Any Colorado-oens....
im thinking of applying for a job both in fort collins and also colorado springs area...
can you give me an idea of housing prices...decent hunting anywhere near here....guns laws in the state... ANY info you can give me would be appreciated.
ive contacted the local "city offices" and they are going to send out an visitors packet [B)].
thanks.
scott
can you give me an idea of housing prices...decent hunting anywhere near here....guns laws in the state... ANY info you can give me would be appreciated.
ive contacted the local "city offices" and they are going to send out an visitors packet [B)].
thanks.
scott
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Colorado Springs is great. Small enough to be homey with a lot big city amenities. Housing prices are very reasonable (as far as I know), especially when compared to Denver. Lots of cool things to do and a great downtown scene. Colorado has pretty standard gun laws, much more permissive than say, CA, IL, NY or DC. As far as local laws I couldn't comment on but I don't think they would be that oppressive if they existed at all. Fort Collins I don't know as well, but it seems OK, but not as cool as Springs IMO. 0 -
Coloradoan. a not e.
Housing prices in the Fort Collins area run the entire gamut from very low $100,000s to multi million $. What market are you looking at?
What kind of hunting, waterfowl, upland, small game, big game, varmint shooting, liberals /democrats, what?
Generally the state laws are not to bad but some localities have some BS local restrictions like Denver.
You need to be a little more specific.
Unless you have an unusual trade, work in the food service industry or for the government, the work situation in FC is iffy at best. Lots of college kids so most of the lower end jobs are taken by them. Even some of the more skilled jobs don't pay all that great. Most of the major employers have moved out, closed down or cut WAY back on employees. Be sure you have something in hand before the move or you may be having a rough time for a while.
The visitors packet will blow LOTS of sweet smelling smoke and very little reality. I live in the general area of FC and so I kinda know what it is like here. I have no idea about Colorado Springs.0 -
Real estate is pretty high along the front range, but you can still find fairly reasonable places out in eastern Weld County.
Colo Springs, I haven't any info on.0 -
as far as the "market" im looking at will be in the 200-300K RANGE. im graditating from college with a degree in industrial automation, so the jobs im applying for probably wont be taken by the "local college kids". the company im looking at has grown over 500% in the past 6 years, so im not to worried about them going under.
the hunting im mostly concerned with is the elk/deer hunts. ive waterfowl hunted most my life, so im pretty "immune" to the thrills of it, dont get my wrong, i love doing it, but elk/deer hunting is give me more or a 'rush'
thanks again for the info.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Colonel Plink
Real estate is pretty high along the front range, but you can still find fairly reasonable places out in eastern Weld County.
Colo Springs, I haven't any info on.
call me dumb. but what the heck is the "front range"??? [;)][:D]0 -
you won't be to far from like Gunnison which is good elk country,
straighr west of you their are lots of national forest land, hunting camps every where.0 -
Right now, Colorado is very much in a BUYERS market for homes. Nothing is moving right now. Of course, just because that's the case doesn't mean that people are willing to take it in the shorts just to move their property.
El Paso County (Colorado Springs) is very conservative, and it is state law that if you can pass the background check and a proficiency test and will pay the fee, the county sheriff MUST issue you a CCW. The individual counties can charge a "reasonable" price for the permit, but I think the Springs would be fairly affordable (much more so than, say, Denver).
Your biggest downside to the Springs is that the traffic there is ALWAYS horrible, even late at night. They've been doing construction on I25 for a few years and perhaps when it is done it'll be much improved.0 -
quote:Originally posted by MN Hunter
quote:Originally posted by Colonel Plink
Real estate is pretty high along the front range, but you can still find fairly reasonable places out in eastern Weld County.
Colo Springs, I haven't any info on.
call me dumb. but what the heck is the "front range"??? [;)][:D]
It's the area between I-25 and the Continental Divide, in a nutshell.
The Front Range Corridor is a heavily populated area along I-25 that stretches from Fort Collins to Castle Rock, with little interruption.
When I was a kid, I remember listening with wide eyes as my 3rd grade teacher taught us a new word. "Megalopolis" is how she described the area from Cheyenne to Pueblo. "One day", she solemnly intoned, "It will all be one big city". This would've been in 1968 or 69.
I'll never forget my father scoffing at the idea.
Now look at it.
But I digress. You could probably get some sort of rude hovel for 2-300K in the Fort Collins area. I live 100 miles east of there on the prairie.0 -
quote:They've been doing construction on I25 for a few years
Yeah, like since before you were born!
MNhunter, you can still come down and hunt in NM even if you do move to Colorado.0 -
quote:Originally posted by He Dog
quote:They've been doing construction on I25 for a few years
Yeah, like since before you were born!
MNhunter, you can still come down and hunt in NM even if you do move to Colorado.
Not to hijack, but have you tried to bag an Oryx yet?0 -
Hunting out of both of those spots is great. Great goose hunting and not much of a drive to good deer, elk, and even antelope hunting out of Ft Collins. Colorado Springs has good elk and bear populations, not sure about deer. More chronic wasting disease up north. Decent fishing both areas.
I moved from the Front Range to the West Slope a little over 2 years ago. Too many people for me and too long a drive to hunt the places I like.
Colorado has a fairly complicated big game application process. I will talk you through it when the time comes. I think you have to be a resident for 1 year before you can qualify as a "resident hunter".
If you use a muzzleloader for big game go to this recent topic:
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=229131
As far as gun laws: Colorado as a whole is pro gun but I hear horror stories about the City and County of Denver. They have some local ordinances that make it almost impossible to legally transport a firearm through town. I don't have any specifics so do some more homework.
I would prefer to live in Ft. Collins because I like the feel of town better. It has a neat city center with old buildings and a good night life. Keep in mind it is a college town, the CSU campus is right in the middle of town.
I have spent less time in Colorado Springs but it definitely is a town with a good side and a bad side of the tracks, literally. Not much growth or investment in the community west of the RR tracks. Don't know about the night life. The Air Force Academy in there and Colorado Christian Academy (college hockey is great). Everything is located off of College Ave for some reason.
I have flown in/out of the Colorado Springs airport several times and was impressed. Not sure what is available for air travel out of Ft. Collins, might have to use DIA. DIA is a great place to fly through but it is so far from anywhere it is a hassle to use.
Wow this is long...i'll check back later...0 -
At the high end of your price range, you can find a pretty decent house in a pretty decent neighborhood, especially if you look at the outlying areas like Wellington or as one fellow stated the western part of Weld county,Ault, Nunn, Pierce, etc. If I recall correctly, the average price for houses in FC last year was something around $255,000, and as also stated earlier, it is a buyers market, especially in the FC area. We know because we are trying to sell our place. Unfortunately, it's about 3x what you are in the market for.
As far as the company you want to work for, growing 500% and being around for a while, ask a few people that worked (please note the tense) at HP, Celestica, Lucent and a couple of other places if that is not similar to the thoughts they had just a few short years ago. HP was going to be here forever. HA! Gone. My son-in-law works for a company that last fall laid off over 60 engineers (among many others), some of whom had 25+ years with the company. I suspect you are young and very enthusiastic and the world is your oyster. I truly hope it all works out for you. But I have seen so many hopes and dreams "dashed on the rocks of corporate greed" that anymore I barely make it to mildly pessimistic on a good day, up from utterly, entirely, deeply and truly pessimistic.
As for the big game hunting, yes, there is some very good hunting here in CO if you have the time and money. Admitedly there are a lot of areas fairly close to FC but so is a big bunch of people with the same idea.
If I sound down on this area, please forgive me. I was born and raised in Loveland lots and lots of years ago and have lived in this area, except for several years at Bemidji, going to college and generally trying to survive, all my life. I have seen the California influence come in and destroy this great area. Of course, if it hadn't been the CA folks it would have been someone else I suppose.
Anyway, if you should choose the FC area, I'm sure you won't be disappointed, for a while at least. There are many, many good things here, just too many people.0 -
Traffic in CO is a BEAR. Boulder is a nest of flaming liberals. Ft Collins is a touch better. Further South you get, the more connected with reality citizens seem to be. Check area between Castle Rock and Colorado Springs. Co Springs traffic sux- but Denver is worse. Ben Lomond gun club is the state rifle association, branch in Franktown CO and HQ in Co Springs. Dues are reasonable, good folks, nice range out near Kiowa CO. Expect water bills to be significant. You WILL need to water your lawn. Find out where the cattle feed lots and poultry processing plants are (Longmont area) and STAY UPWIND! [:p] Moved out of CO in 99. Good fishing- deer season is too short. 0 -
wow, thanks for all the great info. i really do appreciate all the "good and bad". again, im just thinking of taking the flight from MSP to CO....
also, california was also a thought in my mind, but the more i thought about it...the more i though about colorado. granted starting pay is $6300/month in cali, im not sure if that lifestyle is whats best for me.(the job is in riverside...the riverside east of LA)
HeDog- im thinking of booking an antelope hunt out by you this coming year...if so, albuquerque will be the meeting point [;)] i gotta survive my argentina stag hunt and go from there.....
again, thanks for all the info guys!0 -
homefair.com is ONE on many sites that has a salary comparator. Plug in starting city, destination city, and it will compare money here and money there. PS- when I moved out of CO, it was the equivalent of a 20% pay raise![:)] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by 11b6r
homefair.com is ONE on many sites that has a salary comparator. Plug in starting city, destination city, and it will compare money here and money there. PS- when I moved out of CO, it was the equivalent of a 20% pay raise![:)]
nice site, thanks!0
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