Last week was fun/stressful. Steve and I were excited to finally fly into Denver to pin down a place to live. At first, and due to all of our research we knew that we were going to have to downsize to a condo, or town-home. We were set on the area, and wanted to rent a town-home from an owner instead of a apartment community but Denver's real estate is booming so much, that there was hardly any rental properties on the market, as most decided to sell. So, we had to look into an apartment community in our target area.
First of all, can I just say, that Denver is really pretty but it's also surprisingly pricey for Texas standards. We knew that we were going to pay more, but expected more space or storage than what we got. Thankfully, the area and schools really make up for it. We will be in the suburb of Aurora in Denver. It's a carefully planned community with tons of kid activities, great schools, and super safe streets. Bonus, is only about 10 min away from Steve's work! Steve is SUPER excited to cut his commute down! He's been known to sit in traffic for an hour on really bad rush hour days. So, off we flew early in the morning and arrived to some scheduled showings.
Our criteria was the following:
2 bed 2 bath
At least 1000 sq feet
First floor/ preferably
Had to belong to amazing schools
Needed to have lots of light (apartments can be so dark sometimes, I didn't want to be stuck in a place like that all day)
Dog friendly complex, so that we didn't have to worry about taking Riley.
No. 1
The first place we saw was great, and immediately felt like that was THE apartment we should go for. It's a new complex, and all apartments had tons of windows. There was a lot of light, and was very airy. These are pictures of their 2 bed, 2 bath model, and if we wanted something like this, we needed to be on the second floor, as there is no 1st level floor plan like this... No bueno.
I love this little desk nook off of the entry. Perfect place to place keys, or even use as a desk for my laptop since I would have to sell my actual desk! Yep, not enough space in any of these properties.
LOVED how bright it was! And I also loved that had laminate floor, because I was dreading carpet during the snowy months, when we will have to take off shoes, and leave a slushy mess everywhere.
The kitchen was on point! But I think that's all properties in that area, because all of the places we looked at had a ton of counter-space and updated kitchens. Did not expect that from an apartment.
LIGHT AND WINDOWS! Yes, this place really impressed me! I loved the windows everywhere! I think I get seasonal depression when it's all cloudy, so I told Steve that we HAD to get a place with light, or I was going to be miserable. This apt had all of that.
This complex was really dog friendly! Had a little doggy run and washing station, the only thing is that the doggy run, was truly tiny. The picture makes it look big, but it was more like a large bedroom size. Still is better than nothing for exercising Riley on really cold days.
Again, we loved the property, but still wanted to see if we could find a better deal.
No.2
Second place we looked at was a 3rd floor 2 bed, and 1 bath. Was slightly cheaper than the first place, but not by much, and we would have to give up one bathroom.
Already, I was like: "NO." I mean, 3rd floor?!
Apparently, those are the nicer ones, because you get a vaulted ceiling and a large porch that wraps around the place. And are slightly less expensive.
I kept an open mind, but I was already thinking how miserable it was going to be to take Riley out to pee everyday, going up and down 3 flights of stairs! The bathroom thing didn't bother me, because Steve leaves really early, and we all have different times that we shower, that don't conflict.
I did like that the floor plan was very open, and bright.
The only bathroom was pretty nice size, so it wasn't going to be hard to share.
The kitchen (not pictured) was long and narrow, but very nice and had a lot of cabinets, but not enough counter space. The apt lady suggested we add a little cutting board counter or something.
This place had a GREAT dog run! More like a doggy park! and was closest to Steve's work, 5 min to be exact, that would mean we could take the kids out for walks, and bike rides as a family, which is what we are planning to do.
No.3
The third place we looked at a 2 bed, 2 bath in another property, but was at the very tippy top of our budget, and that made me feel uneasy. I mean, to just be moving to Denver for a year, I wanted to really enjoy all that the city has to offer, and not worry about budgeting, and feeling house poor, so I was kind of not even interested in looking at it, but it did offer the most square footage, and storage.
The pictures don't do it justice, but it was light and spacious.
The master bath was HUGE!
This place had the most spacious dining room, and I liked that because I would be able to put my desk and dining room table along that wall. Again, it was pretty large, but my pics aren't very good.
The laundry room was nice. The other apartments have small dryer and washers. These were full size and brand new!
This was a small bathroom, but it was nice for the kids.
This place was nice, but it felt a little dated and the price was too much in my opinion, but they did have the first floor option.
So, which one did we choose?...
We chose No. 1!
We will be in the second floor, which was not really what I wanted, but that promised the most uninterrupted light and a little nook that made all of the difference in the world to me.
Basically, the first level apt was exactly as the pictures above for the first option, but it didn't offer a closed off balcony, and didn't have this nook below:
This nook was only available on the second floors, and was only $50 dls more added to the rent. Now, that was important, because this is where we will have our dining room table/desk for me to work, plus it offers those little shelves ^ and a large corner closet (not pictured) for winter stuff, so those $50 bucks made it worth it to me for storage, and to not sale my dining room table, which would have bummed me out. It also saves us a storage unit that we were thinking of getting, saving us more in the long run.
Also, because it was a new apt complex, the rent is more on level with what we wanted to pay as they are just being introduced and had more available options.
So, although it's not huge place it feels open, and nice. We also plan on selling even more furniture, and that alone has really made me think of how I live and what I truly find to be necessities, which are giving me a whole new perspective on clutter and living within our means.
Remember, visitors are WELCOME! We can fit an air mattress in the living room, or there is a hotel 2 min from our place if your prefer to spread out. The other plus about this complex is that we have a whole shopping and movie theater withing walking distance, and the rent includes the Stapleton Community Card!< that's huge, because Stapleton offers a Community Garden, 6 resort style pools, and dog parks that can only be accessed with that card! If we didn't have that, we would have to pay a membership for our family and that would have been a lot of $$$!
So, it was an awesome deal in the end!
Can't wait to start decorating the place! I really hope to make it feel homey and enjoy our year there.
Jazmin
