From California To Colorado. Why??? (Denver, Colorado Springs: oceanfront, rent, Home Depot)

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by hello-world

btw - your little "Credo" under your username, "Altitude brain cell loss"...do you think there's anything to that? i've honestly never looked into it, but, i sometimes wonder about it around these parts. i have seen that the average IQ (for whatever that's worth) in CO is actually probably in the top 15 or so of the states (something like 99 iq, but, iq...and those maps may not be much to go by...), so, i've doubted it (the altitude/intelligence quotient ), but, then sometimes we have to wonder, eh?

serious question... as a health professional, any info on this?

Not at these altitudes, no. I think when you get to 15,000 - 20,000 ft or so, it might kick in.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

One thing I've learned to do is to stop applying common sense and basic economics to California house prices. Back when the median house was 4x the median income, most people would have called it overpriced. But look what its done since then. I can't live my life waiting for houses to become affordable in California. I just have to make the best decision I can based on current conditions and that will most likely require me leave the state of my birth in order to truly afford a home of my own. I'm sure if I stay in California and sacrifice everything to be house poor, I could be paper rich in a decade or so. But what kind of life is that?

any chance this is just the "free market" of capitalism in conjunction with quickly growing population? more and more money concentrated in a smaller and smaller percentage of the growing and growing population? so, while there are getting to be plenty of people that can afford things these days (things like owning a house in a populated/"desirable" area), that still leaves 95, 99, 99.99 % of us scrambling (and voting for the OTHER 5, 1, .01 % to continue to "concentrate" things for "us", er, them)? another serious question. am i just naive?

[Todd TCE]

It's amusing to read how anyone from CA moving to CO is of some strange or undesirable nature. Yet you can read from the long time CA residents of the influx of folks from other states polluting their fine state...LOL! Just where do all these "other people" originate??

The grass is always greener I guess.

[treedonkey]

"I hate people that aren't me"
-Homer Simpson

[Stephanie19]

Okay so I came on this site to post my own thread but I guess I am just to retarded to learn how too? I searched everywhere to find out how and it didn't work.. Soo I found this topic and decided to reply! I am 19 years old and I am planning on moving to Fort Collins, Co in aug with my mom and sister. -We currently live in Cali San Diego Replying first off to this, sense I am one of those people making the move.. It is horribly overpriced and sure san diego is nice and the ocean is uhhh... pretty from far away? Haha. But the question is when do you get a chance to visit it? The beach is over populated with gross people in my mind and you can hardly ever find a parking spot.. So when you think about it.. what is the point in living in this so called beautiful city? To pay for a high priced rental and for what? In less you actually have lived in a california and especially a city San Diego then you'll know the truth...
Ok Soo I have googled everything possible for my mom.. to find the good "streets" and the bad aka ghetto and high crime rate.. because Im sure like every place there are the nice good area's and the bad... I could find anything but a crime statistic. I am going to CSU next year and my sister is going to be starting Kindergarden so my mom wants a place near CSU and also a good Elem. School. Can Anyone Help us?!?!?! We don't care about crowd or busy.. we are use to that.. we just want a nice street/ area to live that is safe and next to these places.. I hope someone reply's! We really need help!
My email is legally_blonde03@msn.com Im going to try to check this often but If I don't Id hope that someone could email me!
Thank you- Stephanie

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by Stephanie19

Okay so I came on this site to post my own thread but I guess I am just to retarded to learn how too? I searched everywhere to find out how and it didn't work.. Soo I found this topic and decided to reply! I am 19 years old and I am planning on moving to Fort Collins, Co in aug with my mom and sister. -We currently live in Cali San Diego Replying first off to this, sense I am one of those people making the move.. It is horribly overpriced and sure san diego is nice and the ocean is uhhh... pretty from far away? Haha. But the question is when do you get a chance to visit it? The beach is over populated with gross people in my mind and you can hardly ever find a parking spot.. So when you think about it.. what is the point in living in this so called beautiful city? To pay for a high priced rental and for what? In less you actually have lived in a california and especially a city San Diego then you'll know the truth...
Ok Soo I have googled everything possible for my mom.. to find the good "streets" and the bad aka ghetto and high crime rate.. because Im sure like every place there are the nice good area's and the bad... I could find anything but a crime statistic. I am going to CSU next year and my sister is going to be starting Kindergarden so my mom wants a place near CSU and also a good Elem. School. Can Anyone Help us?!?!?! We don't care about crowd or busy.. we are use to that.. we just want a nice street/ area to live that is safe and next to these places.. I hope someone reply's! We really need help!
My email is legally_blonde03@msn.com Im going to try to check this often but If I don't Id hope that someone could email me!
Thank you- Stephanie

Fort Collins is a very safe and nice city, the only areas I would avoid are along college avenue north of old town, and east harmony out around taft hill out by the southwest edge of the city, both are known for their drug problems.

The schools are relatively good schools and I could not be happier with the way the have worked with my daughter.

The only major problem you will find in Fort Collins is the job situation, if your mom does not have a good one lined up, it could take months to find one, and it may be a job that she is over qualified for when she gets it.

[mcolo]

I agree that anything south of Old Town is a good bet for you. Fort Collins has great schools and even in the worst traffic situations you can get to CSU in less than a half hour from any part of town. If you take the bus it will take a little longer but not much. Good luck to you and welcome to Colorado.

[Mark Kaplan]

We are looking to leave LA for the simple reason that we do not want our kids to go to school out here. We cannot afford a place and private school for two. Also, I am a middle school teacher in East LA. There are 30 gangs in a ten block radius around the school. On Monday I showed up to work and found that over the weekend kids had thrown brown paint all over about twelve classroom doors and dragged their hands through it to spell F**K and other lovely greetings. Although they left my doors alone (only some minor graffiti), another teacher had fecal matter rubbed onto her doorknobs. You tell me, do you want your kids going to school there? On average less than half of the kids in CA test at the proficient level for reading and writing. LESS THAN HALF in the state!

Last week I picked oranges and squeezed fresh juice for my family. It was nice. Tomorrow I'll take my daughter to Disneyland. Nice. But if we can't afford to put them in a safe and effective learning environment, what do I care about orange juice and Mickey Mouse?

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Mark Kaplan

We are looking to leave LA for the simple reason that we do not want our kids to go to school out here. We cannot afford a place and private school for two. Also, I am a middle school teacher in East LA. There are 30 gangs in a ten block radius around the school. On Monday I showed up to work and found that over the weekend kids had thrown brown paint all over about twelve classroom doors and dragged their hands through it to spell F**K and other lovely greetings. Although they left my doors alone (only some minor graffiti), another teacher had fecal matter rubbed onto her doorknobs. You tell me, do you want your kids going to school there? On average less than half of the kids in CA test at the proficient level for reading and writing. LESS THAN HALF in the state!

Last week I picked oranges and squeezed fresh juice for my family. It was nice. Tomorrow I'll take my daughter to Disneyland. Nice. But if we can't afford to put them in a safe and effective learning environment, what do I care about orange juice and Mickey Mouse?

You can get fresh oranges (but not straight off the tree) in Colorado. You can always fly or drive back to California to visit Disneyland. I think California is a better place to vacation than to live unless you're top 5% rich.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by hello-world

any chance this is just the "free market" of capitalism in conjunction with quickly growing population? more and more money concentrated in a smaller and smaller percentage of the growing and growing population? so, while there are getting to be plenty of people that can afford things these days (things like owning a house in a populated/"desirable" area), that still leaves 95, 99, 99.99 % of us scrambling (and voting for the OTHER 5, 1, .01 % to continue to "concentrate" things for "us", er, them)? another serious question. am i just naive?

Looks more like it was gready lenders taking advantage of people they knew couldn't afford the high prices with "creative" financing. By 2005, it was quite obvious in my condo complex in Orange County that the people moving in didn't have the appropriate incomes to afford $350 - $400K for a 2 bdr. condo. The market was artificially inflated, and now we're paying the price.