Moving from CA to Ft. Collins area. Best small community? (Denver: sale, credit)

[kalifornia1976]

We are leaving this god forsaken state and relocating to ANYWHERE within a 45 minute commute to Denver V.A. Hospital. Spouse is transferring there. We have a big family and want to live in a smaller community with good schools. Not as expensive as Boulder though. Any suggestions about where to move to? We are definitely not liberals and dont want to be in an area with that kind of vibe, otherwise we'd stay in California. We also are small business owners and hope to relocate our business. Thanks for your help

[StealthRabbit]

Berthoud (Garden spot of Colorado)
Louisville

What type of Business? (retail? / Service?) Stable Customer base may be more important to determine location, and may require larger town than above.

Loveland is VERY nice and pretty mellow. (Stay off US 34 for commute (there are other alternative routes), I left 30+ yrs ago, NoCo was just too busy for me) It is a nice place, but not perfect. (Consider other places too, as it is tough to move a large family).

We have LOTS of VA in PNW. ( cared for my Vet Dad for 30+ yrs and used CO, SD, NE, and WA)
Also lots of VA near my Hill Country TX home, including a Med Center 5 min from home (No traffic / no income taxes / great schools + 2 colleges in a town under 20,000). I go to PNW for the 100 days of miserable weather in TX. Heavenly summers in PNW, Ironically both places get 40" annual rain. PNW drizzles for 8 months, TEX POURS for a few weeks / yr. but... with kids... WA and HI have FREE fulltime college instead of HS. and LOTS of VA in both! That is a PLUS.

[sunsprit]

Your "45 minute" commute limits you to the areas nearer the VA hospital which are in the Denver area metroplex, not outlying towns nor distant locations such as Loveland/Ft Collins.

Especially if your husband's shift times coincide with the prevailing rush hour traffic times in the AM/PM of the area, and complicated by the seasonal inclement road/traffic of the winter months.

A big factor here will be your housing budget. The combination of a large house and a good school district will be pricey in this area.

Absent knowing your price range, it's impossible to suggest a suitable area to look at for you.

[kalifornia1976]

Our budget is $350,000. Which i know is not very much in this area. So the commute from Ft. Collins to Denver is longer then 45mins on average? That is a bummer. In bad weather it would surely be longer. We did look into the Texas hill country as well @Stealthrabbit. But we hate the humidity/heat in the summer. We currently live in Cen Calif and the summers are 100+ for 3 or more months..but its a dry heat :0

[Mike Weber]

Originally Posted by kalifornia1976

Our budget is $350,000. Which i know is not very much in this area. So the commute from Ft. Collins to Denver is longer then 45mins on average? That is a bummer. In bad weather it would surely be longer.

The drive from the south-east corner of Fort Collins to the VA hospital in Denver is 59 miles. Per Googlemaps, that is a 1 hour drive without traffic. The freeway between Fort Collins and Denver is almost always crowded and moving slower than the posted limit, and once you hit north Denver it slows considerably during commute times. I usually allow myself 1.5 hours - 2 hours to get to many Denver destinations. On a good day I can make DIA in 45 minutes from SE Fort Collins by using the tollway around the NE side of town, but that is pushing it and without traffic.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by kalifornia1976

Our budget is $350,000. Which i know is not very much in this area. So the commute from Ft. Collins to Denver is longer then 45mins on average? That is a bummer. In bad weather it would surely be longer. We did look into the Texas hill country as well @Stealthrabbit. But we hate the humidity/heat in the summer. We currently live in Cen Calif and the summers are 100+ for 3 or more months..but its a dry heat :0

I lived just off of I-25 at Hwy 52, which is the Erie area ... significantly closer to Denver than any of the Ft Collins area towns. With only 2 miles to reach I-25, it was taking me longer than 45 minutes to reach downtown Denver's central area, let alone the East side of town where the VA hospital is located, and that was in the late 1990's. Traffic "rush hour" is of much longer duration now and the jams can frequently begin at 160th/I-25 rather than the 104th/I-25 congestion of years ago. The traffic congestion was one of the primary reasons I've since left the area for other business/residential pursuits.

IMO, $350,000 is but a sizable down payment on housing in the areas that would meet your requirements near the VA hospital. Three years ago, a relative bought into the area adjacent to Old Crestmoor (but not in it) that would have otherwise met your requirements, a newly built two-story house on a tear-down lot ... and it was close to 7-figures on a builder distress sale where they needed a quick cash-out to free up their construction line of credit. The housing market in Denver has appreciated since then. I recently checked on a former house of mine just a few blocks off of Colfax/Colorado Blvd in Park Hill ... a "Denver Square" built in 1890, a solid brick house but without a lot of the gingerbread trim or fireplace that was the hallmark of these houses ... and it sold last year for $585,000. The lot was 40' x 160', not a lot of useable backyard space and there was no detached garage, either.

Also, don't fall into the trap of thinking that a modest distance out of Denver into a more rural area will yield lower priced housing and a good school district. My last house in the KenCaryl area recently sold for almost $400,000, and it was a 2,300 sq ft tri-level, fairly plain without much landscaping tract house in the Littleton school district. But you wouldn't come close to a 45 minute commute to downtown Denver from there except on a weekend non-rush hour travel. With the traffic density as it is these days, I doubt you could consistently reach the VA from Thornton in 45 minutes in good weather.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by kalifornia1976

We are leaving this god forsaken state and relocating to ANYWHERE within a 45 minute commute to Denver V.A. Hospital. Spouse is transferring there. We have a big family and want to live in a smaller community with good schools. .... Any suggestions about where to move to? ...

Originally Posted by kalifornia1976;37306422 [B

commute from Ft. Collins to Denver is longer then 45mins on average?[/b] That is a bummer. In bad weather it would surely be longer. We did look into the Texas hill country as well @Stealthrabbit. But we hate the humidity/heat in the summer. We currently live in Cen Calif and the summers are 100+ for 3 or more months..but its a dry heat :0

45 min to Denver VA will need to be in Denver or East (opposite traffic). Bennett, Strasburg, (a few days in the winter will stretch the 45 minutes), But... with a large family,,, work close to home (or work night shift so you can be home with the kids.) 2 hr / day commute time is expensive and dangerous, and not productive.


OP Be advised... you dm'd saying you looked into TYLER, TX That is not TX Hill Country. No more than Ft Lyons (Colorado VA center in Las Animas) is in the Colorado Mtns. (hint... if you want a VA job and a small town, there are a zillion nice options BEYOND Denver!!!) What is wrong with Sturgis, SD? Sheridan, WY?,

[jwiley]

There is a nice VA hospital in Cheyenne that most of the veterans from northern Colorado use, although I would still not suggest commuting from Fort Collins to Cheyenne every day as the weather is often a big problem between the two cities.

If you are set on the Denver VA, as others have said if you are looking for a smaller town with a decent commute to the VA hospital than you are looking east of Denver around Bennet and strasburg, or you can go northeast along I 76 to towns like Brighton and Hudson. I do not know much about the Bennett or Strasburg school district, but do know that Weld Central was considered a pretty good school district when I went there long ago, and Brighton was not considered very good, but has improved over the last few years from what I have heard.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

OP, you appear to be looking at areas north of Denver, but I suggest that you repost in the Denver forum. There are many areas in suburban Denver where I think you should be able to find a house in a good school district in your price range and still be within your 45 minute commute. I'm thinking places like Arvada, Wheat Ridge, and Broomfield for example. Also south of town, we used to live near Arapahoe Road and Havana, in the Cherry Creek School District, and houses in our subdivision go for between $350,000 and $400,000.

There are some realtors on the Denver forum who may be able to give you some other suggestions.

[UltrazGSD]

Where are you moving from in Central CA? We moved to Fort Collins from the Fresno area (Reedley) 3 years ago. Just curious as you are from my home area!