That's what happened to Colorado too. Used to be the only liberal bastion was Boulder. But then the flock of wild geese migrated from Granolaland and have taken over that state.
My (very smart) cousin bailed out of California for a suburb just outside of Denver about 2005, ahead of the crash. He was in Real Estate then, and is now also. He's sold something in the neighborhood of 80 homes in two years. He said he wouldn't even consider acting as a buyer's agent, at this point, because he knows buyers today are going to be underwater within a few years, i.e. the market is unrealistically hot in Denver. He said that there's been a huge deluge of California Bay Area high tech residents flocking to Denver, if they can get their company's to transfer them there, due to one, single element. Pot. He said it's destroying Colorado.
But hey, he's making a bundle in the mean while. Can't blame folks for doing business while the cycle is hot. However, it's one reason I've been intentionally out of work and looking hard for property in Idaho. EVERYTHING is overpriced. By over priced, I mean that prices, both land and resources, as well as labor, is as high or higher than California pricing, and yet, people bring in their suitcases and throw the cash on the counter. It can't continue, and I don't want to be underwater the day of the cash. Trying to guarantee I stay cash positive, which means buying distressed property. Unfortunately, locals (mostly contractors, but even a hair dresser I met the other day), have already been doing that for years, and there isn't a stick of property available at reasonable price. If I have to pay $180 to $280 a sq foot for a house, I might as well head back to California. You would simply not BELIEVE the price of a 1940's run down 1400 sq foot price in Coeur d'Alene. You'd have to pay $170K to $220K for the shell, and then put in $150K into it to bring it back up to code and modern living, and the maximum monthly rental return would be something like $1300 to $1500 a month. It just doesn't pencil out. Yet, they're doing those deals every day of the week.
Well, I was looking for a new home when I hit this area, and I'm willing to take another trip and look again if I have to. Montana, Wyoming, even Oklahoma isn't a bad place, really. There's lots of "flyover" country out there that's beautiful ---- providing the progressives keep on flying by it and leaving us to hell alone.
