Advice needed! Possible move to Denver area. See details. (Southglenn: apartments, for rent)

[popalina]

We find out soon (Tuesday!) whether we will be moving to the Denver area where my husband will be working on Inverness Drive near the Arapahoe county Airport. We are of course trying to figure out where it would be the best match for us to live, so maybe some of you could advise?

Here is our info:

--Early 30s couple with 1 small child and cats

--Looking to rent a 2+ bedroom (ideally 3+) place with at least 1200 sq

--Max price: 1300/mo

--Need a SAFE area as our primary concern

--30 minutes or less from his work

--Both college graduates (undergrad for both, grad for one), if it matters! (I'm just throwing stuff out there! I've looked through other posts and people often ask for more and more information so I thought I'd try to start off with a lot!)

--I am a stay-at-home mom

--NOT looking to buy, not a lot of expendable income.

--A backyard (even a small one) would be great

--We prefer not to live in complexes and sprawling suburban areas with big chain stores, but if that's all we can find then so be it (in other words, safety, location, and cost are more important than this)

--Not at all opposed to living in city or close to city neighborhood (we have lived in the midtowns of Columbus, OH and Sacramento, CA prior to moving to CO so we are used to a more city-like environment)

--Also not at all opposed to living in a more rural setting or old neighborhoods. The only area that we are less enthusiastic about living in would be really cookie cutter suburban, as I said before. There is certainly nothing at all wrong with that, and I appreciate the safety and convenience, but if we can find more of an old town feel or city environment then that is what we would prefer, just aesthetically speaking.

--Mountain views (near or far) = extra awesome!

--Green areas, close to hiking = great!

--Schools not really a concern because we will be homeschooling.

--Warmer/less snow = perfect!

--If a place has great natural foods co-op, vegetarian restaurants, artsy stuff then super bonus! I assume that for that I would look closer to the city center or near college campuses? Any other small towns that might be like that?


THANKS in advance for any suggestions that you have: areas to avoid, areas that might more closely match what we're looking for, particular places for rent or complexes that you would recommend to rent or avoid, etc. We know nothing about CO (except that I almost got killed driving through one time on our way from OH to CA because of a huge storm with tornadoes!) so ANY advise that you have would be much appreciated.

Oh, also looking for other moms in the area to network with. My baby is a little over a year old.

THANKS again! This site has always been so helpful in Sacramento so I'm hoping that it is in Denver, too!

[Cupcake77]

Castle Rock. I know 2 people who work at Inverness and that's where they live in the plum creek condo off the golf course in Castle Rock.

[popalina]

Cool, thx! I will check that out. Do you know what it is like there? I assume they like it or you wouldn't be recommending it.

Other ideas/advice, anyone?

[davidv]

Inverness is the center of suburbia, so town center type of places are few and far between. Two possibilities are: Castle Rock and Old Littleton. You might try the DU area, but with traffic, the commute would be rough, and $1300 in rent might be hard to come by.

Since Inverness is near C-470, you could live nearly everywhere in the southern portion along the beltway, but most of it is suburbia.

Be warned: Castle Rock = more snow and colder than other parts of the metro area. Snow in the area is not frequent and usually melts within a couple of days.

EDIT: The Streets at Southglenn is a new urbanist type place that might work as well. It's still surrounded by suburbia though.

[Dorthy]

After reading both of your OP's I'd suggest the following, Old Littleton, Old Englewood (80113), DU, Platte Park and University Hills. All of these areas will be within a 30 minute commute (depending on traffic) and all are on light rail lines. Old Littleton, Old Englewood, DU and Platte Park all have town centers or downtowns.

Littleton has more of a small town feel, nice parks, library, access to trails, independent restaurants, etc.

Englewood has a central downtown and has more of a city feel then Littleton. It's very walkable with restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, live music venues, bowling, library, post office, etc. all within a small area. It's probably your most affordable option.

DU has plenty of restaurants, coffee shops,bars etc within a small area. It's a college area, what more can I say.

Platte park has a nice town center type of area around Pearl Street, a nice park and library. They also have a farmer's market during the summer. This area may be out of your price range.

University Hills might also work as there are a lot of things to walk to (library, independent movie theatre, natural food stores) even though it is more strip mall then city center type of area.

[2bindenver]

Acres Green in Douglas County, Northern Parker, Centennial - all suburbs.

Safe from what? Crime? graffiti, home invasions, theft?

Draw a box within a 5-10 mile range from work and start there.

If driving in snow will be an issue, get a front wheel drive vehicle, and maybe a driving class.

[Cupcake77]

Popalina, don't move to acres green!! That's a neighbourhood for single guys who rent out rooms to their friends to party and bring home chicks. Not a place for a family and it offers nothing what you want either.

ofcourse you want a safe area but overall Denver is pretty safe, there are some areas I would not recommend but you haven't mentioned them so no need to bring it up.

I think some parts of Parker you might like or castle rock. Castle rock is like a small town and pretty.

I know a nice little area in highlands ranch that has newer smaller two story homes with a nice deep backyard. I know of someone personaly who is renting one of the houses for 1400k a month, I think it's only about 1750sq feet. It's a nice neighbourhood and you are surrounded with chain stores which I know you don't like and no hiking trails but everything is close.

[cowboyxjon]

What about Streets of Southglenn? It's still sort of an artificial 'town center' in the middle of the suburbs, but it does have housing and places to get food and shop, too. Arapahoe Rd at University, I think?

Just wanted to edit this to say that you could buy a house near it. Streets of Southglenn itself has apartments and condos as far as I know.

[popalina]

SO helpful, everyone! THANK YOU! Now I really have some places to get started searching.

(to answer you questions, "safe" is safe from all of those things that you mention. And we lived in Ohio for most of our lives so it's not like we are totally unfamiliar with snow, we just prefer to not be in it after having lived in Sacramento for the past 10 years.)

Thanks again! Keep em coming!

[Cupcake77]

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

What about Streets of Southglenn? It's still sort of an artificial 'town center' in the middle of the suburbs, but it does have housing and places to get food and shop, too. Arapahoe Rd at University, I think?

It's a cool area but a lot of resturants and not much shopping. I like what they did with it by tearing down that old mall and rebuilding.

Cherry Creek would be ideal but I think the rent might be too high.