Can anyone tell me about Grand Junction? (Denver, Clifton: real estate, rentals)

[simetime]

I'm thinking about moving my family there and I wanted to know a little about the place. can anyone tell me about the colleges, activities and the people?

[jim9251]

Large homeless population, traffic is a nightmare, it gets HOT in summer (100 plus every day), with howling dust filled winds. It has a nice mall, every restaurant known to mankind, and a neat downtown area. The Colorado National Monument is there, and the Grand Mesa a few minutes away. It's very desert like. It's called by locals "Junktown" and "Grandy Junky". You may want to visit first.

Grand Junction Vacation, Tourism & Travel Information | Grand Junction, CO

Grand Junction, Colorado - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[simetime]

Originally Posted by jim9251

Large homeless population, traffic is a nightmare, it gets HOT in summer (100 plus every day), with howling dust filled winds. It has a nice mall, every restaurant known to mankind, and a neat downtown area. The Colorado National Monument is there, and the Grand Mesa a few minutes away. It's very desert like. It's called by locals "Junktown" and "Grandy Junky". You may want to visit first.

Grand Junction Vacation, Tourism & Travel Information | Grand Junction, CO

Grand Junction, Colorado - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I applied for a job there and now you just scared the bejesus out of me.......but I thank you for your candidness

[Mike from back east]

SimeTime, 60,000 people live there; it ain't paradise but it's nothing to be afraid of. If you have a job there, good for you.

Read some of our threads on the city, there's lot of info to be had in a few moments with the search tool.

[xeric]

Well I wouldn't be deterred by Grand Junction's summer heat. Average high in July is 94 vs. 88 for Denver. And it's dry. Hot, but not excessively so. Also I doubt that most people would consider traffic to be a nightmare. If you are fond of the landscape in southern Utah, you'll like the Grand Junction environment. Plus, you are in the west so you'll have ample access to higher elevation, mountainous terrain. My overall impression has always been favorable, but I think it depends on whether you are ok with living in a small, fairly isolated city. BTW, there is a college there but it's really too small to define GJ as a university town.

[jim9251]

I love how someone considers a city of 60,000 "small". Anyway, I didn't mean to scare you, just my honest opinion. There are very nice areas of Junction to live in, tree shaded streets, beautiful older homes, lots of history in town and the surrounding area. And there are areas to avoid, just like any city. Just too big and congested for my tastes.

Anyway, good luck to you.

[Let's Go Here]

I live in Montrose which is about 60 miles south of Grand Junction and have no desire to live there. Real estate prices are fairly steep and from what I hear, there's a lot of crime. On top of that, a very large percentage of the population is retired and the economy isn't stable at all. Every time I go up there it seems like there's a road construction project snarling traffic too.

About the only benefit I would see for GJ compared to the rest of the Western Slope is the fact that there are more shopping and dining options. Other than that, you can have that town.

[Colorado Rambler]

Fruita is a near-by, friendly little town, as is Clifton if you prefer to live in a smaller place. Besides Colorado National Monument, you are close to the Book Cliffs and just a hop and a skip from Canyonlands National Park near Moab. The Colorado River runs through town and provides rafting adventures in the summer. Jim mentioned the Grand Mesa which is east of GJ and is indeed grand with some spectacular mountains and two National Forests - Grand Mesa NF and Gunnison NF. Mesa State is now Colorado Mesa University with an enrollment of 9,000 and a source of many great cultural programs in the GJ area. While Junction is warmer than Denver, it's certainly no Phoenix or Las Vegas. It has more of a high desert feel which means it cools off at night. I don't care for the traffic there, myself, but again, compared to some place like Denver, the traffic is a cakewalk. If you are an out-doorsy type, I think you could settle into GJ quite nicely. No, it's not perfect, but what town is?

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by simetime

I'm thinking about moving my family there and I wanted to know a little about the place. can anyone tell me about the colleges, activities and the people?

Good morning Simetime! A few words on the VA hospital as you're weighing the job offer from the dm I got from ya.

I've had two experiences visiting friends who were admitted there, the second just a few weeks ago. IMO it's first rate. It's smallish but has seen expansion over the last five years. It has a solid and attentive staff. My best friend spent several days there recovering from having a kidney removed just a few weeks ago. That operation was done at St. Mary's Hospital. The staff checked in frequently and accommodated the people who could only visit him late at night. They are somewhat limited of what they can do. My next door neighbor had to go to Salt lake City for treatment for his carotid artery but that was several years ago. I think nowadays they have more to work with. They're located at 26th and North Ave.

Regarding rentals and housing. Rentals IMO generally are in the $850 to $1150 range for a three bedroom house from what I've seen in the paper and going through the neighborhoods. Speaking of neighborhoods one of the nicer ones in the area is the Lincoln Park area which is just a few minutes west of the VA hospital. It's an older neighborhood but well kept, good looking houses. Lincoln Park itself has a fair amount of kids activities when school lets out for the summer. Always something going on there. My favorite stretch of housing there would be from 21st to 12th avenue and from Gunnison to White. Other good neighborhoods would be behind St. Mary's Hospital (7th and Patterson) and the various subdivisions east of Patterson Rd. from 12th avenue to 31 road. As you said in the dm regarding the 2 year assignment I just concentrated on rentals.

[delta07]

I lived in Grand Junction from 2002 until 2008. My husband was attending Mesa State College (now Mesa University-or something like this) getting his nursing degree for part of the time while we lived there. It's a pretty blue collar town, but certainly not full of homeless people (at least not when I was there, and not more than many cities). The location was great, with access to amazing red rock canyon country, as well as high mountain recreation. A small ski area is about 45 minutes away and lots of other winter activities on the Grand Mesa. Downtown is cute, but not very happening, at least compared to where I live now. It's predominately a conservative area, where farming, ranching and resource extraction are a big part of the economy.

We lived in an area known as Orchard Mesa. If you have kids, I would research the schools and try to target those areas. In general, the west and north ends of Grand Junction had better schools. Personally I would avoid the Clifton area (and schools closer to it). I taught in one of those schools while living there, and behavior problems and low test scores were predominant.

What kind of things are you looking for? That might help to figure out whether GJ would be a good fit for your family.