Parker or Elizibeth?

[2bindenver]

Parker can be suburban, olde towne like or rural. Elizabeth is decidedly rural. If a commute is in the cards, Elizabeth is farther away from major highways.

If you want land with acreage, consult a Realtor familar with land usage rights, well and septic, and mineral rights. Some or all may apply.

[5sharps]

So what's wrong with looking for that "dream town" As far as doing research, most people dont ask, read, see, enough. When was the last time you bought something and YOU R.T.F.M. (read the freek-n manual). yes most people want things done for them- Highland Springs-Flat Iron-Cherry Hills. Why settle for less? What's wrong with getting the most bang for your buck? So why Colorado Springs? Why are so many local northern Denver metro area people moving there? $$?? Myself, I would buy a house on Nevada or Cascade streets. We just flew back from a visit to CO. 7 days, 1500 miles, Denver to Cheyenne WY, to Pueblo and back to Ft. Collins and ALL points east and west. Downtown Denver, had lunch with the bums hanging out at the Mint/park. Visited most all Wal-Marts, Targets, and Costco's and Sam's to see who and what shops there. Talked with housing tract sales people who "hide" the facts. Everybody we saw, we asked- what do you like? what dont you like? where would you like to live? Yes even down in the getto area of Aurora, where people have bars on their windows and doors. Not Surprising, they were the most friendly-ist honest real people. they know who and what they are, unlike the "want-a-bies" and those with a nose on their forehead, and yes their **** stinks too! Every state has that, and I CAN afford not to live like that. Sure I can afford to buy a 950k home on my 32k year salary, but why put a down payment of 800k on a house like that?
Castle Rock is nice, so is FT. Collins.

re: "And BTW, Parker or Elizabeth? - you are splitting hairs here. Don't analyze this to death".

After driving there and Franktown too, Nope!

Also went to Utah and after 500 miles of touring, Logan is by far better than anything we've seen in Colorado.

But we're not stopping there, next onto Salem-Portland-Vancouver.

Lived in Snow, Heat, Humidity, Mountains,Oceans, Tropics, poor towns to upper class neighborhoods and I'm no better then the bum down by the Mint.

[oceankidz]

great schools, low traffic, fresh air, clean water, parks, playgrounds........
just a passing thought, as everyone has been great and we certainly have been informed and educated by all the various responses, without a doubt CO is friendly to newbies.......but if you are wanting to keep all the great elements that make CO so special, WHY is everyone so encouraging to outsiders to move there? Statistics of over 250 people per day are moving to CO sounds a little high - guess I'm being a little selfish and I am not even there yet!

[denver80134]

Hey, ok, so Parker is not at all small town anymore. The ancient natives here try to make it that way but the reality is there are many shopping centers with all major grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Super Target, Kohls, Home Depot, Lowes, a major freeway running right through it, lots & lots of restaurants, a huge state-of-the-art hospital, golf courses, Cherry Creek Trail which is a great walk(To die for), 15 minutes from one of the largest malls in the state with hundreds upon hundreds of stores, less than half an hour drive from downtown Denver, 10 minutes from the metro area's RTD Light Rails System which is a train that goes all over the metro area and downtown loop.
You can very plainly see the beautiful Rocky Mountains from here, Pike's Peak, the sun's always shining, no humidity, traffic gets a little crazy during rush hour and occasionally there are wood-burning fire place restrictions due to the smog, but not bad at all. There are hills and plains, city and country...Parker has it all. Elizabeth is OUT THERE. It's like 25 minutes past here. It would take you over an hour to get to Denver from there.
Parker is safe & clean, and a little bit more expensive than some other areas, but worth it! Way cheaper than CA I would think.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by oceankidz

Radon ??? I am trying to research the issue - possibly a dumb question but is it only contained inside your home?? surely it is a issue where ever you spend time including outside?? Are there areas north or south that are worse than others?

It's a real issue though it sounds worse than it is. And it could be pretty much anywhere in the area.

Get the home tested. If it fails the test, then force the seller to mitigate until it passes by a comfortable margin. If the seller won't mitigate, then walk -- I wouldn't deal with a seller like that anyway, especially if they're a builder.

If the seller won't mitigate, then you're going to end up mitigating when you sell and you won't know in advance how much money that would cost -- plus you'll probably have contracts fall through over the issue.

[gpraceman]

Radon really is only an issue in enclosed spaces, like our weather tight sealed homes, not the great outdoors. If necessary, installation of a fan and some venting in the basement will resolve the problem.

[Norgy]

"modern, lovely, tree-lined, crime free, walk-about downtown, in a lovely home, that costs only $165k, has great schools, low traffic, fresh air, clean water, parks, playgrounds, a 5-minute commute, acreage for a garden, near museums and culture, a block from exquisite dining, free parking, no HOA with covenants to silence their yapping hounds from hades, and LOWWWWW taxes (of course)."

That's where we live now - well except it's not exactly downtown, house prices start at $200K and you'd have to do a 20 minute drive to experience exquisite dining. And the wife wants to move away from it all and has left it to ME to figure out where.

Thanks for providing all the useful info on here, I'll research some more befor eI start nagging you guys!