Moving Back to CO! Need Advice (Denver, Westminster: real estate, to rent, buying a home)

[rusty289]

Hi, my family is moving back to Colorado after being away since July. We've been to Florida (zero jobs) and to Pennsylvania (family) but got a better job offer back in Boulder. We use to live in Parker for 6 years and really liked it. Only visited Boulder 2 times while living in CO so not sure about it. Mostly we are concerned with school system and buying a home in next year or so.

We really liked Douglas County Schools. I have a lot of friends in Cherry Creek as well. I know noone in NW of Denver. We have 3 kids, 2 in elementary. One will head to middle school in fall. We want to rent less than $1500.

I like to be close to library, grocery shopping, hiking/walking trails and eating places you can take little kids to. After living near Philly with crazy traffic, I25 seems like a breeze so that isn't a huge concern. Living within a 30 minute drive to Boulder would be great.

Parker always got hammered by snow so it would be nice to be able to make it to work during winter. What I have read it seems that Boulder sees less due to mountains. Is this really true?

Thanks for your help. Can't wait to get home!

[Mike from back east]

Many on this site will tell you to look at Longmont. We have Longmont and school threads catalogued in the index, or try the search tool.

[Katiana]

A lot of places are within 30 min. of Boulder, in addition to Longmont: Louisville, Lafayette (both 15-20 min. max), Broomfield, parts of Westmninster, and up north, also Niwot, Hygiene, and Lyons, for starts.

I don't know about Boulder getting less snow. I think it varies from storm to storm.

[Spincycle]

I'd rec. Superior, Louisville, and Lafayette. Maybe Broomfield/Westminster in mix too. If you look ay Longmont look at SW Longmont.

[Micktooth]

My family and I moved to Louisville 3 yrs ago. We are very happy with the schools. It's a great place to raise a family. I work in Denver in the Cherry Creek school district and I am constantly hearing complaints. Louisville/Superior has a library, restaurants and plenty of trails. Good luck!

[jodyr]

Hello, and welcome to Colorado! We love Boulder, but because liking where you live has a lot to do with personal preferences, I suggest taking a look at some of the factual information on different areas.
Re: weather, check out the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado Climate Center - Home
Re: schools, take a peek at the Department of Education's school accountability reports at School Accountability Report - School Search (Boulder schools all score well)
Re: rent, you'll find a lot of neighborhoods that are accessible at $1500 monthly. You can take a look at property values in Boulder to get an idea of what you might pay in each neighborhood at COhomefinder | Property Values of Boulder Colorado Real Estate Listings
Re: other factors, try checking out the Walkscore of different places, if too much driving turns you off, or if "walkability" is important to you. Get Your Walk Score - A Walkability Score For Any Address
Good luck, I'm interested to know where you end up.

[Spincycle]

Originally Posted by rusty289

Hi, my family is moving back to Colorado after being away since July. We've been to Florida (zero jobs) and to Pennsylvania (family) but got a better job offer back in Boulder.

Lucky you as CO now is literally zero jobs too (like FL).

Originally Posted by rusty289

We use to live in Parker for 6 years and really liked it.

Really? Parker is so isolated and out in middle of nowhere literally.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Spincycle

Lucky you as CO now is literally zero jobs too (like FL).

Really? Parker is so isolated and out in middle of nowhere literally.

Our COLO forums are full of posts by people coming here to accept job offers. Your generalization is in-accurate.

Parker is not out in the middle of nowhere, its a southern suburb of Denver metro area and quite well populated.