Hopefully moving to Colorado!

Up north (of Denver) We have several nice non-towered airports. I-25 traffic is bad though. Wouldn't want to commute to Denver.
 
LoneAspen said:
I'm planning on quitting my job here in Silicon Valley and moving back to Colorado around middle of 2016, and the housing market in the Denver metro area is becoming as worrisome to me as the housing market here in Silicon Valley.

I'm planning on moving to the Evergreen or Genesee area, so I'm hoping they're not as caught up in the seller's market as actual metro Denver. Knowing my luck, they are.

I suppose I'll pay whatever I have to, however. At this point in my life, I'm absolutely sick to death of living in Silicon Valley, and can't wait to leave. I've been wanting to get back to the Rockies for years, so it's a quality-of-life thing for me. If I have to pay more to get my own house back in the mountains, so be it.
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The Denver housing market may be expensive compared to the rest of the country but it's nothing compared to the Bay Area. I have a condo in SF and it's amazing what it's valued at compared to my house on three acres (about double).
 
A. There is no life east of I-25. You might as well be in Piscattaway NJ.
B. Plenty of employment opp around Denver and the Springs, if you are willing to work for slave wages. A few higher paying tech jobs, but meh - not enough to afford the nice, nice housing areas.
C. They don't call it 'Saudi Aurora' for nothing. You couldn't pay me enough to drive through it, much less actually live there.
D. The state is a weird place. It's a microcosm of the absolute most elitist, socially liberal place on earth around Denver, Boulder(the Peoples Republik of Boulder), and downtown Springs. Everywhere else, it's rather conservative, to ultra conservative. not a lot of love for the townies when you leave Denver/Boulder.
E. Flying - the DEN class B are nice folks most of the time. KAPA is a busy place, but rather nice. I prefer smaller, further out, but that's just me. At the risk of offending the well trammeled route, you might check out a few of the private strips south of town. They sometimes offer covered tie downs. Primitive conditions, so don't expect ILS appr. Of course, prices are a lot lower, but hey - it is what it is.
F. If you haven't flown in the mtns before, go to BJC and find one of the mtn flying courses. Couple of good books on the subject, but there's no substitute for getting in the tin, and going up country. It is -- different. I've been flying in and out of various CO/NM airports for >10 years, and I'm not saying it's unsafe, but it can go from boring to scared to death in about 30 seconds.
G. It's an amazing state, but sadly Denver both sucks and blows at the same time. Aurora is even worse...
 
docmirror said:
A. There is no life east of I-25. ..
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Sidney and Cabelas was the only worthwhile destination to the east. Now that we have 2 stores in Denver, now even that destination has lost its appeal.
 
What's the cause for the housing boom? Seems like the job market there isn't much better than it was several years ago?

We have been trying to move from DFW to Colorado for 6 years or so and could never really make it work, either because we were out of state or jobs I got interviews for paid less than Costco. Both aviation and my degree with a handful of other random jobs thrown in there. We would move for my career not the spouse.

I will say medical paid more than here including cost of living increase. But her income is secondary.


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gkainz said:
Sidney and Cabelas was the only worthwhile destination to the east. Now that we have 2 stores in Denver, now even that destination has lost its appeal.
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There used to be a good bbq joint near the college in Ft Morgan. Sadly, it burnt to the ground a while back. Of course - they put a WalMart up where it used to be.

Coinkeedink? hmmmmm. So, no reason to go east anymore. Unless one want's to go to -- gulp, Kansas...
 
No life east of I-25? What the hell is this, Los Angeles? There is life all over Colorado - you make your own fun, it is REALLY easy to do here since you can pretty much do anything you want to do.

Also note, Coors Field is east of I-25...

And slaves must have been paid very well if I'm making slave wages in Denver.
 
docmirror said:
There used to be a good bbq joint near the college in Ft Morgan. Sadly, it burnt to the ground a while back. Of course - they put a WalMart up where it used to be.

Coinkeedink? hmmmmm. So, no reason to go east anymore. Unless one want's to go to -- gulp, Kansas...
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Also - Dacono is east of I-25, and has an awesome racetrack. If you're into dirt tracks, you've got Fort Morgan, Byers, and Holyoke.

Plenty of other stuff too. The only thing west of I-25 is mountains and really lame "night life."
 
Me thinks thou dost protesteth too much.

Easy there chief. Don't take stuff so personally maybe.
 
So, what's the best ski area east of I 25?

And don't say Granite mtn.

Bazinga
 
Sounds like CO metro is the mountain version of Florida. Ie sunshine tax. Most can't afford it but do it anyways because somehow living in the central plains, Midwest or southeast belts is an indignity akin to 3rd world living. A bit dismissive of entire decent areas of the continental lowlands for my taste, but to each their own..
 
docmirror said:
Me thinks thou dost protesteth too much.

Easy there chief. Don't take stuff so personally maybe.
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I'm not taking it personally, nor am I upset. I'm mostly just joshing you - but one of the great things about Denver (and the Springs) is that you are close to pretty much everything (except Denver traffic blows).
 
Well, Denver/Boulder/Aurora is where the folks from Van Nuys move when they want to 'get away from it all'. Then they get the taste of the country by being able to look at the pretty mountains in the west. That is - if the smog isn't too bad. They also get to complain about cougars and coyotes and elk as if they were still living in Van Nuys.

Seriously, east Denver or Aurora isn't anywhere I want to be. I'm not kidding, but surely some people love it because it's growth rate is phenomenal. Cookie cutter houses tossed up by the dozens in cookie cutter HOAs with finely manicured lawns, and color-coordinated trim. Everyone drives a 3 year old Subaru Forrester or a 2 year old Volvo, they love sushi, and 'kraft' beer. Sorry, not for me. I just spent 4 days up in my retreat 40 miles west of I-25. Real Colorado. If folks want to move to Aurora -- well, it's a semi-free country, but know what you're getting into before you write the check.

YMMV, pro drive closed course, objects in mirror, contents have settled, and may cause anal leakage.
 
docmirror said:
Well, Denver/Boulder/Aurora is where the folks from Van Nuys move when they want to 'get away from it all'. Then they get the taste of the country by being able to look at the pretty mountains in the west. That is - if the smog isn't too bad.
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You haven't been here in a long time, have you?
 
murphey said:
If you're in Aurora ( and there is only one reason anyone takes a job in Aurora from out of state....) FTG and APA are your most likely choices. You won't get a hangar at KAPA for under $500 unless it's a wooden one without power, fuel is expensive, 4-6 flight schools, you'll wait for all the bizjets to land/takeoff. It's one of the 3 busiest airports in the country, over 300K operations/year.

But it's got one of the best restaurants anywhere.
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Hangars are relatively expensive there for sure but the rest of your description is not consistent with my experience in 12 years of operating and owning at KAPA. Wooden hangars? Where are those? I've never seen one.

There are lots of unelectrified modular steel port-a-port hangars. Many owners buy one of those structures and then pay a ground lease for the space it occupies. My ground lease for a medium-size port-a-port is about $280/mo. The structure itself I bought for $17k. Others paid much more back in the heyday.

It is busy but I've found it to be very easy to operate there - easier, in fact, than at some other Class D towered airports (KADS comes to mind and it isn't even that bad). I actually prefer their method of having the entire massive ramp area uncontrolled so that single engine pilots (preferably, not required) can do their runups before calling ground. Taxi to the runway with ground then monitor tower, get cleared for takeoff, and out. Simple. No stack of aircraft in confined runup areas at the ends of the taxiways.

As with any real estate, Front Range is cheaper because it is much farther away from most civilization. However, Front Range can be a more viable option for those living in Aurora since Aurora is east of Denver and closer to KFTG. But parts of Aurora are directly adjacent to KAPA too so it just depends.

If I could base at KFTG I probably would but it's just too far east to be feasible for me. So I suck it up at KAPA and I love having the airplane so close to the house.
 
Clark1961 said:
You haven't been here in a long time, have you?
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Sunday 9/6/15.

It's certainly improved over the years though. This is relative to the rest of the front range away from Denver.
 
docmirror said:
Sunday 9/6/15.

It's certainly improved over the years though. This is relative to the rest of the front range away from Denver.
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Just how much smog did you see on Sunday?
 
Ok so I've been looking at real estate websites....it looks like pretty much no matter where you are, in eastern Colorado at least, the housing prices for anything in decent shape and of a decent size for a family like mine (me, wife, two small kids), is easily 50% or more, more expensive than here....that's a big deal to me as I don't make a ton of money here, and, although I would make more there, not enough that we could afford to live there and have any real benefit to quality of life.

So, am I missing something? Looking in the wrong places? It seems about the same all over...wasted effort???


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SPAJC said:
Ok so I've been looking at real estate websites....it looks like pretty much no matter where you are, in eastern Colorado at least, the housing prices for anything in decent shape and of a decent size for a family like mine (me, wife, two small kids), is easily 50% or more, more expensive than here....that's a big deal to me as I don't make a ton of money here, and, although I would make more there, not enough that we could afford to live there and have any real benefit to quality of life.

So, am I missing something? Looking in the wrong places? It seems about the same all over...wasted effort???


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Sounds about right with what I read about prices. I'm in Fort Collins and anything under 300000 is a dump if you can find one.
 
SPAJC said:
Ok so I've been looking at real estate websites....it looks like pretty much no matter where you are, in eastern Colorado at least, the housing prices for anything in decent shape and of a decent size for a family like mine (me, wife, two small kids), is easily 50% or more, more expensive than here....that's a big deal to me as I don't make a ton of money here, and, although I would make more there, not enough that we could afford to live there and have any real benefit to quality of life.

So, am I missing something? Looking in the wrong places? It seems about the same all over...wasted effort???


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I can relate. I moved here from North Carolina, just up the road from you (sort of). The south is amazing because it is so inexpensive to live and the pay isn't bad. You won't find anywhere else in the country that can compare from that perspective.

To put it into perspective - I bought my home in NC for $130,000 - it was a nice sized house on a couple of acres of land. I was making a bit into 6 figures at the time.

I bought my house in Colorado for $230,000 (or so) - it is a nice sized house but has no land. I am making quite a bit more now though.

To be clear - there are not a whole lot of reasons to leave the south - its cheap, the pay is good, the jobs are plenty, the weather is fantastic, the people are nice, everything is 3 hours or less away (mountains to beach to hiking to sports, etc.).

I picked Colorado to be closer to family. If not for that, I'd have not likely left North Carolina.
 
Thats all pretty much what I was figuring. Thanks! Might just be staying here....


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Thats a pretty cool calculator...its agrees with what the general consensus says...thanks!


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If you still want or need to move, get creative with housing. CO has a lot of areas with aged cabins that have been expanded over the years and aren't exactly move-in ready. Basic carpentry and construction can get you an interesting place in the foothills for not a lot of money, but don't forget you have to live there too, and budget for reno or improvements. It's as un-Aurora as possible.

Usually found in the communities just west of the metro. They are often listed in CL and not on the MLS system. Just - keep an open mind when shopping this way. These are not cookie cutter little pink houses for you and me.

Frex: http://denver.craigslist.org/reb/5137031862.html, http://denver.craigslist.org/reb/5183884450.html

(note, I'm talking with the dome home people now, but it's still up for sale)
 
That's at least a 45 - 50 minute commute to downtown Denver. Heck, I almost bought a place in Bailey, which would have been farther!
 
Anthony said:
That's at least a 45 - 50 minute commute to downtown Denver. Heck, I almost bought a place in Bailey, which would have been farther!
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probably double that now ... traffic has brought on the suckage worse and worse here. Yesterday's commute from Golden to Parker via 470 (37 miles) was 90 minutes.
 
gkainz said:
probably double that now ... traffic has brought on the suckage worse and worse here. Yesterday's commute from Golden to Parker via 470 (37 miles) was 90 minutes.
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Yikes! More transplants? :D

I wonder what 74 is like from Evergreen?
 
There's at least one good thing about being an Elizabethan and living in that no-man's land east of I-25. :rofl:

My commute is almost always 35 minutes to go 25 miles, unless its snowing.

I agree with the others in that, unless you want a fixer-upper, a single family house in decent shape will be in the $300,000 range, at least.
 
Anthony said:
That's at least a 45 - 50 minute commute to downtown Denver. Heck, I almost bought a place in Bailey, which would have been farther!
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285 is 4 lane past Conifer now so the trip isn't horrible. I used to drive from Bailey to the light rail and ride it the rest of the way downtown. Time consuming but usually no major hang-ups when the weather was good.
 
Clark1961 said:
285 is 4 lane past Conifer now so the trip isn't horrible. I used to drive from Bailey to the light rail and ride it the rest of the way downtown. Time consuming but usually no major hang-ups when the weather was good.
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Where did you pick up the light rail?
 
gkainz said:
probably double that now ... traffic has brought on the suckage worse and worse here. Yesterday's commute from Golden to Parker via 470 (37 miles) was 90 minutes.
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Just wait until they make all of 470 a tollway. Seriously, that's supposedly their plan. And no we will not be getting any tax cuts. Take the money and run, I guess.
 
gkainz said:
probably double that now ... traffic has brought on the suckage worse and worse here. Yesterday's commute from Golden to Parker via 470 (37 miles) was 90 minutes.
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when we moved here they were in the middle of TREX, and it seems that TREX was just enough capacity for late 90's level traffic. Time for trex 2 so we can get up to the 2005ish demand I guess.
traffic just gets worse and worse, and lightrail isn't hardly on the north end at all. Yet I still pay the RTD tax....

anyhow, rent is quite bad in denver as others have mentioned, I do feel the housing market is softening up a little.
 
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petrolero said:
Just wait until they make all of 470 a tollway. Seriously, that's supposedly their plan. And no we will not be getting any tax cuts. Take the money and run, I guess.
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another systemic problem. can't afford the infrastructure? Let us privately improve it and give them a mechanism to basically print their own money.
 
So - why is the traffic so bad now? Used to be that I could make it back and forth between Monument and my office in the DTC in 35-40 minutes tops, even during rush hour. Now, it seems that I have an hour minimum drive each way.

Seems like traffic gets worse every week...
 
SkyHog said:
So - why is the traffic so bad now? Used to be that I could make it back and forth between Monument and my office in the DTC in 35-40 minutes tops, even during rush hour. Now, it seems that I have an hour minimum drive each way.

Seems like traffic gets worse every week...
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Schools are back in session.
 
SkyHog said:
So - why is the traffic so bad now? Used to be that I could make it back and forth between Monument and my office in the DTC in 35-40 minutes tops, even during rush hour. Now, it seems that I have an hour minimum drive each way.

Seems like traffic gets worse every week...
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seems like that corridor between lincoln ave and castle rock gets worse every day
 
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