Colorado a good place for family with young children? (Denver: transplants, for sale)

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by Fxguy1

I've not gotten an offer just yet, still waiting on results from a test to see if I qualify. The address would be Inverness Dr E, Englewood, CO or E Mineral Cr, Centennial, CO.

My salary would be $145k ish per year and my wife would be around $55-$65k per year.

We have $700/ month in student loan payments and $500 per month for 2 car payments.

If my math is correct (assuming a 35% tax rate) we'd be Net of about $10k per month. 35% of that would be $3,500 for debt. Minus the student loans and car payments leaves us at around $2,300 for mortgage. So let's say a range of around $1,500-$2,000 a month for mortgage.

Not entirely sure what that translates into as far as purchase price but based on our current mortgage of 1,377 for 180,000 if would be around $200,000 - $300,000 roughly. We may be able to push it to $350,000.


As for why not look in Centennial, we are coming from a town of 86,000 and we're not big city people. Granted our only big city we have to compare is Chicago. Also our neighbors yard and our yard butt against one another and their house is literally no more than 100' from ours which makes outdoor privacy an issue and something we want to avoid. Not saying we wouldn't live in an neighborhood if we had to but wanted to explore something a little ways out of possible. If not that's fine too.

We should at least be able to find something for our family out that way that's comfortable and safe and has room for all of us (current home is 2,000 sqft) with those salaries right? It may not be our ideal (i.e. Remote)but something we can live with comfortably.

You don't get remote within 45 minutes of Centennial. You can find a large-acreage place within that radius, but it won't in the price range, and it WILL be high fire hazard and a difficult winter commute, as I stated earlier.

[MZMpac]

Originally Posted by Fxguy1

My family is considering a move to Colorado (to either the Denver area or Colorado Springs) as a result of a possible job offer. We have close friends that live in Colorado Springs, but my wife and I have never lived outside of the state of Illinois. We have an almost 4 year old and an almost 2 year old and live in Champaign, IL. All our family lives in the Joliet, IL area. So moving to Colorado would be quite a lifestyle change for us.

The job would be my dream job with a salary that would be comparable to my current salary (adjusted for the increase in cost of living). In other words I would make more with the new job, but with the cost of living increase it would feel about the same as my current salary.

The position for me would be in Englewood so we are trying to figure out potential areas for housing, etc.. We have found a couple of potential areas we like, like Bailey, but having never been out that way we've no idea what we are getting ourselves into.

I know it's been asked a zillion times, but what's a safe, reasonably affordable area that we may find a place with a bit of space? Ideally we'd like something on an acre of wooded land or more thats within a reasonable commute to Englewood area. I define reasonable as 30-45 min drive with traffic wouldnt be bad.

Is it possible to find something like this out that way?

Bailey is too far, the commute will kill you. Plan on at least 1 hour in normal conditions.

Depends on what you mean by "reasonably affordable". People from the coasts think Denver is a bargain, but not so much folks from the midwest. Unless you live in a dumpy-ghetto-higher crime area, there isnt much of a market for SFH under $300k.

You are also not going to get an acre or more of wooded land anywhere in the greater metro area for less than 1 mil. Even west of the city in the foothills you are looking at $500k minimum, and I'm probably undershooting that.

You can get cheaper land and housing east of the city, but urban creep is driving those prices up too, and then you still have the commuting issue. With a job in Englewood, you pretty much have to live within a 10-15 mile radius due to traffic and commute times.

Plenty of family-friendly neighborhoods in that area. Centennial, Littleton, CC ($$$$), even parts of Englewood.

[hikernut]

I'll advise very strongly to not voluntarily live so far from your work. I once had a commute (not by choice) that was 50 minutes each way in ideal conditions, but that easily grew to 2-3 hours when something went wrong (accident, snow, etc). Plus there's the cost of commuting that far, which is not insignificant.


Traffic in many parts of the metro area are challenging, and not getting any better.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by Fxguy1

I know it's been asked a zillion times, but what's a safe, reasonably affordable area that we may find a place with a bit of space? Ideally we'd like something on an acre of wooded land or more thats within a reasonable commute to Englewood area. I define reasonable as 30-45 min drive with traffic wouldnt be bad.

Is it possible to find something like this out that way?

If you want a bigger wooded lot I'd look somewhere else (i.e., not Denver area or probably even CO Front Range). There are places in the SE U.S. where you can find nice-sized wooded lots that are far more affordable than Denver, just for an example.

[MsMetal]

Perry Park just south of Castle Rock has 1 acre lots, however those with homes already on them tend to be MUCH more expensive than your stated price range (mid 4's-800K average). It's a beautiful area though, stunningly beautiful & many of the lots are wooded & it is commutable to Denver. An acre of land & your stated (even the updated amount) price range contradict each other. The Denver area does not have too many 1+ acres with homes on them for under 500K. in that low of a price range. You're going to be hard pressed to find anything decent for a family in a safe area on ANY size lot, with your original price range. Around 400K is the typical low end in a nice community & keep in mind it's a seller's market with homes going for over-asking routinely.

It would be much easier to find a 1+ acre in Co Springs, but still not for $200-250K (unless it's land only) & that's not a commute most people would be willing to do & I certainly wouldn't recommend it. There's an area called Black Forest in the Springs that is full of wooded acreage, but again, the decent ones are well out of your price range, though fixer uppers can still be found. Those are all well & septic properties without city utils.

Also, as someone else mentioned, Centennial is not a large city by any means. It's a little, upscale, new town with lots of cookie cutter expensive homes & office parks.

Oh, you may also find acreage still in Parker or points east, Franktown, etc. But longer commutes & many of those will be plains lots, not wooded.

[EastwardBound]

Originally Posted by Fxguy1

And both of those may be the case. We may rent for a year to get a feel for the area. Also I know that the real estate taxes are lower out there (thereby allowing for more house). Also we tend to be conservative with finances that allows us to eat out more than normal.

If I use the estimates on Zillow, with $145k and $1,250 a month in debt payments we could afford $375k and using a payment of $2,500 per month it says around $470k.

Rent for a year to get a feel, then see how much you can afford and what you qualify for. With $200,000 income and minimal debt, you should qualify for much more than $350,000, and to get decent housing it's going to cost more than that and will in most cases be a good investment anyway.

[Fxguy1]

What about the Littleton / Morrisey area? Found this house we like:

https://www.zillow.com/savedhomes/fo...zm/1_rs/1_fr/?

And it's close to 285 / 470. Are those plowed decently with heavy snow? What's the traffic like on 470?

We've come to figure that given the lower taxes / higher income we may be able to go up to $550,000 and still be comfortable / not house poor. Wife also wants to be able to see the mountains from our house.....

[MsMetal]

Can't see the link. But I bet you're talking about Morrison. Lovely area, so is Littleton. If you can go to 550K, you're in the right ballpark for most nice areas of the metro. A little surprising though that you could increase your budget by 300K.

Traffic on 470 sucks at rush hour, they are widening parts of it now. BUT, traffic all over the metro sucks due to the huge influx of new residents over the last 20 yrs or so. The roads capacity has not kept up with demand all over the metro, so IDK that I would make that a big part of the deciding factor.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Fxguy1

What about the Littleton / Morrisey area? Found this house we like:

https://www.zillow.com/savedhomes/fo...zm/1_rs/1_fr/?

And it's close to 285 / 470. Are those plowed decently with heavy snow? What's the traffic like on 470?

We've come to figure that given the lower taxes / higher income we may be able to go up to $550,000 and still be comfortable / not house poor. Wife also wants to be able to see the mountains from our house.....

That's a great area. Roads are fine. Close to the city and close to the mountains.

P.S. Morrison, like Jim Morrison of the Doors, not Morrisey of The Smiths.

[NorthDenverGirl]

Originally Posted by Fxguy1

What about the Littleton / Morrisey area? Found this house we like:

https://www.zillow.com/savedhomes/fo...zm/1_rs/1_fr/?

And it's close to 285 / 470. Are those plowed decently with heavy snow? What's the traffic like on 470?

We've come to figure that given the lower taxes / higher income we may be able to go up to $550,000 and still be comfortable / not house poor. Wife also wants to be able to see the mountains from our house.....

SE Littleton is further from Centennial but a nicer area with nicer neighborhoods overall and a little more space, it also surrounds parks and state parks which is nice.

Morrison is nice too but some of the neighborhoods that are close to Red Rocks often complain of the noise, it won't annoy everyone but just as a heads up. The plowing issue might be more relevant to parts of Morrison than the more built up parts of Littleton.

Traffic anywhere in Denver is heavy, rush hour tends to start early around 6 am - 10 am and 2 pm - 7 pm. When it snows you can expect longer delays.