Considering a move to the Longmont/surrounding areas in the next few years, which is realize is rather vague and things are subject to change. Curious as to what areas are affordable and safe in terms of renting a house or apartment, and in both cases cat friendly--as me and my husband own 5 cats. I've always been a homeowner and have no rental references, but buying an affordable house in CO is out of the question unless one wants to move to Greeley, and no thanks there! (I hear the smell of cow shit travels faster than the speed of light!) Also curious about the job market? I have an advertising sales/customer service background and am in my 40's. Thanks!
Longmount is not a bad area. Never rented there so I don't know how expensive it is. The cities to avoid are most of Commerce City, parts of Aurora, Arvada, and Denver. There are some ghetto areas in those cities but also some rich ones. As long as your in the "metro area" which would include Longmount there are jobs. You may have to commute a bit but that is the same in every city. I bet you could find one withing 30-40 minutes of your house if not closer. In Longmount your also kind of close to Boulder which is a nice area with allot of business. I would look there if you can't find anything in Longmount. Boulder would be much closer to you then Denver. Greeley smells and also has no jobs. Most people who live there commute 30 minutes or more to go to a city where there is work. There are places that will be ok with pets but you may have to a look a bit for 5 cats.
Hi sorry this is soo late. I am from Longmont. It's OK. Some really annoying things, like really crazy conservatives, but generally it's a pretty moderate town that is sort of becoming a suburb. Renting with pets can be hard, at least it was for me with a small dog. For some reason, my sister had no trouble finding a place in Lakewood with her huge dog, but no one wanted my 40 lb dog. ( I really, really like Lakewood for some reason. It's just a suburb but it has great views and cool old houses. Some parts are ghetto but rents are about the same as Longmont. It is on the sw side of Denver). Cats are more accepted, though, so that is good. Rents are the lowest in the county I think, especially if you live in the eastern part, out to Frederick and Firestone (they themselves are in another county, Weld, which is very conservative and really into fracking). It's ugly out that way--can't really see the mountains too well, but can be a couple hundred a month cheaper! The southwest area near the new high school, Silver Creek, is the upscale part of down nowadays. Some nice looking apartments over there but I am not sure how they compare to others around. As far as safety, some parts of the center east side are run down, as are some nw parts. I live in an area that used to be upper-middle class when I was a kid but is now sort of skeevy. That said, there isn't like a ton of crime here or anything. Most people commute, like unfocused said. Boulder is where i'd recommend work too. It's 15 miles away and there is an OK bus system to boulder (within longmont sucks hardcore; boulder has a great bus system). Also they have some great MMJ dispensaries If you work in Downtown Denver I'd figure an hour each way commute, if you hit traffic. The recession didn't hit Colorado nearly as hard as most the country, so it is easier to get work here than most places. Dining out is awful. There are few restaurants that aren't chains. There's a couple good brew pubs, tho. Oskar Blues has a site here that I go to a lot, and Left Hand Brewery has a good tasting room. It takes about a half hour to get up into the mountains and some good trails and camping are about an hour away at most. Rocky Mountain National Park takes about an hour to get to as well. Erie is another town that has affordable rents around here. It used to be this dinky place with dirt roads but now is like suburbia.
Weird side question, is there reasonable transportation (more than one -two trips a day) between Longmont and Denver/Boulder? I can't think of what to look up to research. Greyhound?
So it is. Huh. I must be thinking train lines. well, a hour and twenty at the longest part isn't heinous, if you can read instead of drive. 2:40 RT commute could be a bit much. And limited Saturday/no Sunday. Bleh. Back to looking at shares.
