DC to Denver - getting away from the "trendiness" (real estate, 2010)

[dj32]

i think living in Park Hill you'll be fine. The only place I see more "keeping up with joneses" here is in many of the suburbs, particularly affluent ones or in Cherry Creek area.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

Don't get your hopes up. People here can be just as obnoxious as the people you're fleeing. And, what's with the jeans? I used to live in Maryland and found the people fantastically down-to-earth. I never had an issue wearing jeans...anywhere.

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

Keeping up with the Joneses is universal human behavior. Coloradoans just do their status checks using different criteria than Capitol-types.

Agree with both of the above. I never lived in Maryland, but I did live in Albany, NY and found the people there to be very friendly and helpful. People did dress up more there, though my DH fit in fine with his "Early Omaha" style of dress (Midwestern).

There is a lot of "keeping up with the Joneses" here in terms of how many 14ers you have climbed, how much skiing you do, how much organic food you eat, how much alternative medicine you use, etc. In Boulder Co. it is also tres chic to travel all over creation and brag about it.

None of the above means I don't like it here. But if you're coming here for a more "laid back" lifestyle, you may want to re-evaluate.

[frogs4vt]

Its funny to read this thread because we're also considering a move to CO from DC... I have lived here for 20 years and my husband 10 years and we now have 2 small children and are starting to feel that maybe this isnt the best place to raise children. We are very outdoorsy and find that basically thats just not something people do here - its about your education, your job, your home/car/materials, etc. My whole family lives here so its hard to consider a move but we are huge skiers and love the outdoors and just think there may be more to life than the career-advancement. CO would seem to fit our lifestyle better - and we think that raising our kids in an area that values more than just jobs would be... refreshing. Escaping the rat-race is a goal we've had for a while but its hard to take a big step like this!

[Katiana]

You probably will not leave the rat race if you move to CO. Most full time workers here are as concerned about career advancement as anywhere else.

This whole idea of "laid back Colorado" reminds me of stuff my kids have told me about going to college out of state. People think they ski to school, heat their homes with wood, go hunting for their meat, etc. We live pretty much like everyone else when it gets right down to it. And I do know plenty of outdoorsy types in the DC area. Maybe you just haven't met the right people. Not to discourage you from coming here, of course, but I don't think it will match your expectations. I think it will be very different.

[RunningHooligan]

I am getting transferred from the DC area to CO Springs next month and can't wait. DC is a melting pot like it or not. But the general attitude that permeates this city is "I am really important and in a hurry." Sorry, that's just how it is. I've been here for over 8 years since moving from college in the midwest. DC is a great place to start your career and you will meet all types of people, but since getting married and having a kid my priorities have just changed. Unless you have a pot of gold in this area, you're going to struggle to afford housing that doesn't involve at least a 75 minute commute. It can take me 90 minutes to go 20 miles in this city.

It might be stereotyping the people here, but I would say your assessment is quite close. There are the "keep up with the Jonses" everywhere...but on the whole the concentration in this area is extreme. The majority attitude here is "what do you do and how can you help my career?" I'm sure those people exist in Denver, but that's the exception and not the rule.

Living in DC is like a perpetual timeshare presentation!!! Everything looks promising and too good to be true...and it is. Those high-paying jobs and culture are overshadowed by the fact that your salary can't buy a house and if you do buy a house you can't afford the cultural events because you're dead broke.

I'll report back after a few weeks in CO and see how different it really is.

[Moonwalkr]

Well, this is definitely a better place to raise kids. However I have to agree with some of the above posters that it really depends on where you live and who you associate with. Over the weekend I walked with my kids to the local park and in the parking lot were all shiny luxury SUVs (the expensive ones like mercedes, BMW, Cadillac, and Land Rovers). Some of the conversations I overheard were about golf trips and some new designer handbags people bought for their kids.

Now I've lived in DC for 3 years and I do believe the lifestyle there is a bit faster, but you'll still have similar type people in suburban Denver. I don't know what it's like in CO Springs, it's supposedly a conservative bastion? Not sure what that entails.

[Spincycle]

Originally Posted by Hornet22

One reason (among many!) we are fleeing DC is the pressure to always have the "it" accessory or always be up on the latest hot restaurant and/or bar. We are from Michigan and although we enjoy going out as much as the next person, this aspect of the east coast has never been appealing.

What you are describing sounds more like LA, SF, or NYC (e.g. Manhattan). If DC (incl Baltimore & NoVA) are like this then I am missing something.

Originally Posted by Hornet22

But what is it like in Denver? I've heard that having the latest fashion item translates to wearing the newest gear from REI and conversations about the latest hot restaurant is instead about the latest outdoor adventure.

Sounds more like Boulder to me.

[vegaspilgrim]

Unfortunately, I think there are a lot of people that are trying hard, a little too hard, to turn Denver into an imitation east coast "trendy" city. Old neighborhoods in Denver are all of a sudden reinvented into east-coast sounding names like "LoDo." The term LoDo has become so popular that I use it because most people will know what you're talking about, but I've seen a lot of failed mnenomics pushed out there: SoCo (which is absolutely stupid since Colfax Ave is an east-west street, and East Colfax and Capitol Hill are two local place names that already describe this neighborhood perfectly well), SoBo (again, South Broadway, an age old name in Denver has to be trendified), LoHi (just plain stupid). When I walk around some of these rapidly gentrifying and new urbanist areas around downtown Denver, Uptown, Ballpark, Capitol Hill, and Highlands, I'm seeing an awful lot of imitation Philly Cheesesteak places, "New York" pizza this and that. I don't see where the old fashioned, simple, western Denver is in any of this. Between the wannabe east coast style urban hipsters downtown, the west LA style Cherry Creek North area, and the southern OC spinoff areas of the south metro area, not to mention the Bible Belt trendy megachurches all over the Front Range, I see a whole lot of trendiness in Denver too, of various shapes and sizes. If that's really what you're trying to get away from a totally un-cool city like St Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee, or Cincinnati might be more what you're looking for than Denver. Within Denver, I find the "inner suburbs," the old suburbs built in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, even up to the 80s to be where you're most likely to find your down to earth, middle of the road, non trendy kind of people.

[lurkerkelly]

Hi. I am a lurker who saw this post and felt compelled to respond. I was born and raised in the DC area and am currently raising a daughter here in Denver. I don't think Denver is necessarily a better place to raise kids, it is just different. From a family perspective, schools are important and Fairfax county VA and Montgomery county MD are two of the best school districts in the country. Take a look at those Newsweek/US News World Report high school rankings and compare them to Colorado. Second, there is a lot of outdoors activities in the area that lots of Washingtonians do - Great Falls, C&O canal, Chesapeake Bay, Rock Creek Park, Harper's Ferry, Eastern Shore, etc. On top of that almost every museum in the city is free. We didn't have a lot of money growing up, and almost every Sunday my family would drive us kids downtown, park for free, and see a different museum. I'm not sure what the Denver Zoo charges, but the Washington Zoo was big and always free. Finally, since almost everyone in the area seems to work for/with the government in some capacity, there is a lot of job stability for families. So actually think it is quite a good place to raise a family if you can afford it.

I mostly agree, with some of the other assessments about DC being a fast-paced, competitive, aggressive, career-focused place. One of my friends is annoyed that people race him to the escalator when coming off the Metro. In my current job, I work with a lot of pushy North Easterners. I often tell/remind them I'm originally from Washington - so don't try to push me around because I'm as pushy as you. As President Kennedy famously said, DC is a town known for southern efficiency and northern hospitality.

I think the trendiness is comparable to any big city like New York, Philadelphia or Boston. I was back several years ago during winter visiting a friend. Naturally, it was cold so I put on my gore-tex jacket to go out and my friend kind of laughed at me like I was cow-town yokel or going on a hike. I was a little slow that the fashionable thing was to wear a black leather or wool jacket when walking down city streets. It's probably the same thing in New York unless you're trying to look like an outdoorsy person. In Colorado, we just think, it's sunny, it's cold, it's windy - put on your jacket. You don't look out of place in Denver.

As mentioned, the DC area is outrageously expensive, but they also have some of the higher salaries in the country. Colorado is definitely more affordable and that's fantastic for a young family that can't afford a place in DC.

I do think Colorado is a great place to raise a family, and that's why I choose to raise my daughter here. Although I also think the DC area is a great place to raise a family and has excellent schools, I think the quality of life is better in Colorado. The sunshine, outdoor activities, jobs, and kind people make it a great place. It is more laid back than DC or the Northeast. That in no way means we aren't focused on our careers or can be pushed around. We just try to have a good work-life balance. The abundant sunshine and proximity to outdoors activities helps push you to do that.

[movementarian]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

but I've seen a lot of failed mnenomics pushed out there: SoCo (which is absolutely stupid since Colfax Ave is an east-west street, and East Colfax and Capitol Hill are two local place names that already describe this neighborhood perfectly well), SoBo (again, South Broadway, an age old name in Denver has to be trendified), LoHi (just plain stupid).

Vegaspilgrim, this is the funniest thing I've read in a while. The first time I heard LoHi I laughed so hard. I saw this dumb Tina Fey Baby Mama movie and she joked about the same exact thing.

I believe the southern part of Jefferson County is going to be the next trendy area. Or as I like to call it, J-Lo...