Looking at CO again - Area Considerations (Denver, Colorado Springs: ski resorts, real estate)

[Shock976]

Considering a move to CO again, what are some good suburb areas with good schools and nice neighborhoods. I would like to have somewhat mild winters and be within 20-30 minutes of a good size city.

[sterlinggirl]

In order to give you a good answer, we need the same sort of information that you'd need to help somebody find a home. Price range and square footage, whether you'll need to find work in real estate, what type of industry your spouse would need if that's important, mountains or plains, newer or older, etc..

[Shock976]

We are more than likely going to rent when we get out there and obviously the more affordable rent is, the better as we will have to find work and me, well I'll be needing to become licensed to practice real estate in CO. My girlfriend is in the Dental Field, she is an RDA, however right now she currently manages a dental office here in SoCal.

We would prefer a newer home probably no more than 10-20 years old whether we rent or buy, and square footage is really of no concern, but if I had to give a number... 1,200 square feet but as long as the layout well thought out. Additionally, we would want to stay away from Tornadoes, and any other natural disasters that we can, but realize you cannot be so lucky. I have never had to drive in the snow so the least amount of snow we have to deal with the better but we can adapt for a good size community, schools, and ammenities.

I hope this is enough information, and I appreciate your response. How is Grand Junction?

[Count David]

Hi Shock, long time no see.

Good suburb areas are all the smaller cities surrounding the bigger ones. In any of them, there is somewhere you can't go wrong.

If you want mild winters, you do not want anywhere in Colorado.

The only good sized city in Colorado is Denver. Colorado Springs comes close, but it's more the size of the Bakersfield.

In Colorado, you won't be 100% immune to the likelihood of tornadoes, but I will add that I haven't been killed by one yet. If you consider a blizzard or a heavy dumping of snow a natural disaster, then you won't be able to avoid those either, as you are more likely to be affected by one of those (as opposed to a tornado).

The only way you'll never have to deal with snow is if you don't come here. You will drive in it, and it WILL be a HUGE pain in the butt. If you don't like pains in the butt....

Why is it that you want to leave CA again? It seems like that you are wanting to move more out of circumstance as opposed to finding a new experience. If you aren't up for an entirely new, possibly challenging, and difficult experience then you probably shouldn't leave CA. It's almost like you simply want a cheaper Santa Clarita with a better economy. We have Santa Claritas here, but there are trade-offs and concessions (snow, tornadoes, etc) that need to be made. CO is not CA.

There are plenty of threads here about Grand Junction. IMO it's a nice enough place.

[jazzlover]

Good luck competing with the thousands of unemployed real estate people in Colorado. You could stand anywhere in the state and swing your fist around and hit one. Like the old joke,"What do you call a real estate professional in Colorado?" "Waiter."

[DOUBLE H]

It's ironic and quite true that Jazz says "Waiter". A guy I know who was a substitute teacher for many years in the Denver area moved to the Grand Junction area a few years ago. And went to work waiting tables at the Golden Corral here in Junction. One day around July of 2008 he hands me a business card and says, "I don't know if this is going to work out or not". He had passed his real estate exams and got hired at Bray and Co. Real Estate. I think of him from time to time.

[Fitchtank]

Hi. I'm a 3rd generation native living in Denver and tornadoes REALLY should not be a concern when speaking of moving to a "suburb" in the state.

How many cities do we have that are big enough to have suburbs anyway? Maybe 3: Denver, Colorado Springs & possibly Grand Junction (just to not leave out the western slope). You aren't in danger of tornadoes anywhere. Obviously, we do have tornadoes but they are infrequent and very small along the front range. When the cells move east off the mountains (and beyond Denver) they take a while to really organize and strengthen to the point where they are dangerous enough to take into consideration when planning on where to live. I wouldn't worry about the T-factor.

I disagree with David:

"If you want mild winters, you do not want anywhere in Colorado."

We have very mild winters....arctic air masses will hit us several times throughout the season along with a couple of big snow storms but both are often punctuated by a 60 degree day.

With the mighty Rocky Mountains shielding us from most weather systems traveling from the west coast, we enjoy a rain shadow as these weather fronts carrying moisture collide with the mountains and dump their moisture where we want it....on the ski resorts. Denver is actually classified a "high mountain desert" with only 12 - 14 inches of precipitation annually ( I believe 1 foot of snow is generally equal to 1 inch of precip). Add 300+ days of sun and you have about the best climate in the country while still being able to enjoy 4 true seasons.

That's my take Good luck with your move.

[jazzlover]

Oh, come on. Tornadoes may not be frequent in Colorado, but try to tell the people in Windsor that there is no danger from tornadoes in Colorado. Thr Front Range can get tornadoes, and occasionally ones up in the F3 range have occurred. Periodic severe hailstorms are not a possibility along the Front Range, they are an absolute certainty.

By the way, I've only been studying Colorado weather and climate for nearly a half-century now.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Fitchtank

Hi. I'm a 3rd generation native living in Denver and tornadoes REALLY should not be a concern when speaking of moving to a "suburb" in the state.

I disagree with David:

"If you want mild winters, you do not want anywhere in Colorado."

Perspective, perspective.

For someone moving from Southern CA (like the OP), any sort of snow/cold won't be considered mild right off the bat. The coldest it ever gets where he's from is the low 40's, at night. Wait til he's out when it's below zero, or even worse, when it's snowing, methinks he won't be thinking it's so mild.

Yes, Colorado has mild winters compared to the Upper Midwest and parts of the Northeast. Compared to Southern CA, not so much. I'm a 3rd generation CA native living in Denver.

I wouldn't want to fool someone from a warmer clime into thinking that the winters here are mild, their definition of mild may be a bit different from ours.

[CosmicWizard]

Grand Junction probably wouldn't be a good fit for you based on my interpretation of somewhat mild winters. The longterm average High for the first 13 dyas of January is 35.54 degrees and the longterm average low for the same period is 15. That in itself might be quite cold for someone used to winter in California. However, those numbers are merely averages. This year, the January average hgh so far has been just 25.92, and the average January low has been just 1.85. If you do the math, the mean temperature for that time period is a stunning 11.38 degrees BELOW the norm. Although the normal January temperatures don't look too bad on paper, huge fluctuations can, and do occur. This is my 4th winter in Grand Junction...all 4 Jaunuarys have been significantly BELOW normal.

At the other end of the specturm, the month of July has been noticably hotter than normal. Although no one can say with any certainty wether or not this trend of colder winters and hotter summers will continue...perhaps it is the new normal.