Bend compared to Ft. Collins? (Portland, Eugene: real estate, home, unemployment)

[Windwalker2]

I'm looking at both these places and wondering if anyone has lived in both places and could give me a sense of the differences, in terms of weather, lifestyle, outdoor activities, services, etc. Bend real estate seems to be affordable right now.
I'm looking for retirement, not employment.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by Windwalker2

I'm looking at both these places and wondering if anyone has lived in both places and could give me a sense of the differences, in terms of weather, lifestyle, outdoor activities, services, etc. Bend real estate seems to be affordable right now.
I'm looking for retirement, not employment.

I have family in Fort Collins/Loveland and have visited often, although not lived there. Likewise I live about 100 miles south of Bend, but visit frequently.

I'd give Fort Collins the advantages of being a university town and better medical facilities - but then it's more than twice the size of Bend, with a much more heavily populated surrounding county area. Likewise, it's closer to a major metro area than Bend is. It's a little colder in the winter and hotter in the summer than Bend, with more snow, but more winter sun by a fair amount. Bend has cooler spring and summer nights. bend also does not have the wind Fort Collins gets.

Bend is a little more focused on outdoors and recreation, although Fort Collins has access to a large recreation area. The Fort Collins area is much more "plains" looking than Bend, which is more heavily treed, especially on the west side of town and town proper. The east side stretches out into juniper and sage scrub, not that different than Ft Collins.

For the size of the town, Bend has Fort Collins-level shopping and restaurants, mostly because of the much heavier tourist and retirement trade. Although with the economy in the dumps and Bend's hefty real estate bubble punctured, it remains to be seen how things shake out. Fort Collins has the more diverse economy and may well come out of it better than Bend.

Both states have an equally irritating "nativist" sentiment that makes them somewhat xenophobic (pretty much true of any state in which you can buy those NATIVE bumperstickers).

[sunangel719]

I am in FTC and can tell you about it, but have no knowledge of Bend. I have moved from NO CA to so OR to SO CA to Seattle to Pheonix to CO.
My husband has lived in PA, MA, FL, ME, TX, Seattle.
We have decided that this is the best place for us, for now. Many, many magazines has called FTC the "best place to live" for several reasons.

I first lived in Loveland (50k people) and it is an older community. The stores are a bit older (but not dirty or run down at ALL), FTC is only about 20 north. It has about 150k people and is much young due to the college (CO STATE UNIV). You will find much more traffic in FTC, but that all depends what your used to. No freeway traffic really, all in town driving. The stores are much newer and especially old town FTC, is very cool, trendy and fun for a night out if not to live by. FTC also costs much more in housing etc. Windsor is a nice place in between. Easy access to both.(try to stay in Larimer county though, cheaper electric and other benefits. Look in highland ranch area).

Weather is different here. If you don't like it, wait 5 minutes. We do get some wind, that takes a little bit to get used to, but really not too bad. I just hate when the wind combines with snow or rain. We get 300 days of sun a year. In June/July (right now) we get monsoon type weather. Rain in the afternoon usually, but the mornings are sunny and it stays around the mid to high 70's. It is also unseasonably humid. The rest of the summer dries out a bit and gets hotter, maybe up to the 90's. Fall is beautiful and cooler 50-70. Winters are very dry. We do get snow, but it is well taken care of by the city, no salt, and usually hits in the afternoon and gone by morning. Not even close to the storms of the East Coast or Seattle. It is dry and fluffy snow, easy to shovel if needed.
As far as topography. You can live in the foothills of the mountains and get trees and different weather than living out by I-25 where it is plains and flat and drier/hotter. We live in Windsor now and find a BIG difference just in the 10 miles we moved East (we were by Carter Lake before). Less rain weather, but more wind weather here in Windsor.
Jobs are good here and we are in a bit of a bubble from the recession. Our unemployment is at 4% or so. Most business I talk are doing pretty well. Less, but well.
Denver is 1 hour, CO Springs is 2 hours. Plenty of camping, fishing, hunting in the mountains. I-70 is a mess in the winter to get to skiing. I suggest somewhere else personally.
Hope this helps. We love it here, but miss the water access. Lots of lakes for sure, but we are ocean people. I think we'd like to move back to the coast in a few years, but for now, we call NO CO our home and love it.

[delta07]

I lived in Ft. Collins in the late 1990's while going to Colorado State U. I currently live in Bend. I love both towns, and when deciding to relocate from Colorado last year, my husband and I considered Ft. Collins again, but decided on Bend. PNW gal gave a pretty good synopsis of both towns. Here is my opinion on both.

Ft. Collins experienced a rapid population boom in the late 90's, early 2000's. The infrastructure didn't keep up with that growth. The downtown and university areas of town are great, but growth to the south is pretty much just urban sprawl like the rest of the front range. Numerous strip malls and subdivisions dot the landscape and it looks like anytown, USA. With the university, you do get more diversity, but the town also experiences another boom in population when school is in session. Roads are clogged and if you live close to the university you will have to compete for parking and deal with late night parties. Fun when you are in school, but probably not when you are retired!

The weather is beautiful and you do get four seasons. However, the spring winds are pretty bad, and sometimes you get the lovely smell of the feedlots near Greeley coming with those winds. Summers can get downright hot too. In terms of snow, I think Bend and Ft. Collins are about the same (although I have only lived in Bend one winter). Ft. Collins usually gets a couple of big dumps a year, but snow doesn't stay on the ground for more than a couple of days.

Recreation is Ft. Collins is a big draw. However, you are about 2.5-3 hours away from the ski slopes. You do have your choice of mountains to ski though, if you are willing to fight the traffic to reach them. Climbing and paddling are the biggest draw for Ft. Fun.

Bend, on the other hand, is only 30 minutes away from Mt. Bachelor. If you want to ski other mountains, you will have a longer drive. Many outdoor activities can literally be done out your doorstep, which was a big plus and reason why I chose to move to Bend.

Weather in Bend is beautiful, IMO. I enjoy the four seasons and cooler summer nights. We do get hot weather though, and some days can be unbearable. The winter is more overcast than Colorado, but as a native Coloradoan, it wasn't bad at all. If you are into gardening, Bend is going to be a bit harder than Ft. Collins, but it can be done. Some people say you can't garden here. That is not the truth.

Bend is much farther away from a big city, but we really have all the amenities that you need (as long as they don't all go out of business). Real Estate is much more affordable than a couple of years ago, and with the current state of economy I don't see that changing soon.

Both places are highly desireable to live. It just depends on what you are looking for. Hope this provides you with a little insight. My suggestion would be to spend a couple of weeks in each city if you can. Get a feel for the layout, what it has to offer you, and go with your gut. I did, and I don't regret a thing.

[Windwalker2]

Thanks for the information.
Does Bend have NPR and PBS? Not having them would be a deciding factor for me, removing it from consideration.

[delta07]

Originally Posted by Windwalker2

Thanks for the information.
Does Bend have NPR and PBS? Not having them would be a deciding factor for me, removing it from consideration.

Bend doesn't have a local NPR or PBS affiliate. However, we receive coverage from the Portland and Eugene areas so it is available. I listen to NPR all the time and have never had a problem getting PBS through the local cable company.

[sunangel719]

I know we listen to NPR here, but it could be through Denver? Not sure. We are having to reluctantly move from FtC now, no work. We are looking to Bend, but not sure about work there either. I guess it depends on your specialty.