Young Airport Couple Thinking of Moving (Denver, Aurora: 2015, rental market, high crime)

[JHippie]

Hi All!

I've been skimming this forum furiously for about the past month. I visited Denver not too long ago and fell in love. I am born, raised and currently live in Chicago (south suburbs). For as long as I can remember, I've always hated being here. It gets bitter cold/wet in the winter with constant cloud overcast, there is not much natural beauty, crime is extremely high, and the people here (like the weather) are also cold. When I went to Denver, I loved how much friendly people where and how the city was not overcrowded. Not to mention the beauty of the mountains and being able to see the stars at night.

I've spent the last month researching and skimming this forum looking for information on a place to live that would be a good fit for me and my boyfriend. We both currently work at Ohare airport in Chicago. I would have no problem transferring in my job to Denver, but my boyfriend would have to apply to for jobs out at the airport. Since we know that one if not both of us would be going to the airport every day. We wanted to try to live somewhere close enough to get back and forth to the airport. But the more I research I keep reading how bad the crime is in East Denver/Aurora. We did not really want to live in a family suburb since we have no children. We only own a small dog. We were hoping to live somewhere that would be in between getting to the airport and still being able to easily get to the nightlife in Denver. We also had a rental budget of about $1,000 a month. We did not really want to live in the super urbanized parts of Denver because that is what we are trying to get away from. But we also do not want to be fully disconnected from the city. We are 24 and 25 currently and still like to do our fair share of partying.

Is there any hope? Is there any place in the city that would fit our specifics? Or will be have to live in crime central to fit our needs?

[SkyDog77]

High crime areas in Denver vs. high crime areas in Chicago aren't even close.

$1000 is low for rent

There will be a train to the airport in a little over a year that may make commuting easier.

[JHippie]

Yes, $1,000 is a bit low, but I did see quite a handful of 1 bedrooms around that price. I'm not really trying to move to the super upscale/classy parts of town anyway.

I also saw about the train system too. Should that be up and running by 2016?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by JHippie

...I also saw about the train system too. Should that be up and running by 2016?

Yes.

[mundele]

Where are you coming from in the Chicago area? Like Skydog said, there is no comparison between rough neighborhoods in Chicago and Denver.

I also think that relative to Chicago, the urbanized areas in Denver are nowhere near as large and as many as Chicago so I wouldn't worry that you're going to end up in a place in Denver similar to what you'd find in, say, Bucktown or Bridgeview (or even Austin, for that matter). Most of the city is made up of quiet neighborhoods with single family homes, not three-flats and retail every four blocks.

Maybe look around Park Hill? Aurora is really not that bad despite the rap it gets on these boards. Anywhere that's not too far west of 225 and south of 70 would give you quick access to Cap Hill and downtown if you want to go out for the night while being easy to get to the airport. Once the light rail line opens up, that allows even more possibilities.

[davebarnes]

up your rental budget to $1500 and use Padmapper with the filters

[Mays Pierre]

$1,000 per month is tough to find something decent in a vibrant part of town IMO. As someone else said, you're looking more at $1,500. Aurora isn't horrible, it is half somewhat hood and half cookie cutter suburbs, nice for some, but probably not what you're looking for. The good news is that even though the airport is really far out distance wise, it only takes a half hour or so to get there from downtown and the nearby fun neighborhoods. The light rail from downtown opens Jan. 1, 2015 I believe. Fun neighborhoods to check out are: Park Hill, Uptown, Capitol Hill (can be pretty urban in some areas), Wash Park, Downtown, and the Highlands. My thought is that living downtown here is not as urban as Chicago because the lifestyle and accessibility to the outdoors here will take you out of the urbanization often enough that you don't feel overly urbanized (at least in my experience).

[livecontent]

The East Line to the airport which is Heavy Rail (not light rail)from Union Station,downtown, will open in 2016 and it looks like in the spring. There are numerous connection to Union Station with Rail or Buses to connect to this East Line. Also there will many stations along the line running east where you can connect. You really do not need to go downtown.

The light rail extension along 225 in Aurora from the Nine Mile Station will also open in 2016. This line will meet the East Rail at the Peoria Station, north of Anshutz Medical Campus, where you can transfer to the airport. Again, you do not need to go to downtown to get to the airport, as you can connect to this line from any of the many stations or interconnecting light rail lines from the south.

Giving all this rail connectivity to the airport, you have a choice to live in many places. Considering you are coming from Chicago, you should be familiar with using public transit to the airport--if you are smart. Also, working at DFW, you will more likely be given a free or subsidized pass on public transit--so why drive, spend more money, give yourself stress (think about the winter driving to the airport and the traffic) and restrict where you can live.

Livecontent

[MovingLar]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

High crime areas in Denver vs. high crime areas in Chicago aren't even close.

$1000 is low for rent

There will be a train to the airport in a little over a year that may make commuting easier.

Thanks for some common sense!

People who think crime in Denver is like crime in Chicago probably also are scared to visit red light districts in Amsterdam thinking that if there is prostitution there must be crime! In fact, those areas in Amsterdam are much safer than many areas in the USA - especially in the murder capital of the USA, Chicago.

And $1000 for rent being low is correct. A sad state of affairs, sparse housing development leading to many people priced out of a housing/rental market that resembles NY, LA, London...