probably 4-5" up here in Erie.

Wife and I departing for PHX next week when the next snow comes in. Hopefully it doesn't disrupt our flight.

Anyone interested in 3 face value tickets to Hamilton on Friday March 25, 7:30? Mezz A row D, 201, 202, 203. Have them on StubHub but thought I'd ask here too, for cheaper. $561 total.

I bought tickets in 2020 before the pandemic, I thought the tickets for canceled, so I bought these 3 when they opened up again last year. Found out my previous order was still in place so these are not needed.

username at gmail if you want to get in touch there

Howdy Ags,

I'm considering a job opportunity in Denver (near downtown) and have found this thread to be really helpful thus far! I'm married with 3 little kids (ages 9, 4, and 1), and am looking at areas with good schools that are no more than 30-40 minutes from downtown. Our budget is ~700K. For a reference point I'm a native Texan and we currently live in Houston but I've also lived in Pennsylvania and California. Thus far, I'm looking at Centennial, Littleton, Longmont, HR, Castle Rock, Parker but am open to anything. Are there any others i should consider?

Also, besides being a decade late to the game (and Denver's already full), are there any other reasons I should hesitate taking this leap!

Thanks, ya'll!

Is the 30-40 minutes from downtown at rush hour traffic?

No I'd have the ability to work around rush hour. Would probably shoot for 7am - 330pm in office.

AggieLandman04 said:

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Howdy Ags,

I'm considering a job opportunity in Denver (near downtown) and have found this thread to be really helpful thus far! I'm married with 3 little kids (ages 9, 4, and 1), and am looking at areas with good schools that are no more than 30-40 minutes from downtown. Our budget is ~700K. For a reference point I'm a native Texan and we currently live in Houston but I've also lived in Pennsylvania and California. Thus far, I'm looking at Centennial, Littleton, Loveland, HR, Castle Rock, Parker but am open to anything. Are there any others i should consider?

Also, besides being a decade late to the game (and Denver's already full), are there any other reasons I should hesitate taking this leap!

Thanks, ya'll!

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Loveland is kind of out of place in that list. That is 60 miles from Denver, and plenty of traffic along the way.
Castle Rock is going to be pushing your commute as well, it is 30 miles from downtown.

I'm in Parker, but right near I25, and I'm 22 miles from colfax exit, so it may fit your bill.
But Parker extends east and southeast quite a bit from where I am. Living in southeast Parker would add several miles and 10+ min.

HR, Parker and castle rock are all DCSD.. and you can read above to get an idea of its current state lol. It's kind of a mess. It used to be top notch, it's declined, not due to students/demo but due to politics and leadership. Fingers crossed it gets its ass in gear and shapes up in the next few years, but I don't have much hope.

Littleton it's in own SD and centennial is cherry creek which is generally favorable (It has the ultra high income areas like cherry hills village, greenwood village)

Your budget should be good for any of those areas.

Ahh by Loveland I meant Longmont!

AggieLandman04 said:

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Ahh by Loveland I meant Longmont!

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That's still about 40 miles.
You aint doing that in 30-40 min during normal traffic hours.

62strat said:

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AggieLandman04 said:

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Ahh by Loveland I meant Longmont!

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That's still about 40 miles.
You aint doing that in 30-40 min during normal traffic hours.

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Good to know. Sounds like the southern suburbs are my best bet. Any other recs?

I really like living in Erie but it'd be tight on your budget. I can get to Littleton in 55 mins and I work in East Aurora which is 45 mins. I don't go downtown very often so I'm not sure what the drive time is during rush hour. When we go to Rockies games it's about 35 minutes.

agdaddy04 said:

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I really like living in Erie but it'd be tight on your budget. I can get to Littleton in 55 mins and I work in East Aurora which is 45 mins. I don't go downtown very often so I'm not sure what the drive time is during rush hour. When we go to Rockies games it's about 35 minutes.

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Erie appears to have some new builds in the budget. I'll check them out.

So our Houston budget is $650-700K. I'm a bit tempted to increase it based on the prop tax savings, but I'm still trying to take the income tax and other higher expenses into consideration.

AggieLandman04 said:

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agdaddy04 said:

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I really like living in Erie but it'd be tight on your budget. I can get to Littleton in 55 mins and I work in East Aurora which is 45 mins. I don't go downtown very often so I'm not sure what the drive time is during rush hour. When we go to Rockies games it's about 35 minutes.

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Erie appears to have some new builds in the budget. I'll check them out.

So our Houston budget is $650-700K. I'm a bit tempted to increase it based on the prop tax savings, but I'm still trying to take the income tax and other higher expenses into consideration.

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I'd def. make a little spreadsheet. It's hard to compare

State tax is certainly a consideration, but for comparison, my house is currently valued at about $650k and our tax bill 2021 was $5150, hazard insurance through usaa is $1800.

I'm guessing you pay more like $15k+ in prop tax, maybe $20k, so ~$1000 less a month month, and state income is only ~$350 per $100k of agi.

Water and electricity are a lot more here too.

I will say water is so high because of where we are in Erie and the infrastructure changes being put in now. Water is just very scarce up here.
We sold ours in Houston for $389 and bought here for $652. It was fairly similar looking at P&I and insurance and property taxes

Goodness avoid 270 and hopefully you aren't stuck in it. Just said over 2 hours home when normal 40 mins.

62strat said:

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AggieLandman04 said:

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agdaddy04 said:

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I really like living in Erie but it'd be tight on your budget. I can get to Littleton in 55 mins and I work in East Aurora which is 45 mins. I don't go downtown very often so I'm not sure what the drive time is during rush hour. When we go to Rockies games it's about 35 minutes.

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Erie appears to have some new builds in the budget. I'll check them out.

So our Houston budget is $650-700K. I'm a bit tempted to increase it based on the prop tax savings, but I'm still trying to take the income tax and other higher expenses into consideration.

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I'd def. make a little spreadsheet. It's hard to compare

State tax is certainly a consideration, but for comparison, my house is currently valued at about $650k and our tax bill 2021 was $5150, hazard insurance through usaa is $1800.

I'm guessing you pay more like $15k+ in prop tax, maybe $20k, so ~$1000 less a month month, and state income is only ~$350 per $100k of agi.

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Is the income tax not 4.4 to 4.5%? $350 per 100k seems off, but I don't live there yet.

I think it's 4.55% now, and voting this year to lower to 4.4%? That's $366 to $380 a month so yeh a bit higher

62strat said:

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I think it's 4.55% now, and voting this year to lower to 4.4%? That's $366 to $380 a month so yeh a bit higher

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Oh I see… per month… I must have missed the obvious.

Oh yeh sorry I put it in months terms since that's the unit you're in to compare mortgage and property taxes.

Add $400 a month in income tax, save $1000+ in prop tax, etc.

I sure wouldn't pay any $650k to live in Houston. Up here? In a heartbeat if I made that kinda money.

Coming from Texas, it's a bit tempting to look at a place like Elizabeth to get a couple acres. Anything to consider about that area? Are the schools half way decent?

I know several people buying land out there but kids are grown. I didn't realize that t but they have their own school district. Looks like they have a decent rated charter school.

A lady that works in our office lives in Strasburg and they like the schools. I believe they're from there though.

Well shoot didn't realize we went to a crawfish party in Elizabeth last year but just checked and it's considered Elizabeth as well. It was a newer neighborhood with good sized back yards. They like living there. I believe their son is still in preschool and he takes him to Parker on his way into town. Hawktree Cir 80107 is the area they live. I imagine it's newly part of Elizabeth. I believe you'd probably be more susceptible to hail storms out there.

agdaddy04 said:

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I know several people buying land out there but kids are grown. I didn't realize that t but they have their own school district. Looks like they have a decent rated charter school.

A lady that works in our office lives in Strasburg and they like the schools. I believe they're from there though.

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Elizabeth isn't physically in douglas county (they are elbert), so yeh they couldn't be in DCSD.

Check out fox hill in elizabeth. Really nice custom homes on larger lots. Not sure if you can get in for $750 though.

Schall 02 said:

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Counterpoint: Elizabeth feels like Kansas. Don't move to Colorado to live in Kansas.

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i don't know, that area immediately west of Elizabeth is like living in the woods. Hills, thick trees. It's nice.

Green2Maroon said:

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I sure wouldn't pay any $650k to live in Houston. Up here? In a heartbeat if I made that kinda money.

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Agreed. While from Houston, we left it for Pittsburgh in 2013. Were "forced" back when we exited the Marcellus. I agree, I'm getting crime, concrete, humidity, no natural beauty, and mosquitos for my money.

Well don't let anyone tell you there aren't mosquitoes up here. Goodness they're terrible at dusk during the summer. Although I know some folks that live closer to Denver and say that they don't see them as much.

Schall 02 said:

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Counterpoint: Elizabeth feels like Kansas. Don't move to Colorado to live in Kansas.

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Living on top of your neighbors with no yard is quite a motivator

Yeah I'm surprised to hear this. I live within Denver city limits (not downtown) and don't think I saw a single one all last summer.

Really? There's been a few cases of west Nile each year we've been up here. They also spray for them a good deal like they did in Texas.

agdaddy04 said:

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Well don't let anyone tell you there aren't mosquitoes up here. Goodness they're terrible at dusk during the summer. Although I know some folks that live closer to Denver and say that they don't see them as much.

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Interesting. I don't recall ever seeing mosquitoes in Colorado.

https://kdvr.com/news/local/fight-the-bite-longmont-launching-war-on-mosquitoes/

https://bouldercolorado.gov/news/its-mosquito-season

Y'all had me thinking I was crazy, but they're definitely bad up here during the summer. Luckily it's really only at dusk.

We noticed mosquitoes for the first time I think last year, maybe year before, after 7 years of none. But you see a few. You might get bit.

We went camping in OK last summer and couldn't even sit outside and enjoy sunset because you're eaten alive. I forgot what that was like, it's miserable. Absolutely nothing like that in CO. I remember getting bit like once a night for a while, that was it.