Fort Collins vs. Loveland (Denver, Boulder: house, water heater, buying)

[Rumblebelly]

Fort Collins is great and you might like it. The front range is similar in many aspects to southern Calif. Lot's of traffic, sprawl, dry climate.

A 3 bdrm house less than 200k is easy to find but those are usually in the burbs. Old town, where most of the older historic homes are and are close to downtown cost A LOT more. There is a lot of demand to live in these areas. Fort Collins grew a great deal recently so most of the homes are in the suburbs while the downtown really hasn't expanded much. It's greatly revitalized though.

This is a college town and most of the "partying" is in Old town. You gotta take the good with the bad. Crime is pretty low, the area is fairly laid back except for all the folks from Cali stressing everyone out

Best of luck.

[tpareo]

Thanks Rumblebelly.

How far is the average drive from the suburbs to downtown in Fort Collins? Just trying to get a picture of how separate it is.

Are the houses pretty crowded together in the suburbs (like here in soCal) or is there a comfortable amount of space between each house, with nice big yards?

I'm actually a CA transplant, I spent the first 21 years of my life in TX. I grew up in a little no-where town outside of Austin (pop 5,000) so I'm looking for a nice balance between nowhere and cram packed...

[Rumblebelly]

The suburbs are relatively close. I think most are within 10 to 20 minutes of downtown. Not all neighborhoods are created equally, some have relatively large lots, some are tiny.

We are selling our 1600 sqft, 3 bdr, 2 bath home for 196k. It's a split level home built in '84. Our neighborhood is about 1 to 2 miles north of the Old Town district. This is actually really close for a suburb in Fort Collins, most are down south 2-6 miles away. Our lot is about 63' wide which leaves about 10-15 between us and the homes next to us.

[StealthRabbit]

I'd give both cities a try, spend some time walking them, as they each have different benefits, and one might feel more 'homey'. (I'm partial to Loveland, as it is smaller and more 'laid-back', but not significantly different. There should be plenty of jobs in each spot, but likely more choice in Ft C.

The $200k limit will be a challenge, but a worthwhile one to pursue. It is not good to 'overspend' at this stage in your life. But.... if you find the right place for more, and there is a reasonable way to afford it, then pull out some stops and make it happen. The values in this area will probably sustain, since it is a 'desireable' spot. - Don't pay more than you could sell it for, if needed, try to find something unique, as tract homes have a lot of competition if you need to sell.

[Rumblebelly]

Actually, there are plenty of 3 bdr stick built homes for under 200k. They might not be in the best of condition or the roomiest of homes, but there are some homes that go as low as 150k.

www.coloproperty.com

[tfox]

Of the two places you mentioned, FC and Loveland, you'll likely see them go in different directions in the short-term, but similar in the long-term. 10-20 years ago, FC was growing fast, Loveland was rather tiny, and towns like Windsor nearby were scarcely on the map at all.

Times have changed. Fort Collins is pretty stable -- there is limited new construction going on, but its days of rapid horizontal expansion are clearly over. Expect to see more emphasis on redevelopment in Fort Collins Old Town, Central Business District, and campus areas. Fort Collins is also really hurting financially due to sales tax leakage from its rapidly growing neighbors -- the whole area used to come into Fort Collins to shop, but now Loveland, and to a lesser extent, points south, has meant that few shoppers come into Fort Collins for anything.

Loveland is in rapid growth-mode right now, building up its Centerra developments near the highway. Expect to see a lot more of this sort of thing and Loveland's population could easily reach or surpass Fort Collins' if current trends continue.

Loveland's ability to sprawl is limited much the same way as Fort Collins' is too, and within 10-20 years you'll likely see Loveland stabilize its population as it frets about retail leakage to Weld County sprawl-friendly legislative environment.

So what does this mean for you? Well, I'd choose Fort Collins if you're looking for a more stable, slow-growth community or Loveland if you'd prefer a faster-growing community.

[hmtklein]

I live in and love Fort Collins the only pitfall is that the college kids have a large impact on the town ... and some neighborhoods are going to the pot because of them. Real Estate investors completely feed off their desparation to be close to campus and many of the neighborhoods near campus are completely knappy.. There is a skeezey property management/landlord thing going on that feeds off clueless 19 olds fresh from the dorms that have no clue what they should be getting for their buck. The other nasty thing about FC is that the employers get away with paying way less then they should be.
But Fc is laid out really nicely, the poudre river is great and there is a lot of character in the downtown area.

[tpareo]

Thanks Rumblebelly, tfox, and hmtklein for your replies. Very helpful.

Are there reasonably priced stores (grocery, clothing, hardware, books, cooking, etc.) in Fort Collins? What about Loveland? Or do you have to drive to nearby towns to get a fair deal on these kinds of items?

Cost of housing in Loveland is generally lower than FC, right?

Have the housing costs in Loveland been rising faster than in FC lately?

[Rumblebelly]

Originally Posted by tpareo

Thanks Rumblebelly, tfox, and hmtklein for your replies. Very helpful.

Are there reasonably priced stores (grocery, clothing, hardware, books, cooking, etc.) in Fort Collins? What about Loveland? Or do you have to drive to nearby towns to get a fair deal on these kinds of items?

Cost of housing in Loveland is generally lower than FC, right?

Have the housing costs in Loveland been rising faster than in FC lately?

Goods are reasonably priced in Fort Collins and Loveland. Housing might be a tad cheaper in Loveland but probably not significant. If you want cheaper housing, you'll have to look east like at Ault or Greeley.

[tfox]

There's virtually no difference in price between FC and Loveland -- that's a thing of the past. Points north and east of Fort Collins (wellington, eaton, etc) are cheaper than both FC and Loveland.

For reasons I can't figure out, the town of Windsor (particularly its west side), is the most expensive of all the towns in the area, when I say it's cheaper east of Fort Collins, Windsor isn't included in the "cheaper" part of that.