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Moving to Boulder?!?

S

spork_av

Charter Member
SM 2003
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Joined
Feb 24, 2002
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Columbus Ohio
My wife has a possible job transfer to Boulder, CO. I am really excited about this. I grew up in SLC, UT and have missed being in the mountains. Ohio is so FLAT!

Anyway, I am not too familiar with the Denver/Boulder area. We started looking at houses online, and prices in the Boulder area are a bit higher than what we are used to. Anyway, since most likely I will have to find a job in Denver, what are some good communities between Denver and Boulder, that don't cost an arm and a leg to live in?
 
DUDE! Call me! I will send you my phone number! It would be great if you could get out here. You will love the area!

I know the area very well and was born and raised near Boulder. I can't type near as fast as I can talk, so lets do this over the phone or something. I have a couple good realtors in the area I can recommend. Boulder county and Boulder city are VERY HIGH. All of the front range is expensive, but Boulder is NOT a place to be now unless she is getting a REALLY good paying job. Westminster is a great place to look and voted like #6 # 11 actually on best places to live just last month. Broomfield is a good place to look but prices are starting to increase here too. I was born and raised in Lafayette which is 20 min from Boulder, 20 min to Denver. There are some good and bad places depending on how much you want to spend. Louisville is just like Lafayette and they are basically the same town now. These are still in Boulder County so people pay a bit more because of that. More people are going north to the Longmont area, but I would not want that commute of 45 min to 1.5 hours with traffic if you decide to work in Denver.

The last place we lived prior to coming back to Colorado was Illinois (Bloomington/Normal) and we knew we were headed out here and therefore saved a bit more for the down payment due to that fact. If you can get over the initial sticker shock then you will love the area!

--Ivan
 
Cool (y) and welcome to the neighborhood... more or less... but like we natives like to say... "Boulder... 64 square miles surrounded by reality!" ;D
 
Spork - I don't have much to offer on advice but a warm welcome if you move out here (y) (y). I think you'll like it a lot.

One person that would be a great source of info. would be Blueruck. He is the only person I know of at CAFCNA who has recently lived in Boulder. Up until almost a year ago, he lived there then moved to the mountains.
 
avalanchuck said:
Cool (y) and welcome to the neighborhood... more or less... but like we natives like to say... "Boulder... 64 square miles surrounded by reality!" ;D
Click to expand...

I don't have personal experience to draw from concerning Boulder but a guy at work calls it "The People's Republic of Boulder."

I don't start rumors, I just spread 'em. >:D

Good luck on your move out, spork'. Sounds like Ivan can hook you up with great advice on prices and locations!

Regards,

-Joe
 
Right now, it is only a remote possibility, but I am just so excited about the prospect of moving back west, that I had to share. I have my fingers crossed. Dang I miss the Rockies. The cool thing about the Denver area, is that I would be close, but not too close to my parents and siblings (all in SLC), I could drive out there for a long weekend, but not have to live with the day to day intrusions on my life.

Ivan, it is still such a remote possibility, that I will have to wait until I know more before I start calling with particulars (but, if it becomes more likely I will give you a buzz). I will look into the Westminster info, and see what's there.

Just a little info, my wife works for the Department of Defense, and her agency is closing down, and they have to transfer her someplace. A job came open at NOAA, in Boulder, that fits her experience, pay etc.. etc.. So, they basically have to take someone from her division (priority placement), to fill the job. It's still a very small chance, but it is a chance. Should the transfer go through, the Gvmn't will fly us out a couple of times for house hunting trips (and job hunting for me), then they will pack us up, and ship us out.
 
spork_av said:
Should the transfer go through, the Gvmn't will fly us out a couple of times for house hunting trips (and job hunting for me), then they will pack us up, and ship us out.
Click to expand...

When and if that happens, let us all know, I am sure Blueruck would make a trip out of the hills and we can all GTG and talk about the area and stuff.

Boulder itself is a little different place. I actually LOVE it, you see a bit of EVERYTHING! There will be an old hippy still on LSD with a tie die shirt standing next to someone in a three piece suit and next to a punk with safety pins through his eyelids all chatting and getting along. It attracts some strange people, but most are actually pretty cool. Of course I did have dreadlocks and rode a little 20? freestyle bike (flatland) with a few of the pros out there for a while in college and stuff. (That may shock some of the local guys that know me ;) ) NOAA is a cool place, I have some friends whose parents work there and we used to take the annual field trip there in middle school. Don?t look at housing prices right in Boulder; take a look at Louisville, Broomfield, Westminster and places kind of along HW 36 outside of Boulder. Superior is close there and I believe there are a lot of new houses going up. Superior is actually growing a bit too fast. My sister is a sheriff officer and based in Superior as they don?t have city police yet but need to badly as crime is actually starting to go up.
 
Spork - that would be cool if you moved. The main NOAA labs if I recall are right off of Broadway in SW Boulder - you could find decent places in Golden and the wife could have to straight drive down highway 93 to work and you could drive to Denver easy.

The Westminster area is more affordable than Boulder, though Boulder prices have started to come down. I wouldn't pay the premium for Boulder. Another option is to go north of Boulder to Longmont.

Happy to chat if things firm up more. PM if you want to chat.
 
Builders - I don't know how much help I can provide.

McStain is one Boulder based builder I really like.

Lenar or Lanar - I have heard comercials for them, and we hung out with some friends today that have been looking for a newer place and they said all the ads were true, they really loved the floorplans they had and they come loaded with extra items like HD plasma TVs, in wall speakers and stereo setup, double ovens, hardwood floors and stuff. I really don't want to pay for a TV and fridge for 15 or 30 years. Then again it would be nice to have it all now without having to save up for those things.

I have a D.R. Horton house which I guess is supposed to be pretty good. The quality is better than average and I would go with them again.

I have a cousin and some friends in Villagehomes houses which I really like, my cousin had some issues over a basement window well falling in and his basement flooding, but finally got those issues fixed.

There are a bunch of new builders, and I really don't know much about them other than a few friends in the area.
 
Again, thanks for the info.

I checked out Lennar Homes, and a couple of others that I found. So far, I like the floor plans that Lennar offers. Better use of space IMO. I guess we will just wait and see what happens. I just want a bunch of ducks in a row, if we should get the go-ahead to start looking out there.
 
I have the last couple Sundays of DenverPost Real Estate section and New Homes sections if you want me to send them to you. Let me know and I will drop them in the mail. If not they go into the trash for our Thursday pickup. Deal is if you want me to send them and then you move here you buy me a beer (like a good AVALANCHE Ale too) when we meet to cover the $.60 postage. Hey now that is a good deal for me! ;D

601avalanche_ale_2-thumb.jpg
 
Thanks for the offer, but I will have to pass. It could be months before we know anything more, and by then the real estate market will have changed.
 
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