Sorry, I didn't see this new post. I normally don't scroll that far down in the Index.
I live in Highlands Ranch (a community, not a city, on the south side of the Denver metro area). I have a 2800 sq ft house that is 9 years old that I just bought about 11 months ago. I paid a little over $300,000 for it- probably could have bought it for less now, but the market was still in decent shape back then. I live less than a mile from $1 million dollar houses in one direction and about a mile from $200,000 houses in the other direction.
The weather here is pretty good. Sure it gets cold, but it doesn't last very long. In the summer, it gets hot, but that too doesn't last very long. And one thing you can count on everyday in the summer is that after the sun goes down, so does the temp because of how dry (not humid) it is out here. I remember leaving for the airport at 3:30am in Clearwater, Florida one time and it felt like it was just as hot and muggy as it was the previous day. I've lived in Colorado, Arizona, Wisconsin and Kansas and I like the weather in Colorado the best. If you are in the mountains at night in the summer, you will probably need long pants and possibly a jacket.
The price of regular gas right now is about $3.45/gallon.
Here's a pic I took off my back deck on Christmas Eve morning. The sun is rising behind the camera and the moon is setting over the mountains.
I like Colorado. I was born here and have lived here 4 different times. I've seen most of this country and wouldn't want to live anywhere else.