Helpless in Hawaii (Denver, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction: 2015, how much, new home)

[kmirtich]

Aloha! My family and I are seriously considering relocating to Colorado. However, we have some questions and would really appreciate any info/feedback anyone has to offer.

(1) We want to enjoy the mountains/views but are ideally looking for mild winters. Is this possible?

(2) We want to be close to elementary schools and have heard district 20 is great. How is the education system in Colorado and where is district 20?

(3) I have read that Colorado's annual salaries are low. Is this true? If so, how do people afford to buy homes and survive finacially? It seems the average price of a home there is around $250K. Is that price considered "expensive?"

(4)We are looking for kid friendly communities. Any suggestions on neighborhoods? We want the luxury of being near city amenities but far away from the traffic and hustle.

(5) What is the cost of running your home. We don't have heating costs here. Is that something we need to consider? How much are items such as milk and gas, etc?

I realize these are pretty in depth questions and would appreciate/welcome any responses, suggestions or links to web sites as we know NOTHING about Colorado except that its beautiful. Mahalo for you time!

[Katarina Witt]

The first thing you should do is search this site. Not only will you find some good, if sometimes biased, information, you will find many links. One suggestion I would make: do not choose a school district based on what you have "heard". I would also say, don't drive yourself crazy finding the "best" school in the "best" district.

As far a question #1, there are areas that have more mild winters than others, but you'll have a hard time avoiding snow, no matter where you live.

[kwk722]

1- You can see the mountains most everywhere. Winters can be very different, dont expect them to be mild.
2- dont no nuttin abowt edjimucayshun.
3- Salaries vary a lot... what do you do? - $250k - average/lower range
4- Lots of that, what city do you want to be near?
5- Winter heating bills are usually double or triple my summer bills. Milk near $4 a gallon, gas 2.60 to 2.99 currently.
last Colorado is beautiful, but... youre coming from Hawaii, dont expect to see much green or water.

[.gif]

the winters are mild compared to the northeast u.s. but not compared to hawaii. groceries are expensive but not nearly as bad as in hawaii. i think gas is about the same.

[Market Mama]

Mild winters are not possible here. Many mild days (50 degrees) are, but then we get HIT with big snows and freezing winds. Which means dangerous roads and a furnace that runs constantly. You can "see" mountains almost anywhere except the far east side of the state, but seeing isn't necessarily the same as experiencing.


Education will vary wildly in a state this big with such a huge diversity in school districts and even between schools in the same district. Small towns usually have less resources for schools, but some Denver districts are downright awful. Don't go by a number, do your research -- many school districts along the Front Ranger are above average (don't know much about the Western Slope, but Grand Junction is well spoken of too)

When I interview people from either coast they tend to express out right dismay at the salaries here. But, I do OK ... never be rich but am settled, happy and have a good live with enough left over to travel to places like Hawaii.

Any place with good schools will be kid friendly. "We want the luxury of being near city amenities but far away from the traffic and hustle." You and the rest of the world! Good luck, but be prepared to set some priorities and make some hard choices, unless you are independently wealthy.

My heating bills are scary high in the winter, and getting worse each winter, even though I leave the thermostat at 60 during the day and 55 at night. The cost of heating is going up everywhere, so beware. It is COLD here often enough to make a big (financially painful) difference in your ultilities bills in the winter. Check the insulation before you buy a home!

Hawaii is at least as beautiful as Colorado and not nearly as harsh. Be careful what you wish for!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by kmirtich

Aloha! My family and I are seriously considering relocating to Colorado. However, we have some questions and would really appreciate any info/feedback anyone has to offer.

(1) We want to enjoy the mountains/views but are ideally looking for mild winters. Is this possible?

(2) We want to be close to elementary schools and have heard district 20 is great. How is the education system in Colorado and where is district 20?

(3) I have read that Colorado's annual salaries are low. Is this true? If so, how do people afford to buy homes and survive finacially? It seems the average price of a home there is around $250K. Is that price considered "expensive?"

(4)We are looking for kid friendly communities. Any suggestions on neighborhoods? We want the luxury of being near city amenities but far away from the traffic and hustle.

(5) What is the cost of running your home. We don't have heating costs here. Is that something we need to consider? How much are items such as milk and gas, etc?

I realize these are pretty in depth questions and would appreciate/welcome any responses, suggestions or links to web sites as we know NOTHING about Colorado except that its beautiful. Mahalo for you time!

1: The eastern third of CO is flat dry grassland, middle third is high mountains and western third is drier and desert-like. Anywhere along the Front Range (I-25 corridor) will have mountain views, but the further east you go the view gets smaller or none at all. There are great views from the western slope too. Winters along the Front Range are "mild" compared to the high country, we can walk around in just a heavy shirt and no jacket on sunlit days (most of the winter) but we do have cold spells and snow. Millions live here, can't be that bad.

2: D20 is in Colorado Springs and is a fine district, D12, D38 are also excellent and D11 is decent to very good.

3. I'm retired, don't pay attention to salaries here, but they are as livable as anywhere else these days. Lots of Defense work in COL SPGS with decent pay and benefits. Some say pay is better, some say it's worse. YMMV. For homes about $250, search for homes on zip code 80920, in D20. Lots here for that price, about half what they'd be back in our old zip of 20151 in the DC metro area (Fairfax County, VA). We came here for affordability of homes.

4. Good advice that good school districts are kid friendly. Your wish to be near town and FAR away from the hustle & bustle are "mutually exclusive" requirements. There are nice areas in or around most of these towns. Key thing is to be about 2 miles away from any interstate highway or freeway, that will let you skip most of the noise. If by "near town" you mean within a 30 minute drive, then you have many options, especially here in COL SPGS.

5. We've a 3800 sq ft home, ranch style, fully finished basement. A new home, took possession on 02 Nov 2005. Built "green" with many conservation measures. Both levels have 9-foot ceilings and two rooms are even higher. We have two gas heating systems, two gas fireplaces, gas water heater, gas cooktop, two electric ovens, one A/C system. We run three outside lights each night. We heat and cool at 75 degrees. There are two occupants, we shower each day and sometimes fill the jacuzzi too. The downstairs heating system hardly comes on during winter, is set at 68 degrees and we only turned it up when we were busy down there. The lawn has a sprinkler system and it runs as much as two hours a day May-Oct. Our bills for a year are: Jun-06 $197, Jul $225, Aug $162, Sep $157, Oct $181, Nov $198; Dec $236; Jan-07 $299; Feb $238; Mar $202; Apr $177; May $155. Average is $202 per month for these utilities, including sewer.

s/Mike

[.gif]

Originally Posted by Market Mama

Hawaii is at least as beautiful as Colorado and not nearly as harsh. Be careful what you wish for!

i was in oahu in june. gorgeous place. that is what mountains should look like... lush and green.