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We don't salt. Sand (broken windshields) and mag chloride. You will notice the old cars don't have rust.
Magnesium chloride will cause your car to rust if you don't clean it off. Rust is definitely not as widespread as the Upper Midwest, but it's not non-existent either.
You haven't tried it in the winter - that can double the commute time, sometimes longer. Yes, you're from Chicago and you have dealt with snow, but my guess is they deal with the roads a whole lot better there. The good thing about the Denver area is the snow melts quickly, and we can have a major storm and it melts within just 2-3 days if the sun comes back out (doesn't even have to warm up all that much). The downside is that there isn't a lot of appetite for large outlays of money on snow removal equipment and they can't keep up with it during the actual storm. It's not going to be that many days out of the year, but it should be something you at least take into account when thinking about travel times.
I half jokingly tell people that the City of Denver's snow removal plan is the sun.
We don't salt. Sand (broken windshields) and mag chloride.
Magnesium Chloride IS a salt. It's a lot less corrosive to metal than NaCl but is more corrosive to plastics and rubber. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather they use MgCl2, but I'm jus' sayin'....
Apologies for bringing back an old thread, but I thought it might be helpful to update things a bit as its been over six months and I now have a better idea of what we are looking for as we start to get serious about looking for a house.
First, I'd really like to thank everyone for their help and advice on this thread and others as I think it really helped me take a second look where it was needed as I think we are now targeting the western centennial area. My wife and I just really liked the feel of the area compared to being much further east. I think my concerns about some of the areas being too fancy for us were overblown and unfairly influenced by a few of the neighborhoods we happened to see originally as well as a bit of an unfair reputation.
Although I think I have a better idea of what we are looking for, I am still open to any suggestions or thoughts that people have that are more familiar with the area. That said, we're looking for a good area for our 3 elementary school age boys so good schools and community, including a pool and parks that the kids can walk/bike to, are of top importance. We're looking for an updated 4BR, and while I stated earlier that we wanted to stay under 700K, that was the very high end. I'm really hoping we can find the right house for under 600K. The neighborhoods we are concentrating on are Willow creek, Homestead and Homestead Farms, but we are also keeping an eye on Foxridge, Cherry Knolls, Polo Run, and Heritgage Greens.
Unfortunately there is just very little on the market right now....hopefully that changes soon.
Anyway, if anyone has any advice among these negborhoods, or if there is one I'm missing that you think I should consider, I'd be very interested in any thoughts you have. Thanks a lot.
Thank you for updating the thread, the regulars on here appreciate the feedback from you. +5
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Apologies for bringing back an old thread, but I thought it might be helpful to update things a bit as its been over six months and I now have a better idea of what we are looking for as we start to get serious about looking for a house.
First, I'd really like to thank everyone for their help and advice on this thread and others as I think it really helped me take a second look where it was needed as I think we are now targeting the western centennial area. My wife and I just really liked the feel of the area compared to being much further east. I think my concerns about some of the areas being too fancy for us were overblown and unfairly influenced by a few of the neighborhoods we happened to see originally as well as a bit of an unfair reputation.
Although I think I have a better idea of what we are looking for, I am still open to any suggestions or thoughts that people have that are more familiar with the area. That said, we're looking for a good area for our 3 elementary school age boys so good schools and community, including a pool and parks that the kids can walk/bike to, are of top importance. We're looking for an updated 4BR, and while I stated earlier that we wanted to stay under 700K, that was the very high end. I'm really hoping we can find the right house for under 600K. The neighborhoods we are concentrating on are Willow creek, Homestead and Homestead Farms, but we are also keeping an eye on Foxridge, Cherry Knolls, Polo Run, and Heritgage Greens.
Unfortunately there is just very little on the market right now....hopefully that changes soon.
Anyway, if anyone has any advice among these negborhoods, or if there is one I'm missing that you think I should consider, I'd be very interested in any thoughts you have. Thanks a lot.
I have friends who live in this neighborhood and raised their kids there. They really like it,
Apologies for bringing back an old thread
Unfortunately there is just very little on the market right now....hopefully that changes soon.
1. We love real updates to old threads.
2. Not going to happen. The current data (thru February) are signaling that 2016 will be more frenzied than last year.
Anecdotal claptrap not to be confused with data.
I am watching Arvada closely (every day) for fun as our daughter and SIL just went thru the sell/buy process.
Brutal.
They sold in 3 hours. 5% over.
They bought a house for 2% over that was on the market for 2 days.
This was in the 2nd week of January.
All sellers forced rent backs on the buyers.
Every day I have gone to Redfin to see what has come on the market.
In 2 months, 2 comparable (maybe) houses.
I've posted a number of times on here and everyone here has been great in helping us narrow our search for an out of town move to the Denver area. My wife and I finally got an opportunity to go out to look and neighborhoods and houses this weekend and I thought it would be helpful to share my thoughts and ask a few followup questions that the community here might be able to help with. Anyone that can add any views or insights, it would be greatly appreciated.
Our situation - 3 kids (7, 7, and 4) moving from northern chicago suburbs probably by end of coming school year. I work from home and wife works as an occupational therapist in schools, so we are not constrained by job location. We're looking for good neighborhood with lots of kids to play with and good public schools. Budget - ranges from 500K to 650K or so depending on area. Willing to spend more to be in more established areas as I feel the investment is a bit a safer from a potential housing market crash.
Note: We had previously eliminated Highlands Ranch and the rest of Douglas County due to the school district situation there. I know people are on both sides of that issue and not interested in further debate, just have decided that we personally don't want to buy into that turmoil. Coming from out of town, it just adds a lot more risk to an already difficult move.
Anyway, here are the areas we looked at and some associated questions:
I. SE Aurora - east of 470
- looked at Tallyn's Reach, Wheatlands, Southshore, and Beacon Point.
- Our friends in Denver all tried to convince us that this was way too far out and we didn't find that to the be the case. Maybe we're just used to a much larger metro area with the sprawling chicago suburbs, but we found we could still get everywhere we wanted in short amounts of time from here. And adding an extra 10 min didn't mean much.
- Of the neighborhoods out here, we really only liked Tallyn's Reach. It had a substantially different look and feel to it than the others, which we felt had too much of an open plains/prairie feel to them. The hills and greenery in Tallyn's Reach really made a difference. That said, the newer areas of Tallyn's Reach, where there is still some new construction, did not feel this way at all and seemed more similar to the other new developments.
Results: We've eliminated new construction options entirely from consideration, and only thing we are looking at out here is existing homes in Tallyn's Reach, but only those lots that take advantage of the neighborhood's unique topography.
Looking for more info:
1. Other than the Tallyn's Reach pool/clubhouse area, what do people do for Rec Center activities for adults and kids? Are there any other options closer than Trails Rec Center? Anyone have any info for kids sports in the area would be great, particarly ice hockey and baseball.
2. Any distinction between Coyote Hills School and Black Forest Hills School? Both seem really good from what I've seen.
II. Eastern Centennial
- Looked at Piney Creek, The Farm, Tuscany, Sienna, Greenfield, and Saddle Rock
- Saddle Rock had too much of a premium without much of an advantage for us (not golfers).
- Sienna seemed a little too fancy for us.
- The Farm was OK, but liked the feeling of Tuscany and Greenfield better for some reason. Struggeling to put my finger on the reasoning....but with casting such a wide net, anything that helps us narrow it down is good.
- Really like Piney Creek, but definitely seems like a very different area north of Smokey Hill Rd and not sure we are as comfortable with Laredo Middle School and Smokey Hill High School as we are with Falcon Creek/Grandview. For elementary school, Indian Ridge seems great.
Results: I think we've narrowed down this area to Piney Creek and Tuscany/Greenfield with the big difference being Indian Ridge (Smokey Hill) vs Rolling Hills (Grandview) Schools. If we can get ourselves comfortable with the schools, I think Piney Creek has the edge.
Looking for more info:
1. Anyone know why Tails West school seems to have such low ratings? The area around it doesn't seem as quite nice as around Indian Ridge or Rolling Hills, but its not that much of a drop off at all. Just curious what is going on there. I hate to rely on sites like school digger and greatschools as those numbers sometimes seem totally off, but it's a starting point for someone not familiar with the area.
2. Where do kids in these areas go for baseball and ice hockey? looks like Trails Rec Center covers most other things my kids would be interested in but didn't see these options.
III. Western Centennial
- Looked in the older more established areas that went to Cherry Creek High School and Araphoe High School
- Really liked a lot of the areas west of I-25, east of Cherry Creek State Park, but I think we've ultimately decided that it's just not for us. I'm sure the people there are great, but I think it's just a little too fancy for us and I just don't want my kids to go to school with too many people that expect to get a new BMW when they turn 16.
- Felt the areas that went to Arapahoe high school were very nice and there would be a bit more diversity for my kids in the school. Really like the areas near Dry Creek Rd and Holly Rd, especially Homestead and Heritage Greens.
Looking for more info:
1. Anyone have any thoughts among the elementary schools in this area? All seem very good, so really wasn't drawing any distinctions yet.
I know this is really long, so if anyone actually got this far - THANKS A LOT! Just getting this all written out has actually been very helpful for me to organize my thoughts. So I guess we have it narrowed down to a few options in each area, so we're just looking to collect more info and then I guess we start making some decisions. Thanks again for any help.
We live in Blackstone which is nice- they have a clubhouse with golf, a lot of activities and a ton of kids. I would suggest the Farm as well because you get all the best schools in all the grade levels. Grandview was one of the top rated High schools. Stay away from Smoky Hill High school. Also Wheatlands has a great elementary school but they go year round, which can be nice for vacations. The High school would be Cherokee Trail which is better than Eaglecrest. The community there is wonderful. A ton of kids all the time and I believe they are building a YMCA (new one) there also. Cooper leaf is also new and filled with kids, a clubhouse, etc. As far as baseball you will be able to sign up with The Trails Rec center, YMCA and few other. Ice hockey I believe is offered but you will only see it in the winter, etc catalog. Saddle rock, when we looked, seem to have little kids around. Also I think Rocking Horse is nice but everything is newer there.
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It's a lot less corrosive to metal than NaCl but is more corrosive to plastics and rubber. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather they use MgCl2, but I'm jus' sayin'....
Sharks and chum -- lots of blood
Just getting this all written out has actually been very helpful for me to organize my thoughts. So I guess we have it narrowed down to a few options in each area, so we're just looking to collect more info and then I guess we start making some decisions. Thanks again for any help.
