Drakule

Hi everyone
New to the BE forums so apologies in advance if i am posting in wrong place ( will know better with time and peoples patience )
looking at moving to US and A early 2010 wife is from florida and we have a 13 month old boy , currently living in jersey ,channel islands .
Should be arriving there with some equity following sale of property here but not jumping in too fast to buy stateside will be looking at renting for a few months too feel the place out .
Just a few questions to ask if someone could help me out or point me in the right direction on the forum threads .

1 - How is denver for a young family relocating ? the main reason we chose denver is through googling best places to live in US as per crime rates , schools etc so have no hands on experience with the city .

2- As three of us are landing there with life in a suitcase so to speak what is the best option for furnished rental for a few months ? have looked at condo's / vacation rentals but am slightly confused .

3- Credit - would more than likely have a handsome chunk to put down on a property but not a total buy out so would be looking at a mortgage of somesorts over there .
Would it be an advantage to arrange anything from uk side or is it a case of get there - open an account with US bank and build credit steadily ?
Realise the banks /credit unions are not throwing cash around at present so i guess if the latter was the only option its not the end of the world , just a shame your uk credit history is not transferable to the states

Will shut up now and thanks too all for a very informative and sometimes hilarious site .. keep up the good work

Englishtart

Welcome to BE

I lived about 20 mins from Denver for 18 months and have to say, in my opinion, there are nicer places in the US, have you looked at WA State. Oregon or N.Cali? The crime rate isn't any better in Denver than those places, it all depends on the areas. You don't say how you will make a living here, or are you not planning on working?

Good luck anyway

Drakule

Looked at a load of places like Wa and portland and like you say the crime levels seemed not much different
Without trying it out its pretty much throwing a dart at the map but its a big country if it dont work out U-haul somewhere else i guess .
Workwise im a pc repair /network tech and wife is accountant

Englishtart

It's good that you are both proffessionals, might want to take 'ease/difficulty' in finding work into account too though, things are pretty sh!tty here right now and even high tech highly educated folks are not having an easy time.

Bob

welcome to BE

There's a few people in CO, not sure how many in Denver itself though.

As for credit question, there's been quite a few recent threads and a wiki that covers the basics to answer most of your questions

Leyther

Denver, like any other city in the world has its good and bad neighborhoods to live. For a young professional couple who are looking at purchasing their property (forgetting the credit history and rating for the purpose of this) then I would take a look at the following areas: Washington Park, West Washington Park, North and South Park Hill as these are all within a 10 minute commute to the city, with good access to both of the major interstates. However the house prices are a little higher than other areas.

If you are looking at renting then Capital Hill is full of apartments, condos, townhouses and duplexes for rent, along with the north Ballpark neighborhood, however I would not recommend these locations if you have children. If you really want a house as opposed to an apartment and finances are tight then five points/Curtis Park is worth a look (for rental); it is still within 10 minutes of downtown and you get some bang for you buck, but the area is less then desirable.

If you consider moving further away from the city, then parts of Englewood (North of Evans to Louisiana and west to Broadway) are worth looking at, as well as some areas in Lakewood.

You would be hard pushed to find a fully furnished anything near the city; kitchen appliances are about all you will get, if you are lucky you may get a washer and dryer too. However there are plenty of Thrift and Goodwill stores etc were you can purchase basic second hand furniture for next to nothing and you won't feel bad about throwing it out when you settle.

Drakule

Cheers Leyther
Will scout out a few of those recommendations both of us pretty used to roughing it and aint got any delusions of grandeur when we get there , its a case of get set up with basics , get work and recce area out , rest of the stuff should fall into place in its own time by which stage i will be longing for a Pint of newcastle brown , a proper beef madras and a good nights carp bashing then the fun begins

Englishtart

Have you looked into the job market in any of the areas you want to live in? I know Denver is a pretty big place, but, you only have to look at the "smell of layoffs in the air" thread to see that pretty much every industry is laying people off right now...You will have to compete with all the USC's that are out there looking/hoping to find work, it's not really very smart to move Countries, without some sort of employment already established.

I apologize ahead of time, if I am getting the wrong end of the stick here and am presuming too much, just trying too give you a heads up.

Drakule

It's pretty much a worldwide downturn and its affected the jobmarket here in europe bigtime as well .. valid point about trying to secure work before landing there , we got 7-8 months to work out something there .. the mrs will be more able to hit the ground running as she currently works in finance sector dealing with equities pensions and has seen a desire in the area for job candidates , we are being optimistic but realistic at same time and making sure we got financial backup to see us through , if all else fails i will don the wallmart badge i aint proud

Englishtart

Good for you And Good luck with everything

lansbury

Problem with Oregon we have the third highest State unemployment in the country. There is a lot of competition for what jobs are available, more so then elsewhere.

Otherwise it is a great place to live and well worth considering.

with that attitude you will be well placed to make a go of it.

Englishtart

I hear ya...still would love to live there though

Sue

Hi Drakule,

I've only stayed in Denver for a few nights here and there on the way skiing, so can't help with info. But I just wanted to welcome you to BE. I hope you enjoy using the site and if you ever have any site usability questions feel free to pm me or give us all a hollow through site feedback.

Sue

benblaney

Denver is a good town. It's particularly so if you (a) don't like humidity, (b) like to ski.

No idea about furnished lets. When I moved here, I found only unfurnished places. Subsequently, I was told about firms who do furnished lets, but they're designed for executives who are having the bill paid by the firm (read between the lines on that one).

Be sure to hit http://www.gelazzi.com/

scrubbedexpat099

There are much nicer places in Colorado than Denver.

Is your wife a CPA?