I'm being offered a move from Houston to Boulder, CO within my current company. I know Boulder pretty well (housing market, for instance), and it is one of the most expensive cities to live in outside the coasts...understandably so. Has anyone made such a move, and did you negotiate a standard of living increase? Anyone work in Human Resources, and know about how company generally handle this? btw: I'm currently house hunting in Houston. From the 60-70s housing boom in Boulder, those 900 sq ft, cookie cutter ranch-style houses in the Table Mesa area of Boulder are more expensive than the best 1,500 sq ft bungaloes in The Heights and Montrose. in other words, there is a serious difference in the housing market. tia
Man, there's a reason why it is more expensive to live there. Because Boulder is awesome. Yes, housing is more expensive, and frankly, options are a lot more limited. If you had the time, you'd be a lot better off renovating one of those south Boulder homes on your own. and for a little cheaper, though definitely more suburban, and often cookie-cutter, you could always look at louisville, lafayette, broomfield, westminister, niwot, longmont, etc. have you checked out www.city-data.com - they have a decent forum there, tons of people asking the same question as you (should I move to Colorado). i'm sure you know, but there are also the tax differences to consider (state income tax, but considerably lower property taxes). i'm up in boulder / estes multiple times a year. love the area and will move there myself, eventually. i'm sure you've done the research and house-hunting; www.coloproperty.com www.recolorado.com www.cohomefinder.com here's a useful zip code map: http://www.zip-codes.com/docs/sample-zipcodemap-state-co.pdf
looks like i'm gone. I actually have a clause that says if the Rockets make the Finals I can return for 2 weeks and work from here while going to games. actually...this is sad, and makes me very nervous. i love houston.
I relocated from Austin to Nashville. They gave me 10k to cover expenses. They had some people come to my apt. and pack all my stuff. I actually sat on the couch watching tv up until the time it was time to pack the tv and my couch up. They put my car on a semi, and I took a cab to the airport and lived in a hotel for 3 days until my stuff got there. It was awesome. I relocated for the same company from Nashville to OKC 5 years later, and only got 5k, and had to pack my own stuff and drive my own car. It sucked. Anyway, Boulder is an awesome place and you'll have a blast. Colorado is an awesome state, good luck with that.
Is there a website where you can compare salary, housing, taxes, and cost of living between two different cities?
congrats. i'll look you up when I make the move, too. If you're looking for some recreation on a random weekend, not that you shouldn't be able to find endless amounts of it, but the Brainard Lake area is a real short drive to some nice hiking. i'd be interested in your housing process, too. sounds like you'll potentially be looking for a house near town so i'd be interested in hearing what you do at the end of the day...
Congrats. It's an odd thing about cities with high housing prices. Somehow you get by. I sometimes wonder what y'all do with all that extra money in places like Houston. And leave your Kobe jersey at home.
Housing prices are lower, but salaries don't have the same base, either. But, yeah, things are cheaper here. We buy giant houses, with giant TVs so we don't have to go outside in the lousy climate. That's how we get our giant bellies.
