Thinking about moving away from Colorado? Get in line and fill this out….. (Denver: real estate)

[jazzlover]

Fair is fair. Not everybody, either native or transplant, finds themselves enamored with today's Colorado, so, I thought I'd start this thread for those people to tell everyone (including the people so starstruck with the state) why they want to leave.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

1) Current Colorado locale:

2) Why do you want to leave?:

3) Where outside of Colorado and why:

4) 2nd and 3rd Place Choices:

5) What’s currently holding you back from moving?:

6) Anything else you want to tell us that we dont know? =

[JCFLIGHTS]

Jazzlover,
Ok i like where this is going looks like we will get to hear from both sides of the table.... LOL

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Fair is fair. Not everybody, either native or transplant, finds themselves enamored with today's Colorado, so, I thought I'd start this thread for those people to tell everyone (including the people so starstruck with the state) why they want to leave. =

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

1) Current Colorado locale:Fort Collins for the last 1.5 years, Brighton the previous 5 years, Arvada and Central City for the 5 years before that, and I also spent some of my summers in Akron and Stratton as a kid.

2) Why do you want to leave?:
I am a Colorado Native and grew up in south eastern Weld county, and loved Colorado up until about 5 years ago. But with the growth the state as a whole has changed throughout the front range and the Grand Junction area.

Traffic has become a nightmare anywhere in or around Denver.

Politically I see the state headed for California type regulations based on raising taxes whenever possible and trying to control peoples everyday lives.

For example I quit smoking several years ago, however why should the government decide if someone can allow patrons to smoke in an establishment they own.

Denver has also placed a head tax on people who live in Denver or work in Denver just for the right to live or work there, while the amount is minimal it is the principal to me.

Formerly employed in the real estate market this crash hurt the Colorado economy and market extremely hard, yet prices are still out of line for salaries.

Water is another reason, the state of Colorado is losing much of it's job diversity, yet due to the water problems many farmers are losing their crops which is still a major product of this state.

Which bring me to another thing, the sprawl is out of control and has been for years, while people need a place to live the cities should have done much better in planning for the growth, including figuring out the water situation, and avoiding the subdivisions placed in between fields in the middle of nowhere.

The economy is losing manufacturing jobs, tech Jobs, and several other industries worse then other areas due to the taxes, regulations, and employee's cost of living that they face here as compared to states like Texas and Wyoming or internationally. I know of 4 companies that moved to Cheyenne in the last three years, all of which employ over a hundred employees each. I also know of two plants in the Fort Collins area that is sending people back and forth to China while they train their replacements there.

job growth seems to be in the hard labor or upper income job descriptions with little in between. Which puts a guy with a two year degree in a tough spot to find a job, and furthering my education is next too impossible with the current cost of living and working a job where it is possible to actually complete a degree.

Recently in the newspaper in the Fort Collins paper stated that there are currently over 50,000 people registered with the Larimer County workforce center as actively looking for a new job (whether currently employed or unemployed was not state), the problem is that the workforce center finds approximately 300 new jobs come available per month with the average wage around $8.75 an hour.

I have a friend who works for a car dealer in the Greeley area, recently they placed a one day add for salespeople and had over 700 applicants for a commission only job selling cars, with some applicants from as far away as Denver just needing a job.

Several friends of mine who have masters degrees, and or some that have experience in their fields have been forced to take lower paying jobs while working 60-80 hours a week due to not being able to find employment, and this is for work ranging from Psychology, to scientific research, all the way down to manufacturing and technology.

A recent study I recently found in Monster I believe is that the state is having a large job growth, but that close to 50% of those jobs are in retail, with another 20% working in the low paying customer service jobs.

If you move to an area of the state that is affordable, the job opportunities are nowhere to be found.

Overall the job market and cost of living have just gotten out of hand,

3) Where outside of Colorado and why: Today the number one choice seems to be Oklahoma, we have some family friends and my wife's brother now live down in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the cost of living is reasonable, the job market is growing, and they have some good colleges that I can finish my education at without killing myself working two jobs, while going to school. I also have an interesting job offer there, Plus the people are friendly and do not have problems with outsiders moving in.

4) 2nd and 3rd Place Choices:
2nd choice is the Austin Texas Area, 3rd is Tucson AZ as of today, but I am just beginning my research and they have all changed several times within the last couple of weeks.

5) What’s currently holding you back from moving?:
The biggest reason I have not seriously considered moving until the recent few weeks is that I and my wife are from Colorado, we were raised loving this state, and neither one of us would ever leave if it was possible to stay, but you have to go where the jobs are, and where you can afford to feed a family while still enjoying life.

Money (I have been firmly underemployed for the last two years, my daughters medical treatments (she is disabled), my daughter wants to finish out her school year, and commitments I have through the end of the April, after that I am probably gone even if I have to borrow the money to leave.

6) Anything else you want to tell us that we dont know?

Overall I was one of the biggest supporters of people moving here up until a few years ago, the problem is that the job markets have not grown to support the growth. I moved from the Brighton region to Fort Collins due to a great job I was offered, but when I got here a couple of months later the company decided to close their office in northern Colorado due to the overall economy. I had a chance to transfer out to California but I do not see a better lifestyle there with the cost of living and other problems in the area. I have spent 18 months looking for jobs anywhere from Denver to Cheyenne with the best offers I usually get in the neighborhood of $10-11 an hour, or a decent monthly salary, but doing sales over the road and covering the costs out of my own pocket, which usually leaves a much lower net.

People say to have a good job before you come here, and I would say you better do more than that and make sure you are marketable. Close to 40% of the people who live in the front range have bachelors degrees at minimum, many with connections to the area, and most with experience so make sure you have plenty of reasons that a company will hire you.

I sent out resumes` to several different companies in areas that I found interesting, places like Austin Texas, Dallas, OKC and Tulsa, Albuquerque New Mexico, and a couple of places in Arizona, from 200 resumes sent out I have had phone interviews with 54 companies with a couple of job offers now, and several companies willing to fly me out for interviews and to meet with the hiring agents. So although people may think the problems I have mentioned are just me, I am obviously marketable in other areas of the country, just not so much in Colorado.

Colorado will always have a place in my heart, I love the mountains and the Weather is great, most of the people are friendly as well, but until the state figures out how to bring in companies to add jobs that pay a decent living wage I see no way to reasonably to stay here.

[nelumbo]

1) Current Colorado locale:
Boulder

2) Why do you want to leave?:
Just not my thing (climate, location, etc) - I moved here a few years ago for a job, not because I had a particular desire to live in colorado.

3) Where outside of Colorado and why:
DC area - city or inner Maryland suburbs - I lived there before and liked it, still have friends/family in that area, and I can get a job there. Pluses: trees, metro, food, water.

4) 2nd and 3rd Place Choices:
2. Miami - I could probably find a job, would like the climate, not sure about the city.
3. Australia, or maybe Guam. Very unlikely, but this is a wishlist, right?

5) What’s currently holding you back from moving?:
Want to finish up a multi-year project at my job.

6) Anything else you want to tell us that we dont know?
I've been to the mountains on vacation prior to moving here, and while they are certainly scenic and majestic, I really have no desire to spend any time there on a regular basis, and no interest in mountain sports (or other sports for that matter). So, a lot of the 'big draw' of the region is completely lost on me. YMMV.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by nelumbo

3) Where outside of Colorado and why:
DC area - city or inner Maryland suburbs

Are you married? Do you have kids?

[nelumbo]

Originally Posted by Charles

Are you married? Do you have kids?

No, and no. I lived in the DC area for 20+ years - I am well familiar with both the good and bad aspects of living there. I would also be happy to give up my car and live in a small condo in an urban area where I can use public transit (and thus avoid the worst thing about DC - the traffic).

[seethelight]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Fair is fair. Not everybody, either native or transplant, finds themselves enamored with today's Colorado, so, I thought I'd start this thread for those people to tell everyone (including the people so starstruck with the state) why they want to leave.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

1) Current Colorado locale: Boulder

2) Why do you want to leave?: I was in almost perfect health prior to moving to Boulder. Almost immediately after I arrived in Boulder my respiratory system went into distress mode and still continues to this day, although not as intense. I developed asthma, and high blood pressure, which I didn't have before moving to CO. Every time I travel back east, where I was from I feel MUCH better. My blood pressure drops and my respiratory problems go away.

3) Where outside of Colorado and why: Probably D.C. because of friends and my son's schooling.

4) 2nd and 3rd Place Choices: Western MA, Burma, for obvious reasons.

5) What’s currently holding you back from moving?: son in junior year of H.S.

6) Anything else you want to tell us that we dont know? =

I have never met so many people that have allergies that developed when they moved to Colorado. For me, I think my problems are a combination of the high altitude, new allergens that I am not used to, the lack of humidity and the overall dust that is ever present. I put a whole house HEPA filter in my home and still every countertop is covered in a fine layer of dust. I have never experienced anything like this.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by nelumbo

No, and no.

That's what I thought.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by seethelight

I put a whole house HEPA filter in my home and still every countertop is covered in a fine layer of dust. I have never experienced anything like this.

We don't have any filters and our windows are open all the time when it is warm enough. No more dust than anywhere else.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by jwiley

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

1) Current Colorado locale:Fort Collins for the last 1.5 years, Brighton the previous 5 years, Arvada and Central City for the 5 years before that, and I also spent some of my summers in Akron and Stratton as a kid.

2) Why do you want to leave?:
I am a Colorado Native and grew up in south eastern Weld county, and loved Colorado up until about 5 years ago. But with the growth the state as a whole has changed throughout the front range and the Grand Junction area.

Traffic has become a nightmare anywhere in or around Denver.

Politically I see the state headed for California type regulations based on raising taxes whenever possible and trying to control peoples everyday lives.

For example I quit smoking several years ago, however why should the government decide if someone can allow patrons to smoke in an establishment they own.

Denver has also placed a head tax on people who live in Denver or work in Denver just for the right to live or work there, while the amount is minimal it is the principal to me.

do you think it's possible that the same politics that wish the government out of their lives might have something to do, as well, with the impressive growth around denver (that, some say, is at least partly due to the "hands off" when it comes to development interests)? i also read that social services and education suffer a bit in colorado due in part to TABOR (surplus tax revenue back to the tax payers rather than tilled into some of these things).