Visiting CO to check out cities to live in... (Colorado Springs: home, university)

[HappyMontrose]

Left LA for Colorado..

Make a not to check out Western Colorado if you get a chance..

HM

[guyatwork37]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

I'd still check out Denver's suburbs. Denver is not LA but its big enough to have pretty much everything you'd need. Something I've seen a lot of on city-data and in real life is that people get sick of the big city so they over correct the other direction and wind up in a town that's too small and lacks a lot of what they're used to. So they run back to California badmouthing their new town after 6 months.

Denver, for my wife and I at least, is just the right size. Is big enough to have a variety of things to do, restaurants to eat in, etc, but not so big that its a million square miles of endless concrete sprawl and traffic. Imagine if south OC was only as far away from downtown LA as Norwalk. That's Denver today. Denver traffic is nothing compared to LA and it actually has a workable light rail system for getting into downtown from the south suburbs.

The thing is we don' do much, we don't need a plethora of activities. As long as there is a Chinese food restaurant, places to go camping/hiking/ride a bike/workout and a supermarket. We should be fine. I assume there is electricity, so my Wii and television should be ok and I assume internet as well. We're boring people. We got over the need to be constantly doing things and going out back in college. A bar will suffice and a library. Maybe a Best Buy and Target too.

Left LA for Colorado..

Make a not to check out Western Colorado if you get a chance..

HM

All I can see in Western CO is Grand Junction. Are there jobs there?

Thanks again everyone!

[tew]

I moved from Irvine CA (OC) 2 years ago for the same reason. Me and my husband worked full time jobs and when I had my son I waned to stay home. Well we were renting and looked into buying. After looking for places in Oceanside (SD) I decided I wanted out of CA. We were able to get a job transfer and moved to CO. My husband already came out to CO for work once in a while so we knew the cities we wanted to live. We flew out to Denver one day and looked a houses. Picked the ones we liked and got our 1st choice. Thats not a normal thing to do but it worked of us. We live in Highlands Ranch. It go for families. Check it out.

[DressageRider]

Boulder is the city you are interested in that I am most familiar with and I definitely think it is a great place to live. (I live in Longmont - and love it - but I used to live in Boulder and still work there.)

Places to check out during your visit:

1. Pearl Street in downtown is a good place to stroll around. It is touristy, but gives you a good sense of what Boulder is all about.
2. Go for a hike at Chautauqua and get up close and personal with the Flatirons
3. Another good place to hike is the Mt. Sanitas Loop.

[guyatwork37]

Originally Posted by tew

I moved from Irvine CA (OC) 2 years ago for the same reason. Me and my husband worked full time jobs and when I had my son I waned to stay home. Well we were renting and looked into buying. After looking for places in Oceanside (SD) I decided I wanted out of CA. We were able to get a job transfer and moved to CO. My husband already came out to CO for work once in a while so we knew the cities we wanted to live. We flew out to Denver one day and looked a houses. Picked the ones we liked and got our 1st choice. Thats not a normal thing to do but it worked of us. We live in Highlands Ranch. It go for families. Check it out.

Thank you for pointing this out

Boulder is the city you are interested in that I am most familiar with and I definitely think it is a great place to live. (I live in Longmont - and love it - but I used to live in Boulder and still work there.)

Places to check out during your visit:

1. Pearl Street in downtown is a good place to stroll around. It is touristy, but gives you a good sense of what Boulder is all about.
2. Go for a hike at Chautauqua and get up close and personal with the Flatirons
3. Another good place to hike is the Mt. Sanitas Loop.

Awesome! Thank you for your advice, we'll check these places out when we go

[CosmicWizard]

guyatwork37 wrote:

All I can see in Western CO is Grand Junction. Are there jobs there?

Everyone living in Grand Junction is independently wealthy, so we have no need for jobs! Just kidding.

Actually, the economy in Grand Junction is alot stronger than most places in the country. You can certainly find jobs, but not with LA wages. The countryside around Grand Junction is not the mountain wonderland that many people picture when they dream of Colorado. This is desert and canyon country. An hours drive will get you into the mountains however. Compared to LA, summers are hot and winters are cold.

[PokerMunkee]

I would first limit your location by your job. Which area will have the most opportunities and best wages?

Denver is quite large to me, but isn't LA big LOL. I lived in Las Vegas for 4 years prior to Woodland Park (~7,000 people 15 miles west of CO Springs), and Denver seems about the same. The Springs will usually be a little more affordable but the job might not pay the same as Denver. If you want both worlds, you could check out Monument (North end of Springs) or Castle Rock (South end of Denver). You could commute to either city from these two in about a hour each way if you needed.

Go on ColoradoHomes.com and search houses in all the areas you are interested in. Should give you an idea what your money will get you in each area!

[guyatwork37]

Originally Posted by TheEricHarris

I would first limit your location by your job. Which area will have the most opportunities and best wages?

Denver is quite large to me, but isn't LA big LOL. I lived in Las Vegas for 4 years prior to Woodland Park (~7,000 people 15 miles west of CO Springs), and Denver seems about the same. The Springs will usually be a little more affordable but the job might not pay the same as Denver. If you want both worlds, you could check out Monument (North end of Springs) or Castle Rock (South end of Denver). You could commute to either city from these two in about a hour each way if you needed.

Go on ColoradoHomes.com and search houses in all the areas you are interested in. Should give you an idea what your money will get you in each area!

Thank you for the info! I'm not too concerned about the salary decrease as the host of home ownership is cheaper than the rent I pay for a 1 bedroom apartment in LA. Basically I can see 3 bdr 2 bth homes in CO for $150,000 with ~1,500 sq ft. Even if I put no money down (which would be ridiculous), the mortgage would be about $950. I pay about $1,200 in rent right now for a 1 bdr apt. ~700 sq ft. As a comparison, the cheapest house in my neighborhood is $450,000 and it is 2 bdr. 1 bth. and ~900 sq. ft. So unless my wages drop by 80% (and trust me I don't get paid much for what I do now by my company as they are cheap) I should be fine

The point of this being that I'm fairly confident we can afford a house especially with the intended 20% down we want to pay, it's more a matter of being able to find work in the city we want to live in. That's why I get less and less positive about Fort Collins as I hear the job market is poor.

[Steveindenverisanidot]

You may want to rent while looking for that perfect place. I can tell you that Colorado Springs (the West side) is a very nice place that really shows what Colorado has to offer.

Good luck on the move.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by AnalyzeThis

LOL wait is this true??? I don't hate guys, I am half black, and I sure as hell did NOT vote for Bush the 1st or 2nd term and CO Springs was one of the areas recommended for me.

No, it's not true. Nor is it true that Boulder is full of only hippie-crits. It's just the in-state stereotype.

I guess all stereotypes have a kernel of truth. It is true that Boulder is home of the ultra-hippie Naropa University and that Colorado Springs is home to the ultra-conservative Focus on the Family. But how many people in either place do either one really represent? Not all that many, numerically. It is also true that Boulder does tend to vote more DEMOCRATIC while Colorado Springs trends more Republican, but being GOP doesn't make someone a gay-bashing racist either. Nor does being a democrat make you a weed-smoking hippie either.

Actually, with Colorado Springs heavy military presence, it's quite a diverse community for its size, with no real evidence of any racism that I know of. There are even pockets there that are liberal enclaves (mostly near the foothills).