, noise ordinances, etc... You might want see about a nice HOA controlled condo in downtown Denver.

Moving up to the mountains, especially when you are at or above 9000 feet is a whole different life and you will need to embrace the differences between mountain living and city living. It was said earlier that if you can make it a year, you will never live in the city again, and that is true. It's like when I moved moved to Alaska and everybody was asking about the cost of living.... I didn't fu&$ing move here to save 5 cents a gallon on my milk, or bitch that a tank a gas is almost a dollar more.
Shoveling snow sucks in the city, shoveling snow in the mountains is great. A slow commute in the city sucks, slowing down and waiting for a herd of elk to cross the road on your way to work is great.
If you want to move up to the mountains for any other reason than wanting to be in the mountains, you will regret it and will lose your ass when you sell next spring and move back to town.

I'm very jealous of all you who live in the canyons / further away from town.

This is the only major disagreement between me and my wife. I work from home and I'm mostly anti-social, could go for weeks without leaving the house (except to go to the range) so I could live very happily in a more rural/mountain area. My wife seems to need to go to albertsons/starbucks several times a day or she's going stir-crazy. For now, she wins and we live in the burbs, but I keep dreaming of being able to move away from civilization.

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Originally Posted by Irving

You'll need to consider buying a Subaru, Jeep, old Nissan truck, or a Scout.

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I'm selling 4. [Coffee]

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Originally Posted by Ah Pook

I'm selling 4. [Coffee]

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Oh geez, you shouldn't have said that, I had a 72 Scout II, and miss it dearly.

Crashdown knows what he's talking about.

AT&T is the only game in town for cell service. Not sure if that includes CCC. I believe MRIC services CCC. Wireless internet and good reliability.

What's kept us from relocating to any canyon, or higher altitude is the road system. In some areas it's (as already mentioned) 1 way in and out. That and the price people believe their "view of heaven" is worth.

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Originally Posted by Ah Pook

Crashdown knows what he's talking about.

AT&T is the only game in town for cell service. Not sure if that includes CCC. I believe MRIC services CCC. Wireless internet and good reliability.

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2 towers for AT&T in CCC when I left. Used to be great having that peaceful 15 minutes of driving in the canyon before the towers went live.
I remember the first time my phone rang when I was driving the canyon, it was horrible.

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

What's kept us from relocating to any canyon, or higher altitude is the road system. In some areas it's (as already mentioned) 1 way in and out. That and the price people believe their "view of heaven" is worth.

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I had 3 ways out. Maybe not 3 all going the same direction, but 3 not including 4x4 trails.
Our daughter was born right after the big flood. We were taking dirt roads and trails at 2am to get to the hospital.
Her middle name is Canyon..... Not gonna have stories like that in town.

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

What's kept us from relocating to any canyon, or higher altitude is the road system. In some areas it's (as already mentioned) 1 way in and out. That and the price people believe their "view of heaven" is worth.

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I had 1 way in/out for twelve years. An open meadow was the "safe place". Been through several fire seasons with no ill effects.

CCC is the winner for me for many reasons, pm me- I'd be happy to give you the pros/cons we see, or come up and I'll show you around.

Crashdown is spot on with his comments, Crashdown! I miss seeing your 1911 sticker - hope you guys are settling in. My son often asks about how "his teacher from WC'ers" is doing in AK!

we have wireless broadband, it works well most days, plenty of speed except for the big storms or when lightning takes out the towers- neighbor has centurylink and wireless for redundancy.
septic system health is highly important, that can be a $40k headache, or at least a sizeable delay while a seller is waiting for someone to be available to do the work...
A "luxury" we embrace is we have basically 1.5 local restaurants to choose from, or we can drive to anything in 45mins or less.
It is more expensive living for sure, but that cost goes into quality of life vs keeping up with the Jones's...
Summers are about 12-15* cooler, same for Winter, snow loads vary greatly based on elevation/aspect. I can get 3-5" more snow than my in-laws which are less than two "blocks" away...and about a mile down the road and 300' in elevation lower can barely have a dusting?
Windy season probably drives more people back to town than the winter...understanding how loud/shaky a house can be in sustained winds is not easy when house shopping on a sunny afternoon.
Shopping for home insurance will be a challenge...first quote you get for $8k/yr+ will shake the dream a bit, but hang in there, eventually you'll find somebody that will do it for closer to $2k/yr depending. No fire hydrants and volunteer FDepts will kick you out of many carriers' matrices.
I've met some incredible people as neighbors, many like to burn powder, most have a disdain for the white noise. Good luck!

Thanks for continuing to weigh in. Every little bit of info is worth having. We found a property we like and I think we're prepared to put in an offer.

I am not sure what type of housing situation you have now, but neighbor/social interactions can be extremely different in the mountains vs in town. If an important part of your or your spouse's life is interaction with close neighbors in the front yard while the kids play and the family from down the street ride by on their bikes, make sure you discuss before committing. If not, you will end-up next to a 65 year old hermit on one side and the grow house populated with 25 year old pot heads on the other.

Ha! Right now we live in a condo with 2 dozen neighbors within 30 paces, and we don't talk to a single one of them. A little solitude is just what we're looking for. I tend to get along with 65 year old hermits surprisingly. Being next door to a grow op however, is a concern. They can attract some undesirable activity and I haven't got much use for any of their product. Which is a shame really. I could trade some veggies/eggs for pot. That's the Colorado dream right there.

That would be very cool. But unlikely, given that we are looking at properties in the 1-3 acre range. IWe would probably need to get something in 60-100+ acre range to have any hope of finding a surprise mine or other underground cavity.

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Originally Posted by ClangClang

We would probably need to get something in 60-100+ acre range to have any hope of finding a surprise mine or other underground cavity.

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Some ridges in Rollinsville have a mine every 50 yards, some 5 acre parcels have quite a few on the same property. Very easy to get into. Not very easy to get out of...

I get the willies just thinking about some of the old mines I used to explore around Jimtown, Balarat, the Smuggler below Riverside, and some outside Ward. Dangerous, death defying treks to find bats, old equipment, stalagmites and other treasures. That was when I young, fearless and invulnerable. Almost took a job when the mine above Jimtown was still operating. There are miles of shafts and tunnels there.

I still enjoy exploring caves but old abandoned mines--never again.