Moving from CA to CO - location?

[bucksnrt]

Hey guys - So i currently live in Orange County, CA and I am looking to make the trek to CO. For me, it fits what I am looking for in quality of life more.

I am looking in the Colorado Springs - Denver area. I don't want big city, looking more for suburbs, although I am OK with being a short drive to the city. I have yet to find a job, but as soon as I do I will be on my way.

General recommendations? General comments? Do they vary a lot when it comes to snow/winter? Winter should be the biggest shock for me coming from CA...

Thanks!

[elistan]

For a job in Boulder, we ended up in Longmont a couple weeks ago. Seems decent so far, but we've only been here a short while. Close proximity to biking, hiking, open space and Rocky Mountain National Park are big plusses. Definitely on the suburban end of the spectrum. Boulder is pretty liberal, Colorado Springs is pretty conservative.

We haven't lived though a winter here yet, but we hear that snow tends to stick around for only a day or so when it falls. It's dry here so the sun often quickly melts and evaporates snow.

Other cities we looked at in the Boulder vicinity were Louisville, Lafayette and Erie. We didn't find a house we liked in the first two, and Erie was too extremely suburban - "sea of houses" sort of thing. Boulder itself is crazy pricy, although coming from Orange County it might seem normal to you.

[Patrick303]

I'd recommend looking more towards the Denver area. Many more options for housing and jobs than down in Colorado Springs unless you have a security clearance and are looking for that type of job. I live in Castle Rock, which is a few miles south of Denver. I lived in Colorado Springs for a number of years before moving up here and I definitely prefer the Denver area!

[bucksnrt]

Originally Posted by Patrick719

I'd recommend looking more towards the Denver area. Many more options for housing and jobs than down in Colorado Springs unless you have a security clearance and are looking for that type of job. I live in Castle Rock, which is a few miles south of Denver. I lived in Colorado Springs for a number of years before moving up here and I definitely prefer the Denver area!

While visiting and scouting locations, I did love Castle Rock! Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by elistan

For a job in Boulder, we ended up in Longmont a couple weeks ago. Seems decent so far, but we've only been here a short while. Close proximity to biking, hiking, open space and Rocky Mountain National Park are big plusses. Definitely on the suburban end of the spectrum. Boulder is pretty liberal, Colorado Springs is pretty conservative.

We haven't lived though a winter here yet, but we hear that snow tends to stick around for only a day or so when it falls. It's dry here so the sun often quickly melts and evaporates snow.

Other cities we looked at in the Boulder vicinity were Louisville, Lafayette and Erie. We didn't find a house we liked in the first two, and Erie was too extremely suburban - "sea of houses" sort of thing. Boulder itself is crazy pricy, although coming from Orange County it might seem normal to you.

Great info - thank you! I visited the areas you mention and liked those a lot too. I will most likely be on the outskirts of Denver somewhere. Seems hard to go wrong... Where did you move from?

[JasonCSU]

Here is another recent thread that may help answer some of your questions.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=839169

[bucksnrt]

Originally Posted by JasonCSU

Here is another recent thread that may help answer some of your questions.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=839169

Thanks - I will check that out!

[elistan]

Originally Posted by bucksnrt

Great info - thank you! I visited the areas you mention and liked those a lot too. I will most likely be on the outskirts of Denver somewhere. Seems hard to go wrong... Where did you move from?

Dallas. BIIIIG difference in summer weather. It'll get hot here in CO - high 90s hot - and the sun is like 98% as intense here as in Dallas (higher latitude so the sun is lower in the sky, but higher altitude as well, so the amount of atmosphere between the sun and the locations are nearly the same) so you'll really feel it when exposed. But humidity is way down - heat indexes are often lower than actual temperatures, while the opposite is true for Dallas - and if you have any shade it's almost always pleasant. Plus it often drops into the 50s overnight - Dallas rarely goes below high 70s, and is often in the 80s overnight. We just have to remember to bring a water bottle anytime we leave the house, no matter what for - it'll dry us out uncomfortably quick.

We'll see how the winter goes...

Oh, another thing - this area gets like 1/3rd the rainfall as Dallas, so all the vegetation is much more brown than I'm use too. Both places are subject to droughts.

The real estate market is kinda crazy right now - very low inventory of homes for sale. Listings we looked at would often have contracts within 24 hours.

[JasonCSU]

Originally Posted by elistan

The real estate market is kinda crazy right now - very low inventory of homes for sale. Listings we looked at would often have contracts within 24 hours.

No kidding about that. When I bought my place about 2 years ago, it had been on the market for 5 months. I guess everyone has now discovered this little paradise and is trying to move here.

[The J-Man]

Do you have kids? Do you plan on having them soon? Do you want to buy a house or are you planning on renting something? What industry do you plan on working in? These are important questions to determine the best part of town for you. I can give you some places to avoid, however: Commerce city, aurora, federal heights, northglenn, Thornton. The nicer suburbs are basically all west of I-25.

[Kong Sheng Han]

Don't freak out when you see citizens walking around with holstered handguns?

[bucksnrt]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

Do you have kids? Do you plan on having them soon? Do you want to buy a house or are you planning on renting something? What industry do you plan on working in? These are important questions to determine the best part of town for you. I can give you some places to avoid, however: Commerce city, aurora, federal heights, northglenn, Thornton. The nicer suburbs are basically all west of I-25.

No kids, want to have kids in 1-3 years. Want to buy, but will probably rent for 6-12 months first. Not tied to a specific industry - currently in the hobby industry (www.hpiracing.com). Thanks for the tips on location.

Originally Posted by Kong Sheng Han

Don't freak out when you see citizens walking around with holstered handguns?

I support this!

[jlspeed29]

I love CO...Being a cali-native living in New England now ( talk about culture shock ) i will always have a special place in my heart for CO...also, 2 of my good buddies recently accepted jobs in CO- makes me think CO is blowing up....

Like others have said, closer to Denver is legit. Castle Rock is super nice. Englewood is decent and Aurora is okay...to my knowledge.

Definitely take your time to research before you buy...if you are renting then there is not much commitment

[elistan]

Originally Posted by JasonCSU

No kidding about that. When I bought my place about 2 years ago, it had been on the market for 5 months. I guess everyone has now discovered this little paradise and is trying to move here.

It's not just the Denver area, though - our house in Dallas had multiple offers at or above asking within 24 hours, and a contract at 36 hours after a bit of a bidding war.

[JasonCSU]

Originally Posted by elistan

It's not just the Denver area, though - our house in Dallas had multiple offers at or above asking within 24 hours, and a contract at 36 hours after a bit of a bidding war.

Yeah, a recent CNN Money article I saw mentioned both Dallas and Denver reaching record high housing prices.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/30/news...ces/index.html

[bucksnrt]

Originally Posted by JasonCSU

Yeah, a recent CNN Money article I saw mentioned both Dallas and Denver reaching record high housing prices.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/30/news...ces/index.html

Interesting article - thanks for sharing

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by bucksnrt

No kids, want to have kids in 1-3 years. Want to buy, but will probably rent for 6-12 months first. Not tied to a specific industry - currently in the hobby industry (www.hpiracing.com). Thanks for the tips on location.


I support this!

Well, north of Denver, I would suggest Broomfield, Superior, Louisville area. These are affluent areas without the artificial douchebaggery of south Denver metro (see below). They are very close to the mountains around Boulder without the Boulder prices. I don't know what you do for HPI, but there are a lot of high paying jobs in the Broomfield/Boulder area. Westminster would be an OK city too, but some parts are a bit slummy. Arvada can also be nice, but the nice parts are far away from a major highway.

On the south side of Denver, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Greenwood Village, parts of Englewood, Parker, Castle Rock, parts of Centennial are all decent.

The south side of Denver has more money - more restaurants, retail, etc. It's also more congested and the majority of the people are likely on anti-depressants just to get through the day of their artificial suburban hell existence. Still, a good area to raise a family, though.

I personally prefer the nice parts of North Denver metro that I mentioned above.

Also, please do me a favor and avoid Aurora. No matter what anybody tells you. There are nice parts, sure, but the city is crap in general. It's an overall disgrace to Denver and we'd be better off without it.

[elistan]

Originally Posted by JasonCSU

Yeah, a recent CNN Money article I saw mentioned both Dallas and Denver reaching record high housing prices.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/30/news...ces/index.html

Thanks for the link. I don't know what it was like in the Denver area the past ten years, but for Dallas the housing bubble never existed in the first place. There was no real bubble burst either, just a slight slump. So when the article says "Prices in two cities - Dallas and Denver - hit record highs, topping even the peaks they reached during the housing bubble." that's not saying much. Partly it's just the resumption of the typical slow steady rise in prices. But yeah, there's also a bit of a frenzy too. In Denver, it's low inventory. New home builders are loving it. Apartments are loving it, because people are selling their houses before they have a new place to move in to. I'm not sure what the deal was with Dallas - we were "in the market" for a very short time.

bucksnrt if you decide you want to talk to a real estate agent, let me know and I'll send you the info of the woman we worked with. She was great. Her focus is corporate relocations so she's good to work with if you're an out of towner.

[Foxrus14]

Colorado is about to do the opposite of Implode. They are losing all their gun manufacturers due to the new restrictive gun laws. It is very liberal for the most part in the state. I have a bunch of Hippy Friends that live there... But one of my good Friends from high School Started Justin's Nut Butter just outside of Boulder... Colorado is the perfect place for the outdoor lovers and all natural Nuttbutter.

[bucksnrt]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

Well, north of Denver, I would suggest Broomfield, Superior, Louisville area. These are affluent areas without the artificial douchebaggery of south Denver metro (see below). They are very close to the mountains around Boulder without the Boulder prices. I don't know what you do for HPI, but there are a lot of high paying jobs in the Broomfield/Boulder area. Westminster would be an OK city too, but some parts are a bit slummy. Arvada can also be nice, but the nice parts are far away from a major highway.

On the south side of Denver, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Greenwood Village, parts of Englewood, Parker, Castle Rock, parts of Centennial are all decent.

The south side of Denver has more money - more restaurants, retail, etc. It's also more congested and the majority of the people are likely on anti-depressants just to get through the day of their artificial suburban hell existence. Still, a good area to raise a family, though.

I personally prefer the nice parts of North Denver metro that I mentioned above.

Also, please do me a favor and avoid Aurora. No matter what anybody tells you. There are nice parts, sure, but the city is crap in general. It's an overall disgrace to Denver and we'd be better off without it.

Good descriptions, I am familiar with all these places since I did a scouting trip. I will look into them - thanks!

BTW, on the topic of Aurora, when I went out there to check CO out I stayed in a hotel in Aurora - decently nice. The first morning out, the camaro that was parked next to me was on cinder blocks and all four wheels had been stolen off the vehicle. Didn't produce a good feeling for Aurora...

Originally Posted by elistan

bucksnrt if you decide you want to talk to a real estate agent, let me know and I'll send you the info of the woman we worked with. She was great. Her focus is corporate relocations so she's good to work with if you're an out of towner.

Awesome - will keep that in mind for sure!

[JasonCSU]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

Well, north of Denver, I would suggest Broomfield, Superior, Louisville area. These are affluent areas without the artificial douchebaggery of south Denver metro (see below). They are very close to the mountains around Boulder without the Boulder prices. I don't know what you do for HPI, but there are a lot of high paying jobs in the Broomfield/Boulder area. Westminster would be an OK city too, but some parts are a bit slummy. Arvada can also be nice, but the nice parts are far away from a major highway.

On the south side of Denver, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Greenwood Village, parts of Englewood, Parker, Castle Rock, parts of Centennial are all decent.

The south side of Denver has more money - more restaurants, retail, etc. It's also more congested and the majority of the people are likely on anti-depressants just to get through the day of their artificial suburban hell existence. Still, a good area to raise a family, though.

I personally prefer the nice parts of North Denver metro that I mentioned above.

Also, please do me a favor and avoid Aurora. No matter what anybody tells you. There are nice parts, sure, but the city is crap in general. It's an overall disgrace to Denver and we'd be better off without it.

Spot on. I'm in Westminster myself and like you said, some parts are nice while some others are a little slummy. It's nothing like Aurora though. I lived on the south side while in high school and definitely prefer where I am living now, though I still wish I was a little closer to downtown.

[KwlAznKid]

curious to know why u wanna move from CA to CO, most people r trying to move TO CA (not that there's anything wrong with CO) i'm just curious

[bucksnrt]

Originally Posted by KwlAznKid

curious to know why u wanna move from CA to CO, most people r trying to move TO CA (not that there's anything wrong with CO) i'm just curious

Personal reasons that are quite subjective. Family, real estate, Rockies, adventure, nature, etc.