thinking about moving to Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs: house, to buy, best schools)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by movinmama

Hi! My husband and I are planning on moving to Colorado (where we can afford a house-we're in CA now) but aren't sure which city would be the best for us. We have a 16 month old who needs to have lots to do, preferably outside or kid friendly museums. We love the mountains and want to be as close as possible. Can anyone tell me their opinions on these two places? Thanks!

What line of work do you do?
What is your house price range?
What research have you already done?
How much time have you spent searching these forums?
How did you decide on Boulder and Colorado Springs?
How many hours a week do you need to be in the mountains?
How many hours a week do you think you will be going to museums?

[BabyBoomers2]

While living in So Calif, I worked in the computer/electronics manufacturing area for a number of years. My wife worked as a Financial Analysis and Accountant there for a number of years.
When we moved to Englewood, CO (Denver suburb) in 2002, I found out all to fast that "very little, to none" computer/electronics manufacturing was done here. Even the Computer Shows here were extremely small compared to So Calif. Yes, computer/electronics production is in a number of States, but just not to much here. I wound up working in the Purchasing department for a heathcare company in Denver. My wife did find a job as an Accountant, but her salary was $12,000 less than she was making in Calif. She has two AA degrees and a Bachelor's and she still couldn't get descent pay.
Due to our "older age" (58/59), we can no longer handle the winters here and are moving to North Carolina where the winters are much better and there are many, many more jobs available.

[kwk722]

Originally Posted by movinmama

Hi! My husband and I are planning on moving to Colorado (where we can afford a house-we're in CA now) but aren't sure which city would be the best for us. We have a 16 month old who needs to have lots to do, preferably outside or kid friendly museums. We love the mountains and want to be as close as possible. Can anyone tell me their opinions on these two places? Thanks!

Both places have lots of nice areas - couldnt tell you about kid stuff but I would probably choose CO Springs. Boulder has a college-tree hugger-hippie reputation but is close to Lafayette and Lousville which has a lot of business. Both places are right along the foothills, It would be hard to find a house without a mountain view.

[FtCollinsRE]

Ten years ago I moved to Fort Collins from Houston. What a great decision! I love the quality of life, clean environment, diverse population (becoming more so as people discover this area), great quality and affordability of housing, etc. There is so much to do for those that enjoy outdoor activities. People are friendly and the weather is great most of the time. What's not to like? I guess the lack of high end shopping, but I can drive to Flat Irons or Cherry Creek for that. I didn't know what I was getting into when I traded my inner city Houston lifestyle for little old Fort Collins but it's worked out really well.

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by tfox

Job opportunities are fairly good right now, from what I can tell.

As for prejudice against Hispanics, I think there may be some truth to that. The illegal immigration debate tends to bring out the worst in many people, and I think for a few people it leads them to focus their anger on Hispanic people generally, regardless of their immigration status. I don't think such people are the majority here, but such prejudice does exist.

That is true but it is also the other way around. Some Hispanics are prejudice too. Altho they don't think so.

[Babee730]

I can't speak for Boulder but I lived in Colorado Springs and liked it very much.
Its a large metro area almost in the center of the state... 50 miles south of
Denver and about 50 miles North of Pueblo. Because its considered So. Colorado the weather is better than the colder weater in No Colorado's Boulder...Ft Collins, etc. BTW, Ft Collins get great reviews from the younger people. Colorado Springs is more family oriented.

It snows in Colorado Springs but usually not more than 2 days in a row (if that long)... the snow is powdery so very light and usually isn't any higher
than a few inches. It could snow overnight and by noontime be completely snow free. You never know what to expect weather wise... but if you wait a couple of hours it usually changes.

There is a ton of shopping in Colorado Springs ... the Air Force Academy,
a few military bases, the Olympic Training center, etc. I lived in the newer
Northern part of the city... but if you want to be closer to downtown .. you can live in the Southern part... which is older and less expensive. The Southern part is also more racially diverse. If you continue South you'll find the old guard part of town... older more estate like homes... Checkout the Broodmore section of town. Thats were VIPs go to golf and dine... and its close to zoo and even the mountain fortress used by the military (the place Bush was headed to when 911 started).

If you're into hiking, bike riding, mt climbing, eating out, and dogs... Its a nice place to be. I found the people to be friendly. Little kids probably love the place but my son found it a bit too Mayberry like for older teens.

The cost of living for us was great... We moved from California and rented an apt online. Prices were as low as $600 a month for 2 bedroom. Fearing that would probably be a rats nest at that price, we opted for a higher price of $1200 a month (a 50% savings over what we paid in California) ... boy were we shocked to find that the average person could get a nice place for
$800 to $1,000 that included pool, hottubs, exercise room, business center, sauna, fabulous views of either the mountain or the city.

You can find houses in the $200k through $800k range in Colorado Springs easily and traffic is not a problem. We can probably go from one side of town to the other in 20 minutes.

Hope this helps.

[movinmama]

Originally Posted by Charles

What line of work do you do?
What is your house price range?
What research have you already done?
How much time have you spent searching these forums?
How did you decide on Boulder and Colorado Springs?
How many hours a week do you need to be in the mountains?
How many hours a week do you think you will be going to museums?

Thank you for your response, sorry mine was so slow. Our house price range is $200-300,000. I just discovered these forums so I have been checking out the different responses. We chose Boulder because it's so close to the mountains and has a variety of people there. Colorado Springs might be easier to find a job and more affordable. If we end in heading to Boulder we'll probably have to buy in a smaller town around it.
We really love the mountains and would live in the midst of pine trees of we could.
The museums is just an occasional thing to do but important to have.

Thanks for any responses!! Have a great day.

[ben.hereford]

"Due to mass migration, traffic sucks in town AND in the mountains and prices are mile high. Colorado's not the idyllic place to live anymore; unless you have tons of dough and can buy a nice spread in the mountains. Jobs are scarce also."

This is a false statement. Traffic is no worse than any other major city, and gas is the almost exact same price (maybe not in the ver wealthy areas though). The mountains are merely a place to retire and go skiing every other day. There are hundreds of cities and towns that are fairly cheap, and are great places to live and work. Jobs are definitely not scarce at all, I can find a job in about an hour's drive around the city (Denver). Chicago's nice too though...

[Charles]

Originally Posted by LA_MAN

I Want To Move To Colorado Also, But I Hear A Lot Negative Comments About It. I Was There Last Year But I Did Not See A Lot Problems, But My Friend Lives In Commerce City, He Is A Teacher And Told Me That Colorado People Are Prejudice Against Hispanic And Job Opportunities Are Not Really Good.

jOBS aRE aCTUALLY pRETTY gOOD hERE. i dON'T sEE aNY pREDJUDICE aT aLL. tRAFFIC iS nOTHING cOMPARED tO tHE cOASTS. tHE bIGGEST nEGATIVE tO sOME pEOPLE cAN bE cOLD wEATHER iN wINTER, bUT iT iS mOSTLY sUNNY tHEN.

[vfrpilot]

jOBS aRE aCTUALLY pRETTY gOOD hERE. i dON'T sEE aNY pREDJUDICE aT aLL. tRAFFIC iS nOTHING cOMPARED tO tHE cOASTS. tHE bIGGEST nEGATIVE tO sOME pEOPLE cAN bE cOLD wEATHER iN wINTER, bUT iT iS mOSTLY sUNNY tHEN.

Hey Charles- Check your 'caps lock'. Or did I miss something