another relocation post ... have you had enough of them yet?? (Denver: ski resorts, condo)

[happymac]

We are looking to relocate to Colorado in the coming year and want to start looking around and narrowing down where we want to move to.

We have a small condo in Steamboat Springs, so we are a slgihtly familiar with Colorado, although we know nothing of the towns in terms of finding a good place to live. We know more about CO in general as a vacation spot, but not as much as a place to live.

We are ... My wife and I and three boys (age 11, and twin babies), and our most important criteria is to find a great community where we have similar interests with other families.

We have given this a lot of thought and really are shooting for the stars in what we are looking for … in fact … that is probably why we haven’t moved already, because we have a good house in a good area (in Los Angeles and we would have to give up too much to move … so we have sat when we pondering moving in the past.

We are looking at two possibilities, and ideally the two will merge together … but I have a feeling they won't … we want a home with some land around it … not necessarily a huge amount of land, but we also don’t want to hear our neighbors sneeze. Ideally we want a decent view from the house, mountainscape is better than cityscape. Really, it is more about having unobstructed views and less about the amount of space we own.

Although we understand that getting the above with the following is unlikely … we also have a desire to be in a true ‘community’ where kids hang out in the streets after school and there is a small 4th of July parade that the entire town takes part in, etc, etc. We wantt o be apart of a community (in Los Angeles, most people keep to themselves).

If we could have both, then great, but if we had to make a decision between the two, we would take the land and views over the community feel.

In terms of closeness to a city … we can technically be somewhat far out in ‘the country’. My work is mostly internet based, so as long as I can get high speed internet (this is a must) … I can pretty much be anywhere. In fact, if we can't find a community that also has a bit of land … then being remote would probably be great.

We also would entertain building a house if we couldn’t find what we were looking for.

At this stage, we want to focus more on the area than on specifics of which house we want, but regardless I want to give you a little feel for the type of house we like. First off, coming from California (if you’ve ever been here), my wife and i feel that most of the houses here are really ugly exterior wise, and from what we have seen in Colorado … we aren’t overly impressed as well. Curb appeal is important to my wife. We really like the look of older homes (turn of the century, back east looking) … traditional, bungalow, ranch … really anything but stucco. But we want it to be a new home so we don’t have issues with drafts and weather. So, newer home that looks old. In terms of interior, probably 4000 sq ft. minimum, 5 – 6 bedrooms. Definitely on the larger side. And the ever important question … how much? We want to keep it under 1M after all costs ideally. I do realize that there aren’t a lot of younger families that are shopping in that price range … which creates the problem I mentioned above about maybe not being able to be in a place where there is a community feel with other families.

It is important to find out about the private schools in the area as our kids will be going to one … our oldest is going into 6th grade this year … so we will probably be looking at an upper school for him (7th – 12th grade) and Kindergarten in a few years for the babies. Non denominational ideally. This would be one reason why we wouldn’t want to be too far out of town … we shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes from the school ideally (20 minutes on bad weather/traffic days).

We also need to be somewhat close to an organic supermarket (although that could be close to the school) … so 10 – 20 minutes would be fine.

Other than school and markets … we don’t mind being remote (again … as long as we have high speed internet).

Weather wise … I think we would prefer to be in a place where the weather is milder. We enjoy snow, but being California native’s I think if we lived in the cold for months on end, well … I think we should try to minimize the cold (who wouldnt ). I realize it is Colorado … so we are going to have a true winter, but ideally … if there are areas that are warmer during the winter (and ideally cooler) during the summer, that would be ideal.

We are very outdoor oriented, my wife and I run about 20 a week, and we love walking and hiking and biking. In fact, if the weather is good … we probably would be outside more than inside.

Bars, clubs, sporting events, cultural … art, theater events … are not really important to us. We would prefer to hang out at our house with friends any day over going somewhere.

So, hopefully that gives you a little info (probably too much J) about what we are looking for. If you have some thoughts for us in terms of cities, or neighborhoods and/or private schools … it would be most appreciated!! Any website links that you want to share in terms of trying to narrow down the areas, would be wonderful as well.

thank you!

[Katiana]

Wow! To answer the thread title, yes and no.

If the weather is a deal breaker, I'd say stay in California. There is nowhere in CO that is warm in winter. Some say Canon City is a "banana belt", you can look up the weather stats on accuweather or some other weather website. It's hot there in the summer, though close to the mtns for a getaway. The Front Range has warmer weather than the mountains, year-round. I'm not familiar with the western slope, perhaps some of our posters from there will chime in.

There are not a lot of properties with acreage (sp?) in the Denver metro area. There are a few. 1/4 acre (10,000 sq. ft.) is considered a large lot in most of the metro area. The New Urbanism places have lots about half that size. Practically every place in the metro area has a view of the mtns.

Louisville is a community with lots of community "feel". There is a big 4th of July celebration every year; no parade but a picnic in the park with free hot dogs cooked by the city council and staff, game booths, the usual festival stuff. There is a big Labor Day parade, also a December Parade of Lights. These parades take place on Main St. in downtown Louisville. Lots of other community activites, including Farmer's Market, concerts in the park, community theater, and so on. You won't get acreage in Lsvl, but you might find some nearby in unincorporated Boulder County. At your price range, you'd have no problem affording it if you can find it.

[sir_loin63]

Hi Happymac,
My initial thought for what your looking for would be to recommend Boulder. The Niwot/Gunbarrel area might be good if you're looking for a bit more land. As far as the winters, I have heard but cannot substantiate that the Salida/Buena Vista areas are milder but milder is a relative term. Both of those are smaller towns and may be without some of the amenities you're looking for like good private schools or organic grocers but they may be worths considering. Personally, I do not think the winters here are bad at all after living here for 15 plus years. There are plenty of nice days in the winter and the dryness and ample sunshine make you want to get outside. Sure we get days where get dumped on with snow but it usually melts within a couple of days. For websites you might try any of the chamber of commerce websites for Boulder, Salida, Buena Vista etc.

[happymac]

Katiana and sir_loin63 ... thank you for your prompt reply! I wanted to clarify my 'mild' weather comment ... I understand that we are moving to CO and therefore I am expecting much, much colder winters that I am used to here in sunny so cal, but I figured there are pockets where the weather systems are much different in various parts, and definitely felt picking a place that is 'milder' would be less of a shock to our wimpy california bodies

heck ... where we live in the late summer, it can get literally 30 degrees hotter than just 8 miles away at the beach (there's a mountain range in between that sometimes stops cool coastal breezes)

most important is the slower lifestyle, and a great community to raise kids. We love where we live now and I dont want to bag on Los Angeles because it has been very good to us, but most people keep to themselves and like it that way, we just want more than that for our kids.

[CapHillboy]

It's definitely not my kind of place, but i would recommend you look in Cherry Hills Village. It is an expensive area, but there are newer homes in the $800K-1.2M range that might suit you (sometimes brick or stone-faced, so not stucco, and done in older styles, but newer). And with million-dollar plus homes in the Denver area sitting a LONG time on the market, you might be able to find something for an even million that would work for you.

Lot sizes and houses are large in Cherry Hills Village and there are plenty advertising mountain views. If you can't find exactly what you want, there are older parts of Cherry Hills Village where the homes are modest by today's standards and buyers often buy for the lot and build new. But that would add to your costs, obviously.

You're also pretty close to at least one highly regarded private school, Kent Day (which has grades 6-12) and not far from Graland and Colorado Academy. Kent is pretty much known around town as the school for debutantes.

Because Cherry Hills Village is pretty much surrounded by development, you shouldn't have trouble finding the organic grocery store. I know there's a new Whole Foods that went in east of the town and there's a local organic (sort-of) chain, Sunflower, just to the north of Cherry Hills Village (which, I believe, has no retail/commercial within its borders; the residents like it that way).

[CapHillboy]

Originally Posted by CapHillboy

It's definitely not my kind of place, but i would recommend you look in Cherry Hills Village. It is an expensive area, but there are newer homes in the $800K-1.2M range that might suit you (sometimes brick or stone-faced, so not stucco, and done in older styles, but newer). And with million-dollar plus homes in the Denver area sitting a LONG time on the market, you might be able to find something for an even million that would work for you.

Lot sizes and houses are large in Cherry Hills Village and there are plenty advertising mountain views. If you can't find exactly what you want, there are older parts of Cherry Hills Village where the homes are modest by today's standards and buyers often buy for the lot and build new. But that would add to your costs, obviously.

You're also pretty close to at least one highly regarded private school, Kent Day (which has grades 6-12) and not far from Graland and Colorado Academy. Kent is pretty much known around town as the school for debutantes.

Because Cherry Hills Village is pretty much surrounded by development, you shouldn't have trouble finding the organic grocery store. I know there's a new Whole Foods that went in east of the town and there's a local organic (sort-of) chain, Sunflower, just to the north of Cherry Hills Village (which, I believe, has no retail/commercial within its borders; the residents like it that way).

CapHillBoy here. having trouble editing my entry, so am just adding in another post.

First a correction: the Whole Foods is northwest of Cherry Hills Village in the redeveloped Southglenn mall....

Now, to continue: because there's little development in Cherry Hills Village, you can pretty much run on the streets. Almost all the traffic is local.

I don't know that Cherry Hills Village will be the child-centered community you're looking for, however. As you definitely know, most people looking for homes in the upper price ranges of their areas have either no or older children who, themselves, already have their social networks, either through school or social organizations to which they belong.

You might also want to consider Greenwood Village, which is adjacent to Cherry Hills Village, has large lot newer homes, and has a lower entry price, i believe. If you want to live further from town, you might try Parker. The homes in the upscale areas will all be newer, but they're on larger lots, and for a million, I'm sure you can find something faced in stone or brick rather than stucco. Because of lot sizes, you'll almost certainly have to drive farther to the private school/organic grocery store than if you lived in Cherry Hills Village. I don't know about private schools down that way, but I'm certain there is at least one. (I've a friend who lives in the Timbers and his daughter is in private school, though i never asked which one.) I'd guess there's an organic grocery store in the area as well; incomes are very high in Douglas County, where Parker is situated.

Finally, you might want to consider Castle Rock, also in Douglas County. I know they have a nice downtown with several activities, so it probably has the smaller town atmosphere you want. The town also has housing in the million dollar range that would probably suit you. I don't know about private schools there, at all. If you do look around there, be sure to see the town of Castle Rock; there's a huge amount of new development and it's easy to miss the original town.

If you do look at places in Douglas County, make sure you know where the water is coming from. Most of the development happened with groundwater in mind. It's pretty common knowledge on the Front Range that the water's being depleted in Douglas County faster than anticipated. Homeowners and water districts are having to drill deeper and deeper. I know that the water districts down there are working to find secure, long term water solutions, but it can't hurt to ask.

Good luck in your search!

[CosmicWizard]

happymac wrote:

I wanted to clarify my 'mild' weather comment ... I understand that we are moving to CO and therefore I am expecting much, much colder winters that I am used to

Even though you are expecting much, much colder winters that you are used to, the first cold snap that you encounter will undoubtedly be a real shocker to your system. There's no way to prepare for it.

The Grand Junction area has a milder winter than most parts of Colorado, but it is desert and canyon country rather than mountains, and it is rather isolated ( 4 hrs to Denver and 4 hours to Salt Lake City ). It is the largest population center between those two cities. The area is a mountain bikers mecca, but there is plenty of outdoor opportunities....whatever your interest might be. Just yesterday, I hiked into nearby Rattlesnake Canyon where I took this picture. If you enjoy fantastic Red Rock canyons, you'll love the Grand Junction area.

[Mike Weber]

I am able to ride my bike in Fort Collins nearly year-round. We have our cold snaps, but the weather is pretty good here. We have 3 large natural food markets, Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Sunflower Market. Fort Collins is large enough to have many of the amenities of a larger city, but you are still able to get almost everywhere most times of the day in 20 minutes or less. There are some subdivisions that meet your criteria in town, and also on the outskirts.

Windsor, just south-east of Fort Collins, has a great small town feel and some of what you may be looking for in housing.

[wanneroo]

The deal I find with Colorado is that it is either very urban or very rural with little transition between the two. Ultimately I think for all the amenities you desire you'll have to be on the front range somewhere between Denver and Colorado. With all the "perfect" and high maintanence expectations you have I don't see you making it up in the mountains.

If the mountains are a necessity then have a look at the lower valleys down from Vail(Edwards) and Aspen(Carbondale, Basalt). Those towns while near ski resorts, are down lower in elevation and in the so called "banana belt" with plenty of sun. Private schools are nearby and you'll have all the organic granola and marathon opportunities you could ever want. Vail has a big 4th parade as well and Avon has the fireworks the night before.