Living in the "burbs" around Boulder

My wife and I are starting to look for a house in the Boulder area. We currently live in a tiny condo in Boulder. I am looking to get some input on the "burbs" around Boulder. We ant to stay within 20 mins of Boulder.

First off, we love Boulder and would prefer to stay in Boulder proper, but that is somewhat cost prohibitive. We are not sure if we love it enough to spend over $500k on a crappy house when we could live in a nice house for half that around Boulder. I know the area well, but have never lived in the following areas so input on what it is like to actually live there would be great. Here is what we are thinking:

Farmland just east of Boulder: this would be amazing, but still really expensive
Longmont: Seems ok, but not super appealing
Lafayette: Seems ok, but not super appealing
Lyons: This seems awesome, but my wife is not so sure
Mountains including Ned, Coal Creek, etc:I know we would love it in summer, not so sure about winter
Lousiville: Prices are really not much better than Boulder
Broomfeild: suburban nightmare

Oh, also we are having a baby (our first) so factor that in.

Superior?

Westminster?

I live in Lyons. It's super cool. Mtn biking and amazing road rides out the door, close access to Boulder, Estes Park, Denver. Beautiful mountain town feel. The rivers are awesome for hot days. Music every Thursday evening in the park. A couple of good restaurants....

Stay in Boulder where its cool, we want your ilk leaving there.

Aurora? Golden?

You could skip that shitty house and go for a pretty mice condo - that's what we ended up doing and so far I've enjoyed not having the upkeep of a house. There more time to climb when you don't have to mow/replace roofs/paint exteriors etc.

I live in Boulder but if I had to pick from your spots I'd probably do Longmont and then Lyons.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

EDGE wrote: Best time to look for mountain homes is in the spring when people who don't belong here sell the homes they bought last summer, directly after their first winter.

That's funny and a really good point. I don't think it will work for our timeline though.

A house vs a condo is really important to us. We have a dog who deserves a yard, and I actually like yard-work and house projects.

@OP "we could live in a nice house for half that around Boulder."

That's not going to happen in Boulder County anymore. That ship has sailed, maybe even in Weld County.

+1 for Lyons. I love living around it. I lived just on the edge of "downtown" for 2 years. Now I live in the mountains up 36. That said, while it might be less expensive than Boulder, it's still way more than Longmont.

Peter Beal wrote:@OP "we could live in a nice house for half that around Boulder." That's not going to happen in Boulder County anymore. That ship has sailed, maybe even in Weld County.

Ok, so I am being hyperbolic, but I am following listings unhealthily closely and have a good idea of what we could get in our price range compared to Boulder. I suppose "nice" is very subjective!

Lafayette for sure.

I live in Niwot and it's awesome. It's 15-20 minutes from Boulder, but the drive is pleasant (I take 75th-Valmont instead of the Diagonal most of the time). Niwot itself has a grocery store, several restaurants, a barber shop, dry cleaners, etc. It's quieter than Boulder with a small town feel, and the drive to Denver/DIA isn't too bad, either. Eldo is only 25 minutes if you skirt around Boulder to the east. We bought a house here for the same financial reasons, but I honestly think I prefer it to Boulder. The tricky part is that there's really only one "affordable" neighborhood here so there aren't many houses for sale.

The Heatherwood neighborhood on the east side of Gunbarrel is also pretty nice.

@J Mac I used to recommend Heatherwood out in Gunbarrel, which is where we live, since it used to be exactly like that. Not anymore. But yes, "nice" is very subjective! Good luck with this, lots of headwinds right now on the affordable housing front

How important is I-70/Denver access to you? The scenery N/NE of Boulder is better than S/SE of Boulder, with the mentioned caveat.

climbing friend,

home in suburb, baby, no more climbing rocks.

ho ho ho ha ha! just kiddings

Jim Turner wrote:Westminster?

I've lived in Westminster for over 20 years and it's ok. Pretty easy drive to Golden, Boulder, Lyons and Estes. Good access to major highways. Everything necessary within a short distance.

Housing cost reasonable (for Front Range, anyway).

Suburbs are what they are anywhere. Lots of neighbors who spend their time standing out in the front yard discussing their lawns and their kid's soccer game and all the other benign but boring trappings of suburban life....