Texas to Colorado (Denver, Vail, Breckenridge: 2015, apartments, rent)

[Marvin Gast]

Hello everybody.

I'm looking into moving to Colorado (marijuana, hiking, biking, rafting, camping, and snowboarding are several reasons that spring up) after living my entire life in Texas and had a few questions.

Is there a "right" time to make the move when it concerns weather? I have only seen snow once in my life and wouldn't want my first experience with Colorado to be a memory of me in a frozen car stuck in a snowstorm. I have read from several different sources that snow doesn't always fall the same time each year, with some saying that there is even snow during the summer. I am planning on spending a few more months (four or five) saving up before making the drive out there which would put me at a November/December date: would this be suicide?

Is there an area that offers plentiful job opportunities and apartment choices with a short commute between the two (and if possible, any recommendations for apartments that tolerate marijuana use)? I am from a small town where a 20 mile drive is roughly 25 minutes, but I am sure living somewhere like Denver has plenty of traffic to make that 20 miles turn into an hour drive.

More information on the apartment question, a studio apartment is what I'm mainly seeking. I would like something with rent between $600-$900 (would this be considered cheap?) that can still offer features like a gated community, maybe a gym, etc.. Any recommendations?

Would the drive from an area that offers plenty of jobs and apartment choices to an area that someone can hike, bike, rock climb at be a long drive? Long being between an hour to three hour drive.

That's all I can think of now, but hopefully more will come to mind with comments.

Thanks

[jazzlover]

Dream on.

[Marvin Gast]

Just saw your "Running out of water" post. I'm hesitant to make the move now... I will just be another leech.

[lurtsman]

If MJ use is reason number 1, it is a poorly planned move. I voted for legalization, but we don't have the services to support people fixated on that law.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Dream on.

Yes, I'd say a fair whack away from any reality.

As they used to say in the 1980's in the Just Say No to Drugs campaign, "This is your brain on drugs".

Colorado wanted pot legalization and this is what the state is going to get and since then this whole board has been taken over by people on pot looking to move to Colorado. Colorado has a hazy future ahead with just about everyone stoned and I think the current residents who voted for this get what they deserve. These hippy liberal policies always have unintended consequences with a high cost for taxpayers.

[davidv]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

Colorado wanted pot legalization and this is what the state is going to get and since then this whole board has been taken over by people on pot looking to move to Colorado. Colorado has a hazy future ahead with just about everyone stoned and I think the current residents who voted for this get what they deserve. These hippy liberal policies always have unintended consequences with a high cost for taxpayers.

While I (a "hippie liberal" democrat) agree that Amendment 64 is poor policy, you cannot blame it on hippie liberals. Because hippie liberals account for less than 1/3 of all voters, any statewide initiative that passes, must do so with the consent of the independents (who tend to be center-right in their views) and Republicans (who tend to be far-right in their views).

[dude_reino]

It sounds like anything in metro Denver is out of your price range, out of your range to rock climbing, and out of your range for traffic tolerance.

I suggest you start applying for winter jobs in ski towns right now. Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, Winter Park, Copper. If you have experience in hotels or restaurants that will help. Once you get a job it will be much easier to move. You will get your first experience with snow, you can get shared employee housing (not a studio, though) in your budget, and you can smoke MJ to your hearts content (as long as you still show up for work).

Once the season ends, parlay into a summer job, and then get out there and rock climb, bike, whatever. Enjoy it! Someday you'll have to grow up and join the rest of us worker bees drudging through traffic everyday, paying a lot of rent, and sneaking off to the garage to smoke up on the rare occasion that you actually have three hours to spare in your busy week. Don't rush into it

[davidv]

To the OP:

What you are asking for doesn't exist.

You and many posters want to live in a land where high paying jobs are plentiful and easy to get, rents are cheap, and houses are in close proximity beautiful scenery and recreation opportunities. Oh yeah, you want to smoke weed whenever and where ever you want.

This place does not exist.

- Because many people want to live here, pay is stagnated. The supply (people who want jobs) is greater than the demand (jobs available) which means the price (wages) goes down.

- The same is true with with housing costs. The demand (people wanting housing in desirable areas) is greater than the supply (housing units available) which causes price (rent) to increase.

- As for the pot, there are restrictions (which I sincerely hope are enforced by the police) on where and when you can smoke it. In other words, the greatest benefit you might derive from the laws is the fact that you can buy (or grow) and possess limited quantities without going to jail.

[GoneNative]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

Yes, I'd say a fair whack away from any reality.

As they used to say in the 1980's in the Just Say No to Drugs campaign, "This is your brain on drugs".

Colorado wanted pot legalization and this is what the state is going to get and since then this whole board has been taken over by people on pot looking to move to Colorado. Colorado has a hazy future ahead with just about everyone stoned and I think the current residents who voted for this get what they deserve. These hippy liberal policies always have unintended consequences with a high cost for taxpayers.

I don't know about that, Wanneroo. I was a rather enthusiastic "no" vote on Amendment 64, but I doubt that it will actually result in a significant influx of folks looking to get high. City-Data is not a particularly representative picture of life in Colorado and probably most places in the country. So the fact that City-Data gets bombed with "I want to get high so where should I move" is probably just another reminder to take what you read online with a grain of salt. I think it's still valuable to take, but just be sure to do it with a grain of salt.

Second, why would anybody move here to smoke marijuana when you can do that literally anywhere? Even super-conservative Mississippi and Nebraska have decriminalized marijuana.

Colorado has always been on the cutting edge of this sort of stuff because our ballot process makes it really easy to get on the ballot with whatever you want. We are still the only state to have a TABOR amendment--an awfully conservative thing to have, by the way.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Colorado votes to repeal marijuana legalization in a few years and then passes right-to-work or something like that.

[GoneNative]

Originally Posted by davidv

While I (a "hippie liberal" democrat) agree that Amendment 64 is poor policy, you cannot blame it on hippie liberals. Because hippie liberals account for less than 1/3 of all voters, any statewide initiative that passes, must do so with the consent of the independents (who tend to be center-right in their views) and Republicans (who tend to be far-right in their views).

Good point. Even conservative bastions Weld and El Paso Counties narrowly passed it. The anti-64 campaign was terrible, it was really well funded, and a lot of center-right folks ended up voting for it. It makes Colorado look like an edgy, "progressive" panacea maybe to some folks outside of the state. But it definitely is not. If a repeal campaign gets enough funding and better strategy, I think we could be looking at a roughly 5-year experiment with what I think is really, really bad policy. In a more right-leaning off-year election like 2018 or even 2015 or 2017, I think the legalization of pot could be over pretty quickly here.