Family moving to Denver, seeking resources to find rental home, rental web sites, craigslist, home with yard, condo, townhome, good neighborhoods

masalamomma · 03-05-2007, 01:44 AM

One more thing, when I was moving from Denver to Dubai 2 years back, I stayed in Bradford Suites right off I-25 between Arapahoe and Dry Creek 9the DTC location) after they took all our things.

http://www.bradfordsuites.com/reserv...OCATION=DENVER

I just did a reservation search for you arriving on March 10 and staying thru March 13th, and the rate it gave for a 1 bedroom suite is $96.00 a night. What is great is that there is a seperate bedroom and a FULL KITCHEN. Saves money on eating out. When reserving, just say it is the 2 of you, because they may charge extra for kids. Oh, and there is free breakfast I think. If I remember right, there is also an indoor pool. It is really nice AND AFFORDABLE. And only about 5 minutes away from your wife's job.

Good Luck

PartyOf5 · 03-05-2007, 02:11 AM

Wow Brian I had no idea you are moving from overseas. Let me wish you good luck again, plus 1!

My friend who use to live in Centennial CO swears by Denver. He has since moved because of job reason and wishes he could move back. At the least, one of the things you have going for you is, Denver real estate(on paper anyway) isn't doing well. So good for buyers and renters.

I actually ate at Pappadeux(Greenwood Village) and it was a really nice place. Not sure what your wife's work will involved, but people were really friendly and hospitable.

Much success in your future and report back when you get settled in.

BrianAggie95 · 03-05-2007, 03:54 AM

My Wife is a Floor Manager. So she runs the front side of the restaurant. She has worked for the Pappas chain for I think 6 or 7 years in total. (half as waiter half as manager). She was working at their texmex store, Pappasitoes in Houston last, which was before we came out here to Dubai.

Dubai has been.. well Dubai... geesh what can I say... I was reading the thread about denver traffic a while ago, and I was thinking to myself.. wow these people have no idea what bad traffic is.... (and I was last in Houston before that) I will probably think Denver is the best traffic in the world after this..

Luckily while we were here we had a sponsered package, so I did not have to pay for our accomadation (of course meaning also got no choice in where or what it was, but it was a nice 3bedroom apartment on Shk Zayed RD on the 29th floor) I am ready to buy a house, but we want to do the 6 month to a year get used to Denver before we decide where in Denver to buy. Considering the current Denver market, I hope it stays in it's current state long enough for us to decide where to live. Of course the other factor is where I end up finding a job. Pappadeaux has 2 locations, one in westminster and the one she is working at in Greenwood Village. So if I find a good permanent job for me on the north side, we would look at transfering her, and then we would shop north side for a home, other wise we would probably look in Littleton/HR/Parker and stay on the south side. But again that depends on what I find. We are doing exactly that we have 3-4 apartments lined up if we cannot find a house rental immediately. We will be staying at the comfort suites in HR temporarily, already booked it,but thanks for the recommendation.

I work in IT, though being a slave here in Dubai and working 6 days a week 10+ hours a day has pretty much burned me out, so I am looking forward to a few months of not working, and just spending time with the kids. Though looking for a job is a full time job in itself so I won't likely be doing nothing..

Yes it has been difficult since Dubai outlawed VOIP. I had a way around it (not Skype) but it was one way(out) s i couldn't receive calls. Oh and my company provided the mover, I had no choice, but it was free to me, and I had good luck with them coming here, so going back should be no problem.

ok think I covered all the questions..

(can you tell all my responsabilities at work are done... its mainly a waiting game at the moment.)

masalamomma · 03-05-2007, 10:21 AM

One thing about the apartments, before they approve your application they do a full credit report and criminal record check, the nice apartment complexes anyway. This can take several days to process. We had to wait about a week before we could move into our apartment here in Lonetree.

Just something to keep in mind when doing your planning.

Which apartments are you looking into? What deal are they giving you? Just for comparison, my apartment is a 2 bedroom/2 full baths, relatively new and quite spacious, with a free parking garage (nice for when it snows) - and we pay $875. I think it is a pretty good deal, we got lucky.

PartyOf5 · 03-12-2007, 11:48 PM

I don't know why I'm being such a busy body. I guess I want to know cause it maybe helpful if/when we make a move to Denver.

Brian I hope the move/trip went well. Once you're done climbing your way out of moving boxes, report back and let curious ones like myself know how things went and how you like your new diggs.

Give us the full run down after you're settled in and the kids are asleep.

BrianAggie95 · 03-31-2007, 11:55 AM

Ok, first I know it has been a while... but I did want to update everyone that was curious how all of this went...

We arrived in Denver about 5PM the 9th. My wife's father met us at the airport and lent us his extra vehicle. We made our way to our temp hotel, and pretty much crashed out... 25 hours of flights/layovers/etc will do that to you. Sadly we were unable to setup any showings before our departure due to time difference and just not getting ahold of anyone.

Saturday we saw 5 places, none of which was really what we wanted, but we did find one that we felt was a pretty good match, though it really didn't have a yard to speak of and we really wanted one. Sat night we did some more online looking an had 6 showings setup for Sunday... One of which sounded excellent. Sunday we ended up seeing that one first and we decided that was the one for us.... We did look at some of the others that day, and canceled the ones we decided were not even close to what we wanted.

Monday after the obligatory credit check the place we wanted was ours, so we signed all the paperwork, and started getting ready to move in. Our things were scheduled to arrive Tues or Wed. And there was some bad communication with the movers and we thought they were delayed till thursday. We camped out in the rental house on new mattresses we bought and blankets and pillows on the floor for the kids. We were out shopping for other esentails Wed morning and the movers called and they were at the house waiting for us.... We rushed back and got everything moved in...

Family arrived Wed Night from Texas, and so 9 people basically camped out amoung the boxes and such in the house Wed night. Family disappeared with our kids Thursday to go see their grandfather, so Thursday my wife and I got to concentrate on unpacking without distraction of kids and such. still you can only get so much done in one day... Friday we shipped off to Winter Park and stayed there for 5 days to take a much needed break and recharge, and ski of course!

We were very lucky and the weather cooperated exceptionally for all of this.. If a snow storm had come along the same time as we were looking for a place or moving in or whatnot, a lot could have gone wrong... as it was (and those of you in Denver already know) the weather was wonderful those 2 weeks.

We came back from skiing Wed the 21th, and I flew out to Dallas on the 23th. I stayed in Dallas and visited my mother for a day, before driving my wife's car back from Dallas. (my mother had been storing it in her garage for us). I came back on the 25th, and my wife started her job on the 26th. Since then it has been a matter of me working on the getting the house arranged, and unpacked and cleaned.. and her working...

The house we ended up renting is in centennial, which is 8-9 minutes from my wife's work, so very convenient. The area is very nice. Everyone has been very nice, and welcoming. We are settling in nicely to our new home!

PartyOf5 · 04-01-2007, 12:31 AM

Brian, what a move it must have been. Always a lot of work, but it sounds like weather and timing worked out for you.

How do you like Centennial? That is one of the areas we're looking into as well. Ok if I PM you in a few months for your opinions of Centennial after you're better
acclimated with the surroundings?

Hope you and family are enjoying the transition time.

BrianAggie95 · 04-01-2007, 11:01 AM

Sure thing. So far I love the are we are in. We are a street over from a nice large park. Then within a short distance are two of the large open spaces, which I believe interconnect with other open spaces (have not had time to explore them yet.. need to get the bike trailer which is stuck in our seas shipment. ) Shopping is very convinent with where I am.

JstPam · 04-02-2007, 09:02 PM

Wow...good luck finding all you want in the neighborhoods around her job. I live in employee sponsored housing (aka I am the caretaker for an estate) and I am 2.5 miles from where he will be working. Housing around here is very expensive. But she will also be working right off of the light rail line, so that opens up your options to the north. I also kind of like the neighborhoods around Dayton and Peakview to the south (Peakview is north of Arapahoe Road), and a friend lived near Tamarac (Hampton & Yosemite) and loved it there. Good luck!