Denver salaries vs housing question (home, income, living)

[AmFest]

Originally Posted by emm74

That would make sense - it doesn't seem like Denver is a great fit for you and you would likely be better off trying to pay off your debt and save up for a down payment for home in a different location. Not trying to be snarky, truly, but you seem to feel the downsides of Denver and Colorado very acutely without seeming to take a lot of pleasure in the upsides, and long term, you would probably be happier somewhere else.

Nah he was just being bitter because his financial circumstances didn't seem to be as good as others'. It's normal for a man to feel this way. Once he talks through his concerns with a financial planner he'll be fine. Seems like he's turned in the right direction just over the last couple of days.

[sammy87]

A lot of companies have it figured out that people will take a pay cut to live here. They dont need to raise salaries, the workforce is in huge supply.

[emm74]

Originally Posted by AmFest

Nah he was just being bitter because his financial circumstances didn't seem to be as good as others'. It's normal for a man to feel this way. Once he talks through his concerns with a financial planner he'll be fine. Seems like he's turned in the right direction just over the last couple of days.

Nah, he's also commented negatively about the weather, the dating scene, the outdoor activities and those are just what I remember off the top of my head. And that's fine, every location isn't the right fit for every person. I would just personally question the wisdom of buying in a city when it doesn't feel like the right fit for you.

[farscapesg01]

Originally Posted by sammy87

A lot of companies have it figured out that people will take a pay cut to live here. They dont need to raise salaries, the workforce is in huge supply.

Well.. the funny thing is that the position I was applying for is with the same company I still work for. So, technically the salary range is the same across all our divisions (set by our corporate office). Not only that, but they already know I'm willing to take a "title" demotion for the move (from Consulting level back down to Senior level). Knowing that, the rate I've asked for is just over "mid" point in the salary range for the position... and with 15 years in the company I think that is perfectly reasonable to expect.

Thinking that I would take a title "demotion", a pay cut, and no relocation benefits... well, Colorado has always been my dream location since a child... but I'll find somewhere else in that case. If my choices of moving require me to leave the company than my options expand a lot for location (less expensive areas of CO, northern NM, Seattle, Portland, West Virginia.. maybe even Kentucky. I want mountains, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the Rockies.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by farscapesg01

Well.. the funny thing is that the position I was applying for is with the same company I still work for. So, technically the salary range is the same across all our divisions (set by our corporate office). Not only that, but they already know I'm willing to take a "title" demotion for the move (from Consulting level back down to Senior level). Knowing that, the rate I've asked for is just over "mid" point in the salary range for the position... and with 15 years in the company I think that is perfectly reasonable to expect.

Thinking that I would take a title "demotion", a pay cut, and no relocation benefits... well, Colorado has always been my dream location since a child... but I'll find somewhere else in that case. If my choices of moving require me to leave the company than my options expand a lot for location (less expensive areas of CO, northern NM, Seattle, Portland, West Virginia.. maybe even Kentucky. I want mountains, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the Rockies.

You may want to take a look at Atlanta. The salaries here are surprisingly high, cost of homes/land/taxes relatively low and less than a 2 hour drive North puts you smack dab in the middle of some of the most beautiful mountains in the world (Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains). Also a 4 to 6 hour drive to the Ocean depending on Atlantic vs. Gulf of Mexico.

[randomparent]

Originally Posted by farscapesg01

Well.. the funny thing is that the position I was applying for is with the same company I still work for. So, technically the salary range is the same across all our divisions (set by our corporate office). Not only that, but they already know I'm willing to take a "title" demotion for the move (from Consulting level back down to Senior level). Knowing that, the rate I've asked for is just over "mid" point in the salary range for the position... and with 15 years in the company I think that is perfectly reasonable to expect.

Thinking that I would take a title "demotion", a pay cut, and no relocation benefits... well, Colorado has always been my dream location since a child... but I'll find somewhere else in that case. If my choices of moving require me to leave the company than my options expand a lot for location (less expensive areas of CO, northern NM, Seattle, Portland, West Virginia.. maybe even Kentucky. I want mountains, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the Rockies.

You're asking your employer to reward you for nothing. Relo and a pay raise for an employee who's already revealed that he has nothing additional to offer over what he's already doing? Seriously? You tell them you'll take a demotion, but you want a pay raise. Plus, it's IT, which probably means you can do your job from anywhere in the country via remote access, so ask youself what is in it for them. There HAS to be something in it for them; otherwise, you'll never get anywhere.

[farscapesg01]

Originally Posted by randomparent

You're asking your employer to reward you for nothing. Relo and a pay raise for an employee who's already revealed that he has nothing additional to offer over what he's already doing? Seriously? You tell them you'll take a demotion, but you want a pay raise. Plus, it's IT, which probably means you can do your job from anywhere in the country via remote access, so ask youself what is in it for them. There HAS to be something in it for them; otherwise, you'll never get anywhere.

Well.. actually I am offering them something they don't have in the Denver office. They lost their only "senior" level position back last August, and thought they could replace them with a lower-level position. They have since then realized that no one there has the skills they need (VMWare, Hyper-V, Citrix XenApp, SAN management, etc.). So now they are looking for someone that has all those skills... and I can provide that. Not to mention familiarity with all our corporate standards and existing relationships with corporate resources.

Yes, IT can be done remotely.. and here in Houston I actually have the benefit of working from home 3 days a week. However, not all companies/businesses have come to terms with that. Each division in our company, and even our corporate offices, handle "work from home" differently, and the Denver office is one of those.

[farscapesg01]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

You may want to take a look at Atlanta. The salaries here are surprisingly high, cost of homes/land/taxes relatively low and less than a 2 hour drive North puts you smack dab in the middle of some of the most beautiful mountains in the world (Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains). Also a 4 to 6 hour drive to the Ocean depending on Atlantic vs. Gulf of Mexico.

I've thought about it... but i'm not sure we would really be getting away from what we dislike the most here... the climate. My brother lived there for awhile and complained about the weather, mostly the same things I complain about in Houston.

Everyone here likes to say "but we have mild winters" and our opinion is "exactly.. there is no winter". When I'm mowing the yard at the beginning of December... something is seriously wrong. Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas just don't feel right. Then we hit the unbearable summers. I'm sorry, there are those that grew up in it and seem okay and there are those that moved down here and claim to have acclimated. That's not us. Once the temps hit 80 with the humidity.. bleh. I'm mowing the yard and sweating like a pig in March and the temp is technically only 79. When I'm running the AC in the car in February (and I grew up in OK driving a car that didn't even have AC)... yuck! I don't mind heat as long as it is a summer season and I also have a cold winter (really miss snow, bundling up, and curling up with a crackling fire).

[Lafleur]

Originally Posted by emm74

Nah, he's also commented negatively about the weather, the dating scene, the outdoor activities and those are just what I remember off the top of my head. And that's fine, every location isn't the right fit for every person. I would just personally question the wisdom of buying in a city when it doesn't feel like the right fit for you.

A) In a thread asking about Albuquerque's weather compared to Denver's, I merely mentioned that Albuquerque's was a little warmer and drier. Not sure how that's complaining about the weather, but ok.

B) The issues about Denver's dating scene ("Menver") here is nothing new and certainly not unique to me. But anyway, I've been dating a nice girl from Texas for the past three months now, so yeah.

C) Outdoors activities? I'm an avid cyclist, love to camp, enjoy hiking, etc. The only thing I've ever brought up about CO's outdoors activities is during the winter, when one may feel like an outcast for not enjoying or partaking in mountain sports (skiing/snowboarding).

I'll just chalk this up to another overtly proud Native who can't take criticisms of their holier than thou city/state. I'm content with Denver, but that doesn't mean I don't have criticisms of it. I didn't get butt hurt when people here were tearing into MI/Detroit, where I'm originally from. Believe it or not, I have a lot of the same criticisms as them. Quite frankly, I think Colorado is becoming California 2.0. High COL and some of the most smug people who you'll ever meet who just can't get enough of talking about how superior their lifestyle is to everyone else's.

[emm74]

Originally Posted by Lafleur

A) In a thread asking about Albuquerque's weather compared to Denver's, I merely mentioned that Albuquerque's was a little warmer and drier. Not sure how that's complaining about the weather, but ok.

B) The issues about Denver's dating scene ("Menver") here is nothing new and certainly not unique to me. But anyway, I've been dating a nice girl from Texas for the past three months now, so yeah.

C) Outdoors activities? I'm an avid cyclist, love to camp, enjoy hiking, etc. The only thing I've ever brought up about CO's outdoors activities is during the winter, when one may feel like an outcast for not enjoying or partaking in mountain sports (skiing/snowboarding).

I'll just chalk this up to another overtly proud Native who can't take criticisms of their holier than thou city/state. I'm content with Denver, but that doesn't mean I don't have criticisms of it. I didn't get butt hurt when people here were tearing into MI/Detroit, where I'm originally from. Believe it or not, I have a lot of the same criticisms as them. Quite frankly, I think Colorado is becoming California 2.0. High COL and some of the most smug people who you'll ever meet who just can't get enough of talking about how superior their lifestyle is to everyone else's.

actually, this is the post I was thinking about re: the weather. In which you actually stated you were thinking about reconsidering California as your long term destination.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/38988040-post19.html

And no, I'm not a CO native, I've only lived here for 8 years. And I would never expect anyone to think a place is perfect nor do I find my lifestyle superior to anyone else's. However, I just know that if I had as many criticisms about a place as you do, it would not be somewhere I'd want to live, I'd find it depressing and I would be far from content and I'd be trying to find someplace more congenial - not "perfect", just something that was a better fit for me and my preferences. And I wouldn't go through the process of buying a home somewhere that I didn't see myself living long term (knowing life can throw curve balls anyway, but I'd want to at least *want* to stay there long term)