Hi- relocation to Denver from SC??? (Lakewood, Arvada: apartment complex, lease, home)

[westbound2010]

Hello Denver )

Well, I have been following and searching posts for the last 6 months and it's finally time I made my on inquisitive post. I'll give a little background and then my questions. I greatly appreciate any help.

Basically we are looking to move from South Carolina to Denver around mid-January. We are a young-newly wed couple in the mid-twenties.. and actually out of the party lifestyle now. I have just finished school for my BA in Business focusing on Resort, Tourism Management. I am currently putting out resumes and apps in hopes of finding a job. Obviously we are kind of just taking a risk, but before we are attached to a specific career or job we feel like its a great time to try something new.

Because of the move without jobs planned and that we will be living on our savings until the job of my dreams comes along or until I find something that will just pay the bills, we are really looking to find a nice but cheaper apartment. (Loft or 1-bdroom)

Most of my research has led me to the Green Mountain area of Lakewood. We definitely prefer West of the metro and a family friendly area. We both love to ski and would like to become more outdoors and active people as time and $$ allows for it.

My question is really that I need some honest opinions about the lower cost specific apartments in the Lakewood/Green Mountain area. We are working with one vehicle until later in the year so a location closer to public transportation would be nice as well.

I fully expect that with the low-cost Sub-$750+util range that I cannot have high expectations of the complex, but would at least like the best options that are available.

I'd really appreciate any ideas, specific complex's, opinions of them or the area if possible. Feel free to toss out other locations West of the Metro, but please give me specific apt.s to look at.




I've researched reviewed apartments and it seems very skewed. Lots of pissed off customers and no honest reviews. When I looked up a complex that it located near me now it had great reviews, yet I knowingly would never recommend my friends to rent there.

Thank you for your help and your time!

[vegaspilgrim]

Apartment living usually sucks no matter where it is. The point of reading reviews is to see what are the common issues that keep coming up-- what in particular are people complaining about? Ignore 5 and 4 star reviews as those are almost certainly written by the management. If the worst thing people complain about are mean/rude management, someone didn't get their security deposit back, parking issues, thin walls, bad insulation (problems with apartments everywhere), then it's probably not that bad of a place. If on the other hand you're hearing about frequent bug/vermin infestations, sewage backups, crime/vandalism, you should probably listen to the reviews and not rent there.

A good "smell test" I like to go by when checking out a potential apartment complex is to cruise through the parking lot, especially around 5-6 when people are coming home from work. What kind of cars do people have? How many people have ghetto bling-bling aftermarket wheels and lights? Do you see smashed up vehicles with broken/missing windows and/or body parts? Trash all over the parking lot? Dog **** everywhere? What kinds of dogs (if any) do you see people walking around?

[westbound2010]

vegas thanks for your reply. I too have pretty much concluded the same analysis you have about the reviews. Unfortunately I'm doing mostly all the choosing from SC and trying to have it planned as to where i'm going. lol Walking Google Earch gets old and isn't the best form of choosing areas. I thought about schools and when going through their stats it was impossible to figure out which was good vs rougher areas as a top notch school might be 2 or 3 blocks from a bottom of the line... This was at least what I found in research- definitely not trying to say that I know.

Can you or anyone on here give me a few names of apartments in the western lakewood area that they drive by and see or have friends living in that might not be so bad? Or the names of any that you go by and are like praying you don't have to stop there for car trouble? LOL I have some in my list but would prefer to here input without myself suggesting specific complexes.

[vegaspilgrim]

Why are you set on living in Lakewood in particular, especially when you don't yet know where you'll be working?

[blobbin]

I would suggest a visit to the area before making the leap you seem headed towards. You have made a very specific choice on location based on the internet, which is in my opinion a mistake.

As you are young and you don't know yet where you may be employed a central location is probably a better bet, but the above advice still applies. Visit, learn, decide.

Choosing to live in that area will severely limit your employment to sanity relationship by means of commute. Don't fret about being in the western regions if you want quick access to the mountains, and understand that we don't live in the mountains here, we play in them and time taken to reach them is simply part of the trade off.

[westbound2010]

I visited quite a few times just not in the recent years and I definitely understand that there is a tradeoff to getting into the mountains. Lakewood seemed like a reasonable area with a little lower cost of living seeing as that I am coming from South Carolina there is a considerable difference. Arvada was another thought, however, it doesn't seem to be as easily assissible to 70 and seems from reports the the Northern side deals with more congestion than the southern sides. The $$ it will cost for a visit isn't possible to splurg before a visit seeing as that it would be around $1300 cost for a simple 3/4 day visit for my wife and I. The season is finished here where I am and staying any longer is wasting an opportunity in a new place. I am not interested in living in the metro though we may try that as we get more accustomed to the area.

For now I am merely looking for an affordable (within our budget) yet reasonable safe/conservative area to move into on a 6 month lease that will give me time to find a job. This is why i've done my best to limit the areas down and now trying to find some people who live in the area that can give me their accounts of particular complexes.

Thank you for your advice. Yet for now it's a uhaul trailor with clothes and us just needing a place to go that we will enjoy and feel safe. I'd be more than willing to travel an hour for work until I could relocate again at the end of a short term lease.