Things I WISH I Knew Before Moving to Fort Collins

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

If you're considering moving to Fort Collins or Northern Colorado, we would love to help! You can give me a call at 970-893-3533 or send an email to: [e-mail] - Otherwise, thank you for watching!!

[@connieketring8315]

Yes I think it would be great to do a part two! I love finding out about things In Fort Collins and and each time I watch I'm just waiting for something to come along and bust my bubble ,but there's nothing that you mentioned that Is a big warning sign, the more I find out about this town the more I fall in love with it.!

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

Nice! I'll put it in the que!

[@angelinahunter182]

Snow in Fort Collins vs the East Coast: One of the things that has surprised me about snow here that is unlike snow on the East Coast is that due to low humidity it behaves differently. For example: When it snows in New York it hangs around for several days, sometimes melting and refreezing multiple times and getting dirtier and dirtier. Whereas here a week ago at around 9 am there was snow on the ground when a dry wind came up and by 11 am the snow was gone! I was amazed -- it had been wicked up by the wind and the very low humidity.

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

That sun does amazing things!

[@angelinahunter182]

The Niceness issue: I moved to Old Town Fort Collins in 2016 after 50 years in Manhattan. The people here are SO nice that I do my best not to forget where I am. For example: In Manhattan if you're in a supermarket and the store manager is speaking to someone, you yell out "Where's the salad dressing?" And he yells back: "Aisle 14" before returning to his conversation -- he does this in part, to keep you moving through a very narrow city market aisle. Here, a few times, I've had to remember to WAIT! to ask my question and not interrupt and many times the store manager will then walk me to the item -- VERY DIFFERENT than what I'm used to. Also, the cashier asks: "And how's your day going?" Several times I've had to remind myself that they are waiting for a response as most times in Manhattan all the cashier says is: "Next!" Having lived here six years, I believe that newcomers do their best to pick up Fort Collins courtesies as many folks are from other places -- but it's nice that this city is maintaining its western helpfulness.

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

Love it! Couldn't have said it better myself! Appreciate your perspective too :-)

[@outbackfrank632]

Interesting perspective thinking of going up that way from the Denver area

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

You won’t regret it ;-)

[@martin7878]

Hi Patrick!!! Love your videos! You are right on target with each topic. We moved from Texas to South West of Fort Collins. I’m used to the hot humid weather but the sun is A LOT more intense here. Sun screen is a MUST!! Also, I was a little worried about the winters and the snow but it’s not bad. The intense sun helps with the snow melting. One thing I would like to see is more diversity. I know you’ve mentioned that in a previous video. If you do a part two, you can add that one ‘DIVERSITY”. One thing I wasn’t expecting was the traffic being so heavy. I thought I’d get away from the heavy traffic when I moved away from Houston but it’s bad here too. We have some really rude and bad drivers!! 😂

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

Interesting to hear about the traffic! I just talked with some clients moving here from Houston actually! Maybe more traffic, but not quite as sprawling of a community so more traffic but less distance to travel. Hopefully you all are loving it here!!

[@connieketring8315]

I'm hoping that when I retire and move there🙏 I can live and walk to wherever I need to go! I'm so used to heavy traffic- I drive in it every single day except weekends and it literally gives me so much anxiety!! I just can't wait to move where I can walk where I need to go. Plus the town I live in Broken Arrow Oklahoma it's rated one of the best places in Oklahoma to raise a family and to live. But I really don't like it, it doesn't have a good feeling. I don't know if it's just me but there's certain places where you can actually feel certain vibes whether it's good or bad. When I visited Fort Collins I had the most amazing feeling of joy inside when I was there. And it was during the winter and they had everything decorated with Christmas lights and it was just beautiful!

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

Christmas is a beautiful time here for sure! Make sure if you want to walk/ride everywhere to live closer to downtown or at minimum midtown. That being said, I’m doing a video this week about surviving on just one vehicle for a week in Fort Collins with a family.

[@allieandrews1179]

+1 vote for a part 2 video on this.

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

Alrighty, in the que!! There was another request as well. Thanks!

[@Sidtrav2017]

Absolutely love your videos ! I live in Katy Texas that once was a small town where everyone was very friendly and safe. Now it’s become just apart of Houston and it’s now extremely over crowded with people from all over. It’s now ghetto, high crime and every one here is pretty mean. Next year my husband and I are moving near Fort Collins. I’m hoping the friendliness from this town stay this was because i loved Fort Collins. !

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

We are hopeful Fort Collins retains its character and kindness during its growth :-)

[@Samsaraindo]

If you are close to 40 and single, is Fort Collins a bad idea. I feel it might be better to be in a huge city

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

How is the online dating scene here for a 40-year old?

[@Heidi914]

Wait this aired 10 months ago, Fort Collins was still under Covid restrictions?

[@chriscupp]

What is the water situation there? I keep hearing the Colorado River will not support the demand anymore.

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

We will need the reservoirs that are in the works for sure. But we are the source of water for many states. I like our position better than California’s reliance on us. Lol

[@chriscupp]

@@LivinginFortCollinsColorado Thanks! I have also read that the lower Colorado basin states are much worse off than the upper Colorado basin states.

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

@@chriscupp There was a snowpack map that came out the other day that was pretty interesting.

[@chriscupp]

@@LivinginFortCollinsColorado thanks, I will look that up!

[@natucrazy]

Another vote for part 2!

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

Yasss!! Y’all are the best!!

[@Oldrush]

Fort Collins..Drink lots of beer? You’ll love it. Like to look at the river? Great. Like paying ridiculous prices for housing with subpar quality? Perfect, just hold back some cash for the foundation that’s going to settle. Wind? Yes, all of it. It’s annoying and damages something every year, I’m talking hurricane force winds on the regular. Keep your exterior belongings tied down. Hail is probably the worst, be ready to move your car at a moment’s notice under a large tree or preferably into a garage or just drive an old pile you don’t need to care about. Probably the best option anyway because of the horrible drivers here. Our house is continually damaged by hail and have lost an rv trailer and had damage to a few cars in the 3 years of living here. You hate privacy and love feeling like there’s nowhere to go to get away from people? You will love it. The hiking trails are packed with people and further out away from town, mountain access is limited to gate closures. You might think you can head out and go have an adventure but in reality it’s a July to late September window and it’s packed with people. Most water sources are contaminated with mining runoff so forget filtering water while camping or hiking. Think having respect for others driving is stupid? You’ll fit right in. I have witnessed and continue to witness more accidents on a monthly basis in Fort Collins than I have ever seen in my entire life living in Michigan, metro Detroit at that. We lived in Lakewood Colorado for a year and witnessed a lot of accidents but it still paled in comparison to Fort Collins. People are not polite, actually it’s quite the opposite, unless your buying something from them. It is extremely boring here. If you don’t drink alcohol, smoke pot or do some other drug or white water raft or risk your life riding a bike in this supposedly bike friendly town and I have witness several people that were hit by cars on their bike including my son, you will be out of things to do. Well unless you like playing on kids play areas and sharing parks, tennis or basketball courts or frisbee golf courses with drug induced teenagers and homeless people. On the surface it seems great but in actuality it’s not. Most every public bench seat and every stoplight has a homeless person staring into your soul for your money that you don’t have because your spending it on your rent or mortgage or the water bill to keep up your magnificent lawn in a high desert ecosystem that was never intended for Kentucky bluegrass. Try to talk to people about water preservation and you might as well be talking to a wall. Do people know you not only pay for water coming into your house but the water that leaves it as well? Oh and if you love the rotten stench of animal waste you will absolutely love your life here. Frequently, sometimes weekly for days at a time you will be forced into your home due to the stench that envelops the area from local commercial animal farms. It’s horrible and my family had farms growing up. I know what a hot pig barn in July smells like and this smell is worse. But people keep buying homes here like it’s normal and amazing. The air quality is bad here. I also love having to have my car emissions monitored while some redneck drives by in their emissions deleted diesel blowing black smoke everywhere or the idiots in their cars or motorcycles that have loud exhausts so they can annoy everyone within a 5 mile radius. Not me, I’m done. This place is so boring and uncultured and people think theres great food, lol yah maybe if your drunk or high but it’s all the same boring bbq, or Mexican fare and subpar at that. But hey you can tell your friends you paid a ransom for it. Yah the bugs are less than Michigan but only when the sun is out and nobody else is actually enjoying being outside because the sun is so intense it chases you indoors. Wear black outside and others will see your ashes outlining where you were just before the sun peeked out from a cloud. Morning and late evening are your windows which are also the insects windows. So yah enjoy your experiences here. Everything you read about paints an amazing picture but the reality is it’s just not all that. I came here for job opportunities but it’s so boring, dangerous, stinky and expensive it’s just not worth it.

[@wheredogaysretire]

Patrick, your videos are super informative and appreciate you so much for bringing excellent content. Really? People are nice? Let me give you a for instance. I used to live in NYC, and was running to catch a subway in Grand Central. I tripped, and fell on this huge staircase. My ankle twisted and swelled up instantly. Mind you I was dressed in a suit and this was in rush hour. Not one person asked if I needed help, and people were actually stepping over me to catch the subway. This wouldn’t happen in Fort Collins? If not, I’ll be there soon! lol.

[@LivinginFortCollinsColorado]

I don’t think so! I’d like to think more than a few would offer to help you up!