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Tips for relocating across the country? Hopefully Colorado?

Original Post
Shane Noble · · Portland, Maine · Joined May 2013 · Points: 25

Im hoping some of you might have some tips or insight on moving across the country. We currently live in Maine and are looking to relocate to Colorado. My girlfriend works as a Director of Sales and Marketing at a lakeside resort and I'm a brewer, so clearly she's the bread winner in this relationship. We want to find a place that is close to good climbing that has opportunities for her in the hospitality industry. I've heard trying to find work out of state is difficult, add to that trying to time it with the end of our lease here and finding housing there...it all seems daunting! To further complicate it, we have huge student loans, so the idea of moving out and living on our savings while tring to find work seems risky.

So if anyone has suggestions on where to start, or how you did it, I'd love to hear about it. Also any insight to a place with good climbing and close to tourism hot spots would be awesome. Thanks!

Tyson Anderson · · SLC, UT · Joined May 2007 · Points: 126

Best for at least one of you to find a job before moving so you aren't limiting your employment opportunities to one geographical area.

Shane Noble · · Portland, Maine · Joined May 2013 · Points: 25

I agree. I think it makes sense to go wherever she can find work, since her job will always be better paying then mine. I'd happily change professions if I had to, but there are enough breweries in Colorado, I image you can never be too far from one.

Matt Pierce · · Poncha Springs, CO · Joined May 2010 · Points: 312

Shane - Colorado is OUT OF CONTROL - something like 15,000 people a month are moving here. The secret is out. Why am I telling you this? Cost of living is skyrocketing. Don't expect to live in Boulder for sure. Rents, even in Denver's suburbs are WAY up. Typical small 2 bedrooms are $2000/month. If you want to live in any Denver neighborhoods, even if you can find an apartment they are outrageous. And parking and traffic are really bad. Not trying to dissuade you (even though I am sick of the influx of people) - just know what you are getting yourself into.

Matt Pierce · · Poncha Springs, CO · Joined May 2010 · Points: 312

Oh also - cool that you are a brewer but that is another point - there seems to be a microbrew popping up on every corner - soon we will have more breweries than Starbucks...

Which I supposed means you could probably find a job easily enough...

Shane Noble · · Portland, Maine · Joined May 2013 · Points: 25

I appreciate the words of warning. I don't have too much desire to live in or around Denver, how is it in the rest of the state? I fell in love with Colorado, but we're keeping our options open. The only requirements we really have are good climbing, easy winters and being able to find her work in the hospitality industry. So maybe we should look at alternative areas.....

curt86iroc · · Lakewood, CO · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 274

we're full...

nah, just kidding :)

the front range is getting more and more crowded each year, but there are still plenty of good deals to be had...just put the effort in and stay off of 70!

Rick Blair · · Denver · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 266

When I was 24 I threw all of my stuff into my car and drove from philly ( not from that area, just went to school there ) and drove to Vail with no job or housing lined up, just a meager bank account. There are jobs and places to stay everywhere. Just do it. 5 years later you will never regret it no matter what hardships you initially go through.

Daryl Allan · · Sierra Vista, AZ · Joined Sep 2006 · Points: 1,040
Matt Pierce wrote:Typical small 2 bedrooms are $2000/month.
Ho.Lee.Shet!

Things have certainly changed since I left. :/
Who Dat · · Spinning Rock, MW · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 5
Matt Pierce wrote:Shane - Colorado is OUT OF CONTROL - something like 15,000 people a month are moving here. The secret is out. Why am I telling you this? Cost of living is skyrocketing. Don't expect to live in Boulder for sure. Rents, even in Denver's suburbs are WAY up. Typical small 2 bedrooms are $2000/month. If you want to live in any Denver neighborhoods, even if you can find an apartment they are outrageous. And parking and traffic are really bad. Not trying to dissuade you (even though I am sick of the influx of people) - just know what you are getting yourself into.
Yep..
SM Ryan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 1,090

Sounds like you and your wife will need to find the job first- go to hiring sites like monster,indeed, simplyhired, snagajob or whatever and start applying. As Director of sales and marketing- maybe she should go to every ski website in Colorado and find the employment pages? Get interviews, get an offer. Build the network. Get a linkedin page?

If you didn't need a job, it would be easier.. get the in car, drive west to Colorado and start looking for something to pay the bills.

Andy Bandos · · CO · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 760

Just to echo some previous comments, as I too live in Denver.

We spent the last 6 months house hunting. Competing with upwards of 15 other offers only to be frequently out-bid by a huge sum over asking/appraised value. Home prices are increasingly tremendously, about 1% per month (This obviously raises rent to crazy numbers). Our realtor has told us that the number 1 reason prices are sharply increasing is due to legalized pot. I really hope other states legalize it soon to spread people out a little more.

Shane Noble · · Portland, Maine · Joined May 2013 · Points: 25

SMR, I agree we need to start tring to find work. However, with 6 months left on our lease, it seems pointless to look for a job. On the flip side, if we wait 4 months to look for jobs then it seems like we'd be in a rush and more apt to make desperate decisions. It seems like it's going to be a very delicate balancing act, and not the fun slabby kind....

CanDillo · · The Great State -Colorado · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 280

Being a Colorado Native. You don't want to move here. I can tell you first hand, this state is terrible, the climbing is terrible, and there is no sunshine. Tell all your friends...

coppolillo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2009 · Points: 70

Yo man, don't discount the western slope, either--Montrose still has cheap-ish houses, you're two hours from the desert, great mtn biking, Ouray ice park close, San Juans for skiing...maybe your girlfriend could find something down in Ouray/Ridgway in her industry....and yeah, Front Range is frickin' crowded and crazy. Please, if you move here, don't important another car-addicted lifestyle! Ride your townie, have fun...it's good living out here, drawbacks and all. Forget everybody vibin' you about "we're full"....unless they're Native American....they're immigrants too....

RC

Shane Noble · · Portland, Maine · Joined May 2013 · Points: 25

Trust me, I get it.... I deal with the same thing here, people from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York move up to southern Maine and rent goes up, neighborhoods start to become gentrified, traffic gets worse, more douchbags around, ect ect. However I've always been welcoming of people who moved here because they fell in love with it.

coppolillo- Thanks for being welcoming! I willingly put my car in storage over a year ago, I've been commuting by bike ever since, even in the thick of winter. I don't plan on changing that!.

Shop Tech · · Lamewood, CO · Joined Jul 2014 · Points: 40

Hey Shane- my gf and I moved out here about 6 months ago without a job and we both found something in our field in 2 weeks time. The job market is strong in Denver, you should just go for it.

Who Dat · · Spinning Rock, MW · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 5
CanDillo wrote:Being a Colorado Native. You don't want to move here. I can tell you first hand, this state is terrible, the climbing is terrible, and there is no sunshine. Tell all your friends...
He's absolutely right.

You can climb every route within an hour or Denver or Boulder within a day easily (I did it in a group of 3).

The traffic lately has been getting worse and worse. Takes 30 minutes to travel 2-3 miles through the burbs/city. And you'd might as well forget about driving or going anywhere during winter. Half of the state is from Texas or California and as such, roads are full of drivers incapable of going faster than 15mph on 65mph highways during the smallest flurries. Your commute time to your job (if you can find one) will quadruple.

Potheads are on every street corner asking you for money to fix their mistake of moving out here from other parts of the country to become "budtenders." It gets really annoying.

All in all, Coloradans are just plain ole' assholes - myself included. Maybe try Wyoming, CA or NM?
Tits McGee · · Boulder, CO · Joined Apr 2008 · Points: 260

Yes, it's getting crowded. Yes, rent is out of control. Yes, there are a disproportionate amount of self-interested a-holes. BUT, if you want to make the jump it is worth it. Save about 3-5 months rent ($2k/month). Save about $2k for moving expenses and take the leap. My wife and I moved separately. I came out, traveled, climbed and got established with a job and apartment. She followed three months later with additional savings.

We recently bought a home in Boulder. So any thing is possible. Don't let the MPers scare you off! See you out here soon.

Rick Blair · · Denver · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 266
caughtinside wrote:I bet most of the folks moaning about how crowded and expensive the front range is aren't from Colorado.
Agreed. My grandfather used to say that back around the turn of the 19th-20th century, you could walk in any direction in the mountains and run into someone nearby. The numbers may not be what they are today but back then people were crawling all over the mountains.
tenpins · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 30

extend your lease. or try and go month to month. Find employment or a solid plan on how you gonna live on savings for a year. Colorado springs is cheaper than denver, but the traffic is just as bad (scaled for a smaller town) and the climbing is further.
knowing what I know now, think west; excluding ski towns. Someone mentioned montrose - the COARNG has an armory there, you could enlist as a 12N and at least get a weekend work each month.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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