What should I know about potentially moving to Denver?

So I potentially have a very good career move that would move me to Denver. I've spent a lot of time in Colorado but always passed right through Denver on my way to either the mountains or Colorado Springs. The job would be servicing a client located in Centennial. I would be on site 3 or so days a week with the other days either working from the house or some travelling.

What is are some of the good neighborhoods that are not stupid priced. I'd probably have a budget in the 400K range but I don't need a big house as it's just my wife and I and no kids.

I hike, Mountain Bike, road bike, and run regularly. I know about a lot of the active stuff that is available there as I travel from Texas to do it a lot.

So what's the gotchas or anything that you wish someone would have told you?

Thanks for the info.

In reply to bmw88rider:

I heard pot is legal there

Also, before you move I need to come down and get a look at the Barracuda.

In reply to bmw88rider:

I've got a friend who's a former autoxer, active MTB and road cyclist, who just moved from TX to the Denver area. Let me ping him on FB & see if he can offer any advice.

You'll want a turbocharger, and a bigger radiator.

Thanks Pete.

Just trying to get some ideas. Nothing is locked in yet but they are looking to expand support and I've been having some great conversations and have a really good relationship with the probable hiring manager.

Nick, The son of a friend of mine is a GM for a dispensary there in Ft Collins. He always some good stories to share.

Arvada. Westminster.

Nick (picaso) Comstock wrote: In reply to bmw88rider: I heard pot is legal there

But can still get you fired from a job for failing drug tests....aside from stupid cost of living increases, it's supposedly nice there(I have a few friends there)

I just visited there for a few days. Stay away from Boulder, stupid expensive! (I was told). LOTS of bike riders in the area (especially towards Boulder). You should love the place activity wise. Oh... there is that whole "winter" thing, but I don't know anything about that.

My friend just got back from there. He said in Denver proper the homelessness is insane, and rent apparently has increased 200% in about 3 years.

There's not a bad neighborhood in Denver, but at 400k I hear now you will be fighting ridiculous bidding battles for houses.

Find a place close to work. Traffic has gotten rough due to influx of people.

I went to Lakewood high school, and honestly I would recommend lakewood other than the fact that your commute to centennial would make you want to bash your face in.

Westminster and Arvada will have even worse commutes. Littleton or Highlands ranch would be short drives if you can find something in your price range.

I'm sure there are plenty of nice places right there in centennial though if you look.

I hear the airport had some awesome artwork.

Yes, I did notice a lot of homeless downtown.

Traffic? Ha! It was actually very nice..... Compared to LA!!! (Really, I didn't think it was bad, but there is some). It does seem to be an evolving city though, I heard Google is putting a campus in near Boulder.

I did visit Red Rocks, looks like a VERY nice place to see a concert. I suspect tickets will be hard to get or expensive (small place) for better concerts.

P.s. The airport is really far away from the city, $70 cab / uber to downtown!

In reply to bmw88rider:

I just sent you a pm with the email of my friend in Denver. Let me know if it doesn't go through.

Pete,

Looks like it didn't come through. my e-mail is michaeldotLdotBooth@gmail.com

Just change the dots to the actual character.

In reply to bmw88rider:

Looks like this one went through ok.

In early 2010 I moved to the Denver area to work in Centennial. I moved to an apartment compex in Littleton; it was on the eastern edge of Littleton and Highlands Ranch was across the street. My commute was easy; 20-ish minutes of surface streets, nothing on the interstates, which can be pretty awful to drive on.

I hated it. There's really not much to do without driving out of the area. Nightlife was somewhere away from there. Rent seemed expensive then. Wichita has spoiled me in that department. I did like Arvada and the area around Washington Park, and Wash Park wouldn't be a bad commute to Centennial.

If I had to do it over again, I would have tried harder to find somewhere that had... anything. Littleton is very lacking in character, it's basically a leftover suburbs push from the 80's, with Highlands Ranch being about a decade newer but otherwise the same.

Thanks Pres. Good info. I'm not a big night life guy but I do enjoy a good show and hate having my current distance to anything like that. I'm leaning towards living closer to the city life than not. I also want to be closer to allow my wife more options without her hating her life.

Thanks all for the information.

Also make sure to have full coverage....one of my friends has already racked up a $5k PDR/Glass repair bill thanks to hail out there.

Income tax starting at around 4%. Can be a shock for Texans, though you'll make up a lot of it on much lower property taxes.

The thing that I learned about Denver is that the weather is not what you expect. I do a lot of skiing in Vail, Beaver Creek, etc. and most people assume that Denver also gets dumped with tons of snow annually. But the weather is actually pretty mild in the city. There is also a big garage out at the airport, so you can drop your car off for service when you travel. I just thought that was a neat idea.

Yeah, I was riding my motorcycle to work in March, as the snow wasn't getting to Denver anymore. It wasn't remotely warm but it wasn't extremely cold, either.

It seemed like once a month I was getting asked by someone if I was "native" meaning born in Colorado. These folks were not Native Americans. It was very odd.

Pinchvalve,

On that comment, I was impressed that there was a gas station right by the rental car return and it changed the same as everywhere else. Typically it's been my experience that they are 10-20% higher than the normal gas prices.

I know about the weather. I've spent a decent amount of time in Colorado Springs. I agree, you say Colorado and people automatically think mountains and heavy snow.

Basil good call out on the Taxes. I was looking at that yesterday. It seems the property and sales tax differences will make that a wash. We will probably pay a little more but the way my property taxes have been going up, I don't think the difference will be huge.

I head up for a week in Colorado next week and we will be spending some time in Denver. to look around.

I envy you. My family on my father's side is all from Colorado and I went to CU in Boulder. I love to ski and I love the mountains. I'd move to Colorado in a NY minute given the opportunity. Unfortunately, SWMBO wants to be near her family here in Texas.

pres589 wrote: Yeah, I was riding my motorcycle to work in March, as the snow wasn't getting to Denver anymore. It wasn't remotely warm but it wasn't extremely cold, either.

Denver got 18" of snow in March and 15" of snow in April of this year.

http://www.thorntonweather.com/noaa/snow.php

I remember, because we have family out there (heading out for a week next Tuesday, can't wait) and I recall them getting snow when it was quite warm here.