Looking for Leadville, CO

[Elliott Back]

Wanted to see if anyone in the Denver area had some insight into the smaller towns around the area. I know Denver is pretty pricy, so I wanted to see if the areas within 100 miles are pretty good. I saw some pictures of Leadville and looked a little into the market, but wanted to see if anyone had any knowledge on that?

[Steve K.]

Leadville is one of the last mountain towns to get expensive. Historically it is a mining town (the Climax molybdenum (steel hardener) mine is still active there and is still the biggest employer, although they just announced they're reducing operations by 50%). Contrary to Denver, the economy has been bad in Leadville for a long time, and the population is decreasing not growing like Denver. Leadville is a cool historical town (Doc Holliday lived there for a while) which also means it has an aged housing stock with poor quality construction (miner's cabins built 140 years ago). It's just starting to catch up to other mountain towns now as weekend warriors who are priced out of the more expensive mountain towns have recently started building and buying places there. However Leadville is too far from the quality ski resorts, too far from Denver, too high elevation (at 10,152 feet it's too high for weekenders from Denver to adjust to in a weekend, which is actually a big deal and causes many people to sell when they realize it), too cold, and too windy to ever become as expensive as the more desirable mountain towns like Vail and those of Summit County. I can see prices going up there over time because it does have access to some amazing natural areas and it's still affordable compared to most other places in CO. There has been an uptick in outdoor recreation-based tourism there over the past few years (many of Colorado's 14ers are nearby), but the economy is still largely dependent on the Climax mine, which is dependent on the global demand for steel so it experiences large boom and bust cycles. Very different market than Denver. If you're looking for somewhere that's actually directly tied to the strong fundamentals of the Denver market you're going to want to look down on the Front Range closer to Denver. There are towns along the I-25 corridor that are still affordable, commutable to the Denver job market, and may be more in line with what you're looking for. Happy to chat CO real estate any time!