Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been reading a bunch of the posts and I'm almost afraid to identify myself as a new-transplant-wannabe. But, that's what I am! I currently live near Dallas and, after seven years, I just don't want to be here anymore. To fit in here, you should:
- have big, fancy hair
- have big, fancy cars
- have a big, fancy house
- vote 100% Republican
- go to a "good" church
My husband and I have/do none of these, and they are becoming increasingly intolerable to be surrounded by. We were sitting in a restaurant a few weeks ago, with our 2-month-old son, and listening in on the conversations around us. We said, WHAT are we doing HERE? We hate the landscape. It's a loooong drive to ocean (galveston doesn't count) or mountains. It's HOT. The people are shallow. There's some nice things about living here, and the whole bloom-where-you're-planted thing, but frankly, I want better than this for my kids. AND for us.
We've considered the entire country, and we've come down to the general Fort Collins area. I have asthma, so Denver itself is out (I've driven through the big brown cloud and don't want that -- a day or two a year is livable, but not an entire season of it). I fear and loathe the megachurch movement, so Colorado Springs is out. (Unless it isn't as big a deal as it seems? Anyone know?). We're liberal, but not *extremely* so (we do manage to live in suburban dallas), and we don't want to pay THAT much for housing, so Boulder may not be the right fit (but I did drive through it once and, while I thought the traffic was annoying, it looked nice to me).
We both work tech, and it looks like there's a lot of jobs in Longmont. Not sure if they are telecom (my husband), but does anyone have an opinion on how easy or hard it is to get work in the Fort Collins area? Also, are there good options around for childcare? My son is too young right now to leave with anyone, but I am hoping to continue telecommuting / part time work for another year and then probably go back full-time. That's pretty easy to do here -- what about up there?
Basically, we want good jobs, access to the mountains (and daily views of them would be EXCELLENT), reasonable home prices (please tell me what a good 4 bed, 2 bath in good walk-your-dog meet-your-neighbors decent-schools type neighborhood in the different cities might cost?), and a not-completely-homogeneous political atmosphere (but preferably leaning to the left). I guess it's not surprising that there are so many transplants heading your way -- if we looked the entire country over and this is the area we came up with, I guess everyone else is doing the same. I don't want to be another number in a gigantic water problem, overcrowding problem, sprawl problem, etc. If it's that bad I'll just stay here (we have our own water problems, but at least it's the devil I know), especially if the climate is becoming increasingly hostile to transplants. But I really hope that sometime in the next year or two we can move to a nice climate, a nice outdoor environment, a place where the people & attitudes are more like ours, and we can still afford to live decently. I appreciate any insights those of you who already live there can share.
Asthmatics in Colorado tend to have a hard time sometimes b/c of the altitude. There is less oxygen at this altitude, and that includes all the cities of the Front Range as well as the mtns. You should make an exploratory trip and see what happens.
In re: air pollution: I'm not sure that FC doesn't have its own brown cloud. Boulder does. There are a LOT of cars in FC. I believe FC is part of the 'clean air Colorado' area that is not allowed to burn wood on high pollution days, which are many during the winter.
Re: mega-church mentatlity in Colorado Springs: I have family in CS, they do not go to church and some of them are atheists. They have no problems. However, one of them works in real estate and she does say that people often pray over their housing decisions.
RE: Tech jobs. My DH works in telecom. There are jobs. There are probably more jobs in metro Denver than in Longmont. Longmont is a long drive to FC on a daily basis. I don't know about telecommuting. DH did some when he worked for a small co, he hasn't asked at his present job as it is only 8 mi. from our home.
RE: home prices: I've heard higher than Texas. There are more and less expensive areas. City-data has some stats about housing prices.
I do OK at altitude, though I do have to take it somewhat slower. I've been on a couple of backpacking trips outside of pagosa springs, and I've hiked and camped at Rocky Mtn Natl Park. These were all during summer months, though -- I've only learned today that pollution there is worse during winter!
I don't mind if people pray over whatever they want to pray over -- I just get irritated that they expect me to pray (the "right" way) with them. I'm interested in whether other people don't find it too overwhelming in CS?
I've been checking sites like Remax and it *looks* like a good home can be had in FC for around 160, but more like 280 in Boulder and everywhere else is in between. That's partly why we're leaning toward FC, but there's more to life than house & price. I also wonder if what I'm seeing on Remax is indicative, given that you just don't know if you're making a good comparison.
Fort Collins is a nice town. I lived there for many years and highly recommend it. It doesn't have quite the eye-popping scenery of Boulder or Colorado Springs, but it's as convenient to mountain recreation as those towns. Climate is pleasant, but it is four season and does have a real winter with snow and a real summer with some hot days. Being a college town, it offers a lot of amenities and culture that you might not find in other towns of its size. It's also still an independent existence from Denver's suburbs, which I think is nice -- living in a bedroom commuter-ville is not really a lot of fun in my book. Fort Collins housing values are a little cheaper than Denver metro's I believe. Most single family homes are going to start from the upper 100s for a starter home and go up from there into the 300s and 400s and on up for some nicer homes. Fort Collins has very good schools -- the whole town is in one district and all the schools in district are quite good, as are those of neighboring Loveland, whose district includes some of the subdivisions on the extreme south of FC.
As far as work is concerned, Fort Collins does have a fair number of technology jobs but they tend to be concentrated at a few large employers: HP, Agilent (a spin-off of HP), Intel, and AMD. Pay is also somewhat less than Boulder or Denver as Fort Collins employees tend to be very stubborn about wanting to work IN TOWN, even if means less money. People that live there in Fort Collins often absolutely refuse to relocate for any reason, and that sometimes makes it difficult as a job-seeker, though there are a fair number of jobs that open up.
Fort Collins - Longmont is a doable commute but could run up to 45 minutes depending on where in Fort Collins and where in Longmont. It could be as little as 35 minutes if you're on the far southeast or southwest end of FC. Luckily, the real traffic rush on I-25 generally starts right as you'd be getting off to go to Longmont. I do not recommend commuting from Fort Collins
further than Longmont onward to Boulder, for example.
CO Springs is a nice town as well; I doubt you'd find many other larger cities with such beautiful mountain scenery. I think that the megachurch thing is exaggerated in the media, to be quite honest with you. I think I saw a study in the Denver Post that said that 40% of the Springs were churchgoers (but only 20% of Denver residents were, interestingly enough). That means 60% of the Springs residents aren't -- you'd be in the majority there, if just barely. If you're surviving in Suburban Dallas, then CO Springs should be fine. The area is strongly Republican, but I think that's more a result of the large military presence there than anything else. Read "Mike from Back East's" thread on Colorado Springs for more info about that town.
I've been checking sites like Remax and it *looks* like a good home can be had in FC for around 160, but more like 280 in Boulder and everywhere else is in between. That's partly why we're leaning toward FC, but there's more to life than house & price. I also wonder if what I'm seeing on Remax is indicative, given that you just don't know if you're making a good comparison.
160 might be indicative of the entry-level homes in the market, yes in Fort Collins, but those would be below the median. Luckily, Fort Collins doesn't really have a lot of blighted or crime ridden sections so you could live in just about any part of town that you liked. It's a buyers market in FC and all over Colorado, so there are some good deals to be had out there today.
As for Boulder, it's expensive. I'm actually shocked that you found any SFH in Boulder for 280 -- that must have required a lot of work. If you want a SFH in Boulder, I'd think you'd have to pay a lot more than that.
I don't mind if people pray over whatever they want to pray over -- I just get irritated that they expect me to pray (the "right" way) with them. I'm interested in whether other people don't find it too overwhelming in CS?
Re: mega-church mentatlity in Colorado Springs: I have family in CS, they do not go to church and some of them are atheists. They have no problems.
Again, I do not think you would have a problem there. Housing is a little less expensive there, too (than the metro area).
What about airport access? I might be able to keep my current job and work *anywhere* if I have access to an airport. Would it be too painful to get to the denver airport on a regular basis (no more than once a week) from fort collins, or longmont, or the other cities around? Does it depend on time of day?
What about airport access? I might be able to keep my current job and work *anywhere* if I have access to an airport. Would it be too painful to get to the denver airport on a regular basis (no more than once a week) from fort collins, or longmont, or the other cities around? Does it depend on time of day?
The airport is mostly a straight shot down I-25 from Fort Collins or Longmont. However, I've heard from friends and colleagues who live in FC that because of the size of the town, it can take up to an hour to get across to I-25 if you live on the West side. From Longmont it's pretty easy as there are two highways that link up with I-25 at the north and south ends of town and it takes about 15 minutes to get there, depending on traffic and the lights, and then about another 30 minutes to actually reach the airport. You'll also have to negotiate the toll road from I-25. If you plan on doing a lot of travelling you probably should invest in a transponder for the car so you can zoom straight thro the tolls and not have to queue to pay.
Hi, Jenlion. My husband and I are ready to get outa here for the same reasons. We loved Fort Worth (much better than Dallas, IMHO) when we got here 6 years ago. But we are ready to leave. My ONLY concern is the price of real estate. Our 1800 sq. ft. D.R. Horton home cost us $120,000 six years ago. I'm seeing comparable homes from C. Springs up to Ft. Collins ranging from $220-$350K. OUCH! Plus, houses aren't selling here, so we can't count on gaining our equity for a big fat down payment.
DH is on a $70,000 income. I homeschool our kids and do some part time dog training, so we don't have a second income to count on. I'm thinking $70 grand puts us in the lower class in Colorado.
We are trying to weigh the loss of "house" vs. the improved quality of life. We want to have real seasons, inexpensive recreation, and nice views. Here, you have to have tons of pocket cash to do anything fun. (Eating out is the #1 pastime!) We are sick of the smog, sick of the heat, sick of the traffic.
So we are wondering; can you find a decent house over 1700 sq. feet for under $200,000 anywhere in Colorado?
I don't know if it would have road noise there or not, it does seem that the really oddly cheap ones are right smack on I-25. This one isn't right on it, at least. And it has central AC, which (from my poking around) looks unusual (in this price range, since this is where I'm looking too). I'd appreciate it if anybody can tell me if there's something I'm missing there, make sure I'm not totally nuts.
One thing I'm keeping in mind looking at square footage -- basements. Looks like some of the newer homes don't have them, but the older ones do. (I know there might be a radon problem, but I think you can fix that). And, according to tfox, there's no "ghetto" part of town to avoid, so you could safely by cheap and fix up slowly without worrying about the safety of your kids, I guess.
We'd definitely be trading in house size/features by moving there... but like you said, quality of life. Here, you feel trapped in a small house because you have to be IN it all the time. When it's 100 degrees out, you have to stay indoors. We get what, maybe 4 nice weekends a year that are good for, say, camping (if you can make the 13 hour drive to Big Bend, or are OK with going to Oklahoma)? I hope that possibly a basement open space would help with giving up sqft and that being able to go OUTSIDE three seasons of the year (and go out bundled-up in the fourth) would make a difference. Patios are cheaper than indoor space!
I'm glad I'm not alone wanting to ditch DFW for CO. Sometimes it seems like nobody "gets" it. I think Longmont is looking like Richardson -- we might try there instead because there are so many more jobs for people like us -- but who knows. I'm not sure what will happen to my income (now that we have an almost-3-month old, my job situation is definitely changed), but we prefer to be able to afford to live on one salary in case something happens to the job, so we are definitely not looking at the nice-big-new houses out there. Bitterish pill, but DFW does have a really low cost of living. Anywhere you move to, almost, is going to be more expensive. At least here houses are still selling, and almost anywhere else you go it's a buyer's market (I'm hearing), so you win here and win there! I hope you guys can figure out which hometown is right for you and your family :-)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
same here, but Fort Worth
