Colorado wisdom?

[bofa]

Alright, I know this isn't necessarily 5th gen or 4R specific, but I was surprised to see how many 5th gen owners live in Colorado and am hoping you guys can help me out a bit...

We are moving from Florida to Colorado next June. :reddance: Trust me, we've thought long and hard about the decision and it's happening, so we don't have to go through that, but I'm looking for some insight from those that have been there a while. We also have a trip planned this December to visit the area again so if you have any suggestions for things to do, let me know. I think we still have a day or two that is pretty open.

Areas - what areas do you like in particular? We are primarily looking in the area south of Denver so far (Lone Tree, Centennial, Parker, etc) so far. That may change once we look around but I'm open to suggestions. I've also always wanted to buy a small plot of land and build but I'm not sure how far out that will put us. We will probably rent for a year and then buy a house or build somewhere. Ideally we'd like to be within 1/2 hour or so of Denver.

Jobs - the good news is my job lets me work from home so I can work anywhere. My wife is an elementary teacher so she will begin looking for jobs this Spring. Any insight on the public schools there? We've already begun the paperwork to get her certificate there and do all that stuff.

Alright, I'll keep this first post short and add other questions in separate posts.

 

[bofa]

Fireplaces - some places here have fireplaces but it's far from a necessity. It seems they are very common out there. What are your preferences for wood vs gas vs alternatives?

Pipes - this might seem silly... but when it freezes here we wrap up pipes and leave the water dripping to prevent cracking. Is that something you guys do there too or are things built to withstand cold temps better (if that's possible). I know... silly question but I really don't know. Even when I live there it was in a building downtown.

Basements - we have basements here... they are called swimming pools. But seriously, we've never had a basement. I imagine getting a finished basement is ideal. Do you have any suggestions or constant problems to look for or avoid? It seems most places we've looked at there have decent sized basements.

 

[bofa]

Cooking - I know from my first few attempts at cooking there that the altitude takes some adjustments. Is there a common rule or book or something? I remember some of the packaging there having specific directions but a lot of things didn't.

Cost of Living - this is a very broad topic. I've research some specific things but was wondering for those that moved from other areas, if anything jumped out at you as much more expensive or much cheaper than where you came from. I know state income taxes will be very new to us, so that should be fun. :violin:

 

[Gerdo]

I live SW of town. I'm about 25 min from Denver (SW Littleton).

Parker, Lone Tree and that area does have some land to spread out on.
One down side is that around the "Denver Tech Center" (I-25 and Arapahoe, Orchard) can really backup during rush hour.

 

[DannyLlama]

.

Jobs - the good news is my job lets me work from home so I can work anywhere. My wife is an elementary teacher so she will begin looking for jobs this Spring. Any insight on the public schools there? We've already begun the paperwork to get her certificate there and do all that stuff.

Alright, I'll keep this first post short and add other questions in separate posts.

Ummmm, is your company hiring

 

[bofa]

Ummmm, is your company hiring

Always! Got computer skills? :nerd:

 

[RS Dude]

Alright, I know this isn't necessarily 5th gen or 4R specific, but I was surprised to see how many 5th gen owners live in Colorado and am hoping you guys can help me out a bit...

We are moving from Florida to Colorado next June. :reddance: Trust me, we've thought long and hard about the decision and it's happening, so we don't have to go through that, but I'm looking for some insight from those that have been there a while. We also have a trip planned this December to visit the area again so if you have any suggestions for things to do, let me know. I think we still have a day or two that is pretty open.

Areas - what areas do you like in particular? We are primarily looking in the area south of Denver so far (Lone Tree, Centennial, Parker, etc) so far. That may change once we look around but I'm open to suggestions. I've also always wanted to buy a small plot of land and build but I'm not sure how far out that will put us. We will probably rent for a year and then buy a house or build somewhere. Ideally we'd like to be within 1/2 hour or so of Denver.

Jobs - the good news is my job lets me work from home so I can work anywhere. My wife is an elementary teacher so she will begin looking for jobs this Spring. Any insight on the public schools there? We've already begun the paperwork to get her certificate there and do all that stuff.

Alright, I'll keep this first post short and add other questions in separate posts.

I too have been thinking of moving out of southern Calif for some time now. Denver has been a consideration. Why are you moving from FL.?

 

[Dongbeiren]

I'm also looking for a house in the Denver area, but in the north eastern side, we've seen some houses within the triangle area in 76 470 and I-70, but don't know if this is a good area ....

 

[bofa]

I too have been thinking of moving out of southern Calif for some time now. Denver has been a consideration. Why are you moving from FL.?

There are quite a few reasons but I'll name a few of the bigger ones. We have lived here most of our lives so we're pretty much over it all. We like doing stuff outside, but we aren't beach people. We're over the humidity and tropical weather. We like having actual Fall and Winter seasons. Florida in general has gradually been declining over the years in many ways. The school system here is one of the worst in the country, so not only does that affect my wife directly, but it will eventually affect our rugrats when we get to that point. The people here are just in a class of their own. This is no longer the sweet, slow south. It's the dirty south. Plus we are looking at it as a fresh start... to get out of the area we grew up. Denver seems to be a great fit in many ways.

 

[RS Dude]

There are quite a few reasons but I'll name a few of the bigger ones. We have lived here most of our lives so we're pretty much over it all. We like doing stuff outside, but we aren't beach people. We're over the humidity and tropical weather. We like having actual Fall and Winter seasons. Florida in general has gradually been declining over the years in many ways. The school system here is one of the worst in the country, so not only does that affect my wife directly, but it will eventually affect our rugrats when we get to that point. The people here are just in a class of their own. This is no longer the sweet, slow south. It's the dirty south. Plus we are looking at it as a fresh start... to get out of the area we grew up. Denver seems to be a great fit in many ways.

CA beats FL in worst schools (ranks 49th!). Unfortunately, I AM a beach person...which is the only thing keeping me here. I think your reasons for moving are very similar to mine, though you were more diplomatic than I will be:

My reason for moving out of CA is because it has become one huge 3rd world cesspool!:surfer:

Now for the hateful comments to follow...:flipoff:

 

[bofa]

Yeah, I've had good practice biting my tongue. No one we know here seems to get it.

ETA - I made a couple of good friends while in CO and they were SoCal transplants from years ago. They have no regrets at all. I haven't seen them in 5 years or so but we are meeting up in December when we are out there. Good people.

 

[RS Dude]

Yeah, I've had good practice biting my tongue. No one we know here seems to get it.

ETA - I made a couple of good friends while in CO and they were SoCal transplants from years ago. They have no regrets at all. I haven't seen them in 5 years or so but we are meeting up in December when we are out there. Good people.

My good friend's sister and her family(husband,4 boys,1 girl) lived in Jacksonville for many years prior to moving to Paris for a few years. Upon their return to the USA they decided not return to Jacksonville (for the same reasons you stated), but rather moved to Colorado Springs, in 2008. Of course her family, all living here in southern Calif, wanted them to move close by so they could all visit one another easily. The sister and her family said: 'Hell no! We will never move back to CA.!' To make a long story short, they have been very happily living outside of Colorado Springs since 2008 and have recently bought a maginifcent home on several acres with a beautiful view of the mountain range.:hatsoff:

 

[bofa]

Now we're talking! I don't want to be that far south but would love to find a nice plot of land with even a decent view where I could build a nice house. I need to look into the land thing and see how reasonable it is. It will be a tough sell on my better half though.

 

[GrantK]

Cooking??? Isn't that the thing they do in the back at restaurants?



Just Google "high altitude cooking" and you'll have lots of info.

 

[04rnr]

Colorado is FULL, try new mexico lol

 

[bofa]

Colorado is FULL, try new mexico lol

:rockthrow:

 

[veloindy]

bofa,

Like I said in your other thread. It's true, CO is full! I would also advise getting CO plates ASAP.

Wait for your wife to get a job before you buy a house. The traffic here is pretty bad. When you say 1/2 hour from Denver, that's a completely different story during rush hour.

That being said, we live in Denver, on the NE side, Park Hill to be specific. We love it, lots of families, close to the highway, and downtown. I don't recommend the southside of town, Douglas County to be specific, but that's just me. Be prepared for sticker shock when start shopping for houses, especially coming from Jacksonville. A good website for house browsing is recolorado.com

 

[GrantK]

Colorado is FULL, try new mexico lol

I bet the fence blew down again.

 

[SgnDen]

Colorado is FULL, try new mexico lol

Yes...THAT! So sick of seeing CA license plates...grrrr. Traffic, entitlement attitude, and overall clogging of anything any place that is any good are just a few of the byproducts of the MASSIVE influx we've seen to our state over the past 10-15 years.

But I'm trying to get over it...ha.

 

[bofa]

bofa,

Like I said in your other thread. It's true, CO is full! I would also advise getting CO plates ASAP.

Wait for your wife to get a job before you buy a house. The traffic here is pretty bad. When you say 1/2 hour from Denver, that's a completely different story during rush hour.

That being said, we live in Denver, on the NE side, Park Hill to be specific. We love it, lots of families, close to the highway, and downtown. I don't recommend the southside of town, Douglas County to be specific, but that's just me. Be prepared for sticker shock when start shopping for houses, especially coming from Jacksonville. A good website for house browsing is recolorado.com

The 1/2 hour reference was more for weekend purposes. We really enjoyed the museums, zoo, and some of the downtown festivities so we prefer to be within a quick drive. Although, for the right area/house/schools I'm sure we are flexible. My wife has no intention of teaching downtown and will likely end up working close to where we plan to live long term.

Price will be a factor of course, but I've found listings and new construction that are well within our price range already so I'm not too concerned.

What don't you like about Douglas county? I think that's the area we were specifically planning to explore.