Possibly relocating to Denver,CO from Chicago,IL

[Lastsummer]

Heys guys...
Hows everyone doing?
So Im currently living in Chicago and thinking that its possibly time for a change. I have many friends who live in Denver and the surrounding areas but I would like to hear input from other people as well.
What are some of the nicer/more inexpensive areas to live?
Im looking at or around $750 a month in rent.

[mdzaudi]

Heys guys...
Hows everyone doing?
So Im currently living in Chicago and thinking that its possibly time for a change. I have many friends who live in Denver and the surrounding areas but I would like to hear input from other people as well.
What are some of the nicer/more inexpensive areas to live?
Im looking at or around $750 a month in rent.

Haha, $750 will go farther than you think here in Denver. You can live almost downtown for that price if you're looking for a 1 bedroom. Capital Hill or Denver Highlands (LoHi if possible) is what you should be looking at if you would like to live withing 2 miles of downtown. It really kinda depends on where you get employed and how much commute you're willing to deal with.

[jimrobbington]

If you are young and like to party, def stay close to down town. Lots of nice suburbs for good prices too. Stapleton area is a great new up and coming nice area, 15 minutes from down town.

JR

[Lastsummer]

Thank you for the reply guys.
I dont mind commuting at all. Afterall, Ive seen Denver rush hour and its not really anything to stress over :)
Im 28 so I dont mind a nightlife but at the same time, I do like the suburbs feel if that makes sense. A friend of mine is trying to get me to head to the Fort Collins area. 2 others live in Cherry Creek, Aurora, Greeley, Denver (downtown), some by the DU campus.
Just really wanting to get a feel for what areas people like and live in.
Craigslist for the Denver area has many places, but its hard to get a feel for the area without knowing anything about it.

[mdzaudi]

Thank you for the reply guys.
I dont mind commuting at all. Afterall, Ive seen Denver rush hour and its not really anything to stress over :)
Im 28 so I dont mind a nightlife but at the same time, I do like the suburbs feel if that makes sense. A friend of mine is trying to get me to head to the Fort Collins area. 2 others live in Cherry Creek, Aurora, Greeley, Denver (downtown), some by the DU campus.
Just really wanting to get a feel for what areas people like and live in.
Craigslist for the Denver area has many places, but its hard to get a feel for the area without knowing anything about it.

FoCo is awesome, however you're older than the typical demographic that goes out in fort collins. It's a college town for the most part

[Greedo]

Anything on or near Colfax is ghetto, especially the Cap Hill area. Yes, you may be close to downtown, but it's such a shady neighborhood. I have a friend who worked at a bar down there and was walking home (around 1:30 in the afternoon) and was jumped.

Fuck that neighborhood.

[Lastsummer]

Anything on or near Colfax is ghetto, especially the Cap Hill area. Yes, you may be close to downtown, but it's such a shady neighborhood. I have a friend who worked at a bar down there and was walking home (around 1:30 in the afternoon) and was jumped.

Fuck that neighborhood.

Ok so Ive heard that from a couple of people now. There supposedly is a nice area on Pennsylvania by the Capital Building... thats the same as Capt Hill Im assuming then right? Ive pretty much decided that near Colfax is not for me. Its hard to get to know the areas without actually being there. What are some areas that you would recommend. Im looking for safe, nice, close to highways, close to downtown, ect...
Im a fellow B6 guy so mainly I dont want to have to worry about my car on the street or in a parking garage haha. And Im not apposed to being in areas outside of Denver (further north or south).

[47ford]

I've lived in Cap Hill and had my B5 A4 parked on the streets without any problem. Definitely some lower priced apartments in that area. I was on 13th Ave between Lafayette & Marion (2 blocks south of Colfax). Not a bad neighborhood, I think I heard a gunshot once in the 6yrs I lived there & my roomate (who owned the house) got jumped once (after dark). If you go a few blocks farther south it gets "nicer". I'm now in Athmar Park Neighborhood (about 1mi from work, right off I-25 between Alameda & Mississippi). Ok neighborhood, heard gunshots once there too, right on the edge of an industrial area though, if you go farther west it starts to get nicer until you start getting close to Federal Blvd. Houses there run $100k-$200K (I got mine in '07 for just under $100K - it was forclosure) not sure what rent is in the neighborhood, but guessing you could find something under $750 there. I've got friends in Parker, Centennial, Cherry Creek, Arvada, Westminster, Superior, etc and they all seem to like where they are, rent will vary some, probably more the closer you get to Boulder or Cherry Creek. If you really like the mountains (skiing/snowboarding, mountain biking, etc) you may want to check out Golden (closer to the mountains, about 15-20min from downtown Denver). It might be worth it to come down for a weekend and drive around and get a feel for the various areas.

[ChrisEsco1]

Greeley is out of the question, it literally smells like shit up there. Foco is too far from the city. Metro Denver is where it's at. Anywhere downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods like WashPark, Baker, Highlands, LoHi, and a bunch others are really booming and trendy spots right now. Ton's of new lofts and remodeled buildings with great shops and restaurants. Personally I love it (I live in the Highlands) because it provides that hip/trendy feel with just a touch of ghetto to remind you that you're in the city. Lol.

[turboSpartan]

I live in Lakewood after moving from the uptown area of Denver. Uptown I was paying $1100 for a 750sf 1 bedroom apt, but it was pretty nice. Now I'm paying $1100 for a 1000sf 2 bed, 1ba in Lakewood, about a half mile south of Belmar. $1100 is a little pricey for what we're getting, but it was the only place that would allow our dog (apbt).

That said, if you can find a place in Lakewood near Belmar, its a pretty cool little area itself. It was a former mall that they knocked down and basically built it into this little urban-downtown-type area, with shops and restaurants on the street level, and condos/apts above those. Has basically everything you need within a few block radius (Target, Whole Foods, Dicks, tons of restaurants and shops). They also have street fairs and other things going on during the year.

My suggestion is to find a job in Frisco/Dillon/Breck, if you ski/snowboard. There probably aren't a ton of jobs/companies up there, but it would be awesome to live up there and ride all the time without having to deal with the hour+ drive.

[ChrisEsco1]

Belmar is awesome! I'm over there at least once a week.

[Lastsummer]

Gentleman... thank you all very kindly for your input on the areas.
I found on craigslist a place that Im really interested in. Its right on Pennsylvania between the Capital Building and Colfax. I know its not the best of areas but its a block from the 16th street mall, nightlife and whatever else that I may need. Im currently working as a social and sports director for a gated community of about 3000+ residents and 1300 homes. With that being said, Id like to try and find something in that area or Ill resort back to bartending.
Ill be in town in the middle of Feb and will be doing some serious looking at places as well as job hunting. My areas that I have in mind right now are FoCo, downtown Denver, southeast Denver, WashPark, Highland, Cherry Creek, around the DU area and possibly even Loveland. If any of you happen to hear of anyone looking for a roommate in the near future as well, feel free to pass this on :)
On a side note as well. Any of you fellow B5/B6 owners in the Denver/ surrounding areas up for a get together while Im in town, that would be a real HOOT as well.
Again, I appreciate all of you taking the time to respond to my thread and thank you for the heads up on the areas to look out for.

Cheers,
Derek

[mdzaudi]

Gentleman... thank you all very kindly for your input on the areas.
I found on craigslist a place that Im really interested in. Its right on Pennsylvania between the Capital Building and Colfax. I know its not the best of areas but its a block from the 16th street mall, nightlife and whatever else that I may need. Im currently working as a social and sports director for a gated community of about 3000+ residents and 1300 homes. With that being said, Id like to try and find something in that area or Ill resort back to bartending.
Ill be in town in the middle of Feb and will be doing some serious looking at places as well as job hunting. My areas that I have in mind right now are FoCo, downtown Denver, southeast Denver, WashPark, Highland, Cherry Creek, around the DU area and possibly even Loveland. If any of you happen to hear of anyone looking for a roommate in the near future as well, feel free to pass this on :)
On a side note as well. Any of you fellow B5/B6 owners in the Denver/ surrounding areas up for a get together while Im in town, that would be a real HOOT as well.
Again, I appreciate all of you taking the time to respond to my thread and thank you for the heads up on the areas to look out for.

Cheers,
Derek

I live on Pennsylvania myself but on Penn and 19th in an area known as "Uptown" which has gotten out-of-hand expensive over the last 2 years and a one bedroom in Uptown square where I live is upwards of $1200 (definately inflated and will go down soon). Anything within a block of Colfax is somewhat sketchy just because all the main bus lines run down colfax and you get all that riff-raff. It's not the people that live around there that are potentially dangerous, it's the ones just visiting. Anywhere from 13th to 6th in between Lincoln and Humboldt is the Cap hill area I would be looking for your price range.

Good luck

[Club Cheetah]

Bel-mar has definitely come out of the wood work over the last few years. And that's where all the cougars seem to be going for happy hour so I highly recommend that area. As for Colfax Matt hit that nail right on the head. I wouldn't ever live off Colfax but that's just me.

Bring some wiener circle when you come!!! And don't forget the chocolate milkshake either!

[audimuse]

Derek check this link out for some apts http://www.cornerstoneapartments.com/ there are some pretty good apts and decent pricing for a lot of the areas.

[ibcallindux]

i hear you can rent houses pretty cheap on federal and alameda. any truth to this?

[Club Cheetah]

i hear you can rent houses pretty cheap on federal and alameda. any truth to this?

Yeah cause it's ghetto as phuck. Further up North on Federal wouldn't be as bad. I personally would stay out of Denver but that's cause I work there.

[MDJ]

^ I used to rent from cornerstone apartments near chessman park. They're a chain of properties, but I only paid like 600/mo in a really nice area.

However, nothing compares to my house in the highlands. Ill probably never leave this neighborhood. 10 years downtown was enough...

[47ford]

i hear you can rent houses pretty cheap on federal and alameda. any truth to this?

Only if you want to live in the ghetto, I'ld live off Colfax before I'ld live there...

As was posted by mdzaudi though between 6th & 13th between Lincoln & Colorado (you move out of Cap Hill & into Congress Park around Humbolt or Franklin, but still good). Or as others have pointed out Belmar (good hwy/freeway access, closer to the mountains on the west side of Denver, still close to downtown)

[FLACO X3]

i hear you can rent houses pretty cheap on federal and alameda. any truth to this?

Yes but I dont reccomend the area. My dad rents some duplex there on Meade and Alameda. Heard gunshots there almost every time and the area is always covered in gang grafitti. Almost entirely made up of illegal immigrants. That area of Federal reminds me of south central L.A.

[ReadyKilowatt]

My suggestion is to find a job in Frisco/Dillon/Breck, if you ski/snowboard. There probably aren't a ton of jobs/companies up there, but it would be awesome to live up there and ride all the time without having to deal with the hour+ drive.

Living in the mountains is nothing like living in Denver. For one thing, $1700/mo in Breck is cheap, unless you want to live in the equivalent of a VW bus (with 4 roommates). Everything is more expensive, and you if you want to head to Denver for the day you'll need to plan your trip around I-70 traffic. That said, if you can find satisfying work, it can be a great experience. You'll get to know the other locals quickly. If you're young and single you'll meet a lot of other singles. If you're an alcoholic you'll meet a lot of alcoholics. But I would move to Denver first (and live on the west end of town, maybe in Georgetown or Idaho Springs) and spend time time in the mountains beforehand.

I started out in Fraser, and my career brought me to Aspen. The mountains have completely spoiled me now and I wouldn't be caught dead with a Denver address. I don't ski as much as I used to, but when I did it was fantastic getting my turns in over lunch hour. But that wasn't the only reason for moving up here and it's much harder making it here compared to living in a city.

[mikehawk666]

I have lived in cherry creek, congress park, capitol hill(hated), and now mayfair(between 6th and colfax, colorado to monoco-ish). I have been over here for four years now, super quiet, and close to everything.

[scubagli]

Cap hill FTW! Lived on 11th and Logan, highlands, wash park, 28th and high, 14th Marion. Stick close to downtown would be my advise...


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