Thinking of moving to CO

My wife and I have lived in sunny Southern California our whole lives. I work in Television and she works for her family owned company in tactical knives. Both of our families are in CA but for us it seems CA is going to hell. The prices are insane and we felt “lucky” to buy a house where we grew up for $1.1 million. They want to move the knife factory out of CA anyways for tax purposes and I don’t mind flying back to Los Angeles for work. Anyone love Colorado? We’re looking for a ranch style house on the outskirts of Denver. Franktown, Elizabeth, Kiowa, or Elbert. Anything we should know? Grass always greener? We have two boys ages 7 and 4. We have an incredibly school district here so that would be a huge deciding factor. Thanks guys for any input.

 

Try posting in the regional section and you'll get more input from the local guys. I can't really talk about that area, as I live north of Denver. I moved out of SoCal back in '06 and have never looked back though.

 

You will probably like it there. I left because there were too many Californians.

 

Probably minimally useful info, but everyone I know who has visited Denver loved it.

 

Sorry we’re ruining it. I was afraid of that. Maybe that’s just Denver? We’re looking more southwest for horse property.

 

To avoid getting political, let's just say it is a statewide phenomenon.

 

Maybe because CA is going to shit.

 

IMO, Colorado is not far behind..

 

Shit. That’s what I was afraid of. The land and privacy intrigues us and of course the amount of land for the money. For us if we leave the beach it’d be for mountains. Is Mars ready yet?

 

I love it here in Colorado. We moved from so cal when I was 5.

 

I've lived in the south Denver metro area since 2013.

Housing seems pricey to me (coming from TX) but if your current house is $1.1 M then you may be happy with how far your money goes. It sounds like you already know the area and know exactly what you'd be getting. There are some fantastic schools (Cherry Creek, Arapahoe, Douglas school districts tend to be pretty good but do your research because there is variance between schools within each district). However, you mentioned horse property and reasonably priced horse properties tend not to be in the best school districts. If you want horses but don't want to compromise on schools, check out the Surrey Ridge neighborhood off of I-25 between Ridgegate and Castle Pines. Feeds into Rock Canyon High - one of the best in the state. Be prepared to spend $1 M though. Elizabeth / Franktown / the other areas you mentioned will be far less expensive, but you may be taking a step down in schools.

Quality of life is great. Things are getting crowded but not near as crowded as CA. Colorado is one of the few places that beats CA for outdoor activities IMO. Obviously we don't have the ocean though.

Ignore the "Colorado natives only" haters. Everyone who isn't a transplant, had a transplant ancestor who "ruined" someone else's "perfect" Colorado. If transplants had never been allowed to move here, there would only be Native Americans.

 

I was born and raised in Colorado. IMO it was a great place in the 50s. Things have changed there a lot since then. It doesn't suit me any more. That is why I left. I bear no grudge against those who moved there and changed it. To each his own.

 

One of the great things about CO is the property taxes are extremely low.

 

and when people leave these horribly run states, they take their political leanings with them to the new states and then turn them into the states they just left...

 

CA isn't bad once you're outside the city. Then again, I don't actually live there so...

Colorado is beautiful and similar to CA in that it isn't terrible once outside the city. But they've got their share of politics too (who doesn't though).

 

Colorado is a beautiful state. However the real estates market has gone to hell.

 

I’ve been having this thought too. What do you do in television?

 

I’m a Technocrane/Steadicam Operator.

 

nice! I’m an a2 and do a1 on occasion for fox sports.

 

Right on!!