Concerned about moving to Longmont/Lafayette

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by qsr

Since I live in Erie, I think I should defend it a little bit. It's actually a very nice town, if maybe a little bit on the boring/bedroomy side. The new rec center and library are great. Mainly I like it for the location and proximity to Denver, Broomfield, Longmont, and Boulder (all about a 25 minute drive.) Lafayette is similarly situated. All parts of Erie go to the St Vrain schools, which are overcrowded, but I don't have kids so I can't say either way how they are. There's other charter schools and BVSD nearby. Also Erie might have the best mountain view in the metro area.

Having said that, if you are thinking of moving to Colorado from out of state--FORGET IT. There are NO JOBS. Especially in IT! Our biggest employers are IBM and Sun, who just cut back month after month, creating a big pool of tech people to fight over the scraps. Actually I'm just warning you to look into the job situation before moving out here. Wages have dropped precipitously in the past couple of years, partly due to the influx of new people.

Parts of Erie go to Boulder Valley Schools, basically the areas west of County Line Road.

[maximusmgm]

For IT...things seem to be better in Denver. I don't know any unemployed IT people. On the flip side I only know of one place hiring and its for help desk work.

One thing I have noticed is Boulder county tends to attract more start-up companies than Denver. I think those have been hit pretty hard by the economy.

[gatorchick]

The commute from Lafayette to Longmont is a breeze. IMO its much easier than commuting into either Denver or Boulder. The only downside about that commute is that your RTD options are VERY limited.

[abrown5126]

My wife and i are looking to move to Longmont we are wondering what neighborhood we should look into renting based on a good school for our 10 yr old. is crime a problem there too cause we have to small children and mywife is a stay at home mother for now. is the commute from Longmont to greeley bad or do u suggest a different town

[V1VrV2]

I guess I can post some follow-up on this thread I started a little over a year ago and we now live in Longmont.

So, to address the concerns I outlined in my original post last October:

The IT job market?
Fortunately, this has become a non-issue since I was able to keep my previous job and work from home. In general though, I've heard positive things about the market picking up. No practical evidence of this, of course, since I'm not looking, but hopefully the market is picking up.

Living in Longmont?
Really love it. Perfect mix of small town with a great location, great views of the mountains and access to the metro areas, too. There's great community involvement and people seem to be proud to live here.

We chose to live in Prospect New Town on the south side of Longmont. It's a great neighborhood and really fosters a sense of community. A little eclectic and somewhat uppity, but great all the same. There are other really great neighborhoods as well, Old town, some of the newer developments on the Southwestern side, etc. all of which are really good choices and offer reasonably priced housing (that Prospect does not).

Shopping is a little sparse, but we end up just going to Superior to the mall or Costco. It's a 20-25 minute drive, so really not too bad. Longmont does offer a lot when it comes to good restaurants and we've been pretty impressed with that. Sugarbeet, Terroir, heck, even the Rib House and Tres Margaritas and, of course, all of the chain restaurant staples have kept us satiated. And Boulder, with its reputation of the foodie capital of Colorado, is only a short drive away, too.

Crime and gang activity isn't an issue where we live. Sure, there's some delinquent teenagers that run around in the neighborhood, but I still feel comfortable leaving the door unlocked. But, the caveat I've come to realize is that any sizable town is going to have gangs and crime.

Commute from Lafayette to Longmont?
Again, non-issue for us but I'm sure some people do it and don't mind. I just wouldn't want to mess around with it in the wintertime. We do drive down to that area quite frequently and the drive is quick and easy, so I'm guessing the commute would be similar.


Anyhow, this board has been a great help and I really appreciate the feedback given by it's members. jkcoop, Katiana, eon-krate32, sumukru, thanks all for your help.

[V1VrV2]

Originally Posted by abrown5126

My wife and i are looking to move to Longmont we are wondering what neighborhood we should look into renting based on a good school for our 10 yr old. is crime a problem there too cause we have to small children and mywife is a stay at home mother for now. is the commute from Longmont to greeley bad or do u suggest a different town

From what I've heard (having lived in Longmont for 3 months now), the better schools are on the south and southwest sides of town. Someone told us to avoid the east side of town from a school standpoint, although there seemed to be a pretty good elementary school on the NE side of town. Also, that area has some reasonably priced, newer homes.

The drive to Greeley isn't too bad, about an hour, if I recall. The traffic on I25 shouldn't be too much of a issue expect in inclement weather, which would make me want to live a bit closer if possible.

[WhereTheSidewalkEnds]

It's nice to hear an update from someone who was asking about a move! Glad you are settled and enjoying Longmont

[elemental]

Originally Posted by V1VrV2

I guess I can post some follow-up on this thread I started a little over a year ago and we now live in Longmont.

So, to address the concerns I outlined in my original post last October:

The IT job market?
Fortunately, this has become a non-issue since I was able to keep my previous job and work from home. In general though, I've heard positive things about the market picking up. No practical evidence of this, of course, since I'm not looking, but hopefully the market is picking up.

Living in Longmont?
Really love it. Perfect mix of small town with a great location, great views of the mountains and access to the metro areas, too. There's great community involvement and people seem to be proud to live here.

We chose to live in Prospect New Town on the south side of Longmont. It's a great neighborhood and really fosters a sense of community. A little eclectic and somewhat uppity, but great all the same. There are other really great neighborhoods as well, Old town, some of the newer developments on the Southwestern side, etc. all of which are really good choices and offer reasonably priced housing (that Prospect does not).

Shopping is a little sparse, but we end up just going to Superior to the mall or Costco. It's a 20-25 minute drive, so really not too bad. Longmont does offer a lot when it comes to good restaurants and we've been pretty impressed with that. Sugarbeet, Terroir, heck, even the Rib House and Tres Margaritas and, of course, all of the chain restaurant staples have kept us satiated. And Boulder, with its reputation of the foodie capital of Colorado, is only a short drive away, too.

Crime and gang activity isn't an issue where we live. Sure, there's some delinquent teenagers that run around in the neighborhood, but I still feel comfortable leaving the door unlocked. But, the caveat I've come to realize is that any sizable town is going to have gangs and crime.

Commute from Lafayette to Longmont?
Again, non-issue for us but I'm sure some people do it and don't mind. I just wouldn't want to mess around with it in the wintertime. We do drive down to that area quite frequently and the drive is quick and easy, so I'm guessing the commute would be similar.


Anyhow, this board has been a great help and I really appreciate the feedback given by it's members. jkcoop, Katiana, eon-krate32, sumukru, thanks all for your help.

Great to see another successful transplant; the board needs that feedback so others may gain confidence in our suggestions.

p.s. there are delinquent teenagers in the best neighborhoods from the finest, wealthiest families. It's to be expected. Living in a college town is another issue altogether...