move to Denver from Houston (Aurora, Highlands Ranch: house, neighborhood, buy)

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Ozzie12

Thank you - this is certainly very useful indeed.

Keep in mind the "Flatiron Flyer" system is a BRT (bus rapid transit) not light rail.

[Thoreau424]

Originally Posted by Ozzie12

We love the water (I guess being aussies we are kindaf coastal people).

Ozzie12 - I sent you a personal message with additional differences between the areas

[Ozzie12]

NothDenverGirl I’ve PM you

[Ozzie12]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

Keep in mind the "Flatiron Flyer" system is a BRT (bus rapid transit) not light rail.

I didn’t catch that. Thank you !

[Ozzie12]

Thank you Emm74 - that’s excellent information for consideration.

[2bindenver]

Denver proper is very suburban. Maybe Highand/Berkeley or Lodo or governor’s park, old south pearl?

[bluescreen73]

I know I'm a little late to this thread, but some things to keep in mind.

Denver isn't in the mountains, it's on the plains. It's flat, but not nearly as flat as Houston. My house on the southeastern side of the metro area is almost 1,000' above Downtown Denver. You won't get that kind of relief anywhere near Houston.

Denver doesn't have the tree canopy or lushness of Houston (it also doesn't have the disgusting humidity and bugs/varmints). It's pretty brown here from July-April. Another bonus of dry air - you don't have to cloister yourself in air conditioning for months on end. In July and August our AC runs for maybe 3-5 hours per day, but our windows are open all night. Can't do that in Houston.

Denver has a real winter. We average about 54" of snow per year. It doesn't come all at once and thanks to many 50-60+ degree days it doesn't stay all winter, either. I've hiked comfortably in the foothills in January and February. Our coldest highs occur during the last 2 weeks of December when the average daily high is in the lower 40s. Snow season is longer than winter. Snow is possible between September and May, but it's most common between the middle of October and late April.

There's no "southern hospitality" here, but that's ok with me. After a few years in Dallas I found it to be aggravatingly superficial and fake.

Denver is not nearly as diverse. We have a sizable Hispanic population, but that's our largest minority group.

Denver doesn't have the quality of seafood that Houston does.

Denver doesn't have a large water element. We have a handful of small reservoirs, but no ocean.

Other than water recreation, Denver destroys Houston with regard to outdoorsiness. There's plenty to do outdoors, and you can do it year-round. Plenty of warm-ish days in the winter, and when it's too hot in the summer you go to the mountains where it's several degrees cooler. Summer in the Texas Triangle is inescapably hot. You can drive a couple hundred miles in any direction and it'll still be humid and hotter than hell.

[Ozzie12]

Thank you everyone who responded. The information is so very useful. I may have other questions as we know for sure what’s happening in the near future. I appreciate your time and responses.

[mkwensky]

I'm in the OP's shoes and wonder if someone can compare the housing cost in Denver vs Houston. A four bedroom house with a <30 minute commute to downtown and zoned to excellent schools costs around 550k in Houston. How much would the equivalent cost in Denver?

Do houses in Denver have basements? I kind of miss having those in Texas.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by mkwensky

I'm in the OP's shoes and wonder if someone can compare the housing cost in Denver vs Houston. A four bedroom house with a <30 minute commute to downtown and zoned to excellent schools costs around 550k in Houston. How much would the equivalent cost in Denver?

Do houses in Denver have basements? I kind of miss having those in Texas.

Yes. Basements are commonplace here.

I'll leave the first half of your post for people who live closer to downtown as I live on the southeast side of the metro and am 45 minutes to an hour (or more) from downtown during rush hour.