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We have been looking into a possible move to the FC/Loveland area and in researching the climate online, it seems to have lower high temperature averages listed for this area than I have seen as I have watched the forecasts of late. It seems much hotter (98-100f) than all the websites say it gets (85+) and it isn't even July!
We have family members who cannot handle that kind of heat (or extreem winters either) and I am curious if this is just an unusual year or if the fire has had an affect on the temps?
When looking into relocating to the Loveland area years ago, I was told it was quite temperate not getting too extreme in either direction during the seasons. Are there some folks who have some years there who can comment on this?
How family friendly is this area? Are there many large families? Are there any recommendations to areas most small business/family friendly? I have seen threads saying FC is not small business friendly, or at least as friendly as before. We are small business owners so this is concerning.
I don't know what Colorado's minimum wage is but I am wondering what the job climate is for young adults in this area.
What is the crime and gang climate? I know every community has its drug problems, but I come from a small area that depends on the drug culture economically. What is the drug problem climate there?
Finally, I have seen that FC is very bike friendly, awesome, but I am wondering what kind of mountain biking there is? I have some enthusiasts in the family!
Hard to do this kind of research randomly online, need the feedback from people who are there.
You may find a bit of gang activity, but it seems to be pretty limited. There are drugs, as well. Marijuana use is fairly common and occasionally I encounter a meth house. However, it does not seem really common and doesn't affect my family directly. You can Google Fort Collins crime map to find a map showing locations and types of crimes. Most are minor. We live close to a neighborhood with a higher concentration of crimes, per the map, and we don't feel unsafe.
For jobs, Fort Collins is competitive for young adults. The university provides a pretty large workforce for our town, and many students fall in love with it and want to stay on after graduation. Therefore, wages are not high and jobs are tight.
There are negatives with any community and every family's needs are different, but I believe that the positives far outweigh any negatives to my family and our situation.
Thank you for replying Mr. Weber. I am so glad to hear the heat you are experiencing is not the norm! It is so sad to see the fire taking so much of the beauty around you all there. Fort Collins really sounds like a special place.
As for drugs and gang activity, thanks for the info and reference to look up more. I know this is everywhere to some extent, we just hope for a community that doesn't embrace it (drugs and the $$ around them) as we see here in our area. I am sure there are gangs here too but we just haven't seen or much graffitti it so I guess we've been pretty lucky.
An occasional meth house beats our numbers. Our community and our neighboring community was on A&E documenting the marijuana growth etc. According to their study near our college (5minutes from our home) 1 out of every 4 houses were grow houses and most also included meth or meth labs near the school decreasing to one in seven as you move away from the campus area. (almost too dismal to think accurate right?) We just had a home finally vacated two doors down and they turned it into a grow house... and ruined it I should add. I am in what is considered a pretty nice part of town, I was surprised to learn about the home, and it hit a little too close to home.
How is the inventory in rental homes there? I keep seeing expensive in the posts but this can be said anywhere really. One of our challenges will be the size of our family i am sure, and i guess our golden retriever. I don't see our home selling too quickly and surely not for as much as we once thought we could sell it for. Do many buy larger lots and build? Any owner builder?
We are planning a trip to fort Collins in September and are excited to check it out. We have been through before but not for a stay so I remember little.
Thanks for the links re:mountain biking. My boys will be happy to hear it isn't all flat street biking, though both are fun.
I found one KOA campground in fort Collins. I did not see much else in the way of RV parks. If there are others we'd appreciate a heads up.
Also I am wondering if you all have snow deep enough and that sticks around long enough for much cross country skiing without having to go too far? Thanks!
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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M++ Where are you coming from ? (what are you fleeing besides drug houses?)
What do you have in mind for Small Business?
What temp extremes can you tolerate?
I feel these questions are critcal to getting valid info to you.
NoCo is not for everyone, and there could be better choices you should consider.
Of the two, I'm partial to Loveland, and would probably do Berthoud before Ft Collins if I was looking for a 'Down-Home-Community'.
Really depends on the above. (and age / activities / expectations of kids)
Snow is seldom around long enough to XC ski. Best and closest is Chambers Lake, or Wood's Landing (NW of FT Collins). RMNP in Estes can be Good at higher elevations. Each will be an hour to 1.5 hrs. About 2x / yr (week at most) of enough snow to XC in Ft Collins proper. That can vary.
I would not be surprised to see some regional climate change evident due to fires (hotter and drier in those regions). The VASTness of forest / mtns in NoCo and S WY will not be altered (We hope). WATER availability will remain a HUGE issue for the region. If you want a temporate Climate and plenty of moisture you might have to look at PNW (Or (Bend)/ WA (Wenatchee) or South Western Canada.
Another place you might want to consider is Spokane, WA. It has four distinct seasons and outrageous outdoor recreation opportunities. Plus, this region is loaded with water. (no drought there) It has 75 lakes within 50 miles and rivers galore. 5 ski areas within a couple hours drive The cost of living is also alot cheaper than Fort Collins. If you look on realtor.com, you will see that there are over 1,100 homes available for under $150k. You won't find that selection in Fort Collins/Loveland.
Thanks for the feedback. We are actually looking to get away from quite so much moisture, it rains ALOT here and mold is a constant here. Humboldt/Mendocino counties are both extremely beautiful and there is much I will miss but ready for a change and desire to raise the rest of the kids else where, out of CA.
Summer temps in the 80s with a few highs above are ideal and cold that doesn't remain at or below zero... Like upper 20s will be fine and your area sounds about there. (you are local in FC area?)
We love the opportunity for outdoor rec and that fort Collins/Loveland are sort of centrally located to surrounding areas with population, yet seem to have the ability to feel country. We live in an area that has a higher cost of living and is smaller to the point there is little opportunity for the family, especially the kids as they grow up and out besides our business, which for now they are happy to be a part of.
We serve the dental community, not really the general public and there seems to be several opportunities in the area. We will bring some work with us which would help to get reestablished.
We have kids of all ages and all are outdoor enthusiasts. The amount of sun, even when cold is a big deal for us. When it is winter here it is wet... Hard to go play in. Snow and sun, even if cold, is different and kids can have fun without being stuck indoors. Mountain biking, hiking, and fishing are biggies and coming from a small town it would be nice to sort of disappear in a community while still being small enough to plug in.
We are not looking for the perfect place because there isn't one, at least in everyway. We have been in our perfect place for 25 years, but now its time to move on and besides that home is what you make of it and every community has its draw backs but it would be nice to change some things up in our move and at least try to avoid the extremes in a few areas. I think with the drug thing we just would hate to move to another place where the local government embraces the drug culture... I know it's everywhere but would like to find a place that it is generally poo-pood and seen as unhealthy and counter productive!
Have you all had much trouble with the wall street "occupy" there and trashing the area in the process?
We hope to get a sense of the lay of the land when we head that way. We would hope to be able to hang there a few weeks and get a better idea, check out the housing market, work and recreation opportunities. Thanks again, every tid bit teaches!
I will look some more at the north but the climate and sun ratio seems too close to what we have. Part of the reason we are looking at FC area is due to a potential job opportunity as well. It will, however, be a change to experience any form of drought.... We have never had such a thing! As a matter of fact, we send our water elsewhere and still have more than enough which tells you what kind of rain we get, we are considered a rain forest.
This was posted by paculiar John in December but I can't figure out how to quote it and come back to this forum to ask about it. hope I am not doing a no no. I am not a frequent forum user. Paculiar John says,
All median priced neighborhoods have houses 20ft apart and sit on very small lots with 2-4 large dogs in many of them. These neighborhoods have lots of cars parked in the street because the driveways are very short. These neighborhoods also are surrounded on 4 sides with high traffic 4 lane roads in a pattern throughout the cities with lots of "cut through roads" in the neighborhoods for those in a hurry. What this means is you or your kids will not spend anytime in your yard because the neighborhood dogs in the "compact" neighborhood are easily disturbed and will incessantly bark until you go inside. Forget riding anywhere but a sidewalk. Kids cannot ride their bikes in the street at all or risk being hit. Bicyclists all the time get hit in bike crazy Colorado. Lots of automotive and dog noise. It takes $$150-$200K over the median home price to be in a neighborhood not like this. For kids in a less than $350K neighborhood a home near bike trails and a park or playground is a must. Google it and Bing Birds Eye Map it for proof.
2. West side of City of Wellington, I-25 & Mulberry in Fort Collins area, Loveland area north end of Boyd Lake, I-25 & Johnstown area all have HUGE cattle feedlots and dairies that reek of ACIDIC MANURE when it gets hot, when it rains, and after a snow melt. Feed lots don't just smell like the cattle that are there, they smell like every cow that has ever been there and the pollution is huge. Use Bing Map "Birds Eye View" and look at Horseshoe Lake on the north side of 57th street in Loveland. The water is a different color from the dairy runoff into the lake! These areas can be smelled for up to 5 miles to the north, east and south, but only about 2 miles west because of the mountain air when it is bad. West of 287/College Ave. in Loveland-Fort Collins is 98% of the time good air, except old town Fort Collins and CSU campus in the winter just smells like car exhaust due to cars idling at stop lights and traffic. It is illegal here to warm up your frozen car in the winter, called the "puffer law" because of air pollution. Your autos will be emission inspected here. After you get south of Erie on I-25 the air quality always seems to be great.
3. Heavy drug culture here in Colorado because of the pot friendly culture and a lots of home growers. Have any home you may want inspected for this because of the pollution and toxic environment left over from it. Some illegal growers are busted in million dollar homes so it is not an income thing. This is Marijuanadise Colorado style.
4. Old Town is a college binge drinker & visiting Wyoming Redneck dream's vomit bar district that even though dirty is still family friendly for dinner and ice cream until 10:30PM. Google this stuff - it is in the local paper all the time.
As a tip do not stay in hotels on Mulberry in Fort Collins east of Timberline Rd because of frequent drug arrests and other crimes in those hotels. Try Harmony Rd in Ft Collins or HWY 34 & I-25 area in Loveland if you like staying by an interstate.
Also watch for bicyclist in Fort Collins even on the high traffic roads. They are everywhere and if you are not used to watching for them they are easy to hit. Note the bike lanes and learn how they work so you don't kill or paralyze somebody.
I am not a C of C parrot as you might be able to tell. Denver Metro has the best income opportunity vs cost of living in Colorado. I have seen a lot of big moving trucks bring families in and bumper pull little UHAUL trailers move them back out here. This is where many of the 1,000s of greener grass seekers annually come and break themselves on the very rocks they came to see. Being under experienced or under educated will get you a little UHAUL out of here. Successful people elsewhere come here and often struggle to compete. Happens all the time.
If you love colder climates and mountains bring specific unique experience, be at least in the top 10% of your profession's income already, and bring $400K+ for a home to make it enjoyable. The mountains are near, but it is very crowded and very urban here on the front range.
When you come, everyone should drink lots and lots of water while here before you ever even start to get thirsty or a big dehydration headache will come on hard and ruin the trip.
John obviously doesn't like FC or doesn't want you to. In all of what he is saying, there is some truth, but not to that extent. I lived in FC for 13 years and, quite honestly, loved it for the first 2, but found it to repetitive after that. Depending on your interests, you may love it or not. My advice would be to open-mindedly spend some time there. Decide if you feel good about the place. Make sure there is enough in town to keep you satisfied. The winters are cold and the summers can be intense. That comes with high altitudes and it is not for everyone. Most important, remember that there are 300 million people in the US and 140K of them chose FC. So while it is great for many, it's not for a lot of others.
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Thanks stealthrabbit
