Possibly moving to the Boulder area

Heir

Backstory: Live in Austin, TX, and have lived in Texas overall for 20 years (moved to the state from the midwest in 8th grade). Parents now live near Morrison, CO, wife's brother lives in downtown Denver, and we've got extended family around the state and northern NM. In short, other than one brother in Austin, we have nothing keeping us here.

So, we start talking about where we want to start a family. I've always been in love with Colorado. Beyond having family there, I spend some time up there every summer climbing 14ers, and some of the winter/holidays skiing and hiking. We decided to start looking for jobs in the Denver/Boulder area, with the goal to move sometime in the next year. No rush, but if we got a good offer, we'd take it.

Present: I'm very far along in the interview process with a company I'd really like to work for based out of the San Francisco, CA area. I would work remotely from my home office and support an area including Colorado and some of the southwest (I do technical work/level-setting in a pre-sales function for software companies). If things go well, I expect to have an offer soon.

So the question is, where do we live? I love Boulder, as it feels a bit like Austin. That said, I don't want to live right in town because of housing prices. I have an aunt who lives in Longmont, which I've checked out pretty extensively and we both really like. Plus, they've got the Left Hand brewery there (their milk stout is one of my favorites). Doing some research, we've found there are good schools in the southwest part of town, and we like the general size and proximity to both Boulder and Denver. The view of the mountains doesn't hurt either. Bonus is that the companies my wife is talking to are based out of Boulder or Louisville, so the commute wouldn't be bad.

So does anyone have experience with living in that area? What did you like and dislike? Any particular headaches? Any alternate areas you liked? I've checked out Lyons too, which seemed alright, but tiny even compared to Longmont. Fort Collins would be great, but there aren't any jobs up there for my wife, so her commute would be hell.

Thanks!

davidsdurions

Loveland, between Longmont and Fort Collins, is my sweet spot future place of residence if and when we move to Colorado too.

Deadfall

Lafayette is also in that area. It's small but I'd imagine housing isn't too bad.

Boulder itself is..... Well it's Boulder. There's no other way to describe it. I like visiting because it has a great beer scene but it's very much a college town and I don't enjoy it for long periods.

Longmont is a solid choice because, again, beer scene but there's not a whole lot else there. Niwot is also right there, very small but probably decent housing options.

Lyons is tiny and got annihilated by a flood last year. Like I got married in Lyons and our venue isn't even there anymore. I'm sure they've recovered but yeah it got hit pretty hard.

Fort Collins is fantastic in my opinion. Huge beer scene, great food, just the right mix of college and young professionals. But it is way up north.

Loveland also has a great beer scene but is still pretty far north.

I live in Arvada which is a bit south east of where you're looking but my friend is in Fort Collins so I go there frequently. I'm huge into the brewery scene and it sounded like you were too, which is why I mentioned it so much, but if you have any more specific questions I'm open to answer them.

Deadfall

Also the housing market here didn't crash as hard as most of the country, and the little it did is starting to rebound fast. So just heads up on that one.

Heir

Yeah definitely into the beer and distillery scene. I actually found a little distillery in Lyons that I liked when I was up there a month ago.

Fort Collins would by far be my first choice...but like you said...it's way up there. I'll have to fly for work somewhat, so being within an hour or so of DIA would be preferable.

We've looked at Arvada, and if my wife ended up finding a job closer to Denver we'd consider that area...I've heard good things.

Thanks for the info so far. My aunt talked about Niwot too, and it's almost smack dab in the middle of Boulder and Longmont, so that's definitely an option!

Deadfall

Arvada is great because it's kind of hidden in that nobody really thinks about it. But housing is reasonable, it's right off two highways, and we're near all major metro areas. We have great bars and we're getting the commuter rail next year which will go straight to Denver.

The schools out this way are decidedly mediocre though. If you're looking for outstanding schools you'd better stick around Boulder.

schuss

How do you know who from the party is from Boulder?
Don't worry, they'll tell you.

As others said, Arvada is a good area, as is Golden and some other spots, but take note that Denver and even moreso Boulder are super-heated right now, and even after the flooding the housing market means a crapshack for $$$$.

Big questions - can your job alone support you guys? What does your wife want to do?

If you can largely support the two of you with your salary, getting into Summit County or near Durango is money for outdoor access, as otherwise you're stuck in the I70 traffic jam just like everyone else on the weekends.

davidsdurions

Re: outdoor access

Take the drive up to the snowy range and vedauwau in Wyoming. Fewer crowds, cheaper gas.

Heir

Thanks for the information. Part of the reason we've looked at Longmont is that the schools seem pretty good (at least in the Southwest of town) and the house prices for what you get appear to be within our budget range.

As for if I can support us alone: Yes. That said, my wife wants to keep working, she has no desire to be a stay-at-home wife. We're pretty familiar with the Durango area, as she grew up just south of the border in NM there. That said, her prospects for a job there are pretty terrible. She's in marketing, and is close to a director-level at this point, so Durango/Silverton/Farmington don't have a lot to offer. Boulder and Denver do.