Land/Cabin in Wyoming

So I've basically given up on Colorado and water. My midwestern idea of a cabin on a lake seems to be a $2million pipe dream here. So I've kind of moved onto a few acres and a cabin. Prefer trees and mountain views. Looking to not double down on CO and maybe get a place in WY. Love Jackson Hole, but sweet baby Jesus that is expensive. Been prowling the web looking at property WY. Found some interesting places but I was wondering about:

- Places with mountain views and trees, 5+ acres?
-What kind of security needed, or do you just plan on random breakins if you are remote?
-Crazy market right now and will probably wait until it chills out
-We aren't skiers, so we don't care about that.


Saw a development that sounded interesting until I read the covenant- no shooting guns.

Thoughts?

Is this a weekend getaway place or a permanent residence?

Keep your eyes open in the Dubois area or the Pinedale/Boulder area south of Jackson if you want to at least have easy access to that area. The Sheridan area may work as well. Saratoga is closer and has great fishing, hunting and general outdoor recreation. West of Cheyenne closer to the Vedauwoo area, great climbing and mountains and a nice reservoir in the area.

Not many big cities in Wyoming, depending on your support needs it will focus the location.

Like Colorado Wyoming, has it's own patch work of water laws.

http://library.wrds.uwyo.edu/wrp/90-17/90-17.html

I did not spot minimum land size for well usage for Wyoming, not sure of the requirements.

cabin, as in off grid. Or cabin as in some acreage and neighbors close enough, but not in your business.?

What are your expectations, regarding amenities, closest town, distance to civilization? As well as winter weather? Living off a paved road could mean you're stuck there for a day, or even month due to snow and blowing wind.

Another thing to consider for out of town living is. As one gets older the need for medical services becomes a littler higher, than when one is younger. How close , drive time in good weather, is a hospital?


We decided to try finding a place no more than 30 - 45 min (one way) to the local hospital. For us RT is 54 mi. and believe me, dealing with this last health issue , that really paid off.
Just saying, while living in less populated areas has some nice perks.

One needs to consider access to paved roads, bad weather, healthcare availability, how often one goes to town to resupply. Even down here, while Prescott is 54 miles (RT) to where we do a monthly, or bi monthly trip to "stock up" . Making all those stops, it becomes an all day event.

7x last month i needed to be driven down there to see various doctors & surgeons. Which is more than we did the previous 4 months.

There are many positive things about rural and or off grid living, especially after being in an area where your neighbor says Bless You when you sneeze ;)

BUT keep an open mind to your needs as you get older. Especially having to maintain 5 ac. as needed.

I love the IDEA of living in WY and seriously considered moving there when I relocated. I found a few places but my info is 2 years dated so likely not much use now.

I decided against WY because I've lived there...in Casper. I graduated from HS there. The winter weather is what discouraged me. It's downright brutal most of the time with bitter cold and NON-STOP wind. And I'm not talking about a breeze. I'm talking WIND. All the time. As in, if it ever DID stop blowing, people would fall over.

The other issues are in line with those things GK pointed out. Distance to amenities...not luxuries like fast food joints...but real necessities like health care, groceries and gas. Most places I found were nice but just too damned far from necessities.

I do like WY, though. Good luck finding a place.

Before we ended up moving back to Kansas, we looked at Wyoming and realized that moving there is going to be very difficult if you need to find a job. If you're going up there flush with cash and living "off grid" or real close to it that would be fine. So we started looking at the Rapid City SD area instead. I still kinda wish we'd looked harder at that area but instead we decided that we could move to Wichita and buy a house for cash and basically not need regular full time employment for several years.

WY is nice, but if you need a city nearby, Rapid City SD would be better.

As for Jackson Hole, that is really the Achilles heel of WY ... its basically a California colony in a very low population state so if enough Californians (and other leftist schmuckary) move there in the future they could move the entire state more blue than you'll like.

Look to the north west area...Powell is great because it gets less of the bad weather. The Indians used to winter there. Cody is a nice area as well. They are both close enough to go do a drive thru Yellowstone and be back for dinner.

Thanks guys, that’s what I was looking for.

Non-permanent residence. I’ll probably have a travel/home-office job, so when I’m ‘home’ I can be anywhere. Kids of to college in four years. Wife is already looking to winding down from 60+ hours a week, with 3-4 days off in a row at a time.
Pretty much a good weather place. Don’t mind neighbors. Just don’t want to be on top of each other. I’d be fine with a ‘cabin’, wife will want something nicer. With in half an hour or so to town for shopping dinner.

I mentioned Jackson just because I love that area from going on driving vacations for a few years through there.

You can really expand your price range if you vrbo it most of the time. Likely pay for itself.

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Originally Posted by Irving

You can really expand your price range if you vrbo it most of the time. Likely pay for itself.

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Actually wondering if that was partially what was driving the valuations, especially in Colorado. How many of those places up in the mountains are VRBO’d almost all the time if not all the time. If people are just buying them as investments and renting them out that’s a lot different than going up on weekends to enjoy. They also explain the level of fit and finish on some of those up there. Wife not really Hip to the idea idea of strangers in the house, but it might be nice until we can use it more often to help soften the financial blow.

I wouldn't say most of them are vrbo, but I don't know. I've been looking into a place on a different state, and some of the areas require you to vrbo the property if it isn't a permanent residence.

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Originally Posted by FromMyColdDeadHand

So I've basically given up on Colorado and water. My midwestern idea of a cabin on a lake seems to be a $2million pipe dream here. So I've kind of moved onto a few acres and a cabin. Prefer trees and mountain views. Looking to not double down on CO and maybe get a place in WY. Love Jackson Hole, but sweet baby Jesus that is expensive. Been prowling the web looking at property WY. Found some interesting places but I was wondering about:

- Places with mountain views and trees, 5+ acres?
-What kind of security needed, or do you just plan on random breakins if you are remote?
-Crazy market right now and will probably wait until it chills out
-We aren't skiers, so we don't care about that.


Saw a development that sounded interesting until I read the covenant- no shooting guns.

Thoughts?

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I can?t offer any help but I was in the same boat for a while. I love being in the mountains and being remote. But the cost was too much for the value I was getting in my opinion.

Hence, we just bought 50 acres in Michigan. Summers on the water. I have family very close to help maintain. The value was so much more. My job changing to 100% remote really was the big push we needed.


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Originally Posted by FromMyColdDeadHand

So I've basically given up on Colorado and water. My midwestern idea of a cabin on a lake seems to be a $2million pipe dream here.

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To be fair, most of Colorado is high desert so its not like there's a ton of lakes anyway.

If you want no trees (well, 1 tree) and no water in Colorado, mine should be for sale within the year... haha

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Originally Posted by mindfold

I can?t offer any help but I was in the same boat for a while. I love being in the mountains and being remote. But the cost was too much for the value I was getting in my opinion.

Hence, we just bought 50 acres in Michigan. Summers on the water. I have family very close to help maintain. The value was so much more. My job changing to 100% remote really was the big push we needed.


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I grew up in SW Michigan, and would love a place on a lake there, but the property taxes and vehicle registration/insurance can kill a savings account. Not to mention, the cold and damp winters. Get a good 3+ days of lake effect snow and the only people going anywhere are those on snowmobiles.

I lived in Wyoming for 5 years when I was in school and spent a lot of time exploring the state. While I did at one time consider living there, others have already given the reasons I didn't: Long, cold winters, lack of jobs, limited health care options, oh, and did I mention the long, brutally cold winters? Granted, Laramie is in the most inhospitable part of Wyoming, the I-80 corridor, but even the "milder" winters in the Cody valley are only "mild" by comparison to the rest of Wyoming.

WRT the economy, the boom-and-bust economic cycles that Wyoming goes through make it tough to establish any kind of business there. It's either feast or famine: Either the economy is booming and newcomers are moving in from out of state, leading to a housing shortage and crowding, or it's a bust cycle with businesses failing, houses going into foreclosure and main streets filled with boarded-up buildings. Both boom and bust economies also seem to bring transient workers, prostitution and meth/crack.

My aunt lives near Afton, about an hour from Jackson, and loves it. There's a large Mormon community in the area, and while she isn't Mormon herself, they're always very friendly and helpful (I want to say their local bishop even helped build her house or something).

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Originally Posted by Martinjmpr

I lived in Wyoming for 5 years when I was in school and spent a lot of time exploring the state. While I did at one time consider living there, others have already given the reasons I didn't: Long, cold winters, lack of jobs, limited health care options, oh, and did I mention the long, brutally cold winters? Granted, Laramie is in the most inhospitable part of Wyoming, the I-80 corridor, but even the "milder" winters in the Cody valley are only "mild" by comparison to the rest of Wyoming.

WRT the economy, the boom-and-bust economic cycles that Wyoming goes through make it tough to establish any kind of business there. It's either feast or famine: Either the economy is booming and newcomers are moving in from out of state, leading to a housing shortage and crowding, or it's a bust cycle with businesses failing, houses going into foreclosure and main streets filled with boarded-up buildings. Both boom and bust economies also seem to bring transient workers, prostitution and meth/crack.

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In the 80's , during the oil bust. Casper was referred to as, The Friendly Ghost Town.

I’m wondering what South Dakota prices will do if fracking gets curtailed…. But the big thing is the current bubble. Does it pop, or does inflation ‘save’ the bubble. I think rates rise if inflation actually hits (we have some inflation and an imbalance in supply/demand due to logistics- we’ll see which way it drops), prices will drop as interest rates make these valuations un-tenable, but if there is inflation, the prices will eventually rise.

What a crap show.

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Originally Posted by FromMyColdDeadHand

I’m wondering what South Dakota prices will do if fracking gets curtailed…. But the big thing is the current bubble. Does it pop, or does inflation ‘save’ the bubble. I think rates rise if inflation actually hits (we have some inflation and an imbalance in supply/demand due to logistics- we’ll see which way it drops), prices will drop as interest rates make these valuations un-tenable, but if there is inflation, the prices will eventually rise.

What a crap show.

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What you need to do is set a price range you're willing to spend. How much, if any repairs the place will need for the money invested. Does it have a well & septic, along with power on the property, or close by?

Having an upgrade in the electrical service, from overhead to underground, was $1600... That was for the people to come out, do the trench (to code), who knows how much for real rural , to run 200' of conduit and backfill.
Thankfully APS didn't charge me for running powder from the transformer to new panel, which is another story. Had i been charged for that (3 yrs ago) at then copper prices. Would have been $18'. Most power companies are having new, or upgraded electrical to homes, or the panel, put underground. Those numbers don't include my electricians cost to do hookups, etc.


Anyway will prices drop? Sure eventually. However when CA said 180k home sales, with people moving out of CA and home sales / buying doesn't seem to be slowing down. I'd say 1-3 yrs before the economy takes a crap. Depending how well the media covers for biden. Don't forget, if and when the economy does tank. That means what you own will also lose value.

We spent a year, before moving looking at options, what we'd get for the $$ etc, before doing it. But that was also a relocate to out of CO, for good. Not a get away cabin.


One idea for you might be buy land and get some sort of camper, too spend the time in. But that's another item that has little or no inventory in , either.