Thinking of moving to CO

[anonmustach3]

Hello everyone, my wife and I (and small child) are thinking about moving back to Colorado even though it doesn't make financial sense at the current time. I was hoping to get some advice from others. We lived in the Denver metro for 6 years and loved it and have now been in Texas a year and 1/2. However, we aren't particularly enjoying Texas even though I mostly like my job. My job will let me work remote now that I've worked here for awhile so we have the option to move where we'd like and keep the job (wife stays home with our kid).

The problem is we have a house here (we were hoping we'd enjoy TX more and didn't know remote work would be an option after being here a year or two) and selling it will definitely result in a loss (mostly due to all the fees, etc. that come with selling), not to mention the cost of moving (talking my wife into moving ourselves might be possible though it'll be a hard sell, she'd really prefer movers do the majority of the heavy lifting). Renting it out is not an option due to HOA restrictions. We don't have any debt except our 15 yr 2.5% fixed mortgage (less than 200K left). We have over 200K between cash, taxable investments, and retirement accounts.

We're torn between moving to where we know we love and enjoy life b/c of climate, activities, and proximity to family vs. staying somewhere we're unhappy. We can handle the financial loss of selling and moving, and I mostly enjoy my job and working so we're not completely driven by extremely early retirement, though we're trying to mostly make decisions that help us become FI sooner rather than later. We probably wouldn't move for at least 1 to 1.5 years, although we're considering staying closer to 4-5 years in the hope of minimizing any losses and keeping that 2.5% loan longer, I hate to give that up ;).

What do other people think about taking a financial hit to move where you love vs. not enjoying where you live but staying for years longer to minimize losses (for a situation similar to ours)?

[lizzzi]

Life's too short. Based on what you've told us in your post, I would move back.

You could pack up your household goods yourselves and just let the movers carry out the boxes and the furniture. That should save some money while minimizing the risk of injuring your backs from a lot of heavy lifting.

[Holyoak]

Been in a similar situation several times, and being where you enjoy/family enjoy is paramount...  You will soon forget a small loss, but everyday you live somewhere/situation you/family do not enjoy, is continual torture.  Welcome back to Denver!

[StangStache]

Yeah this sounds like a no-brainer if your work is remote.  Sounds like you have nothing keeping you tied to TX (except your home).  Take the loss and upgrade your life.

[anonmustach3]

Thanks for the replies. I agree that life is too short and moving back sooner rather than later is probably for the best. It's always hard to make these decisions when large sums of money are on the line though. How's the housing market in the suburbs north of Denver? ;)

[jday]

Denvers market continues to appreciate really well. Not sure how far north you want to go but the building never stops on 136th on up. Anything you buy will most likely continue to appreciate in that area. I25 and 120th and north of there.

[FuckRx]

agreed that it doesn't sound like a major financial sacrifice. there are many factors in a move where you can cut cost to make up for some of the expenses.
i think it's important to gauge your wife's needs as well since you are the one posting. it sounds like you guys have family there so that will make her hopefully feel less lonely since staying home with a kid can get a little lonely. did she have a career before that she could pursue in Denver should she choose to?

[anonmustach3]

agreed that it doesn't sound like a major financial sacrifice. there are many factors in a move where you can cut cost to make up for some of the expenses.
i think it's important to gauge your wife's needs as well since you are the one posting. it sounds like you guys have family there so that will make her hopefully feel less lonely since staying home with a kid can get a little lonely. did she have a career before that she could pursue in Denver should she choose to?

Yeah, we moved here for my job but neither of us has been enjoying it here all that much. She had a good job in Denver with a lot of friends that she was sad to leave when we left, so she's really looking forward to making it back at least for the friends initially (and shorter drive to family) but possibly the job again whenever she's ready to go back.

[LifestyleDeflation]

Go back to Denver! :-)

Is there any chance of making the house a rental property?

[fa]

It sounds like you should move back to Denver, simply because you sound so unhappy in TX.  The cost of living, however, is much higher in Denver, so keep that in mind.  It is not just the loss on your house, but the COL overall.  Just make sure you compare everything.

[anonmustach3]

Unfortunately it can't be a rental property because of HOA restrictions.

We definitely have been comparing the COL and while higher in Colorado, there are trade-offs for us. In TX I do go into the office most of the week, which results in a terrible hour+ commute each way (occasionally two hours+ each way) and over $1,500 / year in gas just for the commute. Being remote will completely eliminate that. We also don't live in an area that's bike-able to many things; we plan to change that in CO (we were within walking distance of grocery stores, restaurants, farmers market, library, parks, etc. last time we lived in CO and loved it). Property taxes are a lot lower in CO too, but I'll have to pay CO income tax. Breaking down what we spend and estimates on costs (since we have lived in both states for awhile now and track all of our expenses), it looks like CO will likely cost us up to about $5K more per year (though there are areas for us to optimize and lower that) outside the one-time cost of selling the house and moving.

[Rage]

The expensive part of hiring movers is the driving of the moving truck.  If you rent and drive the truck and just hire movers to pack and load and unload it's very inexpensive.  You could even hire people off craiglist for ~$12/hr.

As for the HOA not letting you rent your house, that's totally obnoxious. 

[anonmustach3]

The expensive part of hiring movers is the driving of the moving truck.  If you rent and drive the truck and just hire movers to pack and load and unload it's very inexpensive.  You could even hire people off craiglist for ~$12/hr.

Yeah, that's likely what we may end up doing. Or guilt family into visiting and helping with a lot of the packing and loading/unloading.

As for the HOA not letting you rent your house, that's totally obnoxious.

Agreed.

You're from the Longmont area? That's one area we're considering as well as Lafayette, Broomfield, and possibly Superior. Do you have any recommendations for good neighborhoods / specific areas that have decent schools and are within walking distance of any kind of "old town." We'd like to be within walking/short bike ride of a grocery store, library, restaurants, parks, and school. I'm sure we'll be doing a lot more research over this next year but any recommendations for specific places to first look at would be very helpful.

[retired?]

That's too bad.  Texas isn't for everyone.  We moved here in 2005, left for 2010-2013 and returned.  We like the people but the landscape and outdoor possibilities seem very limited (we are in Houston).

I'd go back to CO.  Nationwide, compared to large cities, I'd argue Denver is still pretty reasonable, especially given you can live exactly where you want without being concerned about the commute.

That said, perhaps your wife can find a new job that would include relo.

[Rage]

You're from the Longmont area? That's one area we're considering as well as Lafayette, Broomfield, and possibly Superior. Do you have any recommendations for good neighborhoods / specific areas that have decent schools and are within walking distance of any kind of "old town." We'd like to be within walking/short bike ride of a grocery store, library, restaurants, parks, and school. I'm sure we'll be doing a lot more research over this next year but any recommendations for specific places to first look at would be very helpful.

Yeah, it's all pretty nice around here :)  The only thing I would say is you might want to avoid Aurora, which you probably know since you lived in Denver before.  A lot of people really like Louisville, it has a very nice old town area.  If you're looking for a great old town experience near Denver, that's the best one I know of.  Longmont's old town isn't nearly as happening, but that can be nice too because it's mostly locals and not crazy busy.  Longmont is a pretty nice place over all.  Very contrarian, I think - we made national news for banning fracking (in city limits - mostly meaningless, just meant as a middle finger to the energy companies) and passing and funding municipal fiber internet despite $millions spent on lobbying by the telecoms (muni fiber not yet available in my area of Longmont).  As a community we give the middle finger to anyone who tells us what to do.  I wouldn't be surprised if one of these years we turn main street into a pedestrian-only thoroughfare just to give the middle finger to everyone who uses it for their commute to Boulder.  I would certainly vote for that.  I wouldn't give any advice on any particular neighborhood, I think most of their pros and cons are pretty apparent just from driving (or biking) through them - neighborhoods on the outskirts of town with big new houses that are too close together, neighborhoods of old houses that are dilapidated and too many cars parked on the street (fixer-upper opportunities, maybe) - it is what it is.  People talk all the time about nice schools, but I have no idea what that means.  This isn't inner city Cleveland, all of the schools are nice and everyone complains and drives their kids to a different school across town.  I don't know too much about Broomfield and Superior, those seem more like commuter suburbs to me.

[anonmustach3]

Yeah, it's all pretty nice around here :)  The only thing I would say is you might want to avoid Aurora, which you probably know since you lived in Denver before.  A lot of people really like Louisville, it has a very nice old town area.  If you're looking for a great old town experience near Denver, that's the best one I know of.  Longmont's old town isn't nearly as happening, but that can be nice too because it's mostly locals and not crazy busy.  Longmont is a pretty nice place over all.  Very contrarian, I think - we made national news for banning fracking (in city limits - mostly meaningless, just meant as a middle finger to the energy companies) and passing and funding municipal fiber internet despite $millions spent on lobbying by the telecoms (muni fiber not yet available in my area of Longmont).  As a community we give the middle finger to anyone who tells us what to do.  I wouldn't be surprised if one of these years we turn main street into a pedestrian-only thoroughfare just to give the middle finger to everyone who uses it for their commute to Boulder.  I would certainly vote for that.  I wouldn't give any advice on any particular neighborhood, I think most of their pros and cons are pretty apparent just from driving (or biking) through them - neighborhoods on the outskirts of town with big new houses that are too close together, neighborhoods of old houses that are dilapidated and too many cars parked on the street (fixer-upper opportunities, maybe) - it is what it is.  People talk all the time about nice schools, but I have no idea what that means.  This isn't inner city Cleveland, all of the schools are nice and everyone complains and drives their kids to a different school across town.  I don't know too much about Broomfield and Superior, those seem more like commuter suburbs to me.

Yeah, we're not interested in Aurora. We like Louisville but it seems on the higher-end of what we'd be interested in (money-wise). Lafayette and Longmont seem closer to what we're looking for. We don't need "award winning" downtowns, just something with a few decent options (e.g., somewhere with decent beer on tap and somewhere that sells fresh produce we can swing in and pick up on the way home) that are walk/bike-able. We can always drive to Denver or Boulder for a much nicer outing when we want. I have the same impression of Broomfield and Superior, but I haven't scoured those areas either, so I wasn't sure if they had a nice street or two with some decent businesses, etc. Maybe heading further north to Loveland would be a better bet. As far as schools, we aren't too picky but would like to be near something average or above average (yeah, whatever that means). We've looked at schools in the past with terrible test scores and misspelled words on their own websites, etc. that just completely turn us off. That's not to say plenty of kids don't make it through those schools just fine, but since we have a choice, we'd like to avoid anything unnecessarily decrepit.

[jday]

Longmont would probably be your first choice. Just ask Mr Money Mustache himself. :-)

Lafayette is split between the poor south part and the richer north part. I probably wouldn't live there.

Superior is just a bunch of residential sprawl to me. I wouldn't live there.

Broomfield is a very good mix of commercial and residential. Good housing prices, nothing really that walkable, but a very nice community overall.

Loveland is a great city but horrible traffic!!! If you worked there you could live there, but if you live there and have to commute it is a horrible place to live, although the people that grew up there swear its the best place on earth. It would be better to choose ft collins over loveland any day in my book.

Longmont is just perfect. Reasonable traffic, reasonable home prices compared to other colorado choices, kind of central between Ft Collins, Boulder, Denver., Walkable, Bikeable, decent "Main Street".

Ive driven all over Colorado so I may give more weight to traffic then I should, but where you will work is really going to determine the best place to live. If you work in Denver then you might be better off in Centennial or my personal favorite is Littleton. Im not a fan of the residential sprawl north of the city.

thats my two cents.

[TexasAnnie]

I can understand not liking Texas compared to Denver.  One caution: have you worked remotely before?  Some people like it, but some miss the social aspect of work.

I thought that wouldn't happen to me... I'm not much of a shoot the breeze, small talk kind of person, but I missed being around people.  I'm back in an office.

In any case, good luck with the decision!

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

We owned a house in a place we realized we didn't want to live  (south Georgia). We didn't even realize we were underwater until we had already moved out. (It was 2009-10 and our real estate agent was apparently in denial.)  We lost every penny we had ever had (with the exception of our retirement accounts) and then the short sale trashed our credit.

Do I regret it? No. I remember those months that we were going broke and short-selling as, I kid you not, possibly the happiest time of my life. We had moved back to my hometown and I had finally magically gotten pregnant after a year and a half of trying. I regret buying the house in the first place... but not bailing. It's what we needed to do to get on with our lives.

Good luck with the decision! I hope it works out either way.

[Exhale]

The expensive part of hiring movers is the driving of the moving truck.  If you rent and drive the truck and just hire movers to pack and load and unload it's very inexpensive.  You could even hire people off craiglist for ~$12/hr.

Also, do a ruthless purge of your belongings (yard sale) so you're only move the stuff that you really use!