We will hopefully retire in 2021 with an annual income from a pension of $ 30,000 to $ 40,000. I’d love to live in Summit County, Colorado, which has all that great stuff – mountain biking, skiing, paddling – but it’s incredibly expensive.
When I retire, I plan to teach skiing and I would have liked to work at Copper Mountain, but I can’t afford anything there. Do you have any advice on mountain areas where I can afford something? We could probably afford a $ 250,000 or $ 300,000 home, but not if the HOA fees are $ 6,000 a year.
Please tell me what you think I get desperate and discouraged.
Mac
Dear Mac,
Yes, popular ski towns are expensive. And how I said to someone with the same problem but a bigger budgetIt’s not that officials in these places are rushing to build more homes. And the coronavirus pandemic has only made large mining towns more expensive by turning so many office workers into remote workers who then move to the mountains.
If you’re interested in Summit County (home to not just Copper Mountain, but Breckenridge, Keystone, and Arapahoe Ski Basin) then rent a season, ski (and teach – or maybe be a skier?) And off to your heart’s content Remove from your bucket list? You may have to accept living in a smaller place than you are used to, but at least you lived your dream. You can always hope that you can find a head start on affordable permanent housing. I think of Silverthorne or Dillon.
If not Summit County, where else could you go? The bad news: other popular ski towns are also expensive. You will have a hard time being near the slopes in the west, arguably the best skiing in the US. When you’re ready to be in an affordable city and then hit the slopes, this is Reno (suggested here) and Salt Lake City. Grand Junction (suggested here) and Wenatchee, Wash., (suggested here) are smaller opportunities with skiing nearby.
Please be realistic about your budget. You know your lifestyle; Not me. Talk to the provider of your pension (or is it a 401 (k)?) For a more accurate estimate of your annual income – this area makes me nervous. How does social security fit in? How much can you earn as a new ski instructor at the resort? Don’t forget to leave a line for income tax as you do the math.
And can you stash even more money before you retire and let it grow over the decades that you will still live? You won’t run out of money in retirement.
After all that, I asked MarketWatch’s tool, “Where should I retire?” For suggestions for your dream replacement spot, focusing on a ski town and a median home price below $ 300,000. You (and your wife) may have different criteria when off-piste that could lead to different suggestions.
There are still some compromises to be made on this wish list. Here are three places to get started:
Getty Images / iStockphoto
Logan, Utah
If you live in this northeast Utah city of 51,500, the Wellsville Mountains are your western backdrop. I’m a fan of college towns for the added amenities they bring, and this one is home to Utah State University and 19,000 students. The Milken Institute includes it under The 10 Best Little Metros for Successful Aging.
The skiing is in the east. Follow that Logan Canyon Scenic Byway to Biberberg, a small family-run resort just below the Idaho state line. It has the powder of Utah but is little known beyond the locals. It’s also small: only four lifts but 48 trails.
One downside to Logan is that it’s 30 miles from the slopes. Garden City on the east side is half the way away Bear Lakebut it can be harder to find something in your price. On the other hand, you would have the lake, the state’s second largest freshwater lake and, as tourists say, blue water and sandy beaches so intense that it is the “Caribbean Rocky Mountains. ”
You could also go skiing Cherry Peak, a smaller resort less than 20 miles north of Logan.
As for mountain biking, here are some options to help you get started with Logan. Or go to the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest in the north of the city as well as on Beaver Mountain. Keep an eye out for the area’s hot springs.
Of the three suggestions, this gives you the hottest, driest summer weather.
Take a look at the Logan property market the offers on Realtor.com (which, like MarketWatch, is owned by News Corp.).
Downtown Rutland
Getty Images / iStockphoto
Killington, Vermont
Well, it’s more like Rutland, 15 miles away Killington Resort, the largest ski area on the east coast. (Pico mountain is a nearby ski option.) Killington itself has fewer than 1,000 residents, and Mendon en route to Rutland has little more than that.
But Rutland has a population of 15,000, about a quarter of the 58,000 living in Rutland County. And housing will be cheaper here than in Logan.
One of the compromises you have to make is that skiing on the east coast is icier than the powder in the west.
You can start mountain biking away from the slopes Pine Hill Park. Paddle board Chittenden reservoir 10 miles from Rutland or further Lake Bomoseen (the largest lake in the state) 20 miles away. You might also want to check out the 26 mile Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail;; The north end is in Castleton, less than 15 miles west of Rutland. It meanders into New York State (where there’s a void) and back to Vermont.
Here is What’s on the market now, again with listings on Realtor.com
In the footsteps of the Coeur d’Alenes
Courtesy Idaho State Parks and Recreation
Kellogg, Idaho
This suggestion comes from Realtor.com’s list cheapest ski towns. Shoshone County, in the Idaho Panhandle, is not in any of the government’s designated metropolitan or micropolitical statistical areas and is therefore not included in the MarketWatch retirement tool.
Your ski area is Silver Mountain Resort, right on the highway in the city. It’s said it gets 340 inches of snow per year and has seven lifts, 1,600 acres, and a 2,200-foot vertical drop.
Only 2,100 people live in Kellogg and fewer than 13,000 in the county. It’s not a booming area, but it’s 30 minutes from the fast-growing and more expensive Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and an hour from Spokane, Wash.
The paved 73 mile trail des Coeur d’Alenes comes through town, partly along the Coeur’d’Alene River. If you can’t paddle in the river, head to the lakes around Coeur d’Alene.
The median home price fits your budget. The downside is that it is a small town so options are always limited. A bit of history: this is a mining region and a 1972 Fire in the Sunshine Mine Idaho is considered to be the worst mining disaster in the city that killed 91 people.
Here is What’s on the market now.
Reader, where should Mac and his wife retire? Leave your suggestions in the comment section.
More about retirement:
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