Looking at homes in these areas...pro's & con's?? (Denver: best city, for sale)

[calitoFC]

As I am researching homes for sale within our budget, I am getting several surrounding areas to the Loveland/Fort Collins area. Can you shed some light on the pro's and con's of these areas? We need to be in an area with a great school for the kids.

Firestone
Berthoud
Windsor
Wellington
Johnstown

[luckysam]

You listed only the small towns around Loveland/Ft. Collins. Is there a reason you don't want to live in either of those cities? I think Ft. Collins probably has the best schools out of the towns on your list. It was also ranked the second best city to live in by Money Magazine for the millionth time. Ha! I love Ft. Collins. It has everything - activities, recreation, shopping, good schools, and reasonably priced housing. The only thing I don't like is the traffic!

I live in the Firestone area and love it here. My only complaint is that there is no Super Target or a Chili's. We're 20 minutes from north Denver, 15 min. from Longmont and 20 min. from Loveland which is nice. We have a King Soopers and a Safeway as well as two larger strip malls with a Subway, Cost Cutters, liquor store, Blockbuster, chiropractor, etc. We even have a Lexus dealership. We were supposed to be getting a Home Depot but work on that has stopped and I'm guessing it's due to the economy. We're in the St. Vrain Valley school district which I think is average. They are opening a brand new elementary school this fall. There are also two fairly new ones within 5 min. of my house. Housing is very affordable. We have a Rec Center, dance studios, a brand new library and the area is growin - well it was before our economy started going down hill.

Berthoud - I don't know what it's like to live there but I always enjoy driving through the town. I don't know about the schools there. The pros are that it's a quaint little town with a lot of character. For me the cons are that it seems a little more removed from shopping and activity than some of the other towns you listed. Maybe someone else can prove me wrong. If you're looking for a new home in a subdivision I don't think there are as many choices as the other towns. If you want an older home with character then you will probably find it there.

Windsor is great too. There are more high end houses being built there. There are small shops like there are in Frederick but I don't know that they have a big grocery store yet. It's close to Ft. Collins and Loveland. Everyone I know who lives there loves it. I think the schools are pretty good there. I don't know much though about their recreation and activity offerings though. I don't know of any cons to living there - other than their lack of a Target and Chili's. (HA)

Wellington to me seems very isolated and I personally would not want to live there. It's really far north. If you have any desire to do anything in Denver on the weekends it's a pretty far drive from Wellington. It's too far removed from shopping and activities for my taste. If you're looking for a more isolated area then you might like it. It's just not my cup of tea.

Johnstown - Housing is very affordable in Johntown. I think the main reason people move to Johnstown is because the housing is affordable. The cons for me would again be there's not a lot activity wise or shopping wise. They have a small market that closes at 9 pm and is more expensive than your typical grocery store. I don't think they have a lot in the way of recreation. I don't know anything about their schools - good or bad. Pros - it's fairly close to Loveland and housing is affordable.

Are you looking to move to a small town or do you want to be somewhere more populated? Where will you be working? I work in Westminster and my hubby works in Ft. Collins so we're basically in the middle of our jobs. With gas as high as it is I would recommend working as close to your job as possible. We spend about $20 a day between the two of us just commuting to work. If you give me more spefics about what you're interested in I might be able to help a little better! Good luck!

[bproven]

Originally Posted by luckysam

You listed only the small towns around Loveland/Ft. Collins. Is there a reason you don't want to live in either of those cities? I think Ft. Collins probably has the best schools out of the towns on your list. It was also ranked the second best city to live in by Money Magazine for the millionth time. Ha! I love Ft. Collins. It has everything - activities, recreation, shopping, good schools, and reasonably priced housing. The only thing I don't like is the traffic!

I live in the Firestone area and love it here. My only complaint is that there is no Super Target or a Chili's. We're 20 minutes from north Denver, 15 min. from Longmont and 20 min. from Loveland which is nice. We have a King Soopers and a Safeway as well as two larger strip malls with a Subway, Cost Cutters, liquor store, Blockbuster, chiropractor, etc. We even have a Lexus dealership. We were supposed to be getting a Home Depot but work on that has stopped and I'm guessing it's due to the economy. We're in the St. Vrain Valley school district which I think is average. They are opening a brand new elementary school this fall. There are also two fairly new ones within 5 min. of my house. Housing is very affordable. We have a Rec Center, dance studios, a brand new library and the area is growin - well it was before our economy started going down hill.

Berthoud - I don't know what it's like to live there but I always enjoy driving through the town. I don't know about the schools there. The pros are that it's a quaint little town with a lot of character. For me the cons are that it seems a little more removed from shopping and activity than some of the other towns you listed. Maybe someone else can prove me wrong. If you're looking for a new home in a subdivision I don't think there are as many choices as the other towns. If you want an older home with character then you will probably find it there.

Windsor is great too. There are more high end houses being built there. There are small shops like there are in Frederick but I don't know that they have a big grocery store yet. It's close to Ft. Collins and Loveland. Everyone I know who lives there loves it. I think the schools are pretty good there. I don't know much though about their recreation and activity offerings though. I don't know of any cons to living there - other than their lack of a Target and Chili's. (HA)

Wellington to me seems very isolated and I personally would not want to live there. It's really far north. If you have any desire to do anything in Denver on the weekends it's a pretty far drive from Wellington. It's too far removed from shopping and activities for my taste. If you're looking for a more isolated area then you might like it. It's just not my cup of tea.

Johnstown - Housing is very affordable in Johntown. I think the main reason people move to Johnstown is because the housing is affordable. The cons for me would again be there's not a lot activity wise or shopping wise. They have a small market that closes at 9 pm and is more expensive than your typical grocery store. I don't think they have a lot in the way of recreation. I don't know anything about their schools - good or bad. Pros - it's fairly close to Loveland and housing is affordable.

Are you looking to move to a small town or do you want to be somewhere more populated? Where will you be working? I work in Westminster and my hubby works in Ft. Collins so we're basically in the middle of our jobs. With gas as high as it is I would recommend working as close to your job as possible. We spend about $20 a day between the two of us just commuting to work. If you give me more spefics about what you're interested in I might be able to help a little better! Good luck!

I agree with pretty much everything luckysam states here. I live in Ft Collins and personally think it beats any of those towns. However, if you are moving here with a job I would take the advice of moving as close as possible to to your job location to avoid extensive commuting.

I disagree about the traffic in FC though. For a city of its size (150K or so) it is not bad. I have been in much smaller cities with much worse traffic. You need to learn the streets and which major arteries to avoid. The overall layout of the city allows you to get where you need to go quickly if you know the streets. Plus, you can ride your bike if you want since the trail system is second to none

[Tom Emmerling]

Sounds like you are interested in living in a smaller town. I would also check out Timnath and Severance which were not on your list. My granddaughter attends Timnath Elementary and loves it. Both towns are within 10 minutes of Fort Collins.