Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Colorado
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 09-10-2013, 02:32 PM
 
Location: Fort Worth, Tx
2 posts, read 2,585 times
Reputation: 13

Advertisements

My girlfriend and I are in our mid to late 20's, and ready to leave Texas for CO. I know we are the 1,000th thread about this but would appreciate any advice. We will have close to $10,000 saved to move, with the hopes of finding rent around $900-1,200, and will hopefully purchase a home after our first year or two. We will plan on paying rent at least 4 months in advance. Maybe 6. We also will only have one car payment to keep bills low. We have no kids and one dog, experience in restaurant management and have recently gotten our real estate licenses and are beginning that career pursuit on the side. We are looking for a great up and coming area in CO, somewhere outside of one of the major cities or a place of its own. We are looking for a simple life, good restaurants and people, and decent scenery. Anything would be better than north texas scenery, we aren't dreamers with expectations of living in the mountains. we are looking for areas that offer a bit of everything without being in a college town area or busy city. Picky we know. Oh and we will be taking a road trip through different towns to check them out before we make a decision. Yes we know it's a risk and there's negatives to every situation, we feel we will be well prepared and up to the challenges.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-10-2013, 04:55 PM
 
Location: Colorado
2,483 posts, read 4,359,760 times
Reputation: 2685
$10,000 is good to get you started with your given budget assuming you don't need to move a whole house full of furniture with you and can start working within a few months after arrival. There are many places in CO that could potentially meet your needs, but they all have different pluses and minuses. You really should narrow it down at least a little bit before we can really help you.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-10-2013, 05:06 PM
 
8,447 posts, read 8,670,008 times
Reputation: 5664
Maybe look at Longmont, Lafayette, Superior, Castle Rock, Golden and perhaps Greeley. If they are too big then look at Windsor, Berthoud or the neighborhoods northwest of Colorado Springs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-10-2013, 10:34 PM
 
Location: Fort Worth, Tx
2 posts, read 2,585 times
Reputation: 13
Thank you NW CROW, I will look into those and have researched a few of those previously. I will definitely narrow my search for now and research them all.

To Otterprods, I understand what you're saying about narrowing it down. We definitely don't have a housefull of furniture so I think a simple large uhaul would easily hold our stuff. Plus our car and truck. We have been looking around Fort Collins the most, we don't want to live in a total college town and are hoping to figure out if there any areas there away from the college kids. Of course Boulder is to expensive and for now we are assuming most areas around it would be as well. I have read a bit about Castle Rock, it seems nice but maybe to small? We would definitely like an area that appreciates food that's not from corporate chain restaurants. We work in fine dining for a farm to table restaurant and would love to find areas with creative restaurants. We would love to be a Part of a community that is creating an identity and not following one but we realize that may be just a dream or wishful thinking so that's not the most important thing. An area that is attracting young professionals and has more than 50,000 people, and an area that is not crime ridden would be good. Does this help? We'll research the places NW CROW listed and list the ones we like. Thank y'all!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-11-2013, 07:31 AM
 
115 posts, read 157,825 times
Reputation: 122
Castle Rock. Easy access from there to Denver. Pueblo fits the size, but isn't really attracting young professionals. Young professionals are almost all headed to Denver/CS. Fort Collins has a highly educated population, but it appears to be more home grown and you specifically stated "not a college town".
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-11-2013, 09:00 AM
 
Location: Colorado
2,483 posts, read 4,359,760 times
Reputation: 2685
Quote:
Originally Posted by ropediddy View Post
To Otterprods, I understand what you're saying about narrowing it down. We definitely don't have a housefull of furniture so I think a simple large uhaul would easily hold our stuff. Plus our car and truck. We have been looking around Fort Collins the most, we don't want to live in a total college town and are hoping to figure out if there any areas there away from the college kids. Of course Boulder is to expensive and for now we are assuming most areas around it would be as well. I have read a bit about Castle Rock, it seems nice but maybe to small? We would definitely like an area that appreciates food that's not from corporate chain restaurants. We work in fine dining for a farm to table restaurant and would love to find areas with creative restaurants. We would love to be a Part of a community that is creating an identity and not following one but we realize that may be just a dream or wishful thinking so that's not the most important thing. An area that is attracting young professionals and has more than 50,000 people, and an area that is not crime ridden would be good. Does this help? We'll research the places NW CROW listed and list the ones we like. Thank y'all!
Avoiding college kids is pretty easy in any town. Just buy in a neighborhood that's all traditional homes with few rentals. Results may vary when it comes to going out though, depending on what you like. Avoid the bars and coffee shops at night and it's probably fine.

All of the suburbs or satellite cites in or surrounding Denver will be developed and have a lot of chain restaurants. They'll also have a lot of other choices but any place with a sizable population is going to feel fairly homogenized. To get something really distinct or original you'll need to go some place that's either so tiny that no one knows about it (Palmer Lake) or so unfashionable that no one cares about it (Pueblo).

That said, there are some places around Denver, like Louisville or Broomfield, that have become popular in recent years because they're perceived as having a good access to city life while still being fairly small-town in nature. I'm not sure it's true, but that's one of the reason why Louisville keeps popping up on those contrived 'best places to live' lists.

If you want my opinion on where you should live, the best place is usually wherever you have some family (assuming you get along with hem) and a a good job. Everything else is trivial if not outright vanity.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-11-2013, 10:46 AM
 
8,447 posts, read 8,670,008 times
Reputation: 5664
You are welcome ropediddy.

In my previous post I meant to say northeast of Colorado Springs instead of northwest but the main point was north of the city limits.

Longmont is close to lots of places, cheaper than Boulder and might be a good location for the kind of restaurants you mentioned.

Greeley has a mixed reputation but being from Texas you might be able and more willing to make it work there than some others, if it is not too big for you. Especially on the west side of town. It has a university but it is not totally dominated by it.

Golden is a pretty appealing mix of small city and outdoor access but near in to Denver. Independent restaurants have / should have a decent part of the market there, I'd think. But maybe too small for you?

Castle Rock is mainly commuter town for folks going in to Denver. Mostly housing out there (and more people in the county that one might think) but slowly developing more of its own commercial sector. The lunch time market might not be that good for non - fast food restaurants though since many spend the day up north.


I didn't mention Loveland before but if you want over 50,000 you might check it out more closely. Either north end or south end of town. North end is kinda spillover from Fort Collins and may have more of FC's kind of restaurant "taste". South end might more commuter to Denver metro oriented and maybe more chain oriented.

Louisville and Lafayette aren't 50,000 yet but they generally sound like what you are looking for and are growing pretty fast. Broomfield is already over 50,000. I thought it might be too close in and / or expensive for you but most of these places could work.

Parker might be good for the style of restaurant. You may or may not find housing in your price range right there but look around and see. Just takes one.

Your road trip will help you whittle it down. Then job opportunities will play a big role. If you are inclined to come, find a good option that works (doesn't have to be perfect or the final stop), knowing that you can refine things with time, work and growing local knowledge.

Last edited by NW Crow; 09-11-2013 at 11:02 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-11-2013, 11:21 AM
 
Location: Bend, OR
3,296 posts, read 9,666,542 times
Reputation: 3343
I think NW Crow did a great job of summing up various locations in CO and what might work for you. I think the farm to table movement will do better in the Denver area or N. Colorado, like Boulder, Ft. Collins and the other suggestions, just based on what I know about Colorado. Of course, quite a bit has changed since I lived there, so Colo. Springs might also work, especially given your budget.

I'm not sure if you've entirely ruled out the Pacific Northwest (PNW), or even considered it, but based on what you are looking for, it might be a really good suggestion. It's not all rain here, especially on the eastern side of the Cascades. Just a thought.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Colorado
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top