Relocating to Grand Junction advice... (Denver, Clifton: real estate, apartment complex, rentals)

[shadowlp06]

Hello,

I accepted a job offer in Grand Junction. Now, the hard part begins, finding somewhere to live. I'm trying to get a good idea from the locals/other folks from Colorado on places to live around GJ. It has been suggested to us to avoid living in GJ itself and try to live outside of GJ. With that said, we have a few questions:

Where are some good places to go outside of GJ within reasonable commuting distance of GJ?

Where are some nice and safe areas to live outside of GJ?

What areas should we avoid?

What are the rental prices like for an apartment in these areas?

What is the atmosphere like around these areas?

Some have suggested Fruita, Cliftion, Fruitvale, or Redlands. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

[CosmicWizard]

Fruita is a nice little town, but living there and working in Grand Junction would require an approximate 13 mile drive in each direction....every day you go into work. The drive itself ( especially along 340 ) is a pleasnat dirve, but the miles will add up and so will the costs. Based on current high price per gallon at this time of the year, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see gas at $5 a gallon this summer. Redlands is a bit closer, but likely to be more costly. Personally, I prefer living in Grand Junction to living in Clifton or Fruitvale. There is a small apartment complex on Crossroads Boulevard ( near the airport ) that you might want to check out. It's only about 3 miles from downtown GJ. A location like that would save you alot of driving time and expense. I have no idea what apartment rents are like thes days.

[Mike from back east]

Threads about Grand Junction, CO are found in the main Colorado forum, as this city/area does not have its own forum.

We have many threads on Grand Junction, to find them, try this:

1. Open the Index of Key Threads and find most of the better ones.

2. Use the advanced search tool:
- Open the Search window
- Select Advanced Search
- Insert keyword as you desire, such as: "Grand Junction" (do not use quote marks, they are used here to highlight specifics)
- Come down one line, click on drop down menu and select "Search Titles Only"
- Move down to Show Results box and select "Threads Only"
- Move to right side, to "search in forums," cursor down, select location, in this case: Colorado (not whole country, or Denver, etc)
- Hit "Search Now"

Using the advanced search tool this way will get you ALL threads in the Colorado forum with "Grand Junction" in the title line. It's a VERY quick way to see the vast majority of threads and get immediate info, as we've answered your set of questions many times over. You can use multiple key words, such as these strings:
- Grand Junction Crime
- Grand Junction Rentals
- Grand Junction neighborhoods

But, when using these types of searches, use "Search Entire Posts" (NOT "titles only") and use "show posts" (not "show threads")

It's a lot easier to do than it sounds.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by shadowlp06

Hello,

I accepted a job offer in Grand Junction. Now, the hard part begins, finding somewhere to live. I'm trying to get a good idea from the locals/other folks from Colorado on places to live around GJ. It has been suggested to us to avoid living in GJ itself and try to live outside of GJ. With that said, we have a few questions:

Where are some good places to go outside of GJ within reasonable commuting distance of GJ? Not sure what you mean-shopping? Outdoor activities? Nightclubs?

Where are some nice and safe areas to live outside of GJ?
Fruita, Palisade, Redlands
What areas should we avoid? Clifton has several areas that are kinda sketchy, but some areas of Clifton are ok. Orchard Mesa ditto.

What are the rental prices like for an apartment in these areas? Today's Daily Sentinel, the local paper, has a variety of 1 and 2 bedroom apartments listed from $450 to $600. Most of those areas are east of downtown. Personally I like the area south and west of Lincoln Park, GJ's nicest park IMO.Patterson Road/F Road is a good area, mostly housing, not a whole lot of apartments except around 7th and Patterson, near St. Mary's Hospital.The further east you go past 30 road then you get to Clifton with mobile home parks and apartment houses.

What is the atmosphere like around these areas? Good.

Some have suggested Fruita, Cliftion, Fruitvale, or Redlands. Any thoughts would be appreciated! Like Cosmic said earlier, Fruita is a ways out from downtown, Redlands is too (but a very pretty area). The apartments Cosmic suggests are ok, not sure on price. Some newer complexes have gone up near the roundabout on Horizon Dr., ample shopping nearby.

Thanks in advance.

There are a few real estate companies involved in property management. Bray and Co. is the best IMO, based on people I've talked to. There are others that I'm sure are ok, though.

MFBE is right, there is quite a bit of other threads on Grand Junction that haven't been posted on recently but a lot of good info are on there. If you have specific ??'s, send a direct message to me, am happy to help. There should be other people posting later. Good luck!

[delta07]

I think it would be best for you to say what kind of things you are looking for in order to get some helpful responses. Wording such as nice and safe is relative, so you might want to quantify that somehow. Grand Junction is a relatively small city, and most of the areas surrounding it are all within "commuting" distance. However, I think that's relative to where you are coming from as well. Personally, I'm not sure why some people have suggested living outside of Grand Junction, unless they are referring to areas of town. Redlands, Orchard Mesa, and even areas that many people consider Clifton, are all within the city of Grand Junction. Fruita, Palisade, Whitewater, and Clifton are towns of their own but many do commute into GJ for work.

[cl723]

I would stay away from Clifton and Fruitvale. Orchard Mesa has some ok areas but most are not so great.

[shadowlp06]

Thanks for all your input so far. I'm going to try and clarify my post a little.

I'm coming into Grand Junction after living in the Salt Lake City valley for the last 10 years. I'm looking to find some clean, modern, and relatively safe areas to stay on the outside of GJ. I think from what I have been told, people have said don't live in the downtown areas if I am going to be living in GJ. I have heard good things about Fruita and Redlands from some people that are already working at the location in GJ I will be at. Sorry to cut this short...but I hope it helps. Thanks again.

[movinbacktome]

You want to live in the Redlands , it is on the west side of town good schools, safe, pretty expensive though. The rental market in
Grand Junction is very tight with 3br' houses renting for about 1200 month. I would most definitely avoid fruitvale and clifton, they are much cheaper but has the associated crime and drugs. Palisade is pretty nice lots of farming.

[jazzlover]

Another relocation website uses a 1 to 10 scale to rate communities on crime stats for both property and violent crime--with 1 being the best rating and 10 being the worst rating. The national average is a "4" on the scale. Grand Junction rates a "7" for both property and violent crime--hardly a glowing statistic, but one I don't find surprising. Grand Junction is not a crime-free utopia by any means. In that regard (as well as many others), the population explosion in western Colorado in the last 20 years has not been kind to the area and its communities.

[DOUBLE H]

And the part of the property crime that has really spiked which Jazzlover is referring to here is the gang tagging. A couple weeks ago in the north central part of town a three block area was hit where dozens of homes and cars got marked up, including an 11 News company truck and a Mesa County deputy sheriffs car. Then there the nutcases who seem to have it in for religious organizations. Lots of churches all over the valley have been tagged.

And the break ins have increased. A few months before the newly constructed Fruita community center was scheduled for opening this past February some punks broke in and maybe 15 to 20 thousand dollars damage was done to the building.