I'm Done, Coming to CO, North of Denver, but where? (Boulder: apartment, crime)

[fllover]

Love your post....I can relate since Vegas is very similar to Phoenix and we have encountered the same type of tweakers you're talking about. Good luck with your search, I'll be on the lookout for any additional information that may be useful to you. =D

[kinnikinnik]

There are a lot of communities North of Denver and South of Fort Collins. Windsor, Loveland, Berthoud, Longmont, Lafayette, Louisville, and Broomfield all have areas that would be very nice for a family to live. Boulder is very nice as well - but very expensive too.

We've lived in a few places in Colorado: Central Denver, Southeast Denver, Littleton, and Estes Park (northwest of Boulder). Of all those places, Estes Park is hands down my favorite! It's an easy commute to Boulder about 45-60 minutes. Denver is a bit farther stretch - athough I did it for a while - about 90-120 minutes.

Oh, and Nederland is very pretty, but we never lived there - it's about 30-45 minutes west of Boulder.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by redrotor

...snip...mix in a horse lifestyle (wife and daughter are into that) and my undying need to be near mountains and poof - Colorado!

You'll love Colorado. We've been here a year and the state is horse heaven. My wife loves them, had horses as a kid. For her sake, I took riding lessons with an accredited teacher and horsewoman. Now I can safely indulge my wife's desire for trail rides.

There are major horse events in Denver each year at the National Western grounds, http://www.nationalwestern.com/. There's a major event in October, http://www.WesternInternational.us. and the granddaddy of stock shows is two weeks in January. My pix of the Jan 06 show are on-line at http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e218/Pix999/

If wife or daughter are into model horses (Breyer) there is a large contingent of hobbyists and artists here who they'd enjoy being with. I attend their shows with my wife and it's amazing what they do with an airbrush.

I'm a big fan of Col Springs, but you'll love it anywhere, especially along the Front Range. One of our pals here spends a lot of weekends at Estes Park, which is awesome. You'd love it there - unless you don't care for Elk grazing on your lawn ;-)

Hope your move is a great one.

s/Mike

[guidonia]

I'll second those who say Loveland, Berthoud, Longmont. All nice areas, but increasingly sprawling.
Loveland and Berthoud still have houses in your price range; Longmont maybe, but you'd definitely end up in an older ranch house in an older neighborhood. Watch the neighborhoods in Longmont, as they have been prone to gang violence.

For commuting to Denver, try the Broomfield, US 36 corridor. They are building a commuter rail there, slated to open up in 2012 I think.

[elemental]

Our family recently spent 10 days investigating various areas of Colorado for relocation and found it akin to throwing darts at a map. Luckily, we had some insight from relatives and friends in Boulder and Denver to assist in guiding us, but just to see for ourselves, we visited the following areas:

Longmont- love the homes, but proximity to serious gang violence precludes us from living there. We live close to a city named Freeport in NY which has the same problem. After reading this story http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=7980 (broken link) , I visited the longmont gang unit for more info and learned that it's not the place for us despite great schools and beautiful communities.

Boulder- Beautiful location, high real estate prices, excellent schools, far-left political bent, CU skews the crime statistics and in general, I don't want to live in a college town or proximity to high rental / transient percentages with three girls. That said, it's a really solid place to live, just not for me.

Lafayette- huge desparity between the high and low ends of town, very nice people, very good schools, lots of beautiful suburban homes in the $400-$600k range. Definitely a contender. There seems to be a small pocket where lower socio-economic conditions lead to some crime. Speaking with people who live in the Indian Creek subdivision told of low crime, great people and a great place to live.

Erie- Very promising, small town with newer homes and an older, established town. Again a huge desparity between high and low end with homes between $100 and over a million. Erie proper had a rural feeling to it and was definitely on the lower end of the price range. The amount of building to support the new communites holds promise. Negative- very close proximity to a tremendous landfill. This is one of the difficulties of moving to a new place- knowing where the pitfalls are. You don't want to live near certain things such as jails, landfills, former nuclear test facilities, rivers(unless high elevation), gang infested areas, etc. Figuring out where they are has proven a task. Erie is partly in Boulder, partly in Weld County. Weld holds an older, agricultural community with average to poor schools according to the Colorado reports. Coming from an upper middle class neighborhood with Excellent schools, this one is a tough sell on the Weld county side. Cannot speak for the people as we didn't have much interaction here. There were very few larger stores, so most of your shopping would be done in Broomfield, Lafayette or Longmont. Could even shoot over to Boulder for a great selection.

Broomfield- a mix of older and newer homes, with some incredible homes. Overall, very good schools, very community-type feel to it. There were tons of families walking, playing in parks, etc. This is more than likely where we will end up. The Broadlands held some beautiful homes as did a new development called Red Leaf. Homes with acreage could be had here which is nice, but the prices are pretty high for great views. The people were very nice here and it had a warm feeling. Some areas were tightly packed to generate more affordable housing which is great for the community aspect.

Littleton - Great neighborhood, great schools, very tight community in parts. We read of some gang violence in the northeast quadrant, but didn't see anything when there. It reminded us of home in the way it was laid out. Very good value for the dollar in home values here. A place called Governors Ranch was beautiful. Homes were a little tight, but nice size properties here. Well built on the whole.

Eldorado Creek- Incredible views, a mix of newer and older construction and a very western feel. The creek is beautiful and the streets surrounding it are something out of a movie of the streets in europe. This area was stunning visually, but too rural for us. It clearly suits many from the building there.

Evergreen- Now this is a beautiful, more rural area with the most amazing river/creekfront homesteads we had seen. Very pricey and rightly so. If you are looking for seclusion and can afford $700 plus, this is a great area. If I were single and wanted to fall off the map, this is where I would go. Definitely wildlife on the porch year round.

If anyone has insight on these areas, please reply as we are very close to making a decision on which area to choose. Obviously, ten days and a lot of research doesn't prepare you well in choosing the right area, so your comments will be appreciated. Being close to the front range and Boulder is important to us.

[concoulor3]

Hey, I have two really good friends who felt it was better to live just east of I-25, they recevied a bigger house for the money. The area I am talking about is 15 minutes from Longmont, 30 minutes denver and 40 minutes to Ft. Clns. It's at the junction of I-25 and 119. Firestone. Their kids go to a Charter school, wear uniforms and I have been really impressed with the education thus-far. (Although it is difficult to get into a charter school) There is a quaint little old-town, new rec center, Starbucks, major grocery, etc.
I live in a neighborhood where each house is 5 acres from the next and really don't see much of them. But my friends, are very close friendly with the neighbors, lots of kids the same age, good faith community (if you choose), you would have to likely attend church in Longmont.

In fact I know their neighbors better then I do mine. They have Bunko nights, we trick or treat in thier neighborhood. Heck, we might even move their... Anyways, when I read this it just sounding like what you are looking for. Not many know of this community because it's newly developed and expanding quickly. But still under the radar for prices becuase everybody is looking at Erie.

Most the moms are stay at home or part-timers and most the Dad work either in Boulder, Longmont or Thornton area. But it is a super easy access point the the Hwy. Eventually, the light-rail should make it up there.

For the above entry - granted I have never visited the "gang task force" but I have apartments in Longmont in the heart of a very tough neighborhood, while it is tough - I walk around without any fear and have never expirenced what he's indicating. By the way - Evergreen has it's teen problems too (I have a rental property there too). It's nothing like I imagine NY would be. Greeley - I would agree it has gang problems (Again rental units). But I would hate for Longmont to get a bad rap. It's a really nice community with aspiring young families.

Good Luck

[New York]

My God, For a minute there I thought you were talking about New York! Phoenix and Tuscon were some of the places my husband was looking at for our "change of lifestyle" move that we just made. We opted for Bozeman, MT instead and after just a few weeks I'm already looking at CO. Our criteria is almost the same with the exception of the fact that our kids are either in college or on their own, so I'm reading the responses to your posting with interest. Good luck and get out ASAP!

[New York]

Is the crime in Denver really that bad? How do you explain the difference between you assessment and the more positive ones posted on the site?

[AZLightwaver]

...sounds like he is living in a baaAAAaad part of Phoenix. Every huge city has bad crime pockets, no?? The grass is always greener in Tempe, Mesa or Scottsdale. In general, we LOVE Phoenix and go there every chance we get. The freeways are new, beautiful, fast and it's a breeze to get across the metropolis. Just avoid RUSH hour!!! If you want frustrating traffic go to Tucson!!! Phoenix "area" schools are very highly rated. Do some research! Phoenix has parks, lakes, nearby mts, pro sports in brand new stadiums, a sweeeet airport, universities,culture, commerce$$, carshows galore, nightlife, shopping; basically everything BUT seasons. True Phoenix is a "heat island" and cannot cool off at night so forget your sweaters ar jackets. It's a sweltering "maddening" heat as he states but that is what a.c. is for.

If you can take the heat, Phoenix RULES and has the greatest name of any city!!!

[2bindenver]

Governor's Ranch was the premium neighborhood in its heyday (late 1980's to 1996 or so.) It is in Unincorporated Jefferson County, with Jeffco schools.

Did you also look at Grant Ranch? Ken Caryl? The Meadows? Columbine Valley?

Did you check out Arvada? Golden? some of those neighborhoods offer rolling hills for lawns and space between neighbors (also in Jefferson County)

One of my all time favorite neighborhoods is Applewood in Wheat Ridge. Small estates, very well kept.