Westminster vs. Thornton vs. Englewood... (Denver, Aurora: real estate, apartments, homes)

[SME710]

PLEASE HELP!

My fiance and I (mid 20's) are relocating to the Denver area from Phoenix in September. We are looking to live in a town outside of Denver for about a year before we move up to Ft Collins for graduate school. We have been looking at apartments in the northern Denver areas like Westminster and Thornton because of affordability. We have also looked at Englewood.

Basically we need help in deciding because we only have a month and will not have the means to come visit before we move. What are the main differences between these 3 towns? The good and the bad? Any personal preference based on what's there (shopping, downtown life, restaurants, outdoor activities...)?

ANY help would be soooo helpful! Thank you!

[Katarina Witt]

The differences are in the general "feel" of the places. Englewood is an "inner-ring" burb and has a number of quite older homes. Westy and Thornton are not new by any means, but a little newer than Englewood. There are a number of newer homes in both Westy and Thornton. Englewood is more boxed in by other burbs and the City of Denver. Westy/Thornton are farther from the city, have areas that feel a little more open, IMO. Those two do not have real downtowns. Westminster has a nice rec center. I live up north, so I'm not as familiar with Englewood. The main drag there is Broadway, but that's all I know.

I might suggest just moving to Ft. Collins. What kind of work will you be doing until grad school?

[vegaspilgrim]

Why not just move to Fort Collins?

[SME710]

Thanks for the response. I'll be looking for work in therapy and my fiance will be looking for an internship in golf...

[SME710]

Also how about the Lakewood or Littleton areas? I've heard good about both

[DenverR.E.Helper]

You might try typing in each of the cities you are interested in to see what pops up on the net. Additionally, most real estate agent site have their own write up on each of metro Denver's cities. Be sure to check those out as well.

There are lots of affordable areas around the Denver area. You might also want to check out Lakewood, Aurora, Parker, Westminster, Golden and Littleton. Each of these areas will offer you unique benefits. Shopping, commute times might be thrown into your mix too.

My suggestion would be to start looking in the general area where you find employment. My son who is 27 just moved to the Highlands area because of the feel of the area and accessability to the night life of downtown Denver.

Happy hunting.

Bill

[Moonwalkr]

Englewood is kinda deceptive, my address is Englewood but I'm actually way far away from Englewood proper. I walk a couple streets down and I'm in Greenwood Village or Centennial.

[DenverLawGal]

I don't like Thornton too much. I live there. It's hard to describe. It's older and while they seem to be trying to build it up, I see a noticeable difference between there and Westminster. Basically, Thornton is east and Westminster is west. I wish I could have bought in Westminster, but because it's nicer over there, housing is higher too. We probably should have looked harder, because I'm sure we could have found something.

Another thing, as long as you are going to be commuting up north, great. But judging by the chaos the two accidents caused on southbound I-25 yesterday, in reflection I would have given more consideration to my route to work.

[RonAriba]

I would be looking in South Denver along the light rail corridor. Either Santa Fe Drive (Littleton, Englewood) or the Southeast Corridor (Greenwood Village, Park Meadows) Easy to get to downtown without the parking hassle.

[SheridanL]

I would think about Glendale or, somewhere off of I 25 and Colorado Blvd. going North. It is close to Downtown and there are several golf courses around. Also lots of apartments. You can get to Cherry Creek Mall and lots of nighlife and unique restaurants and boutiques. JMO.