Mas89 said:
Check out Hebron/ Midway Utah area. Fly fishing, nearby skiing, 40 minutes from SLC airport which has numerous daily Direct Flights to Houston and Dallas. American, SW, United, and Delta. No connections, and no Liberal Colorado bs.
The limited direct flights to the smaller Colorado airports made Utah our choice, among other things.
I have a place in Durango, and have spent a fair amount of time in Pagosa and Heber/Midway. All 3 are unique in their own ways. In my opinion, Pagosa is least like the other 2. I'm a mountain biker and skier, so I evaluate mountain towns through that lens. I'm not a golfer, but I feel most people looking for second homes in mountain towns are.
Midway is booming and looks nothing like it did 4 years ago. This past summer is the first time I ever thought I would like to own a place in Midway. Deer Valley is an A+ ski resort and is expanding significantly on the east side, so great skiing is going to be minutes away when that base area opens. For golf, Homestead is undergoing significant upgrades and is well on its way to being a modern club with modern feel and amenities. Restaurants are still a little lacking, but you're close to Heber which has a little more variety. There are lots of new hangars being built at Heber airport if you have your own plane, or SLC has direct flights from just about every decent size airport in the US. There are good mountain bike trails right in and around Midway (I'd rate them a B), but Deer Valley and Park City are a short drive away which I would rate as A+ mountain biking. If didn't already have a place in Durango, I would probably be looking at Midway. There's world class mountain The only real advantage Durango has over Midway is Durango sits about 1,000' higher in elevation which results in slightly lower summer temps.
Durango is great and can feel like three different places depending on where you buy. The "plateau", which is south/southeast is flatter, arid, with lots of ag and feels more like the plains. Durango proper has a high desert feel, and if you go north, west or east, you're into the pines which has an Alpine feel. Purgatory is the "local" ski resort and is about 25 miles north of Durango. I would rate it a B and I'm afraid that's all it's ever going to be. They didn't open their bike park this summer because they were installing a new chair lift, but for whatever reason, they didn't install the new chair lift either. That's par for the way Purg is run/managed. Glacier Club is a very nice country club if golf is your thing, but it feels a little isolated sitting around 1/2 way between Durango proper and Purg. There's also Dalton Ranch just north of Durango which isn't as nice as Glacier Club, but a decent golf club. Durango does have what I would call a homeless problem. The homeless mostly stick to the public parks and within a couple blocks of the river, but I never feel comfortable leaving my garage door open or anything of value outside. I also don't feel comfortable letting my kids much out of my sight. There are a couple of new police captains that are taking a tougher stance on homeless activity, and it seems to be improving, but I think it will take a few years of persistence to get rid of the homeless population. Durango is also liberal enough to impede those efforts if they're too effective, too quickly. The commercial airport is ~20 miles south of Durango and only has direct flights from Denver (United) and Dallas (American) to my knowledge. If you have your own plane, there's a single FBO and fuel is ridiculously expensive. I just pay the landing fee (also expensive at $495) and tanker fuel in. I'm a quick ride out of my garage to several great mountain biking areas and a short drive to many more. Durango is hard to beat for mountain biking access and availability, so I give it an A+.
As far as Pagosa vs. Durango, I would give Pagosa the edge in politics (more conservative) and homelessness if those are very important to you. In skiing, biking, food, even hot springs (which is kind of Pagosa's claim to fame), I would go Durango over Pagosa.
Someone mentioned Telluride, but that's like cross-shopping Fords and Ferraris, they're not in the same category price-wise.You're also not touching a condo for $1 million in Telluride unless you're talking about a down payment or buying a fraction of one. If you're looking at spending $5+ million, you would compare Telluride, Park City, Jackson, Aspen, Tahoe, and maybe a few others.
