What $615k USD buys in Douglas, WY

[GON]

The wind usually blows west....but kinda makes the kid's playhouse not such a big deal eh? This doesn't look as nice as the house you have now.

AZJ,

We know you are the king in your house. I my house, I am a pauper, my wife calls the shots when it comes to the home. Wife wants to move to Denver to be near the grandkids. My observation of Denver is it will be the next Chicago in the coming decades, and very likely sooner than later. She offered this home as a compromise, four hour drive from the Grandkids.

 

[GON]

Zillow appraised it at $400,000 last year.

Pretty certain that it didn’t go up 50%+ in one year.

It is priced at just under $300 USD a square foot. The interest for my Wife is its waterfront. Being a faster moving river (not damed) can be nice.

 

[GON]

In looking at other homes for sale in the Douglas, WY area, this one does stand out as overpriced, considering the square footage and property size. But parts of Wyoming does tend to demand high real estate prices for a couple reasons.

First, if you do a Google Maps look at the area North of Douglas, it looks like there is a lot of oil being pumped out of the ground. Communities close to all the oil and mineral operations in Wyoming tend to have high real estate prices.

The second thing that is driving up real estate prices in Wyoming is all those "city folk" who are attracted to Wyoming (and Utah and Idaho), to escape to a life in the wide open country. They are driving up the prices of real estate significantly. And the local "natives" hate it.

Some of the seeds of equivelant benefit of Wyoming is no state income tax, sales taxes generally four to five percent (not aware of any county in Wyoming having sales taxes above five percent). There are numerous issues in Wyoming, the biggest one in much of Wyoming is the winds, especially along I80. I can't imagine living in a place like Rawlins, WY-- where the winds are near hurricane speed very frequently.

 

[BHopkins]

Here you go. Save $70k, gain 4 acres, still get your river view and the bonus of an outbuilding for all your Hooptie projects. And the real benefit of no one close enough to care if you turn the music up a little loud, while tinkering in the shop.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...glas_WY_82633_M86031-92803?from=srp-list-card

 

[GON]

Here you go. Save $70k, gain 4 acres, still get your river view and the bonus of an outbuilding for all your Hooptie projects. And the real benefit of no one close enough to care if you turn the music up a little loud, while tinkering in the shop.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...glas_WY_82633_M86031-92803?from=srp-list-card

BH, thanks. Interesting home..we need a ranch so not a match, appreciate you posting the link.

 

[GON]

Kudos to the listing agent, but before I share why, thanks @raaizin who provided a comment on price change that raised a huge flag. raaizin identified the homes recent price history, which exposed large price drops. A home of this nature is a rare find (waterfront WY), so a price drop doesn't make sense, especially in today's single family home sellers market in a area with so few nice homes on the market.

Back to the listing agent. She is a master of deception. Along with the MLS listing, she has two youtube videos on the property. What the listing agent has been able to hide from the MLS pictures and the videos, is the home is directly across from not only a police vehicle and public works facility, but directly across from the home is a sewage/ wastewater treatment plant.

If you look at the vert first photo in the mls listing on a computer (not smartphone), and enlarge the photo, magically a corner of the sewage plant becomes visable. Same deception that the deck isn't horizontal with the water. Same deception that much of the waterfront is actually a illusion, and that another lot has private control over 75 percent of the usable waterviews.

One of the videos the listing agent produced was from a drone. Expert editing to hide the sewage plant and other issues.

@Astro14 stated the home was worth $400k USD. He is spot on, I wonder if he caught what I hastily missed.

And now you know the rest of the story.

 

[buster]

Wyoming has terrible weather. Summer and Winter.

Beautiful state though.

The lot does seem odd to me.

 

[GON]

I'm the same way plus I lack trust in current build quality (watch inspection videos on YT). We'd love to find a house in rural TN built in the 40s to 60s with enough land for privacy but not so much it's maintenance intensive, a shop and a stream.

@GON What would your new to you house include?

Wife wants it all, but we know that is not going to happen.

Wife wants 10+ acres, waterfront, home south facing, no neighbors (one can easily have ten acres, and based on home placement, still have little to no buffer from next door neighboor, nine foot + celings, large windows, neutral decor.

Whats important to me" availability of natural gas, a true three car garage, preferably with eight foot garage doors, lot to discretely store RVs, trailers, built in this century.

Of note, certain lots don't require acres to provide privacy. Lots bordering federal land, waterfront, etc allow one privacy without having to own acres.

 

[GON]

Gon, I think you should take the leap finding land/lot and having a home built.

There is a watrefront lot for sale one mile north. We may buy it. I wrote the city, and they allow a individual to be their own general contractor, as long as the home being built is not for resale, or a flip.

I am now studying basement/ crawlspace COAs. I always thought if I had a basement, it would have to be 10 feet minimum height. And I would like radiant heating in the basement concrete floors. It is easy to spend big bucks, how wise is that at retirement age.

 

[GON]

what is elevation of house in relation to the adjacent Platte river?

Survey reports zero risk of flood. Sattelite photos also show lot is very high above river water level.

 

[GON]

Cheap because it has what looks to be a sewage treatment plant across the river from it?

RH,

I somehow missed your post (stay young my friend).

To no surprise, you nailed it.

 

[GON]

"Dowisetrepla" From the TV show, 'How I met Your mother'.

I think that's it exactly. Across the Platte is the Douglas Public Works, which among other things, treats sewage.

Can you imagine sitting on the back deck on a warm summer evening, and enjoying the aroma wafting across the river...

Missed a whole string of posts in this thread. Not sure how, thanks for catching this.

 

[rijndael]

I like WY, in theory. I then rule it for some combination of:

Distance to good medical care
Winds
Winters
Fire Risk

 

[GON]

I like WY, in theory. I then rule it for some combination of:

Distance to good medical care
Winds
Winters
Fire Risk

All spot on.

The Wyoming winds are crazy bad. Winters we can deal with, we will have a second home in a warmer climate for winter. Haven't had the wake up call yet on the importance/ benefits of being close to good medical care. I suspect medical care will go down hill in many U.S locations, and possibly buying a home where physicians want to practice may be a hidden but critical criteria for senior citizen home purchases.

 

[E150GT]

Rock yard. Pass

 

[loneryder]

The grass looks artificial. Those big trees may be cottonwoods which are really messy when they start shedding in the summer. Also looks like internet is line of sight microwave. I had this in Florida and it worked ok.

 

[ka9mnx]

possibly buying a home where physicians want to practice may be a hidden but critical criteria for senior citizen home purchases.

Wife and I bought a 2.6 wooded country acre lot next to my daughter to build our retirement home. As I get older, the thought of a 15 minute drive and a 45 minute drive to shopping, gas and medical care was an eye opener.