Retiring near Denver -- areas to look at?? (Lakewood, Arvada: ski resorts, condo)

[Kathy884]

A good friend of mine and mentor at work is retiring this month, and all of a sudden I'm starting to think about retirement too. We used to live in Denver and that's the first place that comes to mind as a great place to retire -- DH and I have the same thoughts on that (a place where you can see mountains, take an occasional drive to the mountains and do some hiking, mild weather, extremely pleasant summers, access to good theatre and the occasional concert, plenty of churches, book clubs, etc. to choose from, and a great place for taking a walk, tennis club options). We're not into skiing anymore, so proximity to ski resorts isn't something we're looking for. Also, with it being so much cooler in the mountains and thinking about winter, we're really not thinking about a mountain community, but we like the idea of being able to do the occasional day trip for family friendly hiking. It also looks like Denver has gotten a lot more expensive than when we used to live there (We were in the Washington Park neighborhood, and it looks like that place has gotten expensive and trendy when I look at house listings.) Not sure if the whole area is really just too expensive for us to consider or if there are some communities that we would really like that are in our budget.

Anyway, just wanted to get suggestions on possible neighborhoods to consider -- Denver proper or outside would be fine. Would like to be less than 45 minutes away from the city though. We'd be looking at buying something for around $350,000 or so and would want something with open floor plan, two or three bedrooms, two baths, and at two hang out areas (e.g. great room or family room // finished basement area, and deck or patio. House not condo. Not looking for a lot of land or anything. No problem with neighbors nearby. // Wondered if any people here would have suggestions of communities to look at or other sites we should check out.

There do seem to be more people than ever in the area and more congestion (observations from driving thru old hang outs for a day before taking an Estes Park/RMNP vacation) which makes Denver proper less appealing than it would be otherwise too.

Anyway, I appreciate any and all suggestions/thoughts

[Count David]

Lakewood, Arvada, Littleton, etc.

[mic111]

Since your requirements

"Denver proper or outside would be fine. Would like to be less than 45 minutes away from the city though. We'd be looking at buying something for around $350,000 or so and would want something with open floor plan, two or three bedrooms, two baths, and at two hang out areas (e.g. great room or family room // finished basement area, and deck or patio. House not condo. Not looking for a lot of land or anything. No problem with neighbors nearby."

are more house specific than neighborhood or area specific a realtor is your best bet to show you specific houses and then you can see if you like the neighborhood.

[davebarnes]

Wheat Ridge.