Aw, No, Another Newbie! (Denver, Aurora: hardwood floors, apartment complex, for rent)

[ByronicB85]

[SIZE=2]Hi all,

I’m a 23-year-old college graduate from Alabama that is seriously considering moving to Denver. I’ve been looking through the posts here and I have to say, I’m very excited about moving!

As a small town guy moving to a big city you can imagine how overwhelming all of this can be. I’m pretty much starting over in terms of possessions, so one of my biggest worries is getting furniture! Where should I get furniture in the city of Denver? Who sells nice furniture at a low price and who delivers to apartment complexes? Moving to a completely new place where I don’t know anyone, moving all that furniture won’t be fun by myself!

I’ve also been looking at apartments through various online resources: Craigslist, rent.com, and apartment ratings.com among other things. As a gay man I think my best bet would be Cap. Hill or Cheesman Park. But looking for a place to stay is quite a daunting task when one site makes the apartment look and sound hella nice and then I read someone else’s opinion and they think it’s the worst apartment complex ever. I would really like to live downtown. I know it’s higher to live there, but I would love to be close to the city and use my Jeep as sparingly as possible. The money that I save on gas and maintenance could go to rent/utilities. I’d also like to live close to the grocery store. Are there any Wal-Marts in Denver? LOL.

I have one question about apartments. I was looking at one in particular the other day, Diamond at Prospect. Rent was listed as $575-$1000 for a one-bedroom. The thing that threw me was that the two floor plan options had the same amount of square footage, yet one was higher. In fact, a different floor plan has less square footage and the rent was more! Can someone explain to me how this works? Is it that some options have more amenities (fireplace, hardwood floors, fully furnished) than others and therefore they cost more or what? I would like to have an apartment that has at least 550-600 square feet. My last apartment here in Alabama had 460 feet. It was small, but I got used to it. Also I would like to have a place where the walls are thick thick thick! Don’t want to hear the neighbors coughing or sneezing like I could at my last place.
Last question/comment/statement. I’m a writer trying to break into the biz, some of you may know how hard that is. Right now I’m freelancing, trying to get my name out there and some credentials lined up to show possible agents and publishers. I really want to focus on my writing and not have a job where I have to take my work home with me or have to stay at work overnight to get things done. So I think it would be best if I continue to wait tables while in Denver. It will give me a chance to make friends and fast cash. I’m not a big spender and I figure if I work at least 4 nights a week and make at least $80 dollars a night I’ll be fine. With the economy bobbing in shaky waters people aren’t spending as much. Hopefully I’ll make more, but I don’t know what the server scene is like in Denver, probably better and higher pay since it’s a busy area. Any tips on where to try and snag a job at?

Sorry this is so long, as I said, I’m a writer and I tend to prattle on a bit. I actually read over and edited this before submission.

Thanks in advance!
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[Moonwalkr]

Many places will deliver these days but it'll cost you. You can shop online if you don't care about getting name-brand furniture and have that delivered to you, even with shipping it's still cheaper.

[Snodrifter]

Rent can vary widely due to something we have out here called mountain views. In some locations, city views. Some have both, and lots of people are willing to pay a good amount extra for it.

[TexaCo Mom]

It's not Ethan Allen, but you can buy some decent furniture at a decent price (won't break the bank) at American Furniture Warehouse and they do deliver. Bedroom, Living Room and Dining Room Furniture : American Furniture Warehouse, Colorado's Largest Furniture Store!

[ColoWeb]

ByronicB85,

Congrats on the graduation! Regarding furniture,we have American Furniture Warehouse in Colorado [http://www.afwonline.com/home.asp] (broken link). They have a really wide, huge selections, good range of prices and a lot of them are very reasonable. Overall they are the cheapest and good compnay here. They do charge for delivery but it was relatively reasonable when I made my purchase.
I purchased a really nice Sofa for ~ $325 plus $30-40's for delivery. However, if you need to buy many items their delivery price gets much more reasonable since $30-40's is a min amount.

Search for appartments is time consuming as only you can visit and make your own opinion of then. When I was searching for mine (not in down town) the reviews were often very off the norm so to speak.

The best recomendation I always make is to visit, check things out, and feel the 'comfort' here before you move (if this is what you decide to do).

There are wall-marts here but I do not know of any in the Downtown area (I do not live in downtown). I know there is a King Soopers right in downtown on Speer Blvd.

With the ecnomy that is now freelancing or any normal job hunting can be verry difficly. For this reason, it is best to get a job lined up ahad of time. While this is a good suggestion, it is more difficult to accomplish when you are out of town. Perhaps, if you come for a visit, you can work on this at that time.

Well, I a no writer and it looks like I manged to prattle here a bit but hopefully you will find it helpful.

Best of luck! Let me know if I can address any other questions.

[CapHillboy]

Don't know if you'll find any of the following helpful, but here goes.

Furniture: If you don't require new, you might want to look around at the second hand shops. There used to be a fair number of them along south Broadway with affordable prices. Some, though, call themselves "antique" shops and charge accordingly. You might also try craigslist or even the old-fashioned want ads in the newspaper. Otherwise, I'd agree with ColoWeb: American Furniture Warehouse has good selection and reasonable prices.

Apartment: CapHill/Cheesman would be good for a gay man, but I don't think you need to limit yourself. From what i've seen, there are gay people throughout the city of Denver and, as many posters have said on other threads, Denverites don't really care one way or another. Frankly, i think Broadway Terrace has more gay people than CapHill (judging from the restaurants I've gone to down there), but CapHill seems to have the reputation. otoh, if you want to be close to a grocery store (a major motivation for my being in CapHill), you've certainly got that. CapHill proper has a King Sooper's and a Whole Foods (which used to be a Wild Oats until Whole Foods took over) within easy walking distance and a Safeway a short bike ride away. (You can walk there from CapHill, too, but i usually ride my bike.)

As for rent, i think you pretty much nailed the reasons some apts may cost more than others even in the same complex and regardless of square footage: upgrades (fireplace, hardwood floors, and so forth). Add to that: mountain or city views (as Snodrifter mentioned), balcony/terrace, upper floors (but this may also reflect a better view), popular floor plans, 2 or 3 sides with windows vs only one side, floor-to-ceiling windows, that sort of thing.

One other item on rents: You might want to look for an apt where utilities are included. These are usually older apt buildings built when energy was cheap. It's too expensive to retrofit them to have each unit pay utilities, so they just add an average to the rent. I haven't rented in many years, but i would suspect that the older buildings still have rents with utilities included.

Big-box shopping: If you live in central Denver, you'll need your car to get to the WalMarts, Costcos, and Targets of this world. The closest discount big-box retailers are probably Sam's Club and K-Mart, on the southern border of Broadway Terrace (Alameda and south Broadway). You could potentially take the Broadway bus to these from CapHill, though. Target is near CO Blvd and Alameda Ave. The nearest Costco is out in SE Aurora, though i hear they're building one closer to town soon. I don't know which WalMart is closest, though they exist in Lakewood, Thornton, and Aurora (and most other suburbs). I'd guess all of the ones in the towns i mentioned to be equidistant from central Denver, but i couldn't tell you how far since i've never gauged the mileage. As an alternative, if you're looking for clothes, wanting to save money, and not fashion-conscious, there's a Goodwill and an ARC in Broadway Terrace, a Salvation Army near Cheesman (on Colfax around Vine), and a Buffalo Exchange right in CapHill (near 13th and Grant).

Jobs: Sorry, I can't help on this one, at all.

Best of luck to you!