Relocating, never been to Boulder area... please help! (Denver, Fort Collins: rent, HOA)

[daviddeen]

Hi, we might be relocating to the Boulder area (depends on which offer my wife takes). Unfortunately we live in the Boston area right now and are pretty clueless about all of the different cities around Boulder. Any recommendations you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.

Basically, even though the job would be in Boulder, we don't want to live IN Boulder. We want to live somewhere much more affordable, in housing terms and other cost of living terms. We expect to pay in the ballpark of $250K for a nice house (maybe around 2K sq ft). We also have a 2 yr old boy, so we want a safe city with a good school system. We're perfectly happy driving 20 minutes to Boulder, maybe even 30 for the right home.

What do you think? Broomfield? Lafayette? Somewhere else entirely?

Thanks,

David

[Lupulin]

For 250k and 2k sq ft, you should look into Erie, Longmont, Frederick, Firestone and Dacono.

In Longmont, at that pricepoint, you'll be looking at older ranch-style homes with small yards. There's much more bang for the buck in the tri towns' newer neighborhoods (Frederick, Firestone and Dacono), where you'll actually find newer, more efficient homes with contemporary style, back yards big enough for dogs to run, two- to three-car garages, and safe, kid friendly neighborhoods.

Even though the tri towns are physically farther away from Boulder compared to Louisville, Lafayette, Superior and Broomfield, the drive time to Boulder is the same or better because there isn't any town traffic to get out of.

As a bonus, taxes in Weld County are lower than Boulder County (fyi: Erie straddles both counties, so if you choose that town, pick a neighborhood in Weld).

[Lupulin]

Actually, after looking on Realtor.com, the current bang-for-the-buck is even better than what I mentioned. I saw a relatively new 3BR, 3BA, 2,700-sq-ft, 2-car-garage home for just $210k ... and a 4BR, 3BA, 3,100-sq-ft, 2-car-garage home for $234k ...

BTW, it sounds like you don't have a job lined up yet. Neither did I when my wife and I moved to this are. Another good thing about the tri town area is that it's only 30 minutes away from Fort Collins, Boulder, and Denver (in good traffic), and it's only 15 minutes from Longmont ... which gave me the option of finding a job in any of those places. It's also only 30 minutes from DIA, which is very convenient.

[Micktooth]

We moved to Louisville a few years ago. MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2007: Louisville, CO snapshot We just love it here. We have 2 kids in the Boulder Valley School District and we are happy the district. Not too sure about 250K though. I would highly recommend Louisville or Superior.

[chilaili]

Originally Posted by Lupulin

For 250k and 2k sq ft, you should look into Erie, Longmont, Frederick, Firestone and Dacono.

In Longmont, at that pricepoint, you'll be looking at older ranch-style homes with small yards. There's much more bang for the buck in the tri towns' newer neighborhoods (Frederick, Firestone and Dacono), where you'll actually find newer, more efficient homes with contemporary style, back yards big enough for dogs to run, two- to three-car garages, and safe, kid friendly neighborhoods.

Not necessarily. There are also plenty of 2-storey houses in Longmont built in the last 10-15 years that come in under that price range with 3+ bedrooms, garage and garden.

Apart from realtor.com you could also look at coloproperty.com.

[daviddeen]

I wanted to go ahead and say thank you to the three of you that have responded so far. Your advice will definitely help us feel more confident about where we look.

Thanks!

[suzco]

Originally Posted by daviddeen

Hi, we might be relocating to the Boulder area (depends on which offer my wife takes). Unfortunately we live in the Boston area right now and are pretty clueless about all of the different cities around Boulder. Any recommendations you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.

Basically, even though the job would be in Boulder, we don't want to live IN Boulder. We want to live somewhere much more affordable, in housing terms and other cost of living terms. We expect to pay in the ballpark of $250K for a nice house (maybe around 2K sq ft). We also have a 2 yr old boy, so we want a safe city with a good school system. We're perfectly happy driving 20 minutes to Boulder, maybe even 30 for the right home.

What do you think? Broomfield? Lafayette? Somewhere else entirely?

Thanks,

David

Lafayette and Broomfield are both good options.

You will not find a huge selection of good single family homes of the size you want in your price range, but with luck you might be able to find one that works for you. If you're willing to settle for a slightly smaller house (1300 - 1800 sq ft or so) you'll definitely be able to find a home in one of those two communities.

[TrickiWoo]

If you don't know the area I would suggest renting for a period of time before buying. It really gives you a chance to get to know what the different neighborhoods are like before you get locked into anything. We came here about a year ago and have been renting in North East Boulder (the Gunbarell area). It really gave us a chance to get to know a bit about what the different neighborhoods have to offer.
We just went to contract on a house in the Nelson Park subdivision in Longmont. Our criteria were very similar to yours and we saw alot of fairly nice homes in South West Longmont for the around $250k mark. Most were built in the 1970's and had nice sized back yards, nice suburban neighborhoods. We ended up making an offer for the house in Nelson Park because the homes there are a bit newer (built in the 1990's) and they have a HOA which we like. The neighborhood was a little pricier, but still very reasonable IMO compared to some other areas.
We also thought about Broomfield and Superior, but DH did not want to deal with the traffic on Rt-36 at rush hour. I also found that I do most of my shopping up in Longmont after living here for a year, so living here for a while gave us a chance to find a place that would fit with our lifestyle and commute.

[2bindenver]

Arvada, Westminster, Superior...all options

[DressageRider]

It really depends on what you are interested in, and I agree with TrickiWoo that you should come out here and rent first to get a feel for the different cities and towns around Boulder.

We also moved to Colorado from Boston, by the way.

We live in Old Town Longmont and really love it (we bought a 1920s bungalow that is in your price range and 2500 sq feet, so you definitely have options here). I would hate to live in Broomfield or Westminster, but some people love those areas. It very much depends on what appeals to you.

Good luck!