Thinking About Moving to Colorado

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I've lived in central California for almost all of my life and it's time for a change. I'm interviewing for a job in the Denver area next week. My wife's parents currently live there but are moving soon we also have a few friends in that area. Last time I moved any distance everything I owned fit in my pickup, now I've got to move a family and a house full of stuff.

Any tips on moving or thoughts on Denver?
 
Pay someone else to do it. Get rid of any junk you don't need.
 
Iirc, Denver scored near (or at) the bottom of home affordability vis a vis income. Nice city, beautiful setting but turning really expensive.
 
Originally Posted By: Danh
Iirc, Denver scored near (or at) the bottom of home affordability vis a vis income. Nice city, beautiful setting but turning really expensive.

Sounds like the Central California Coast as well. Beautiful but expensive. Should be a seamless transition.
 
I lived there years ago so you should be fine if change is what you are looking for along with some beautiful scenery. I enjoyed the time we were there and always looked at that area as home away from home.

Good Luck !!
 
Originally Posted By: Danh
Iirc, Denver scored near (or at) the bottom of home affordability vis a vis income. Nice city, beautiful setting but turning really expensive.

Real estate in the Denver area is actually less expensive than where I live now. I can buy a newer and larger home for less than what my current home will sell for. There are also significantly more job opportunities there. The central coast of California isn't the most expensive area in Calif but it is one of the least affordable. It's a great place to live but there are not a lot of well paying jobs and the cost of living is high. Median home price here is $440k and the average salary is $44k. Denver is $377k and $60k.
 
Lived in Denver metro area since 1996 ... really enjoy living here. Housing is expensive, but since you are coming from California, I don't think there will be much sticker shock. As for your statement regarding median house price and $377k, obviously, that will really depend upon which neighborhood you select. If you pick an area like Greenwood Village, $377k won't get you much, but if you move further out or pick a different area/neighborhood, you will be fine. Plenty of choices and a great climate, you will enjoy it.
 
I think at this point there are enough ex-Californians in Denver that you're going to find it to be an easy transition.

I had pondered a move there myself for work last year, but I'm coming from a state with.. well let's just say it isn't California, so I wasn't too thrilled with the social and political landscape of Colorado.

But more power to you, my friend. Good luck with the move.
 
Snow is an adjustment, around here snow is something you see on TV or you go visit for a few hours.

I live 45 min from the ocean, I haven't been to it in well over a year. We aren't beach people. I like mountains and Colorado has plenty of that.

Our criteria was to find somewhere with more job opportunities, reasonable housing, near a large city, and move out of the "desert" but still live in the "west." We considered Oregon and Washington also.
 
I can tell you that it's hard to find a decent house for under $450 these days in CO. Our roads here were not set up for the droves of people that we now have and traffic is a mess. But coming from CA, I'm sure your used to traffic.
 
Traffic will be an adjustment no matter where we move.

I live in a rural area where grape vines and cattle are the top industries. The entire county's population is about 260k people, my town is 25k.
 
Looking for facility engineering / management but I can also manufacturing engineering / management. I'm interviewing with a govt contractor in Aurora.
 
Nice, probably a great career field to be in here in CO. I have a bunch or realtors in the family so hit me up if you need anything here. Good luck and take care!
 
I retired here from socal 5 years ago and used to go up to central cal and the Bay Area frequently for work. I usually drove so, I'm somewhat familiar with your area in a general sense. I'm located up the pass from Colorado Springs in the Rockies. Housing in Colorado is not unlike it is in many states, the closer you are to a large metro area, the more costly housing in. I'm down in the Springs several times a week and up to Denver several teams me a month. Traffic in Denver is not nearly as bad socal but will be considerably more than you are used to. Are you locked in to living in the Denver metro area or are you willing to commute at all. The further south you go, the cheaper housing will be. Considerable more house for the money can be had in Castle Rock, Monument and The northern end of Colorado Springs. Same goes for rents. Commuting vs affordable housing is individual choice but, I suggest you at least take it into consideration. Not to get into politics per se, Denver metro is much more liberal, as you go south or, outside the Denver metro, its more considerably more conservative. Colorado is a low service, low tax state compared to CA. State income tax is a flat tax around 4.6%. A good site to help compare costs to your current home is Sperling's. You plug in the cities and you can find all sorts of comparative info. Hope this helps. /end wall of words
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
Traffic will be an adjustment no matter where we move.

I live in a rural area where grape vines and cattle are the top industries. The entire county's population is about 260k people, my town is 25k.


I'm in NY and there is no way to describe the Long Island Expressway (NOT!) unless you've experienced it. I-70 in and around Denver is reminiscent but not as bad, YET. I was there in September to climb some of the 14 footers and check the area out for a possible move. It's a melting pot with lots of mid-western people, especially KS and lots of people from MN and MI.

I liked Denver itself, very friendly and fun but man it's small. I mean the "city" portion, outskirts are pretty sprawling. Farther out there were a few town that I liked, pretty slow paced and friendly. But the real estate was costly for what I saw. The big no go for me was how crowded it was. Great place but has drawn too many people for me.

Good luck, it's beautiful. I hope the job interview goes well. If it matters, I was looking in the Idaho Springs area.
 
I find that wherever I go, if you work a professional job you can do it anywhere and do just fine.

People balk at the price of real estate or whatever, and that is driven by what people in the market are paying.

These people have local jobs, and can afford it so can you.

Best of luck to you and enjoy the "greener" pastures.

Wife and I moved from NY to Texas, we determined that most of our things weren't worth hauling, so we just took whatever we could fit in our car, and Ikea'ed the rest when we got to Texas.

Now that we have decent stuff, we would probably pay ABF or Pods to ship the stuff. I did the math it is a near dead wash between that and renting a Ryder truck and doing it yourself. Plus you assume none of the liability for stolen goods out of motel parking lots, etc.

Drive your personal cars over at your leisure, take your time, and have the rest of the stuff shipped. I would hate white knuckling a moving truck up the colorado mountains.
 
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