Why do people leave Colorado? (Denver, Fort Collins: middle-class, mortgages, credit report)

[COflower]

Originally Posted by sberdrow

I used to say the, but I don't think there are enough freeways here to really make it worth it. You have I25 and I70 and 287....you can learn to say the names of the freeways here, unlike California.

You forgot C470 and E470.



And I just watched the Rockies lose. I am not a big baseball fan but dang it, I was hoping they would pull out of the slump they were in and at least make it 5 or more games.

Le sigh.

Oh and as an aside, I do love my Broncos and Avalanche. More into football and hockey than I am baseball but sadly the Rockies didn't do it.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by COflower

And I just watched the Rockies lose.

I'd rather get killed or swept or blown out than lose by one run in the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game or by one point with one second left. In the former I can more easily reconcile losing to a better team. In the latter, there will always be doubts. If I had only made that one play, or got a hit, or made a shot...maybe things would have been different.

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by Charles

I'd rather get killed or swept or blown out than lose by one run in the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game or by one point with one second left. In the former I can more easily reconcile losing to a better team. In the latter, there will always be doubts. If I had only made that one play, or got a hit, or made a shot...maybe things would have been different.

I can live with the loss, but I was also hoping that we could go 6 games. No shame in losing to a better team in 6 games. A sweep is...kinda disapointing, I must tell you. I agree though, I would hate to lose a heartbreaker in game 7 in the 9th inning. Cleaveland must know how that feels all the time..Im starting to feel sorry for them. If Ohio keeps to form, Ohio State should lose the National championship to My Oregon ducks in the forth quarter by a fumble on the two yard line, then Dixon can drive it 98 yards to tie it up, so that we can kick the winning field goal. I wonder if this senareo could ever happen to a team from Ohio

[b.adams]

I generally think most people leave because of:
(a) too cold, its not like CA or FL !!!, can't handle 4 seasons a year
(b) better jobs elsewhere/economy
(c) don't like the number of cowboys and conservatives, didn't find Boulder in time
(d) too little vegetation, houses too close, no humidity

But that said, almost anywhere I go, I'm always glad to come home to Colorado.

I think most people, even those living in awful places, find a certain charm of where they grew up.

For me, the Colorado climate is really great and 'us locals' like folks thinking its too snowy here, because we know its not so bad. Last winter was horrific, but not typical at all. Worst I've seen in the 32 years I've been hear -- by far. And no, not because of global warming.

[katmoney]

I still can't get used to calling it a "freeway". It's an expressway, dammit!

[mdp_az]

I lived in Fort Collins for just over a year. My wife took a job in Greeley and moved us there from Flagstaff and we loved it! Unfortunately, 9/11 was right after we moved in and while I was in the midst of a job search, so the job market dried up. I ended up getting a decent job, but it required a ton of travel, mostly to Nebraska. We found that w/ my travel and the rigors of everyday life, we really weren't able to enjoy so many of the things we wanted to in Colorado. For example, I only skied 6 days that winter, which was less ski days in Colorado than I'd ever had before...even when living in North Carolina. A great job opportunity came up back in NC, which is where our family is, and my wife also had a lot of good career options there, so we decided to move back east. I was a difficult decision, and I certainly shed some tears as we turned east onto I-70, but hopefully someday we'll be able to move back out there.

[Katarina Witt]

We found that w/ my travel and the rigors of everyday life, we really weren't able to enjoy so many of the things we wanted to in Colorado. For example, I only skied 6 days that winter, which was less ski days in Colorado than I'd ever had before...even when living in North Carolina.

This is the case for a lot of people in CO. For example, we had not been up to see the Aspen in the fall in years, b/c our kids were doing a fall high school sport that required our attendance at games on fall Saturdays. Sundays were busy with church obligations. In the long run, it's eat, work, sleep, wherever you are.

[mdp_az]

You said it! We make more money, travel less for work, and have our family close by to help out w/ our son now that we're back in NC! With the extra income here, we're also able to afford a vacation home in the NC mountains so we can still get in some great hiking! Plus we take at least one trip per year to somewhere in the west for vacation/climbing/skiing, so at least I can get my big mountain fix still!

[Toucan Sam]

I'm reluctantly leaving Fort Collins, CO after 10 years, in part, because the high-tech business support jobs have dried up. Many of the larger firms' (e.g., HP, Intel, AMD, LSI Logic, Agilent, Celestica, etc.) business support jobs have transitioned their manufacturing out-of-state and to other countries. Some "business" jobs have turned into engineering and R&D positions. Unfortunately, the mid-senior level and business directorships are hard to come by and are often not advertised on the popular job boards.

The COLA research I've done (e.g., www.salary.com, Business, financial, personal finance news - CNNMoney, LinkedIn: Relationships Matter, Compare mortgage rates, home loans, CD rates, auto loans, credit cards, mortgages and more, etc.) show that salaries in Northern Colorado (e.g., Fort Collins/Loveland/Greeley) are not very comparable with similarly-situated areas of the US. We tend to pay a premium for living at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

I would stay here if I could, but the higher paying jobs are elsewhere!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Toucan Sam

We tend to pay a premium for living at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

I would stay here if I could, but the higher paying jobs are elsewhere!

Try Orange County, CA. Lots of jobs. It's only about $400-$500/sqft for housing.