Freethinking Family Considering Denver Area, Input Appreciated! (Boulder: real estate, renting)

[whollymama]

Hello all! I posted a very similar post to this one in the NC forum, as we are seriously considering the Triangle area in NC, but my husband has pointed out the wonderful amenities and quality of life factors in the Denver area, and remembers loving the area when he visited as a young adult, so I would also like to get some feedback from any of you who may have advice based on our situation.

A little background: My husband and I were raised in Southern CA. Married young. We left begrudgingly with the military and now, looking back, are so glad we did. We have lived in Louisiana (5 years) -lots to love about it, North Dakota (1 year) -not as much to love about it for us, Montana (2 years by the time we leave) and we have visited family in Florida (I was born there) and even spent a few months in New Zealand -lots to love, but better for vacationing in my American opinion.

Leaving CA really opened our eyes to the variety of lifestyles, cultures and views in the world. We still have family and friends that live there and pay a lot for not much of a lifestyle, especially for families (again, in my humble opinion). $450K for a 2 bedroom, 35 year old house, etc. and are hoping to avoid that type of environment.

More about us:
We are non-religious/agnostics (raised as Christians), independents (left leaning Republican or right leaning Democrat), we have 2 children (5 years and 5 months). Husband has a BS in Physics and is finishing his BS in Computer Science at the end of this year. He will be looking for an entry level software engineer job in the area after graduation, so at the end of this year. I am a stay at home mom leaning towards the "natural" end of the stick on parenting... cloth diapers, extended breastfeeding, homeschooling (secular), whole foods, etc.

How accepting is the community of families like ours?
Any city/county recommendations that we should consider looking into or avoid?
What are your complaints and praises for the area?
How bad is the traffic? (coming from a small town it will be shocking, but how does it compare to SoCal traffic?)
Gang presence?
Crime in general? (it is higher in Denver than Raleigh, do you notice it?)
How is the air quality?
Is there a lot of illegal immigration in the area, and if so, does it affect your quality of life?

Any recommendations as far as work in the computer science field or good companies to look into or avoid?
How easy would you say it would be to get a job as an out of stater?

We seem to be torn between Raleigh, Denver and maybe even Portland and are trying to find out as much as we can without running with stereotypes before visiting our potential home.

Thanks for any input or advice, and feel free to share anything else that might help us make our decision!

Wholly Mama

P.S. How is the weather? I know it is supposed to be very sunny, which is nice. How does the dryness affect you? Do you adjust or is it advisable to install a home humidifier? How much snow do you get?

[davebarnes]

Spend a few hours on this site reading (and absorbing) the many threads that address most of your questions.

Then, move to Raleigh. Better job opps for hubby.

I think these are silly questions which prove you have spent ZERO time researching Denver.

How accepting is the community of families like ours?
How bad is the traffic? (coming from a small town it will be shocking, but how does it compare to SoCal traffic?)
Gang presence?
Crime in general? (it is higher in Denver than Raleigh, do you notice it?)
How is the air quality?
Is there a lot of illegal immigration in the area, and if so, does it affect your quality of life?

[Mike from back east]

The OP seems to be a good fit for Boulder, subject to the high real estate prices there.

[whollymama]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Spend a few hours on this site reading (and absorbing) the many threads that address most of your questions.

Then, move to Raleigh. Better job opps for hubby.

I think these are silly questions which prove you have spend ZERO time researching Denver.

Your words were not helpful. If you would like to be helpful and informative, the least you could do is provide a link to some of the "many threads" that will address my questions. Thank you for your opinion, but there are actually more employers in software engineering in Denver than in Raleigh- and we are not moving just for the job- we want a good whole picture.

[hts]

Boulder, Portland, Chapel Hill would all work.

[whollymama]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

The OP seems to be a good fit for Boulder, subject to the high real estate prices there.

The house prices in Denver seem comparable to those of Raleigh, but is Denver potentially less desirable than some of the outlying suburbs that may cost more? It IS hard to beat the house prices in Raleigh as far as size of house, etc, but there are many trade offs to be made in that direction.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by whollymama

Your words were not helpful. If you would like to be helpful and informative, the least you could do is provide a link to some of the "many threads" that will address my questions.

Yes, they were not. No, the burden is upon you to do some WORK.
I said a few hours.
Let me modify that to 5+ hours.
Then come back.

[whollymama]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Yes, they were not. No, the burden is upon you to do some WORK.
I said a few hours.
Let me modify that to 5+ hours.
Then come back.

Come back for what? More snark from you? Sounds like you need a new hobby.

[mic111]

Originally Posted by whollymama

How accepting is the community of families like ours?
No one cares about your family and what your like except you. Denver isn't a follow the herd, everyone has to be the same type of place.
Any city/county recommendations that we should consider looking into or avoid?
You need to provide your budget numbers for anyone to give you input.
What are your complaints and praises for the area?
Complaints: It is dry, sunny and traffic has increased. Praises: It is dry, sunny and very popular because there are jobs and is a nice place to raise a family.
How bad is the traffic? (coming from a small town it will be shocking, but how does it compare to SoCal traffic?)
Depends on where you going and when. Most times for me it is very light. But for those who commute far to their job it is not good. The best thing about the Denver area is that there are loads of good neighborhoods everywhere. I've only seen one post by someone with a job in an area that wasn't walking/biking distance from a good neighborhood. Your job location should dictate where you live for you to get the full benefit of living in the Denver area and enjoying all the good weather and outdoor activities.
Gang presence?
Not much that I know about.
Crime in general? (it is higher in Denver than Raleigh, do you notice it?)
Personally I like the suburbs where there is very little crime. Folks in the urban areas seem happy with their crime levels.
How is the air quality?
I don't think it is very good. We have inversion in the winter that causes brown cloud and last summer we had alot of smoke from forest fires. Some years are better than others for forest fires but all over the west we seem to get the smoke from each others fires (e.g. Arizona, NM, CO, etc...)
Is there a lot of illegal immigration in the area, and if so, does it affect your quality of life?
Weird question that I don't know how to answer. I know lots of people who speak languages other than English and I don't bother worrying about whether they are here legally or not. That is for govt. officials to decide. I will say that I tend to get better work done by those with accents so thank goodness someone still has a work ethic in this country.
Any recommendations as far as work in the computer science field or good companies to look into or avoid?

How easy would you say it would be to get a job as an out of stater?
With in demand technical skills I think it would be a piece of cake. Your husband is very smart to pick some good majors.
We seem to be torn between Raleigh, Denver and maybe even Portland and are trying to find out as much as we can without running with stereotypes before visiting our potential home.

Thanks for any input or advice, and feel free to share anything else that might help us make our decision!

Wholly Mama

P.S. How is the weather?
Sometimes really cold like today. I can see it has warmed up to 10 degrees as I type this. Sometimes really hot like this last summer. Horrible to exercise, even late at night. Sheesh it was hot! Sometimes we get some bad hail storms. Make sure you have good home insurance to replace that roof and don't park outside during the hail seasons. Occassionally we get a tornado. Being from the midwest I have an advantage here but I was in SF during the 1989 earthquake and had no idea what to do. Most of the time it is absolutely stunningly gorgeous. But it is more fun to talk about the bad weather.
I know it is supposed to be very sunny, which is nice.
More sun than most people really want.
How does the dryness affect you?
I probably look old but since everyone else does also I don't notice it. You have to use lotion, lip balm etc. religiously.
Do you adjust or is it advisable to install a home humidifier?
Absolutely you will want a whole house humidifier or two. We have two.
How much snow do you get?
Not much most times. Sometimes a really big blizzard.

whollymama,
I'm sorry that the Denver board is not more tolerant. We get alot of moving to Denver posts and many are in the final stages of landing here because they have a job so it makes it easy to provide good answers on where to live. However, I sympathize with your position of trying to pick the perfect spot with the whole country available to you.

Best of luck with your decision.

[whollymama]

Originally Posted by mic111

whollymama,
I'm sorry that the Denver board is not more tolerant. We get alot of moving to Denver posts and many are in the final stages of landing here because they have a job so it makes it easy to provide good answers on where to live. However, I sympathize with your position of trying to pick the perfect spot with the whole country available to you.

Best of luck with your decision.

Thank you for your response. I must say I am somewhat surprised by the response and lack of responses- being downright rude, especially compared to the helpful advice and opinions I received from the NC board. Though I will not allow that to affect my image of Denver. We will visit in Spring to see if it is a good fit for our family.

Also, I found the "Official Index" after looking for photos of the area- very helpful, and yes, I see that a lot of my questions are addressed there.

Next time, copy and paste would be helpful to anyone wishing to avoid the repetitive questions from newbies. Simple, easy and kind.