Looking at Denver real estate - a little torn between the city and the burbs (Aurora: first time home buyer, buyer)

[COcheesehead]

I lived in Highlands Ranch for almost 8 years. We sort of dragged our feet initially moving from Denver, but the commute to my business out south was getting more and more difficult.
We loved Highlands Ranch. The people in general were friendlier than the city. We made many, many friends. There are miles and miles of parks, trails and 4 rec centers for you to use included in your $144/quarter HOA payment.
Easy to get around, abundant parking. We could actually see the mountains. Better access to the interstate.
The only real nit is the restaurants. There were some gems nearby: Viabacci, The Kitchen, Terra Cot-a Cafe, Sierra Grill, but many chains that didn’t suit us.
There are far worse places to live in metro Denver than HR.

[daprara]

other than the obvious; I dont know if there is a big difference between 45 and 77 min drive, at least you got there. Say one hour drive on the average. Every day, 2 hours total.

I noticed trafic is somwhat post-Covid these days

Traffic slows down even for one inch of snow or an accident in the opposing lane. Dosnt take much and it becomes 4 hours.


There is a lite rail station at Park Meadows. If ths works i would use it every day.


always nice to live close to work. Give it some thought tho, where this company you work for just now:
Where will they be in 3-5 years?
Will you have to move again?
the home buyer might conisder a proptery centrally located in the valley next to lite rail & major transportation.


also consider if you will retire in your home. your needs will change. We got near that age and moved from Brighton to centeral Denver and were lucky to buy low and sell high. Would have been great to avoide the move altogether.
I dont drive i25 because I dont dont have a need to be there.
i removed the freeway option in my iPhone.
I can, if i want, walk to lite rail, Safeway. There is a bus stop on my sidewalk.
I dont care if CDOT gets de-funded.

on the down side:
peeps are not friendly at least compared to the previous digs
security is an issue here
homeless roam the alley way nightly
city utilities and infersturcture can be 50+ years old

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by daprara

other than the obvious; I dont know if there is a big difference between 45 and 77 min drive, at least you got there. Say one hour drive on the average. Every day, 2 hours total.

I noticed trafic is somwhat post-Covid these days

Traffic slows down even for one inch of snow or an accident in the opposing lane. Dosnt take much and it becomes 4 hours.


There is a lite rail station at Park Meadows. If ths works i would use it every day.


always nice to live close to work. Give it some thought tho, where this company you work for just now:
Where will they be in 3-5 years?
Will you have to move again?
the home buyer might conisder a proptery centrally located in the valley next to lite rail & major transportation.


also consider if you will retire in your home. your needs will change. We got near that age and moved from Brighton to centeral Denver and were lucky to buy low and sell high. Would have been great to avoide the move altogether.
I dont drive i25 because I dont dont have a need to be there.
i removed the freeway option in my iPhone.
I can, if i want, walk to lite rail, Safeway. There is a bus stop on my sidewalk.
I dont care if CDOT gets de-funded.

on the down side:
peeps are not friendly at least compared to the previous digs
security is an issue here
homeless roam the alley way nightly
city utilities and infersturcture can be 50+ years old

The bolded needs a little clarification. If someone reads over the post too quickly they'll get the wrong idea. 4 hours total round-trip, not each way. Even then, though, a 2-hour commute one-way from HR to downtown or vice-versa is extremely rare.

[mkwensky]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

The bolded needs a little clarification. If someone reads over the post too quickly they'll get the wrong idea. 4 hours total round-trip, not each way. Even then, though, a 2-hour commute one-way from HR to downtown or vice-versa is extremely rare.

Since we're already talking about traffic - what about Castle Rock and Parker to DT Denver?

[Count David]

Originally Posted by mkwensky

Since we're already talking about traffic - what about Castle Rock and Parker to DT Denver?

Neither are a good idea.

[ORLguy]

Originally Posted by COcheesehead

I lived in Highlands Ranch for almost 8 years. We sort of dragged our feet initially moving from Denver, but the commute to my business out south was getting more and more difficult.
We loved Highlands Ranch. The people in general were friendlier than the city. We made many, many friends. There are miles and miles of parks, trails and 4 rec centers for you to use included in your $144/quarter HOA payment.
Easy to get around, abundant parking. We could actually see the mountains. Better access to the interstate.
The only real nit is the restaurants. There were some gems nearby: Viabacci, The Kitchen, Terra Cot-a Cafe, Sierra Grill, but many chains that didn’t suit us.
There are far worse places to live in metro Denver than HR.

This is a fair take and I can respect that. I mean, I know people in their 30s - young couples who live there and love it.

For me, I dont need to go DT to the office everyday, but I have to keep my GF in mind and I don't want to hamper her from getting a job due to the commute.

But yeah, seeing the mountains in your backyard is awesome, at least to me.

[sammy87]

There was a story on PPL migrating away from CA, OR and WA a few days ago on Fox Business. Said TX and CO were the prime destinations. Building hasn't stopped near me in Arvada. Houses aren't lasting long on the market and going for asking and above. The story talked about bidding wars. Concluded with CO becoming more $$$ for housing in the near term.

We are considering cashing out and moving somewhere else. I can do my job from anywhere and we are very travel focused and that is down.

That and the browness of everything is a drag.

[mic111]

Originally Posted by sammy87

There was a story on PPL migrating away from CA, OR and WA a few days ago on Fox Business. Said TX and CO were the prime destinations. Building hasn't stopped near me in Arvada. Houses aren't lasting long on the market and going for asking and above. The story talked about bidding wars. Concluded with CO becoming more $$$ for housing in the near term.

Interesting. I was wondering how much was in bound migration with all the real estate activity. I knew there was pent up demand but it seemed to be much more than I would have thought with just local pent up demand so in bound migration makes sense.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by ORLguy

But yeah, seeing the mountains in your backyard is awesome, at least to me.

I have a better view of them in my front yard, and I'm only 15 minutes from downtown (which I can see down my block). In Arvada, about 2 miles N/NW of Berkeley. Commutable to downtown or the NW tech corridor (but not the DTC). It's boring as heck though, early 60's suburbia, but well within your price range.

TBH you probably would like the western edges of Denver north of Sloan's Lake, Lakewood, or Wheat Ridge.

Originally Posted by sammy87

There was a story on PPL migrating away from CA, OR and WA a few days ago on Fox Business. Said TX and CO were the prime destinations. Building hasn't stopped near me in Arvada. Houses aren't lasting long on the market and going for asking and above. The story talked about bidding wars. Concluded with CO becoming more $$$ for housing in the near term.

We are considering cashing out and moving somewhere else. I can do my job from anywhere and we are very travel focused and that is down.

That and the browness of everything is a drag.

I feel this post so much.

[daprara]

live in Colorado a while and go figure; the moountains have not changed. They are still there.
A central located urban neighborhood with some walkability and rail service. Like Denver's Baker neighborhood.