Move to Colorado?

[Jonmart1]

[QUOTE=BigMoneyJim;2474159]Hi, I retired 10 months ago.

I had intended to sell my house in Irving, TX, and move to an apartment in Kitsap County (West of Seattle) to start the next phase of my life. I wanted a cooler climate, scenery, and plenty of choices of what to go see and do.

But my approach to the pandemic has been to halt those plans and hole up in my TX house until it's all over.

But now I'm considering other possibilities. I still don't feel comfortable moving 2200 miles for various reasons, mainly I absolutely want to avoid air travel during the pandemic, and there's always the "what if"s of family. (I'm single but have family in the DFW area.)



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Hi BigMoneyJim,


I live in Longmont, CO so just north of Denver and am familiar with the area. Colorado Springs is beautiful and quite attractive. We own some land further down and hope to retire there one of these days.

I have another suggestion though. Have you considered Cheyenne, Wyoming? That is not much further up the I-25 corridor and is still part of the Front Range. The nice thing about Wyoming is that the tax burden will definitely be less, houses are still a bit cheaper than Colorado and one bonus is that there is a new air service out of Cheyenne to DFW! I think it is twice a day now in something heavy like a Boeing 737 so not a puddle jumper and can fly in inclement weather. The only thing I don't like about Wyoming is that the wind never stops! LOL. Good luck in your search. Best regards, Jon

[imnontrad]

I have lived in Colorado Springs for 5 years. It is a booming city and houses sell fast. Amazon is building a huge facility here so house prices should go up even more. I live on the east side far away from I-25 crazy traffic. But I still think it is more than a reasonable day's drive for DFW. I am about 20 minutes drive from the CS airport and it sure beats the hassle of Denver. If you ski, it is about 3 hours one way to any ski place.
Property tax is great and so are utilities. However, insurance for the home and car are higher due to hailstorms. Car registration is crazy expensive too.
Yes, Security-Widefield was recently in the news. But I believe some of the area had trouble in the past few years due to water contamination from Peterson AFB.
There are lots of military installations and DoD affiliated companies. But retirees who get their medical care on base are getting "kicked out' when they start Medicare - and some doctors practices in the area do not take new Medicare/Tricare patients. There are a lot of activities and more park space per capita than anywhere in the US. The city is also sprawling. So if you move here, ensure you get a home near the activities you want. Driving from one side of town to another can be a pain - and the bus system is a joke.

For me, the biggest negative about the area is the super-conservative evangelical population in many areas of town. And if you are not in that demographic, it can be difficult to find friends (although a lot of Meetup groups and an active over 50 group called "Pikes Peak Over The Hill Gang"). There is a Senior Center in the town but even before COVID, I did not find a lot there for me.

I just returned from a vacation and spent a few hours in Fort Collins - and loved it. I am going to wait and, depending on the national elections and how CS/CO votes, I may move to Fort Collins, travel for a year or more, or choose to be an expat.

[socca]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imnontrad I have lived in Colorado Springs for 5 years. It is a booming city and houses sell fast. I live on the east side far away from I-25 crazy traffic.

I have a couple of relatives who are long-time residents of CS. They don't complain about the traffic or political/religious climate. They both enjoy hiking in the Rockies.

[outdoorgirl02]

Also near CS, check out Castle Rock and the Sedalia area. Both are between CS and Denver.

[Jonmart1]

A great site to do your research. Check out https://www.bestplaces.net/

[RobLJ]

Our cabin was outside of Canon City, but up past the Gorge so up about 1500 feet higher in elevation so cooler. Loved it. We thought about retiring there, but DW intended on working for 5-7 years (it turned out to be 3, so now we regret selling the cabin which is considerably cooler than Reno in summer). Manitou and up pass are cool. Salida is also a great town (we skiied there from the cabin, since it was about 70 minutes away), but quite a ways from airports etc (I see the poster mentioned it); Colorado Springs was only an hour or 80 minutes from Canon City.



And Granddad used to drive to Paonia (below Grand Junction) for fruit; his cabin was close to Carbondale.

Quote:

Originally Posted by intent I've lived in or around Co Spgs most of my life. Grew up in Manitou Spgs in the 70s-80s. Also lived in Denver for a few years (too big, busy for our taste), and even in TX (Corpus Christi - too hot and too many bugs) for a few years. In addition to the areas already mentioned, you might consider checking out the areas "up the Pass." Heading NW out of Manitou Spgs, Hwy 24 goes up Ute Pass and there are several small communities that are at a slightly higher elevation and more rural (but still an easy drive down to the Springs). Cascade, Chipita Park, Green Mountain Falls, and Woodland Park are all areas I would recommend exploring. We live just outside of Woodland Park and find, especially now that commuting to the office isn't a thing, we rarely need to drive down to the Springs, as Woodland is a town of about 8K-10K with plenty of grocery stores to keep us stocked. Ute Pass is sort of a gateway into the mountains for Springs residents, so there are also quite a few restaurants up here - though you would need to take a 30-45 minute drive to the Springs for better variety. Something to keep in mind that we've noticed some who move from out-of-state miss is that if you're planning to move here full-time you'll likely want to invest in an AWD vehicle. The weather isn't as bad as a lot of Texans fear, but there will be snow days, some of the roads are steep, and we've helped many a stranded 2WD vehicle of people who moved here in the spring/summer not realizing how it can get. Another location idea might be Canon City. It's a small- to mid-size town west of Pueblo - a little further off I-25. It's warmer and lower elevation than the Springs, but has a nice smaller older town sort of feel, and is also close to the mountains. It's big enough that you can find everything you need there, and is close to Pueblo if you need specialized medical care. Last but not least, I'll throw Buena Vista and Salida out there as towns to investigate. They're deeper in the mountains / further from big metropolitan areas. But they're both very nice and seem to be growing in popularity with more affluent retirees (who aren't affluent enough to live in Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge).

[clubmanstl]

An aside: if you're not unhappy in TX (and since you have family there), you may want to check out the "Hill Country" region. My sis and b-i-l relocated from Port Isabel to Kerrville about 5 years ago, and they've been very happy there. There are lots of retirees in the area (they live in a 55+ community), and it's close enough to San Antonio to provide urban amenities, when desired. Good luck and "happy landing"!

[braumeister]

A question for those who live in Colorado Springs:

When I lived there long ago, I had to get my windshield replaced almost every year. It got sandblasted from the winds coming off the front range, and I couldn't pass the annual inspection without a new one.

Many cars today have a very high windshield replacement cost, so that would be a concern. Are the inspection standards still so strict?

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister A question for those who live in Colorado Springs: When I lived there long ago, I had to get my windshield replaced almost every year. It got sandblasted from the winds coming off the front range, and I couldn't pass the annual inspection without a new one. Many cars today have a very high windshield replacement cost, so that would be a concern. Are the inspection standards still so strict?

Safety inspections have been gone for many years. Emission inspections do exist along the front range. Sand still pits windows along the front range.

[COcheesehead]

I’ve lived in Colorado 26 years. Most of that time along the front range. I’ve had to replace one windshield in that timeframe and that was the result of a rock on the interstate.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcheesehead I’ve lived in Colorado 26 years. Most of that time along the front range. I’ve had to replace one windshield in that timeframe and that was the result of a rock on the interstate.

I'm on my 4th or 5th windshield for my 2013 Jeep Wrangler. Wranglers are known for being very bad on windshields. Add to that over 10 miles of dirt roads and my circumstances are different than most. I have insurance on the Jeep that pays for windshields if there is a crack or major chip so I just wait for that to happen before I get the windshield replaced. In the 1970s I had a Ford Econoline van that got the windshield replaced every 2 to 3 years due to sand pitting. No regular dirt roads at that time, but all in Colorado.

[PatrickW]

Friends of ours moved from Fort Worth, TX to Colorado a few months ago. They had "issues" with locals who saw their Texas license plates. Wasn't just a one-off situation.

Somebody else who works at their same company had previously warned them that their Texas plates might draw attention.

Just be careful and use common sense, and maintain awareness of your surroundings. It sounds like the political climate (at least in certain places in Colorado) has deteriorated recently.

May I respectfully suggest checking the area out with your own eyes before making any irreversible decisions....?

[intent]

I'm not sure what issues your friends had, but it surprises me to hear that as a long-time CO resident. The CO Spgs area in particular attracts a lot of tourists from all over, so it would be weird to go a day around here without seeing some TX plates In fact, as a kid we used to play a game during the summers to see how many plates from other states we could spot. And there are no shortage of former Texans who have made CO their home.

[COcheesehead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit I'm on my 4th or 5th windshield for my 2013 Jeep Wrangler. Wranglers are known for being very bad on windshields. Add to that over 10 miles of dirt roads and my circumstances are different than most. I have insurance on the Jeep that pays for windshields if there is a crack or major chip so I just wait for that to happen before I get the windshield replaced. In the 1970s I had a Ford Econoline van that got the windshield replaced every 2 to 3 years due to sand pitting. No regular dirt roads at that time, but all in Colorado.

I had good luck with my 3 Wranglers and my Jeep Cherokee. No broken windshields. My Acura Integra which sat low, used to take direct hits from rocks off semi’s. That was my only glass casualty.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by intent I'm not sure what issues your friends had, but it surprises me to hear that as a long-time CO resident....no shortage of former Texans who have made CO their home.

When I lived there the only issue was all the Texans who made for longer lift lines at the ski areas. For some reason it seemed as if every other Texan was a skier and they were everywhere. Not a problem, just something we noticed.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by intent I'm not sure what issues your friends had, but it surprises me to hear that as a long-time CO resident. The CO Spgs area in particular attracts a lot of tourists from all over, so it would be weird to go a day around here without seeing some TX plates In fact, as a kid we used to play a game during the summers to see how many plates from other states we could spot. And there are no shortage of former Texans who have made CO their home.

If locals here treated Texans poorly there wouldn't be much town. During tourist season they outnumber locals.

[REWahoo]

We spend 2-3 weeks in CO every Sept (except this one, of course) and have never felt we were treated poorly.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRG If locals here treated Texans poorly there wouldn't be much town. During tourist season they outnumber locals.

That is especially true in the southwest quarter of the state. It's not that far from Texas, but much cooler in the summer. Also good skiing in the winter. I don't think the Texas license plates outnumber the Colorado plates, but there are a bunch.

[braumeister]

I'm not too sure about that. Purgatory seemed to be a particularly popular spot for Texas plates from what I remember. And I can remember days when I sat next to a Texan every time I rode a lift.

Well, now I've got the idea lodged in my tiny mind, so time to start thinking about where to go in January.

[WyomingLife]

If your lives revolve around windshields and license plates, please don't come here. Ever.

Stay in Colorado.