Moving from New Jersey to Colorado. Need advice. (Denver, Fort Collins: appointed, real estate)

[caseycorey]

My wife and i have 2 young kids and we are looking to get out of New Jersey and go to Colorado. Can anyone give us advice on where to live? I want to be close to Denver since i am a financial analyst and i believe that's where i'll end up getting a job. We are looking for good schools, low crime, outdoor activities for the kids. We are looking to spend around $250k for a suburban house.


Any help would be much appreciated!

Mike

[Cupcake77]

Call a real estate agent that can help you find a foreclosure in a good area.

[Mike from back east]

Mike, I moved your other posting from Fort Collins to the Denver forum, which is where you'll most likely end up due to the Denver Metro Area (DMA) having at least half the state's population and most of the jobs, finance included.

Colo Spgs might work, it's close to the mountains and has tons of outdoor rec options, good schools, affordable for your target price, low crime, etc. Then again, that describes much of the DMA. The western suburbs are closer to the mountains if that matters for rec.

Your target price is too high for most of Boulder, though towns near there are more affordable. I'd suggest you consider the rte 36 corridor between DMA and Boulder. Also Golden, Highlands Ranch and others as well. About 3M people are in the DMA, tons to choose from. We often advise renting here a year to sort it all out to see what appeals to you.

Fort Collins is fine too, but is far enough north of the DMA that I'd say "abandon all hope" of commuting between the Fort and Denver.

Try searching homes on realtor.com for any part of the region. For COLO SPGS, look at ppar.com where my favorite area is Briargate, but there are many other parts of town that are equally worth checking.

[Cupcake77]

Not sure where he can find a house inthat price range and he doesn't have a job here yet. He might be disappointed.

[caseycorey]

What towns are in the Rte 36 corridor (DMA) you are referring to Mike?

Any helpful hints on where to find financial analyst jobs? Thanks!

[livinslv]

Originally Posted by caseycorey

What towns are in the Rte 36 corridor (DMA) you are referring to Mike?

Any helpful hints on where to find financial analyst jobs? Thanks!

Find the post on 85,000 more people moving to Colorado than there will be jobs available. Or something about not enough jobs for those moving to Colorado...it's based on a Denver Post article.

Honestly, I hear the East Coast's economy is doing much better than Colorado. I just moved to Taos to have a job close to my home in the San Luis Valley and I must admit things are really, really bad here as well. I'm making about 40% less that I was and it's not because the cost-of-living is lower here it's because from what I've seen there's a lot of California escapees.

However, some of those people moving in are retired and will not need a job and that doesn't mean your resume' won't get noticed by someone. I'd suspect you're going to be in competition with a lot of people locally and that will be a big challenge. From what little I've read on this forum and seen in the papers even available nurses seem to be in surplus in Colorado and I've never seen that before. And if they're a surplus then I have to wonder about the other professions.

Good luck at any rate. Traffic in pretty bad anymore in Highway 36 according my friend that lives in Westminster and commutes to Boulder.

$250K will probably get you into an older and smaller place in Denver. I'm not sure about the Springs. The forum moderator knows a lot about that city and what you're money can buy. I'd look there too.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by caseycorey

What towns are in the Rte 36 corridor (DMA) you are referring to Mike?

Any helpful hints on where to find financial analyst jobs? Thanks!

Westminster, Superior, Broomfield, Louisville, etc.

We've a regular poster on here who sings the praises of Arvada.

There is so much to choose from here, best to follow the formula of:
1. Job first. Start with the usual websites (Monster, Craigslist, etc) and any professional group of which you might be a member.
2. Rent for 6-12 months while exploring and doing your due diligence research.
3. Make a home purchase only when you are really sure of it.

[livinslv]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Make a home purchase only when you are really sure of it.

This is good advice.

[lelephantblonde]

You might seriously consider renting first for a year, get settled to the area and then look for a house where you'd really like to be. Check out Zillow for rentals and also Craigslist, and other places too. Look at Zillow for houses to buy as well - there are some deals out there with more to come all of the time... but it's really hard to know an area until you get the feel by liviing around it first...or at least visiting it several times. Good luck!

[lelephantblonde]

Oh yeah, and padmapper.com is also a cool tool.