Is Colorado Right for Me? (Denver, Westminster: transplants, sales, real estate)

[AwayfromOC]

Hi,

My husband and I live in Orange County, California and we want out! We are looking for another state to live in and think it might be Colorado. Here's what we are trying to get away from and get more of...

Get away from:

Over priced real estate. Currently our monthly mortgage is around $5,000 a month and annual property tax is almost $14,000 a year. My husband and I feel all we do is work, work, work to keep afloat just to have a normal sized home of 2,500 sq. ft. with a backyard. There has got to be more in life than making your mortgage. Real estate seems pretty affordable, okay REALLY affordable. For a house like ours here in an area like ours (master-planned community Highlands Ranch, CO), we can get a home for about $350,000. Checking salary comparisons and job boards the pay is nearly the same. Can this really be possible? Do you get to spent your hard earned money on something other than housing?

Neighbors that are Douches If you've seen the program Real House Wives of the OC, you know what I am taking about. Not everyone is like this but most are completely consumed with money and status. Now I know it's human nature to compare oneself to others, but do people act like there is nothing else to do but keep up with the Jones in Colorado? For instance, every time I run into my neighbor who lives across the street, he has to mention to me about the latest home enhancement he's done, what great new BS crap he's purchased or what fabulous vacation he is about to go on. Know matter how uninterested I act, he just keeps babbling. This guy owns one of those pimp my ride car shops and parks different super expensive cars in his garage with the garage door open every night for all to see. (One was actually stolen out of his garage last month. I had to laugh. But he still keeps his garage door open.) Many others in the neighborhood are just the same way, not all, but many. They don't seem to care about other people around them or about social issues or anything of substance. However they do know when sales are happening at the mall, just not when the next local elections will be held.

Get more of:
Down to earth people who care about the community they live in. People who don't check out what brand of jeans your wearing on a daily basis and if you are keeping up with your botox injections.

Mountains to hike in on the weekends and lakes to visit. I have a Labrador that would love to hike with me and swim in a lake. Do they allow dogs in the lakes there? They don't here. Are there a million regulations and nanny laws that keep you from being adventurous in CO? I just want to hike through unchartered territories and if my dog and I happen to come across a lake in the summer go for a swim. Can't do that anywhere in the OC. There is only one dog beach where every dog owner and there dogs go on the weekend. I like people. I just don't want to be stuck in crowds all the time when I am trying to get away from it all.

Concern: I have been living in CA since I was 7 and I am a little worried about living through the winter. Now I know what snow is like, we go up to Big Bear in the winter, ski, hike, etc. But that's just on the weekends. Transplants how hard is it to adjust? Shoveling out your driveway before work, ice patches on the roads, etc.

I'd appreciate any advice and by the way I am a registered Democrat. Will I be run out of town?

[Moonwalkr]

From what I hear the winters aren't too bad, at least not like north plains or the upper midwest; the sun is pretty intense here. The summer has been great so far (I'm from the humid east coast). Judging from what I've seen, this place is pretty dog friendly, and outdoor friendly. If you can get a job in hand I'd definitely make the move based on what you have said about your current living environment. Like most places in the country, people don't wear their party affiliation on their chest and there's a bit more tolerance for diversity in Denver metro area than probably other more conservative areas.

[AwayfromOC]

It's pretty humid in CA too. Were not as bad as Florida, but today it's in the 90's and it feels like 110. I've heard the humidity in CO is fairly low.

The things I love about where I live now are we are in fairly new homes, there is lots of open space to walk my two dogs and I feel safe. We have a trip out to Denver on Sept. 9th to look at the communities of:

Highlands Ranch (It looks a lot like the area we are in now called Ladera Ranch which is a sub-development area of Mission Viejo, CA.)
Littleton
Westminster
Boulder
Lafayette
Loveland
Ft. Collins

Any other suggestions?

[CosmicWizard]

Is Colorado Right for Me?
Only YOU can answer that one!

Over priced real estate.
Looking at price only, compared to California, real estate might seem alot more affordable. In all likelihood you'll be taking a salary cut. Looking at the bigger picture, including mortgage payments, and the higher prices of many everyday items, the amount of disposable income you have might actually be less than you have in California.

Neighbors that are Douches
Like attracts like. What more can I say. Treat people with respect and friendliness, and you'll be treated that way yourself

Down to earth people
We have some people who care about the community they live in.
We have some people who DON"T care about the community they live in.
We have some people who don't check out what brand of jeans your wearing on a daily basis and if you are keeping up with your botox injections.
We have some people who DO check out what brand of jeans your wearing on a daily basis and if you are keeping up with your botox injections.

Mountains to hike in on the weekends and lakes to visit.
There is an abundance of mountainous terrain for weekend hikes.
Colorado is very dry and not known for it's lakes ( nothing that even begins to compare with the likes of Lake Tahoe. nothing comes close to Lake Tahoe! ), most of which are resivours and off limits for swimming...to humans and dogs alike. There is a place about an hour from Grand Junction called The Grand Mesa. It sits an an elevation of almost 11,000 feet. There are about 300 small ( I can throw a stone across some of them ) lakes on the mesa.

Concern:
Parts of Colorado have relatively mild winters while other parts have some of the coldest winters in the lower 48.

Some transplants adjust quickly and easily to life in Colorado, while other transplants struggle tremendously and never make the adjustment. It depends on the individual. If you have a history of easily adjusting to newness in your life thus far, chances are that'll you'll make an adjustment to Colorado living easily as well. On the other hand....

I live in Grand Junction in western Colorado which is one of the places with a relatively mild winter. I still have to shovel ( usually 1 to 3 inches ) out my driveway a few times a winter, and drive to work on snow covered roads. By the time I drive home from work, the roads are usually bare.

I'm registered as an independent, but I'm leaning toward the democrats in the upcoming election, unles Ron Paul or some other independent makes a serious run at the presidency. I've already seen quite a few Obama stickers, so being a democrat is not out of the ordinary. Colorado is quite purple on the political color scale, one of the new battleground states.

[AwayfromOC]

Thanks for the info. Yup, I'm just going to have to come and try it out. So the lakes I see on maps around Loveland for instance are reservoirs off limits to humans and dogs? That's not good.

All the jobs I've looked into in CO are only paying just 2 or 3k less than here in CA. The cost of living calculators state the same story. Real estate is more expensive here in CA, everything else seems similar.

As for the Like attracts like comment, well maybe that's why I feel so out of place here. People are nice to me here, I'm treated with respect. I just don't care about the superficial crap their into. I don't drive a hummer, I don't own $500 channel sunglass and I could give a crap about all the BS on the E! It's just hard to find substance here.

I'm nowhere near Lake Tahoe. Wish I were I might actually stay. Too bad it is very expensive to live there too.

[Neditate]

Originally Posted by AwayfromOC

Thanks for the info. Yup, I'm just going to have to come and try it out. So the lakes I see on maps around Loveland for instance are reservoirs off limits to humans and dogs? That's not good.
.

You would be surprised at how many lakes there are in Colorado when you fly over it. I don't know much about Loveland but Boulder is a very dog-friendly town. Dogs are allowed at Boulder Reservoir from Labor Day until May. I always see dogs swimming in Barker Reservoir here in Nederland. Dogs can hike with you on almost all trails although some have leash laws. There are some great websites regarding dogs and hiking in CO if you do a Google search.
Here's one:
GORP - Dog-Friendly West of Denver
There's a good book too, "Canine Colorado".

[rkb0305]

We moved here from Fresno, CA a year ago ( I know, Fresno is nothing like OC thank Goodness). I live in HR, and there are a ton of CA and OC people here. Maybe since they escaped, too, they aren't what you are trying to escape. If I had realized that it was the OC of Colorado, we might have chosen a different place to live. But, overall, we do like it here. There are lots of friendly people here, native, or not (mostly not). Keeping up with the Joneses is a state of mind I think, no matter where you are. I start to feel like my life is inferior when I visit someone in their, bigger, nicer house, but I remind myself that we sacrifice a little so I can stay home. That was part of the point of moving. anyway, HR is nice. It would either feel like home in a good way, or it would feel like the OC of Colorado to you, in a bad way. I don't know which. Last winter wasn't too bad. Dec and Jan were really the only really cold months. Other than that, we got outside to the park between snows in the other months. I preferred the dry sunny cold to Fresno's wet foggy cold. Look for Rebagirl posts on this site. She moved for OC recently. Oh, and I'm also a democrat. I'm the minority in HR, but there are some very active Democrats here. We're more active because we have to be. It is kind of fun. I'm surprised how warmly my Obama t-shirt has been received around here. I'm never sure what kind of reaction I'll get, but I've been pleasantly surprised.

[AwayfromOC]

rkbo305

My Obama shirt just arrived in the mail today. Tomorrow will be the first day I where in my mostly republican town of Ladera Ranch/Mission Viejo. We'll see how that goes. Did you see his speech tonight? He was great. Our country needs this change so bad. I only hope people can get past the one liners from McCain and vote for what we need. I absolutely respect McCain and the sacrifices he's made for our country (i.e. prisoner of war, a Vet), but his ideas are antiquated and proven not to work as the Bush Administration has shown. I was quite during the last two elections believing politics is a personal and private choice, but I just can't keep quite any more and let another four years of republican philosophy finish off our country. I'm going to wear my Obama shirt and let people know that I tired of being trickled on by their economic policies of giving to the rich to hope it flows down hill. I'm struggling to make ends meet and my two daughters are almost college age. One of the main reasons for our move is to lower costs so we can get our daughters through school. Also most all the colleges out here are impacted. I know a secondary education is a high priority in CO, so we will be looking into that as well when we are out in Sept. Thanks for all the info!

[AwayfromOC]

Neditate,

Thanks for all the good info on dogs in CO. I do appreciate it. Boulder is on our list to visit. I've heard lots of good things about Boulder, it sounds like my kind of town.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by AwayfromOC

Thanks for the info. Yup, I'm just going to have to come and try it out. So the lakes I see on maps around Loveland for instance are reservoirs off limits to humans and dogs? That's not good.

All the jobs I've looked into in CO are only paying just 2 or 3k less than here in CA. The cost of living calculators state the same story. Real estate is more expensive here in CA, everything else seems similar.

As for the Like attracts like comment, well maybe that's why I feel so out of place here. People are nice to me here, I'm treated with respect. I just don't care about the superficial crap their into. I don't drive a hummer, I don't own $500 channel sunglass and I could give a crap about all the BS on the E! It's just hard to find substance here.

I'm nowhere near Lake Tahoe. Wish I were I might actually stay. Too bad it is very expensive to live there too.

What makes you think that Colorado, especially the kinds of places in Colorado that newcomers are moving to, is less materialistic than SoCal? Where do you get the idea from that Coloradans are nice, quaint, and "laid back"?