Got a job offer and need some help with where to live (Thornton: apartments, transfer to)

[pamfieldsphoto]

Wow, all these places are further north than I was thinking. Is google maps not accurate on the time? I've been checking various times thoughout the day and during rush hour to see what commute times look like.

What about the Erie area. If we up our housing budget (and I think we will up it to 475-500). Here is an example of a house in that area. https://www.redfin.com/CO/Erie/921-Z.../home/35316269

And there is this home that is in Thornton just on the northside of E470. Google maps is showing 32 minutes to his work.

[Indigo Cardinal]

Originally Posted by skyeyes70

Wow, all these places are further north than I was thinking. Is google maps not accurate on the time? I've been checking various times thoughout the day and during rush hour to see what commute times look like.

What about the Erie area. If we up our housing budget (and I think we will up it to 475-500). Here is an example of a house in that area. https://www.redfin.com/CO/Erie/921-Z.../home/35316269

And there is this home that is in Thornton just on the northside of E470. Google maps is showing 32 minutes to his work.

Depending on where in Thornton, it could still be about 45 minutes to Loveland (depending on where in Loveland, as well.)

Erie might not be too bad, but again, it would depend on where in Loveland your husband works.

Longmont would probably be the best bet to keep it an even split between Boulder and Loveland.

[pamfieldsphoto]

Originally Posted by Indigo Cardinal

Depending on where in Thornton, it could still be about 45 minutes to Loveland (depending on where in Loveland, as well.)

Erie might not be too bad, but again, it would depend on where in Loveland your husband works.

Longmont would probably be the best bet to keep it an even split between Boulder and Loveland.

His job is exactly 1 mile from the Loveland exit.

[Timmyy]

I agree Longmont might be your best option. I have family there and we have driven from Longmont to Boulder on a few occasions and it isn't a bad drive.

[davebarnes]

I would mark UC Boulder and his work location on a map.
Draw a line between the two and live somewhere along that line.

[sunsprit]

your biggest stumbling block here is the desire to be 25 minutes from CU Boulder campus for your daughter.

Even when we lived in the Erie area in the 1990's, just over the county line from Boulder county off of Hwy 52, it took around 45 minutes to be in the CU area. That was with a straight shot West on Hwy 52 then southbound on the Boulder road into town.

Effectively, if you "need" to be within 25-30 minutes of the Boulder campus, you'll need to live no further away then the North side of Boulder to retain decent access to Loveland. Even Longmont will be significantly further away from the campus than 25 minutes.

IMO, you'd be better off to get housing closer to your husband's work location and have your daughter live in Boulder for the time she'll be in school there. If you lock yourself into a housing location and commute for your husband's job that has him commuting quite a distance/time every day, that will persist after your daughter is done with CU.

I'm wondering if you've not factored in the winter months of inclement weather driving conditions. These can frequently present for days on end during the winter months ... and then your projections of driving time from fair weather months are not going to be the norm. As well, traffic for your daughter's classes may be in "rush hour", which is a different situation than when somebody is taking a drive into Boulder during lighter traffic times of the day.

[NorthDenverGirl]

Originally Posted by skyeyes70

Wow, all these places are further north than I was thinking. Is google maps not accurate on the time? I've been checking various times thoughout the day and during rush hour to see what commute times look like.

What about the Erie area. If we up our housing budget (and I think we will up it to 475-500). Here is an example of a house in that area. https://www.redfin.com/CO/Erie/921-Z.../home/35316269

And there is this home that is in Thornton just on the northside of E470. Google maps is showing 32 minutes to his work.

In general, Erie is about 40 minutes and the north side of Thornton is around 45 minutes. I can usually get up there from Thornton within 40-45 minutes. You know the exact address of his work though rather than just a general point in Loveland, so go with what you are seeing on google maps.

Erie is a nice town it has an older downtown area with a restaurant, couple of breweries, stores, and a newer area. There are a lot of new builds out there and you need to be careful of which builder built the house as I have heard plenty of horror stories in certain neighborhoods. The other thing is the oil and gas wells out there, once again not sure if this is a concern but in Erie, a lot of the new neighborhoods have oil wells right outside their doors and many residents complain of noise and smell.

North Creek Farms is probably the only neighborhood in Thornton that is north of E 470 in your $450 - price point. There are only about 3 neighborhoods north of E-470 (for now). It is a great neighborhood with a couple of neighborhood parks and close to the stores there including Costco, Toys R Us, Dicks Sporting Goods, Starbucks etc. An IKEA will also be going in on the corner of I-25 and Highway 7 which is right in that area and that is all going to build up quick once it gets started.

[abcdefg567]

I think once you get here and see the numerous housing developments being built along i25 you to Loveland, you'll be able to better visualize how that drive is going to look in a couple of years.

45 minutes is accurate from Thornton, but you get behind an accident, bad drivers, two trucks driving parallel, snow, rain, ice & that quickly goes out the window. Those aren't rare occurrences either.

Plus, my Mom has lived in Thornton 18 years. While parts are nice, it is in no way superior to Loveland and it's still a ways out from much of Denver, especially with traffic.

I like your idea of Erie better. I just can't imagine encouraging my spouse to make that commute though when you could afford a very nice home right there & still be close to lots of fun stuff to do.

[Katarina Witt]

From Erie to Loveland is supposedly 40 minutes, about 32 miles on I-25. I'm not sure where you're coming from, OP, but you have to factor in bad weather (e.g. snow) into these decisions out here. We just had a big dump last week! Now this has been a very snowless winter (but then we got a late spring dump), but each one varies, and some get a lot of snow. Also, as someone upthread said, it depends on where in Erie to where in Loveland. In general, it doesn't take *too* long to get to I-25 from anywhere in Erie, and the DH's job is 1 mile from the Loveland exit so that isn't a very long distance, either. It's at least 30 min from Erie to Boulder, for the DD. My guess is DD is going to tire of any type of commute like that quickly, and want to get an apartment. When going to college, it's nice to live close to the library and other amenities like that. Otherwise, you end up making two or more trips a day, or staying on campus with nothing to do for hours waiting from one activity to another.

[Mike from back east]

I'm bringing this quote from another thread as it illustrates the nature of traffic issues in/near Denver. I consider it imperative that OP's husband live as near as possible to work. Further, DD would be best to live near campus in Boulder, especially since that's a short duration situation. The item below talks to the inability of COLO to fund highways and it's getting worse. When NO ONE can get anywhere then maybe the voters will let loose a little money to 'fix' the looming disaster, but until then the OP needs to plan accordingly to minimize time/money spent driving and maximize use of personal time towards the quality of life. This is kind of like the game show "Who Want's To Be A Millionaire" when 'contestants' like the OP are stumped and have to "ask the audience" for the answer. We've given it, overwhelmingly: live near work/school instead of driving.

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

And its obviously not just "that stretch" that's a congested nightmare, it's basically anything related to the Denver metro sprawl. My wife's family all live in the Southeast suburbs of Denver and have owned a cabin in the Grand Lake area for 30ish years. They've decided to sell it because pretty much nobody in the family uses it anymore as nobody's willing to drive the stretch of I-70 it takes to get to the road up to Berthoud Pass, much less fight traffic all the way through Denver JUST TO GET to I-70. We live in the Springs and there's just no way. What "used" to be a 3.5 hour drive is pretty much 5-6 hours, unless we leave at 1AM, which nobody wants to do either. We've basically just given up on going to or through the Denver mega-plex. Sure we can blame TABOR and re-christen that 18 mile stretch the "D. Bruce Congested Nightmare" but I've long since turned my attention elsewhere and given up on Denver being anything but a congested blockade. From COS, we look west (Salida, etc.) and south (Northern New Mexico) for our recreation and fun escapes. Pretty much never any congestion going west (Hwy 50) and south from Colorado Springs. Only go north for mandatory family gatherings a time or two a year and hit bad traffic about 2/3 of the time. Oh well.