Jobs also will pay less, or the area is bad, or there is some downfall. its all accordingly but you know that already. I like higher home values, keeps the neighboorhoods nicer, usually get a higher quality person, usually.

In Missouri I have that for about $70K. xD

there's a 12% pay difference between the states (WA and CO), i don't think my house is in a 3x's as nice of a neighborhood or is 3x's as nice as his, but for some reason it costs 3x's more.... or 300% more vs a 12% difference in the minimum wage, you and me just don't know any better because we come from rich liberal states .......and to be honest i don;t know the CO that well but i don't think there are many slums.....in fact lol @ the slums of colorado, probably more like some red neck's in trailer like here or other similar type states....no real slums say like chi-town or clevland and the like.

The wages are a bit lower, however, gas, food, utilities, insurance, and pretty much every other cost of living is lower. Plus, I'm in the desert and less than 15 min from the mountains. Prime location for sand, mud, and rock wheeling. All my neighbors are friendly, stick to themselves type people. No whining about fence lines being 3 inches one way or another since houses are spread so far apart. Definitely not the slums by any stretch. Going back to the market, I know I picked the right time to buy. I figure with a small market upswing and the repairs I've done I could easily make a good profit. However I didn't buy mine to flip, I bought it to live in. I spent 12 years in apartments because I didn't know where I wanted to end up. I lived in WI, Chicago, SC, and never bought because I always wanted to move on. Once I got married and settled down, that's when I decided to buy.

Couldn't be happier and anyone on here is welcome to stop by for a beer anytime.

I'm also skeptical that the "slums" in CO are that bad. Are they like the shady parts of LA, Oakland, Chula Vista ect... thats just California. I've always heard pretty great things about CO. I'm sure it has its bad parts but I doubt its anything like Chicago or Detroit.

Put me down! Just have some ice tea instead of beer for me haha.

wut?

Owning a house is like having a baby...you are always going to spend money on it and you are going end up spending (a lot of) money on things you never expected to buy. Unless you buy the 'perfect' house, which I doubt anyone does, you are going to be spending some weekend hours at Home Depot and Lowes. I didn't want to be in this net and I rent an apartment from private park apartments peter cooper village. It is the best choice, a good cost for rent and I don't need to care about what to buy for it.