Fort Collins is a College town, now becoming a tech/manufacturing town, definitely not a trout bum town.
FC is not at all a bad place, and it's a TON cheaper living than in the Denver Metro area.
$450K in Denver area will get you a condo, townhome, or a basic 12-1400sq ft. entry level starter home but you better hurry because 20 others will be bidding over asking price on anything below $500K.
My better half is in real estate and I see it live and in color every day. The median home price in Denver metro area (all cities combined) is $587K as of last month, which is down slightly from the $594K it was in Dec. That price point will get you a basic dated home, needing some work, 2000 sq ft, two car garage, "median" price resale home. New builds are averaging about $325 per sq ft., I looked at selling out and downsizing into a lower maintenance 2700 sq ft ranch style house, 3 car garage, 55+ community, upscale golf course, kind of thing....I was quoted at $945K, before any design center upgrades which would add at least $50K-$75K+. Scarily enough, that was a pretty decent deal and we seriously looked hard at it, but then I figured I'm better off where I am and canned the idea, just didn't think I'd enjoy neighbors that close and would miss my property even with the maintenance aspect. I truly believe, Denver is the LA of the Rockies. If we do ever sell out, it will be to move out of Colorado.
There are still spots around the country that are much less expensive to live and provide fishing and recreation, we actually covered this a bit in another thread here, but the reality is most of the more desirable places come with the associated price tag of living there. The other issue is when will it end, prices keep climbing and every year delayed in making a move, is another x amount tens of thousands of dollars behind the curve, I bought my place roughly 22 years ago, I couldn't begin to purchase it now in today's market. Same holds true for other locations, they aren't getting any cheaper as time goes on and eventually they will likely price you out. Big Sky MT is a prime example....I could have bought a nice place there 20 years ago for $350K, today a similar place there would be $2.5-3.0 million dollars. The scary thing is guessing how long to wait before finding the final homestead desired. The days of multiple home ownership are slipping away too, the demographic of having a primary residence and a vacation or 2nd home is shrinking by the day, a lot of even C-level incomes wont allow that luxury with todays real estate costs. A sad reality actually.
