Moving to the area and have a few ?'s (please) (Denver: 2009, rental)

[Digitech66]

Hello !!! First of all thank you for any help you can offer. I wanted to look into a few points of interest when it comes to moving and this is one of the best tools ever. I currently live in the Gatlinburg Tn area and pay 850.00 a month in rent. The cost of living is about 13 % below the national average. My income is a result of years of experience in the structured cabling field ( Data networks , fiber optics , cat5 , cat6 and patch panels, etc. ) and I am a small business owner that cannot seem to catch a break in this area. I guess I have a few questions and then any info you can offer from that point is a definite bonus. THX !!
Are there any areas around denver that provide a beautiful scene yet the rent can stay around 1,000.00 range ( 900.00 to 1100.00 ) ? West side of denver yet close enough to commute ?
Are there companies there that may be looking for someone with my experience in structured cabling ? The only resource I have really is Craigslist.
How well would the great people of the Denver area take to a true southern boy moving into town ? LoL
are there any very inexpensive motels around the area that I can use for a week or two while looking into a rental property ?
And one last ? The weather , I would love an accurate account of the weather in and around Denver so I am not shocked upon arrival. LoL
Thank you so much for any info , anything you could offer would be awesome. Thanks Ya'll , John -

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Digitech66

Hello !!! First of all thank you for any help you can offer. I wanted to look into a few points of interest when it comes to moving and this is one of the best tools ever. I currently live in the Gatlinburg Tn area and pay 850.00 a month in rent. The cost of living is about 13 % below the national average. My income is a result of years of experience in the structured cabling field ( Data networks , fiber optics , cat5 , cat6 and patch panels, etc. ) and I am a small business owner that cannot seem to catch a break in this area. I guess I have a few questions and then any info you can offer from that point is a definite bonus. THX !!
Are there any areas around denver that provide a beautiful scene yet the rent can stay around 1,000.00 range ( 900.00 to 1100.00 ) ? West side of denver yet close enough to commute ?
Are there companies there that may be looking for someone with my experience in structured cabling ? The only resource I have really is Craigslist.
How well would the great people of the Denver area take to a true southern boy moving into town ? LoL
are there any very inexpensive motels around the area that I can use for a week or two while looking into a rental property ?
And one last ? The weather , I would love an accurate account of the weather in and around Denver so I am not shocked upon arrival. LoL
Thank you so much for any info , anything you could offer would be awesome. Thanks Ya'll , John -

I'm not sure this is the best time to move here. May I ask why you're moving? I'm not familiar with your field, but it does seem that tech is perhaps in a little better position than other fields right now.

Your budget is adequate for a nice 2 BR apt. in most areas of the metro. It is not a long commute from the western suburbs to downtown. Not everyone works downtown, though. You might do well to get a smaller place until you know where you'll be working. There are plenty of inexpensive motels along West Colfax. They aren't fancy, but they're probably safe. You will be accepted here.

As to weather, here are some stats:


Denver Christmas Weather Statistics

Denver Halloween Snow Statistics

Denver Snowfall Statistics 1882-2009

Denvers Winter/Cold Season Statistics

[Digitech66]

Every thread of information is helpful and I really appreciate ya'll taking the time to help me out.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by Digitech66

Hello !!! First of all thank you for any help you can offer. I wanted to look into a few points of interest when it comes to moving and this is one of the best tools ever. I currently live in the Gatlinburg Tn area and pay 850.00 a month in rent. The cost of living is about 13 % below the national average. My income is a result of years of experience in the structured cabling field ( Data networks , fiber optics , cat5 , cat6 and patch panels, etc. ) and I am a small business owner that cannot seem to catch a break in this area. I guess I have a few questions and then any info you can offer from that point is a definite bonus. THX !!
Are there any areas around denver that provide a beautiful scene yet the rent can stay around 1,000.00 range ( 900.00 to 1100.00 ) ? West side of denver yet close enough to commute ?
Are there companies there that may be looking for someone with my experience in structured cabling ? The only resource I have really is Craigslist.
How well would the great people of the Denver area take to a true southern boy moving into town ? LoL
are there any very inexpensive motels around the area that I can use for a week or two while looking into a rental property ?
And one last ? The weather , I would love an accurate account of the weather in and around Denver so I am not shocked upon arrival. LoL
Thank you so much for any info , anything you could offer would be awesome. Thanks Ya'll , John -

I think you will love Denver. We moved here last May after several visits and we couldn't be happier with our decision so far.

I don't know much about the industry you are in but the economy here is significantly better than where we moved from. The job market is slow everywhere, but Denver is better off than most of the country. You may want to take a vacation here and talk with some companies before making your final decision though.

Here is a website that I used to find great hotel deals during my "pre-move" visits. Just follow the links and you should be able to find decent rates. We were able to get rooms at the Crowne Plaza downtown for $49 a night using this site.

Denver Colorado Tourist & Vacation Information | VISIT DENVER

Good luck with your decision!

[Digitech66]

Is the Commerce city area really as bad as I am reading about ? lotsa folks do not hace many good things to say about the place - btw , I am not looking into schools or child care etc , just a decent place that gives you the most bang for your buck , not too far from Denver and safe enough to leave and not worry about my place gettin robbed. Yes I can get info on statistics but lets be real , not exactly accurate. Thx !

[chilicheesefries]

Originally Posted by Digitech66

Is the Commerce city area really as bad as I am reading about ? lotsa folks do not hace many good things to say about the place - btw , I am not looking into schools or child care etc , just a decent place that gives you the most bang for your buck , not too far from Denver and safe enough to leave and not worry about my place gettin robbed. Yes I can get info on statistics but lets be real , not exactly accurate. Thx !

If that's what you're looking for, Commerce City would be fine. Commerce City is really a tale of 2 cities: southern Commerce City and northern Commerce City. Southern Commerce City seems to be what you're talking about. It's not the greatest of neighborhoods but is a good solid working class city where people take pride in what they have. It's not a ghetto by any means.

[Digitech66]

That's about what i figured. You get the stories and you always hear news about latino communities and how terrible it is there and how you wouldnt want to run out of gas in that part of town , but as I suspected just more typical stereotyping. If anyone can offer a pros and cons on that area I will bring them a big ole bag of boiled peanuts when I head that way ! Here is a question first though. Is the Northern part of that community a place you would leave your family if you had to travel the US weeks at a time ? Is there public transit there ? And if any way at all possible any help with finding the need for someone in my line of work in your area... be my eyes locally...check local ads for such keywords and maybe copy and paste it to me.... thx 4 anything you can do one way or another. ( Structured cabling , Fiber optics , data networking - installation not programming , cat5 cat6 color codes etc ) T H A N K S !!!

[D-town 720]

Originally Posted by Digitech66

That's about what i figured. You get the stories and you always hear news about latino communities and how terrible it is there and how you wouldnt want to run out of gas in that part of town , but as I suspected just more typical stereotyping. If anyone can offer a pros and cons on that area I will bring them a big ole bag of boiled peanuts when I head that way ! Here is a question first though. Is the Northern part of that community a place you would leave your family if you had to travel the US weeks at a time ? Is there public transit there ? And if any way at all possible any help with finding the need for someone in my line of work in your area... be my eyes locally...check local ads for such keywords and maybe copy and paste it to me.... thx 4 anything you can do one way or another. ( Structured cabling , Fiber optics , data networking - installation not programming , cat5 cat6 color codes etc ) T H A N K S !!!

Newhouse hotel by 16th and grant is like 22 bucks a night. Also, there are plenty of cheap studios in cap hill that will rent up front if you got cash. better to pay 550 up front than 20-30 bucks a night. When your here grab a few local papers and look for the cheap places to stay - there will be ads.

Dont stay in commerence city. There are way better neighborhoods in Denver that are just as cheap and without the crime/run down industrial ambience.

[whoisjongalt]

You're going to love Denver! You might consider finding a roommate situation for a few months until you're sure where you want to live. You could do that for $500-$600. Craigslist seems to be the best place to look. As far as neighborhoods, for $1000/mo on your own you can live almost anywhere except maybe Lodo. If you want to live in a neighborhood with lots of nightlife and areas you can walk/bike, I'd suggest you stay close to downtown (Capital Hill, Uptown, Highlands, Baker District). If you're more into open spaces, I'd go west to Golden, Morrison, Evergreen or even Boulder. You're talking a 30 min - 1 hour commute to downtown though. It's a trade off. You may find cheaper deals on a motel if you are a few miles away from downtown. When I first moved here, I got a good deal at a Holiday Inn on South Colorado Blvd. I also just saw an ad for the Quality Inn downtown that had a deal for around $50 and it's a NICE hotel....actually part of the Brown Palace, the best hotel in Denver.

[80skeys]

I'll answer your questions as someone living in Western colorado who is also familiar with Denver.

Originally Posted by Digitech66

I currently live in the Gatlinburg Tn area and pay 850.00 a month in rent. The cost of living is about 13 % below the national average.

Denver's been referred to as one of the cheapest cities in the U.S. to rent, so you'll have no problem finding what you need in your price range.

Are there companies there that may be looking for someone with my experience in structured cabling ? The only resource I have really is Craigslist.

Craigslist isn't good for finding jobs. What you need to do is call the job recruiters (IT-related temp agencies) in Denver and talk to them.

There's also a website that consolidates all of the Denver job postings from monster, hotjobs, yahoo jobs, etc. for the IT field. I don't remember the website: when you call the recruitment agencies ask them for the link.

How well would the great people of the Denver area take to a true southern boy moving into town ? LoL

Denver is a very diverse and mixed city with a lot of people that moved there from other states and countries. You won't find any issues.

And one last ? The weather , I would love an accurate account of the weather in and around Denver so I am not shocked upon arrival. LoL

Dry. A lot of sunny days. Very little precipitation. Hot in the summer (90s). Mild in the winter (30s and 40s). No bugs, no mosquitos, etc.

Infrequent snowstorms in the winter. Infrequent cold temps (0-10 degrees in the daytime.)

Generally very good weather.