Apartment/Location advice (Denver, Aurora, Highlands Ranch: apartment complexes, lease, crime)

[ecutsor]

My girlfriend and I will be moving out to Denver in the next few months and I was wondering if you folks can shed some light on the area/apartment we have chosen(we're moving from out of state so we do not know the area at all).

Does anyone have advice on the neighborhood for the Sommerset Gardens apartments in Aurora? The address is 14304 E Tennessee Ave
Aurora, CO 80012.

I know Aurora can be hit and miss depending on what part of the city you live in(at least that's what I've gathered from this forum).

[Davros]

I don't have any personal experience with that neighborhood, let alone address. But ...

According to apartmentratings.com, it sounds like a miss. Big time.

I've never seen ratings that bad. What kind of research have you done on this place ? Never, ever sign any lease until you have thoroughly inspected the unit you are going to be renting, and make sure you like the neighborhood as well.

Perhaps you're strapped for cash, but it's a shame to be chained to a year long contract in some place you end up hating because you had no startup money. Never move anywhere without sufficient savings to stay in a hotel for a couple of days while searching for apartments, and sufficient savings to pay the first month's rent and security deposit before your first paycheck. That's something I've learned the hard way.

[ecutsor]

The reviews are what I'm worried about. But every apartment review we have looked up on apartmentratings.com are mostly bad reviews. I haven't come across many good reviews, anywhere.

We have quite a bit saved up for our move to last us a good 4-6 months of living. We're also both transferring jobs with our companies so we'll also have income coming in from the moment we get there. We've moved from Wisconsin to Las Vegas, and from Vegas to Southern California. Each time we've taken a leap of faith by renting a place that we found online without ever going out to visit the complex. We will sign a 6 month lease if possible, that way if we don't like where we are we can move to a new place fairly soon.

Do you have any advice on what city's are good for two 24 year olds? We're looking to spend around $600 a month for rent. And we don't want to live in downtown.

[Davros]

But have you ever seen a place that got that many bad reviews ?

I've looked at apartmentratings.com a lot. I've never seen a place rated anywhere near that bad. All the reviews I saw were 1 out of 5. I've never seen anything like that on that website and the comments made it sound like the crime is really bad there. These ratings send up all kinds of red flags that would tell me to not even consider renting that place.

Aurora is fine. Just not there.

You probably can't live downtown for $600 a month anyways. <--- Edit. Not true. Not sure what I was thinking there. There are apartments for $600 or less in Capitol Hill. Doesn't matter, since the OP doesn't want to live downtown, but I didn't want to let my bad info slide.

Aurora and southeast Denver may be the best areas to look on that budget, especially if those parts of town are near work.

If all you've got as far as information are the online reviews, then you've got to pay at least some attention to them.

[ecutsor]

Thank you for the helpful information! I guess we'll be looking around some more!

[Snikt]

Having just moved here and driven around, I like the south side, like Littleton, Highlands Ranch and Centennial

[cowboyxjon]

I wouldn't pick that particular complex. Also, everything with a Denver mailing address isn't necessarily an urban, downtown environment. Denver has a lot of neighborhoods that have a suburban feel to them.

[Davros]

Watchout for bedbugs in southeast Denver / Glendale apartment complexes. There is a site that details bedbug reports.
Bedbug Registry - Check Apartments and Hotels Across North America

The problem appears to be particularly bad in some areas of Denver, esp. Cherry Creek/Glendale and Capitol Hill. I don't want to have lead you astry. This bedbug registry seems to be a great resource.

The banning of DDT does not appear to have done anything particularly good for modern society. Resurgences of malaria in Africa and bedbugs in the industrialized world can be linked to DDT's banning.

I guess bedbugs are just something we as a society are going to have to learn how to deal with again. Darn pests. Oh, well. At least they don't spread disease.