Intro and Question about Northern Colorado renting

[angelsteps51]

Hello!  My husband and I live in Oklahoma with our 2 school aged kids.  I found the MMM blog while searching for info on cities in Northern Colorado.  I will begin working and studying at UNCO in Greeley, CO beginning this summer.  I will need to drive to campus about 3-4 days per week during off peak hours.  My husband is a general contractor, and as such he may commute anywhere from Longmont/Boulder to Loveland or Fort Collins or wherever his customers end up being (residential and some commercial).  We are looking for rent a house in one of these cities but we want to make sure what we do makes financial sense.  Our criteria are:

1.  Good location (subjective, since he travels to so many places)
2.  Rentals and real estate (for the future) that are not overpriced
3.  Decent schools
4.  Must be a safe area (relatively, not interested in Greeley)
5.  Some ideas right now are Loveland, Longmont, Windsor, Firestone or maybe Fort Collins.

Can anyone provide info or feedback on good cities or towns?  Fort Collins seems sort of overpriced for what we need.  We don't need glitz or glamour, just a decent place to live and raise a family that would not be too far of a commute to a town where people want lots of high end work done on their homes.  :)

Thank you in advance, so much!!

LT

[nedwin]

If you want to avoid over-priced, I think you should scratch Windsor and Fort Collins off your list.  I just read an article in a local paper that stated that Windsor real estate was more expensive than Ft. Collins.  On the other hand, your husband may be successful in either of those towns because the residents have high incomes compared to other areas of northern Colorado.  Both are regarded as having excellent schools.

Saying all that, I live in Windsor myself and work in Greeley.  My commute is about 25 minutes each way.

I think Longmont would be a long haul for you to get to UNC 3 or 4 days/week, probably close to 45 minutes each way (at least).  Firestone would be a little less.

It seems that you may be interested in areas with easy access to I-25 for your husband's work and near enough to Greeley that you don't have to commute too far.  For your criteria I would also consider Johnstown, Berthoud and maybe Timnath (expensive real estate though) and Mead (longer drive for you).

[Threshkin]

The current vacancy rate in Fort Collins is VERY low.  It is about 4% overall and is less than 1% near the college.  This translates into higher rental rates in general.  Interestingly the lowest rental rates are also nearest to the college.

You comment on the glitz and glamor of Fort Collins makes me laugh!  It's pretty laid back around here IMO.

If you are looking for high-end construction work in NoCo Boulder is your best bet though there are high-end properties pretty much anywhere if you look hard enough.

Don't be too quick to write off Greely.  Like most other town there are good and bad areas.

[TheDude]

The Longmont market is pretty tight. Prices have been rising. I think in your shoes I would look at Loveland and Greely.

[fixer-upper]

Brighton could be a good compromise.

[angelsteps51]

Thanks all for the helpful information.  By 'glitz and glamor', I suppose I meant all the chic restaurants and trendy places I hear about.  Yes, I am aware of the low vacancy rate in Fort Collins.  That is really not great news.  I will look in the areas you all suggested.  I did look into Brighton, but the schools didn't get very good reports.  I visited Greeley for my interview, but I only saw the parts immediately around campus.  Assuming I could get used to the smell, I suppose Greeley would be OK (it was extremely bad the day I was there).  Anyway, this gives us a place to start looking when we make our next trip! 

Thanks again!

LT

[nedwin]

One thing you will see is that much of northern colorado has a very low vacancy rate, including Greeley, Fort Collins, Windsor, Loveland and Johnstown/Milliken.  This is fueled by the universities in Greeley and Fort Collins, but also a very large oil and gas development in Weld County.  It's on the scale of the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas, although we are not experiencing as many of the other problems those areas make the news for.  On the plus side this development is causing property prices to rise (good news if you're a homeowner or mineral owner), unemployment to be low, and the economy to be generally strong.

Greeley is (in)famous for its smell, that's for sure.  Lots of large feedlots around, plus beef, lamb and cheese processors in town.  I work in Greeley 5 days a week, but rarely notice any smell.  Maybe i'm used to it?

www.coloproperty.com is the best website for homes listed for sale in northern colorado.