Moving to Colorado from the UK (Denver, Lakewood: houses, movies, schools)

[alliern]

Thank you! I was just about to respond when I read your post.

I am certainly not the only real estate agent on C-D, but I do like to think that I provide valuable information to posters on here as well as my real-life clients who are interested (or may be interested) in living in the foothills. I like to stick to what I know. Do business in my own backyard so to speak. I have a real problem with real estate agents that think they know enough about an area to play tour guide for Buyers. I call those agents the "Vanna Whites" of real estate. There are many of them out there. When those brokers venture "up the hill" with Buyers, many times I do twice as much work for both sides of the transaction because they have a bunch of questions for me regarding wells, septic systems, who maintains the roads, etc. Half the time they have no idea that it is the Sellers' responsibility in Jefferson County to have the septic inspection done so they never write that into the Additional Provisions when writing an offer.

I think it's important to know a lot of information about a small area rather than a small amount of information about a large area. So, I rarely venture down the hill to do my job. There's enough brokers down there to take care of that. I have three sons who are in three different area schools and I have served (and currently serve) on the PTA for those schools. My boys are active in Boy Scouts, soccer, rugby, wrestling. We ski all winter long at many of the mountain ski resorts. We all volunteer for local charitable organizations. My point is...I am plugged-in to my community. I know the school bus routes, how long it will take you to get to the supermarket, what parts of the road don't get sun and hold snow, and everything else that makes a REALTOR worth his/her weight in gold. I talk to folks about how much they pay for homeowners insurance and what company they have for coverage. I just had my own homeowner's policy not renewed because I "live in a high brush fire area". That same day, I had new binding coverage with a different very reputable company with better coverage for $1400 less per year than what I was paying. Buyers should know these types of things in order to make an educated decision.

Originally Posted by Lost Roses

Actually, alliern has always been respectful and informative on city-data, and while she may not point out all the possible dangers in Evergreen in every post, that's not the same as actually taking clients around and answering real-life questions and pointing out advantages and disadvantages. I consider her the forum expert on Evergreen because of her job and actually living there, giving good information just as do the many real estate agents in the Real Estate forum. As for balance, people looking at Parker, Aurora, Stapleton, and other eastern suburbs are unlikely to use an agent in Evergreen. I certainly wouldn't.

[davebarnes]

1. Most of us really like where we live.
2. Most of us (Skydog for Wash Park, DaveB for Berkeley, Emm74 for Stapleton, Alliern for Evergreen, LiveContent for Arvada, etc.) promote our locales.
3. Alliern just happens to be a real estate agent and she does not solicit here.
4. I want people to promote their 'hoods as I have learned a lot about the details of many Front Range places thanks to City-Data.

Hang in their Alliern and keep posting.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

1. Most of us really like where we live.
2. Most of us (Skydog for Wash Park, DaveB for Berkeley, Emm74 for Stapleton, Alliern for Evergreen, LiveContent for Arvada, etc.) promote our locales.
3. Alliern just happens to be a real estate agent and she does not solicit here.
4. I want people to promote their 'hoods as I have learned a lot about the details of many Front Range places thanks to City-Data.

Hang in their Alliern and keep posting.

You're a little too obvious, dave.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

You're a little too obvious, dave.

Duh.
I meant to be.

And, you should be supporting Alliern because: ice skating rinks.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Duh.
I meant to be.

And, you should be supporting Alliern because: ice skating rinks.

Why? LOUISVILLE has a nice outdoor rink, Outside Guide: Colorado’s outdoor ice-skating rinks | Mile High Mamas described in that link as "huge" and I recall reading once that it is the largest outdoor rink in the metro. Do recall that a Zamboni went through the ice last winter at Evergreen Lake and the driver drowned.

[alliern]

Katarina ~ your recollection is not correct. The poor guy who drowned on the lake last winter was NOT on a Zamboni, although Evergreen Lake DOES have a Zamboni that it uses in the designated skating area even though the Blog post you linked says it doesn't. He drowned while plowing the snow with a RTV with a little enclosed cap on it and when it went under, the door wasn't able to open. He was a volunteer prepping the ice to get it ready for his charity ice golfing event. It was tragic and everyday when I drive past the lake, I can't help but think of that man and his surviving family. BUT, only someone that actually lives here and skates Evergreen Lake would know that.

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

Why? LOUISVILLE has a nice outdoor rink, Outside Guide: Colorado’s outdoor ice-skating rinks | Mile High Mamas described in that link as "huge" and I recall reading once that it is the largest outdoor rink in the metro. Do recall that a Zamboni went through the ice last winter at Evergreen Lake and the driver drowned.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by alliern

Katarina ~ your recollection is not correct. The poor guy who drowned on the lake last winter was NOT on a Zamboni, although Evergreen Lake DOES have a Zamboni that it uses in the designated skating area even though the Blog post you linked says it doesn't. He drowned while plowing the snow with a RTV with a little enclosed cap on it and when it went under, the door wasn't able to open. He was a volunteer prepping the ice to get it ready for his charity ice golfing event. It was tragic and everyday when I drive past the lake, I can't help but think of that man and his surviving family. BUT, only someone that actually lives here and skates Evergreen Lake would know that.

I made the mistake of not googling first and was just going from memory. My bad. But the rest of us do have these things called TVs that gave us the story of the man who drowned plowing the ice, regardless of what type of vehicle he was driving, and whether he was being paid. Some of us read these things called newspapers, too, which also reported the story.

TV: Volunteer driver dies after plow falls through ice on Evergreen Lake, Jefferson County coroner says - 7NEWS Denver TheDenverChannel.com
Newspaper: Man plunges into Evergreen Lake, dies preparing ice for charity event - The Denver Post

[alliern]

Wow, you know how to copy and paste! Now, what was the reason you even brought that poor, kind, well-respected man of my community in the first place? What value did you think you were bringing to the table by even mentioning that tragic accident last winter? Are you trying to allude that people shouldn't skate Evergreen Lake because they might drown too? I just don't get you, not that that matters. I have better things to dwell on, but for some reason (maybe it's the snow) today I am addicted to this forum.

Or is it just that you despise me and you'll do everything in your "forum power" to bring me down? Because if that's it, I can tell you we'll be going around and around forever on here. As a tough, competitive, native NY-er, I don't back down and I don't scare easily. You see, it's OK for you to not give ALL the facts when you post, but if I don't then you can't wait to chime in and tell the readers that my info isn't correct. Pathetic. News flash: Nobody is perfect...not even you.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm a real estate broker and that's why you have an issue with me in particular on this forum. Maybe you were burned by one in a past life? I get it...I despise many in my field. It doesn't require more than a pulse and a few brain cells to take a real estate class and pass the licensing exam so unfortunately (or fortunately) many who decide to become real estate agents are not good at what they do. After all, there are ONLY maybe 2 other agents on here that I see post very regularly and that amazes me because as someone said earlier, there are over 30,000 brokers in CO and none of them are intelligent enough to think that a forum like this even exists. It's sad, but it drives me to work harder and harder to be one of the best in my field so, for that, I am grateful

And while we're at it...my driving times to DIA are correct for ME. I drive with the speed of traffic often in the left lane without tailgating (I hate tailgaters) so as to stay away from other idiot drivers who don't know how to merge on and off a highway. If you drive the speed limit (or less) in the right hand lane, it WILL take you longer to get to DIA from Evergreen.

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

I made the mistake of not googling first and was just going from memory. My bad. But the rest of us do have these things called TVs that gave us the story of the man who drowned plowing the ice, regardless of what type of vehicle he was driving, and whether he was being paid. Some of us read these things called newspapers, too, which also reported the story.

TV: Volunteer driver dies after plow falls through ice on Evergreen Lake, Jefferson County coroner says - 7NEWS Denver TheDenverChannel.com
Newspaper: Man plunges into Evergreen Lake, dies preparing ice for charity event - The Denver Post

[mundele]

good thread.

[tmarnold1]

Thanks for the replies. I understand that people are protective of where they live and I respect that. My brother in law is a forest fire fighter in Grand Junction and will undoubtedly advise me when I visit net week on the threat of fires.

We all like the outdoors and easy access to it but we are used to London and lots going on close by us. I live on the outskirts of the city but like to get away into the country (where we live). Being too far away from 'busy life' might not work for my kids. Also as a Brit I like my pubs and microbreweries, hence the need to be reasonably close to restaurants etc. It's difficult as we want the best of both worlds, easy access to a city with the ability to retreat from the city when we want to or go home.

I heard that Golden could be good for us?? Lakewood for location but maybe not what we are looking for in terms of a central downtown/community feel to the place.