Toad? I don't need no steenking towed! (vehicle)

[Randyretired]

Swamp coolers also work very well in Colorado.  Much cheaper to buy and run.  The moisture feels kinda nice in the dry climate.  The coolers with the 8-12 inch pads can easily keep a home 30 degrees cooler than outside temperatures in this dry climate.

[RV_]

Hey Randy!

Yep we are familiar with evaporative coolers. Some homes have them. The problem I have is many of them were/are afterthoughts and don't have the duct work to be truly central with some exceptions. Where the heating is forced air natural gas they can be retrofitted. We have that covered. It is a large military community so most houses today have central A/C. Military have neither the time or money for major expenses beyond their house and car notes. Summers will be hotter with the increase in global temperatures but if the science is right the temps may make the south hard to live in without A/C, in as little as ten years, for those who live without it now. I think of central A/C as required when shopping for our last house before we move into the OFH. (Old Folks Home)

We only have a few must haves in the new place. Central A/C, a large walk-in shower that is big enough to put our Teak shower seat in, (click Teak seat )  a two car garage, forced natural gas heating, and a finished basement. Most have gas installed behind the electric ranges. We expect to have to replace an electric range with a gas one. Most we look at have all new carpeting, roofing, and HVAC within the last two years. Unlike here in the south we are finding the interiors and colors to be what we like - split level ranch design, and and have now gray clean modern colors and accents. We are near picking one as we already have our realtor who is very responsive, knows how to do inspections for free for out of towners, and then we will fly in if we think we have one. make an offer and buy or not. MY son is in the area and we stay with him in Denver, and a two hour drive in today's traffic. It used yo be an hour and few minutes from the AF Academy North gate. we have about  about 30 houses saved on Zillow we are weeding through, some have been sold and that is OK because they built millions of houses, one just like we want or close enough. We are also looking for solar as a big plus and are having our realtor check on some if they are still there this weekend. We are planning on solar either way, and a PowerWall. as we are used to having whole house back up. We installed a 25kw Nat Gas, four cylinder Mitsubishi water cooled engined  genset and auto switch here on the new house. So whether solar is installed or not we will install it and PowerWall backups (PowerWall ) instead of fossil fueled backup generators. We will get a new Model 3 in any event, and maybe a used Model X or S for her later. PowerWall systems getting more competitive with fossil fueled generators and are silent, can be hung indoors in the garage or near the meter into the house. No maintenance.

The buyers market is from about December to February. Folks are not buying as much in this season, and cash offers are taken much more seriously. Military and corporate moves are usually in summer so as not to disrupt the school year.

One more thing. We are not tree huggers or PETA types. But we are also not the other extreme like folks around here who have sewage pumping into stream and rivers. We like our comfort and some energy independence. Like an RV we will have enough backup solar to get by with a  minimal use energy management plan. We don't plan for political or religious apocalypse scenarios. The billionaires are building shelters in New Zealand nowadays, and we ain't billionaires! Fortunately we have lived a full enough life all over the world, to not regret circumstances beyond our control becoming life challenging. We have had offers from millionaire friends to man their Armageddon retreats as their armorer. One was a heart surgeon who went to jail for not paying taxes he did not think were legal to collect. He is long gone now but we could not stand that colorful a character in close quarters for long.