Young couple looking to relocate to Ft. Collins..help! (Denver: to rent, insurance)

[cragan]

We are in our mid 20's looking to move from Sioux Falls, SD to Ft. Collins. Ideally we would like to buy a house, we've only rented in the past. We haven't finished college, and I don't know if either of us plan to. What is the best way to go about moving, finding decent jobs, and getting into a positon where we could hopefully buy a house soon? We don't even know how much money we could get approved for, but in SD they'd give us around 120K. Is that reasonable for the Ft. Collins area? What factors do we need to consider...neither of us have moved this far before.

Any advice and insight would be wonderful!

[bluescreen73]

My wife and I love Fort Collins. I got my degree from CSU and the 6.5 years I spent there were some of the best of my life. It's a great town. That being said, 120K isn't gonna get you much of a house in Fort Collins. The average house price is almost $230,000.

The cost of living in Fort Collins is about 13% higher than Sioux Falls.

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[tfox]

Agree. 120k is perfectly doable for a condo/townhouse. Not a single-family home, sadly, even with recent housing downturns, not anywhere close to Fort Collins. Fort Collins IS slightly cheaper than Metro Denver, certainly cheaper than Boulder, but it's not that much cheaper.

As for jobs, one of the few knocks on FC in this forum is the relative lack of good-paying jobs (at least compared to Metro Denver) -- much of it due to too many overeducated CSU grads who linger too long after graduation. I should emphasize that it's not THAT bad by national standards, or even compared to towns of its size. However, jobs are more plentiful and much higher paying in Metro Denver or Boulder County, so much so that many end up opting to embark on a horrific commute to north Metro Denver for work (not recommended).

That said, Fort Collins has an appeal for many that Denver or Boulder do not. I think it fits in with what many are looking for in a medium-sized town, and it's far enough from Denver to have something of an independent identity (at least for now)

[StealthRabbit]

Getting decent paying jobs and not having debt like Credit cards and auto loans will help get you into a position to buy a house.

I wouldn't get into a big hurry to buy a house, this housing devaluation is far from over (probably 7-10 yrs for a recovery, but possibly more since we let it get so screwed up). I think it is currently better financial management to rent. You need to do a cost analysis, but I don't get too carried away thinking a personal residence is an 'investment'. It is often a HUGE liability. Be sure to consider ALL the costs (taxes, maint, insurance, potential future devaluation, hassle factor... yard, repairs, damage, undesirable or violent neighbors, or their dogs... ) Bottom line, enjoy your youth and be diligent to future home ownership, but realize at what costs it will come. (freedom + $$$ + time) There will be some bargains and the right time to buy.

Finish college ! You may have a lifetime to regret not doing so. Good jobs are essential, and not necessarily dependent on a degree, BUT... not having one could seriously erode your lifelong salary and advancement in careers and even volunteer positions. pay the piper early, as family responsibilities make that tough later.

in retrospect.... if we (as a married couple) would have diligently been on the same page to work really hard and strategically invest in our 20's.... the rest of life would have been much easier. Instead we did the 'single income' and later added kids (in mid 20's) then got strapped with a farm and life became a pretty big chore, tho good; we could have been smarter.