Moving from CA central coast to Ft. Collins area (Fort Collins: renting, buying a home)

[Love4Nature]

My fiance and I are wanting to move to the Ft. Collins area. I've done some research online and Ft. Collins seems quite nice. But I would like some opinions on best places in Colorado for a family like ours. Our family described as:
In our 20s
have a preschooler and plan on growing our family
He is an electrician but wants to look into dish/directv, HVAC, etc., he is a WORKER. He refuses to sit at a desk, he likes hard work.
I have been in customer service for almost 10 yrs. And managing restaurants/retail for 3 yrs. I would like to stay in this field, as I would like to open a treat shop/bakery at some point.


I have seen that schools are for the most part great in the Ft. Collins area, so I know we can find a good school fairly well.
We will definitely be buying a home and NOT renting. 3 bedroom preferred, but even just land is ok too. So we can build. We also do not want to be right in town, we prefer to be in nature, but maybe no further than a 20 minute drive into town. And we would also like a bit of acreage, as we garden and do small farming, which we would like to grow. We know that because of these requests, prices will be higher and property may be more difficult to find. But we are open to any advice and tips.

We plan on taking a road trip to the Ft. Collins area in October, so any advice on things to look into, neighborhoods, best job locations, etc.. would be extremely helpful.

[Sunderpig2]

I normally discourage people from coming to FC, but you two actually sound like you might fit with the area. One of the main factors though would be having lots of money. That goes for being in town and buying outright, but even more so being away from town and buying land, etc. You both might have to do a lot of driving, including if you had a business in town, and his electrician work. I've found gardening to be difficult due to the excessive dryness. You'd need to deal with water access / water rights, which is complex in CO. I'm not sure what "being in nature" might look like for you. There's pretty much two extremes when it comes to living away from the city in this area. You have the flat plains, and the foothills/mountains. In the mountains, you'll have more variety to the landscape, and more moisture, but also much more snow in winter. On the plains, you'll basically have lots of flat land with few trees. Coming from a heavily wooded state, I've found both to be bland.

It's also important to have jobs before moving. If that didn't work out - and it's often difficult - that'd be good to know up front.

Maybe you'll have better luck than we have had. We did the visit first too, and everything looked good. But years later, well, we see a very different city and area. And so many people are moving here, and often wanting the same thing. The competition drives up the home costs, and has sort of a Darwinian(?) survival-of-the-fittest effect.

[Love4Nature]

Thank you for the advice. We will definitely have jobs before we move. Which is why we want to visit first, to make sure it's where we want. So we are open to the suggestion of other areas other than Ft. Collins. We do realize there would be a drive involved. We know we are being picky with our want of land and not being right in town, and that it will cost money up front. But we are more than open to suggestions. We live away from town where we are now. And we prefer mountain setting over flat plains. We are surrounded by dead dry desolate vineyards. Snow and mountains are preferred. I grew up camping in Tahoe surrounded by streams, lakes and trees. and would love that area, but we honestly just want out of California. My childhood home being LA, I don't want to be anywhere near that kind of atmosphere. Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

[Sunderpig2]

That sounds good. So big city life sounds out. As for wanting "out of California", you might want to elaborate on that. If the negatives are spelled out, that might help others with recommendations, as to what areas to avoid that might be a little too close to that. Having never lived in CA, I still wonder what drives people away from it so intensely. I've seen beauty there not found in CO (the coast, dense forests, tall trees, etc.), but I know there's a lot more involved (the economy? immigration? government?)

[Love4Nature]

How about Greeley or surrounding areas? I've also heard to check out Superior? To be honest, being from California, it's a bunch of hooplah. Everything is overrated. EXTREMELY overpriced. Example, we looked at 5 acres of plain flat land, no view, neighbors right next to us, no home on property. Asking price is right under 1 million. taxes have sky rocketed, laws are changing for worse. Gangs (and violent ones) are starting to take over, and they have taken over the beautiful "coast and forests" that we are known for. Crescent city is well know fo rthe beach and forest in one, but there are more gang memebrs than normal people. And I have no issues with others wanting to come to the US. But when my town puts spanish as the main language and english is the fine print down at the very bottom in very small writing, and your employers get upset with you because you are having a hard time communicating with someone who doesn't speak english...This has become very difficult and California as a "beautiful" state, has faded. It is very dirty here. Even from someone who has the beach in their backyard, and wine country in the front. California use to have potential but everything is dying here.

[Sunderpig2]

Some of that sounds a bit like CO as I see it (overrated and overpriced), but yeah, most of those aren't issues here. Greeley's sort of nearby, but I know little about it personally. I do know though that it's on the plains (nothing mountainous).

Others will probably chime in soon as to suggestions.

[Love4Nature]

Thank you very much for the suggestions. To be honest, Im not very good at short and simple explanations. But we want raw nature. Mountains, streams, rivers, snow. Weve been by the beach too long. Either its become dirty or you have to pay more than out the waazoo for the nicer beach areas, and we are going through a beyond serious drought. California is having to fly water from the east coast. We dont want to have to worry about natural resources. We would live fully off our land, but with little ones, That will have to wait. We have looked into Idaho, Wyoming, Montana,Utah and Oregon as well. And something pointed me towards Colorado. So we are open to anywhere in Colorado, as long as their is plenty of "rugged" terrain. And good area for families of course.

[Sunderpig2]

For the time being, you might want to get/reference a good map of the state. That would help you at least see the potential areas to consider. The eastern third could be written off (due to being on the plains). My guess is that you'd be most interested in the upperleft quarter (NW) quarter. Maybe you'll get some good suggestions soon, and can prepare for your visit, maybe taking some detours to spots to check out. You might also consider posting at the state level. This is rather limited to the FC area. Good luck and best of wishes!

[jwiley]

If you do not want to worry about water than you are looking at the wrong place, Colorado has a shortage of water on both sides of the divide as the state only owns a percentage of the actual rain and snow we get, a part of the water that is missing in California actually originates in Colorado, if that tells you anything.

Also it is hard to find land with streams and rivers that run through any portion of land within 20 minutes of Fort Collins, it can be done, but will be very expensive.

Also you may want to actually visit Fort Collins and the area, from your posts I am getting the impression that you think it is in the mountains, and it is actually at the base of the foothills and remarkably flat, anything east of there is considered flat lands, and not what you see in pictures of Colorado. In fact probably 80% of the state is nothing like you see in the pictures of Colorado.

IF you want true raw nature than you are looking at moving at least an hour north west from Fort Collins, and if you want true mountain living than I would probably avoid Colorado as you are looking at limited job markets in the actual mountains.

[Sunderpig2]

Lots of good information above. And drought conditions can occur even around FC. Just a few years ago, there was a bad statewide drought, with wildfires, including one that damaged a large area west of town (in the foothills and mountains). Thinking more too about the 20 minute commute in the original post, that would probably only get a person to the edge of town. The whole in-town-for-jobs vs. distance-from-town-for-nature is a difficult equation to meet. Also keep in mind that snows in the mountains would slow a person down on certain days. The commute time would increase further.