Moving to Denver area from Florida (Colorado Springs, Pueblo: lawyers, layoffs, salary)

[FrozenShores]

Yeah Denver can be cool. Highlands Ranch is more of a "Reloville" though, as most people there are relocating for their job and moving somewhere else soon after. I know plenty of people here in Northeast FL that moved from Highlands Ranch and love it. I think they are out of their minds leaving the Denver area, but Highlands Ranch isn't Denver. In most places it's a 20 mile drive to downtown Denver. It's a gigantic culdesac with no sidewalks.

If you want to live in a neighborhood with nice people, try Wash Park, Baker, Highlands(38th and Tennyson), and Park Hill. And for nice neighborhoods near transit, you have the DU observatory park area, Louisiana/Pearl station area, and Littleton.

And for a young couple with no kids, don't rule out bike commuting in this extremely bike-friendly city: another year of bike commuting (in Denver)
Shoot, you can buy a foldable bike, take it on transit and extend your neighborhood by miles!

[BillyBobJoeBobWilly]

Home ownership in Florida (because of insurance costs) is becoming more and more difficult.

Looking for alternatives in Colorado. Are the home insurance rates reasonable there?

Any suggestions on location? We like outdoors, and healthy living.

I'm a computer programmer and my wife works in accounting.

Thanks,

BB

[Mike from back east]

1. Location. Anywhere you can find a job here is a good location, with most jobs between Fort Collins and COLO SPGS. Most IT jobs are in Boulder or the Denver Tech Center (DTC) and scattered around Denver. Lots of Defense IT in COLO SPGS.

2. Homeowners Insurance. About $1000/year on a $300k home, but YMMV. Higher if you live in fire-prone mountainous areas.

3. Property taxes. About $2000/year on a $300k home.

4. Income taxes. IIRC, it's about 4.8% of FAGI, or thereabouts.

Lots cheaper here in those regards.

[CosmicWizard]

Probably best to hold on to your present job if you have one. Burn some vacation days to come out here and have a look around, focusing on finding a job. Spend lots of money while you're visiting. In this economy, having a job is a real make it brake it factor in regard to changing locations from one place to another. On the other hand if you have lots of money in the bank that you are willing to spend on day to day expenses ( I recommend having at least 12 months of expennses covered ) while you are job hunting then consider coming out without a job. The Colorado economy could use some stimulation. Come spend your money here! Maybe you'll get lucky and find a job right away. You won't know for certain until you make the effort, but be advised that it's a big risk right now.

[80skeys]

If you like city-living then denver or colorado springs are your two options. The good thing about living there is that you are close to the mountains with easy access to outdoors activities.

If you don't mind small towns, there are plenty of options throughout Colorado. If you want to be close to mountains, some nice small towns are Granby and Durango.

For computer work, your best bet is along the Front Range. Denver has lots of IT and high tech. Colorado Springs has lots of consultnig jobs if you have or can get a security clearance to work on military bases. Boulder has large offices for Sybase, the National Weather Service, and the University of Colorado.

[Baggy660]

Hey how ya doin? My name is Derek and I currently live in south Florida. I have lived here most of my life and I am ready for a change. I fell in love with the denver/boulder area this past year. The activities, people, and culture seemed to really fit the way i lead my life. So my question is, what is it really like? I am looking for a job as a firefighter/paramedic and it seems to be a place of decent opportunity. My girlfriend and I are very active with excercise, outdoor activities, and are really looking forward to what colorado has to offer. Being from Florida i am used to 2 seasons really really hot, and somewhat hot, so I am looking forward to 4 seasons, but not sure on how to really prepare for a real winter and such. I am really just looking for suggestions, opinions, likes, dislikes, etc on the area. Oh and recommendations on downtown vs suburb living. Thanks for the future input.

[Katiana]

Some people from warmer climates never get used to the winters here; some love them.

There are tons of threads on here about the issues you are interested in. Maybe you could be more specific.

[cabril2]

i hate living in South Florida school sucks and crime is horrible paying 7000.00 in property taxes .I heard Colorado is nice to raise kids and my husband job would relocate him just where in Colorado any input

[80skeys]

If you need "city life" then there's one choice: Denver.
If you want a medium sized town, then you'll need Colorado Springs.
If you like small, isolated towns, then anywhere in Colorado.

If you want to live in the Desert:
anywhere east of I-25
cortez
Meeker
Pueblo
Trinidad
anywhere far western colorado

If you want to live near the mountains but not in them:
Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Montrose, Grand Junction

If you want to live IN the mountains (knowing that there's lots of cold and snow in the winter):
anywhere else

[80skeys]

Denver is a great place to live. Living in the city or suburbs you don't have to prepare much for winter, because it doesn't hit as hard as you might imagine. Other than buying some winter clothing, you simply need to be aware that winter temperatures will be in a range around freezing, usually something like 10deg to 45deg. you don't need to worry about driving in snow because it doesn't snow much, and when it does it melts off in a day or two.