"Check Out Denver" Trip this Weekend (11/30-12/2) Recommendations (Lakewood: for sale, rental)

[MSH]

Hello All,

My wife and I will be making the trek out to Denver Thursday evening (11/29). We currently live in the San Francisco Bay Area and Denver is at the top of our list (especially mine) of places to relocate from the land of the $600K shacks. I work in the high tech industry and my wife is in the medical field, and although collectively we are doing well from a monetary perspective we are just average "Joes and Janes" here in the Bay. We are looking for a less expensive area to raise our family (no kids yet but starting next year that will change) that has all the qualities we are looking for and Denver seems to be one of the cities that fits for us. Some of the criteria/qualities that are important to us are as follows...

- Quality homes in the $300K-$450K neighborhood
- Quality schools
- Very safe
- Commute to downtown Denver during work week not to extreme (ideally no more than 30-35 mins)...this may not be critical but there is a possibility that my wife will be working at one of the hospitals in downtown Denver area
- Close access to quality trails for mountain biking (we are both very active and having easy access to trails is very important. I usually ride 4-5 times a week here in the Bay so having good trails nearby will make life much easier)

With the above in mind we are planning to look closely at..
- Golden (this is probably tops on the list)
- Morrison
- Evergreen (concern is it will be too far/remote from Denver)
- Highlands Ranch
- Littleton

Any other areas we should check out that fit the criteria list above? I would like to look at Boulder to but I think it is just too far from Denver and the prices for homes seem to be very expensive.

Thanks in advance!!

MSH

[Katiana]

If you want close access to the mtns, stay west. There are a lot of options on the west side of I-25, from city neighborhoods to very suburban places. Beware that many places have Golden and Littleton addreses but are nowehre near these cities. The downtown hospitals are mainly on the east side, except for Denver Health. That might make living very far west e.g. Golden, Morrison or Evergreen a very long commute.

[MorningGlory]

Lakewood is a good option too, and a lot of cycling in Arvada. They are putting in a new Saint Anthony's hospital in Lakewood, and its super close to mountains. What are your other criteria?

[MSH]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

If you want close access to the mtns, stay west. There are a lot of options on the west side of I-25, from city neighborhoods to very suburban places. Beware that many places have Golden and Littleton addreses but are nowehre near these cities. The downtown hospitals are mainly on the east side, except for Denver Health. That might make living very far west e.g. Golden, Morrison or Evergreen a very long commute.

Thanks pittnurse. My wife currently works for Kaiser as a PA, so I know her preference would be to stick with Kaiser. Do you happen to know where the largest of the Kaiser hospitals is located..is it also on the East side?

Thanks,
MSH

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by MSH

Thanks pittnurse. My wife currently works for Kaiser as a PA, so I know her preference would be to stick with Kaiser. Do you happen to know where the largest of the Kaiser hospitals is located..is it also on the East side?

Thanks,
MSH

Yes, St. Joseph's. I believe the actual neighborhood is called Uptown.

[MorningGlory]

There is a big Kaiser facility in Lakewood, at Alameda and Carr.

8383 W Alameda Ave
Lakewood, CO 80226

I grew up going there for my doctor. For emergencies we went to a hospital (I think St Josephs), but everything else was at Kaiser.

You should definitely research Kaiser facilities, they are spread around the metro area.

[b.adams]

Well, you may be in for some lousy weather, if the current forcast for snow on Sat and Sun come true. It could be snowing this coming weekend. Bring some warm clothes and consider a rental thats decent in the snow.

Boulder is BY FAR the most biker friendly, esp. in town riding. But the housing is insanely expensive as you already seem to realize. Nearby areas like the rock creek subdivision in Superior would give you better accessibility to jobs in Denver ... but would also give you easy access to Boulder and the mtns.

I think for the money you are wanting to spend, Highlands Ranch would also fit the bill nicely. They have a lot of trails, but I'm not sure how good they would be for mtn biking. Maybe I just didn't venture far enough when living there. The lifestyle is fairly active, but not like in Boulder. They do have connections to some adjacent trails which may be better for mtn biking. Evergreen or a place like Buffalo Creek might be the ultimate for mtn biking per se.

I don't think and evergreen commute would be too awful. We have people downtown where I work doing that every day ... and they seem to arrive in any weather ... a good 4WD or AWD would be a necessity up there, however.

All of the areas your looking at seem good. I'm not sure why Golden is your top choice, buts its a nice place ... older homes unless you buy up north. Some of the homes are technically foothills (mtn) homes which are nice. Its certainly got close access to the mtns.

[suzco]

Kaiser also has a significant presence in Lafayette, at Exempla Good Sam, so you might want to look in Boulder County, including Lafayette, Louisville, Superior, even if you don't want city of Boulder. All are part of Boulder Valley School District, considered by most to be one of the best in Colorado.

[denverian]

You might want to check out the Stapleton New Urbanism development. Although it's east of downtown, it has many parks, trails and you can access the biking trail system that runs throughout Denver. It's pretty safe, has good schools, very social/frienly people, lots of young families with babies (mainly people in their 30s), liberal, traditional architecture, town centers, etc. It's still a major construction zone in areas, but you can find homes for sale in established neighborhoods as well. Around 4000 homes built so far, 12,000 total at buildout. It's located about 6 miles east of downtown, just south of I-70 between Havana and Quebec. You'll see the old airport tower still standing from the freeway when you drive into Denver from DIA.

You can get a decent house (3 bdr., 3 bath, double garage, basement) in the $400s.

[CBowes]

I have been to all of them and I would have to say the Kaiser in Lafayette is the biggest. Its called Rockcreek, but it has a few hospitals there with a big kaiser. But my preference of living is in Littleton. Its more of the nice cheaper areas and its close to the lightrail that takes you downtown.