i Have A Question (Denver, Aurora: crime rates, homes, buy)

[cloudstomper01]

We are currently living in Arizona. We have family in Englewood and Aurora.My kids are 12 and 5. I want to relocate there in about 6 months. I work from home, so commuting to work is not a concern. I also homeschool my children. Things we do in our spare time are sports, hiking, camping and my 12 year old and I go to the gym alot. I am looking at Loveland, Longmont and Castle Rock.

My major concers are crime. I am very into small town communities, too close to Denver scares the you know what out of me! I do want to be fairly close to my family, but I need to be able to afford to live and to feel safe! What can you tell me about the above cities?

Oh, I do have 2 medium size dogs so I do need a town with duplexes that's dog friendly.

[tfox]

Personally, I don't think you'd have much to worry about in terms of crime in any of the three places you mentioned (Loveland, Longmont, or Castle Rock). Castle Rock and Loveland probably have slightly smaller crime rates than Longmont, but not a significant difference.

In fact, there's really not a long list of places with singificant crime issues in the metro area -- you could likely live much closer to your family in Englewood and/or Aurora without worrying much about crime.

Castle Rock is very much part of the Denver metropolitan area and virtually everyone commutes. Although it may at one time have had an independent existence, no longer, so it doesn't really meet you criteria as a small-town community. Loveland and Longmont are both smaller towns in the orbit of a slightly larger one: Fort Collins and Boulder, respectively. So, they are not really small town communities either.

In terms of price, Loveland would be by far the cheapest, although it's much less so than it would have been 5-6 years ago. Longmont is very much driven higher by its proximity to Boulder, and Castle Rock also higher because of its proximity to the south metro suburbs and the cache' developed in recent years over Douglas county.

I think you could be happy in any of the places, and crime will be the least of your concerns. A bigger concern will be the small-town lifestyle you seek. Frankly, it doesn't exist in any of the three cities you seek. It would be better to view Loveland as a part of the northern Colorado area with over 250,000 people, and Longmont as part of the Bolder area approaching 300,000, while Castle Rock firmly part of the Denver area with its 2.5 million people.

[cloudstomper01]

Thank you for that. I appreciate your taking the time to explain. I'll have to take all that into concideration!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by cloudstomper01

I work from home, so commuting to work is not a concern. I also homeschool my children. Things we do in our spare time are sports, hiking, camping and my 12 year old and I go to the gym alot.

Work from home, home school your kids, and have all sorts of spare time?

I should have married you.

[cloudstomper01]

Charles

[eyetech]

My 3 kids were all grown when I moved to Colorado, but how I wished that they could have grown up here (as opposed to the hot, crowded and high crime Valley of the Sun.) I homeschooled them for 9 years (only a couple of those years were all 3 kids at once.) It was by far the busiest time of my life! If you have the energy described in your post, I would say, "WELCOME to Colorado!" I've met some very (very) active people here, who camp, hike, ski, travel. The busiest I get nowadays is just listening to their stories.

[cloudstomper01]

well, thank you! i can't wait. I just wished I had moved before having to endure one more 125 degree summer. At least we will be there in time for the snow. I have missed the snow!

[FeelGood]

Originally Posted by cloudstomper01

i Have A Question

FYI...you asked more than one question

It might be 100 deg. F on Monday in Denva'

Loveland sounds like a fit for your needs...but Longmont is a close second.

[trevormead]

Colorado's great! I grew up in the Englewood/Littleton area, and went to school up in Fort Collins.

Crime isn't really a problem in any of the areas you listed - it's not something I felt I ever had to be conscious of. Longmont and Loveland have the reputation of being stops along the highway between Denver and Fort Collins. I run a business in Fort Collins that attracts a lot of the 18-20 crowd, and we have regulars that drive up from Longmont and Loveland because "there's just nothing to do there." That's the only reason I'd recommend Castle Rock. It's CLOSE to being another suburb swallowed up by the Denver metro sprawl, but not quite (give it 5 or 10 years).

But maybe Longmont or Loveland would be better for you if you like the small town feel. Loveland has a lot of new growth, Longmont... eh. Much of it seems too run down for my tastes, but that's compared to south Denver. If you REALLY want the small town feel, have you thought of any mountain towns? Steamboat Springs is nice, as is Gunnison. If you can look past (or embrace, depending on your leanings) the hippies, beer worship, and ski bums, you'd be hard pressed to find more beautiful areas. And all your mountain adventures are literally a stone's throw away!

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by cloudstomper01

We are currently living in Arizona. We have family in Englewood and Aurora.My kids are 12 and 5. I want to relocate there in about 6 months. I work from home, so commuting to work is not a concern. I also homeschool my children. Things we do in our spare time are sports, hiking, camping and my 12 year old and I go to the gym alot. I am looking at Loveland, Longmont and Castle Rock.

My major concers are crime. I am very into small town communities, too close to Denver scares the you know what out of me! I do want to be fairly close to my family, but I need to be able to afford to live and to feel safe! What can you tell me about the above cities?

Oh, I do have 2 medium size dogs so I do need a town with duplexes that's dog friendly.

You want affordable, safe, dog friendly, and small town communities? Instead of those choices you mentioned, here's my suggestion, which nobody here has thought of: What about living in a real small town-- one of the towns on the eastern plains that's within an hour's drive of Denver? In Elbert County, Elizabeth and Kiowa are nice towns, higher elevation than Denver itself with a lot of trees (the terrain is similar to Flagstaff-- which I'm sure you're familiar with), and not too far from all the conveniences you need in Parker. On I-70 east of Denver, there's Watkins, Bennett, Strasburg, Byers, Deer Trail, and Limon-- all on barren plains. Of these, I'd recommend Strasburg. These areas won't be too far from Aurora or DIA. You can buy property there for very cheap. There's also Fort Morgan, about an hour northeast of Denver.