Move to Grand Junction

Hello Minnesota Friends, Family and Clients!

I would love it if you’d visit my new website called MoveToGrandJunction.com and let me know what you think. Michelle created this new website for us to showcase what it’s like to plan, prepare and move across the country. We wanted a way to share our experiences with readers so they can take advantage of what we learned along our journey when we decided to move to Grand Junction, Colorado. Grand Junction is part of the Grand Valley that also includes Fruita (think mountain biking capital) and Palisade (think Palisade Peaches and 26+ wineries).

The population of the Grand Valley is about equal to St. Cloud, MN. All the shops, dining and amenities you’d want but without the traffic. We have a mall with Target just a mile down the road. It’s a thriving community with the most quaint downtown area, think Excelsior, but add in more breweries and art sculptures on most every corner, big art community here. And lots of outdoor dining. Plus, there’s Colorado Mesa University (CMU) where our daughter attended college. That’s how we discovered this area back in 2016.

Grand Junction started like a lot of towns in Colorado as a mining town. But now people move to Grand Junction because it’s known as a destination to experience the great outdoors. It’s like a basecamp. There is an immense diversity of things to do in the area like hiking, biking, skiing, camping, ATVing, boating, fishing, hunting and more. Canyonlands and Arches National Park in Utah are about 1.5 hours away. We are 26 miles from the Utah border.

Grand Junction has a large regional hospital called St. Mary’s where main patients come via helicopter from a radius of 2 hours away. Healthcare is another large industry here. CMU works with the community to provide degree programs that local businesses and the healthcare industry are requesting to gain more skilled workers. Grand Junction is growing in tech jobs and they love to attract remote work-from-home people who want to take advantage of living in a climate where year-round outdoor activity is embraced. We have a small airport and we usually have a connecting flight through Denver.

The Grand Junction weather is high desert, a mild climate. We are not in the mountains, but we are 45 minutes from Powderhorn Ski Resort on the Grand Mesa, the largest flat top mountain in North America. The resort isn’t crowded like Aspen or Vail. Telluride is a true gem to visit. I wrote about the weather in this post and it includes the average temps for each month. They don’t mention wind chill in the Grand Valley! LOL.

Anyway, we are continuing to make posts about the area and will include more housing topics. Property taxes are about 1/3 in western Colorado compared to Minnesota. Our income tax is a flat 4.4%. There are more benefits to living in the southwest that I can list here.

So browse around this new website and let me know what you think. Please share it with anyone you know who might be considering moving to Grand Junction, Palisade or Fruita, Colorado. I am a licensed Realtor® in Colorado with The Christi Reece Group, a small independent brokerage of about a dozen agents. My same email and phone number work! Call/Text 612-306-9558.

MovetoGrandJunction.com

Thanks!

Paul

P.S. In case you are wondering, yes, I am keeping my Minnesota Real Estate license with Beyond Homes Realty. I can refer you to a local MN real estate agent to assist you. I can match you with someone in my network that I trust to provide the best possible service for your buy, sell or investment in MN real estate.

Actually, I can help you find a licensed agent in any state in the United States! I value the friends and connections I have made in Minnesota. I have family there too so we are coming back to visit a couple times a year. Give me a call if you want to catch up next time I am in town. We have a guest room at our place in Colorado too! There are lots of Minnesota residents in Colorado. I wonder who might be the next to move to Grand Junction!