It looks as though my wife and I will be relocating to Denver for my job, and I have two questions for those of you in the area.

1.) For housing, what areas are good, and what areas should we avoid? I will be working in north Denver, but would be willing to commute if there is a specific area that is better than others.

2.) My wife (also an Ag) is a teacher. What are some of the good school districts in the area? How hard is it for someone with a Texas teaching license to get a job in the Denver area?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Gig 'em!

I will get back to you later with more info, and feel free to PM me with questions (if I forget). Congrats on the move. Denver is awesome. Where in South Texas are you from? I grew up in the Valley & lived in Houston for 5 years before moving to Denver last Fall.

I still can't get over how nice it is here, and I regret not moving here right after graduating from A&M. I don't know much about north Denver and the north suburbs. I live a little South (Tech Center). There are a lot of good, fun neighborhoods near downtown: Wash Park, Cherry Creek, Highlands, Capitol Hill to name a few.

Unlike most Texas metros, there aren't a whole lot of bad areas. Maybe try to avoid Aurora and Thornton.

For your wife, I've heard that they are cutting teaching jobs. Maybe she could get in touch with some Aggie teachers in the Denver area. Go to AggieNetwork.com to access the database (it's worth the $50 cost).

We just moved to the Springs. Be prepared for your wife to take a paycut...unless Denver is drastically different than Colorado Springs. My wife has 8 years of experience with her undergrad only and was making just under 50k as an elementary teacher in Plano before we moved here. After looking at payscales in the area it looks like she would be making around 35k here. The payscales are based heavily on higher eductation for teachers. They don't even pay the PhDs very well, considering the amount and cost of education. She is now looking into other employment opportunities.

Make sure your wife gets started ASAP on the paperwork to have her license transferred to Colorado. She'll be required to fill out a bunch of stuff about her education and teaching history. Then all of that will have to be verified by snail mail with all of the schools she has worked for in the past. She'll have to get finger prints done, get some stuff notarized, etc, etc. It's not unrealistic, but it's a pain and they (State Board of Education) tell you it takes up to 6 months to get your license transferred.

However, if your wife is interested in teaching at a Charter school, she doesn't have to have a Colorado teaching license. The downfall of that option though, is that she'll start at the bottom of the payscale ($27,500). Apparently charters don't count prior teaching experience for salary and most pay raises within them are merit based.

All of that info comes from our experience here in the Springs so it may be different for you up in Denver.

Good luck. Colorado is freakin sweet!

Thanks for the info guys. I knew she would be taking a pay cut (she's been teaching in Frisco) but this is a great opportunity we can't pass up. I had heard Aurora is rough so thanks for confirming.
BEaggie- we were told that she could get an interim license while she takes her content exam, do you know if that's true? Hopefully so because she's really worried about that. We had considered the private/charter school route but weren't sure exactly how many jobs were available.

proudaggie- I'm actually from George West, which is in between San Antonio and Corpus, but I have family that lives in Harlingen.

Thanks again guys, we are heading up there tomorrow to check everything out.

Avoid West Aurora, SE Aurora is not even remotly close to West Aurora in terms of demographics. Think East Plano to West Plano.

SE Aurora is one of the nicest 'burb areas in Denver. Plus there are two district in Aurora, APS bad, Cherry Creek, one of the best in the state.

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Thanks again guys, we are heading up there tomorrow to check everything out.

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As a food junkie, let me make a couple suggestions.

Breakfast: Snooze AM (probably a wait unless you go real early), Delectable Egg
Burger: Cherry Cricket in Cehrry Creek
Asian: Thai Basil, Tommy Thai
Food + Bar: Old Chicago, Illegal Petes
Mexican: D'Corazon, Rio (margaritas)..... they are across the street, so it's cool to have margs at Rio and dinner at D'Corazon

If you're downtown and on 16th Street Mall during the day, the hot dog stand at Arapahoe and 16th is money: reindeer, elk cheddar, pheasant, buffalo, etc.

Delectable Egg?! Go to Dixons or Original Pancake House!

Dixons is pretty good too. I take it you've never had the Stacked Rancheros at DE.

But Snooze is probably the best breakfast I've ever had.

thanks for all the info guys, we had a great time in Denver. Proudag, we went to 16th street mall but didn't find the stand you mentioned.

What is the rental housing like in the area? Not sure if we want to buy, as there's a good chance I'll be relocated within 5 yrs again. Do any of you recommend a good realtor? This out-of-state moving seems like it's going to be hard, primarily because we don't know anyone or anything about the area.

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I will PM you with a realtor.

It's a bit hard moving out of state, but it's the best decision I've ever made. I plan on being in Denver for good, and it has so many advantages over TX (my opinion, of course). The atmosphere in LoDo was pretty awesome Friday for opening day.

Moving was not too expensive for us. It cost 800-900 dollars, but we had like 1,200 in tax deductions: .24/mile x 2 cars + rental truck, hotel room, and cost of rental truck. I'm not sure on rental housing, but I find our townhome to be priced the same as Houston.

proudaggie02...how can you mention breakfast places and NOT mention Sam's No. 3?? (hopefully you've been there by now)

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Near 14th and Curtis? If so, I had a giant burrito there for lunch a while back. It was very good.

I hope to being joining you guys in a few years. My wife and I are looking to get out of Houston in about 3 to 5 yrs, and Denver and Portland are at the top of our list of places to live.

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What do tigers dream of when they take a little tiger snooze.....

I just found out I might be moving to denver also... what places are good for someone young/areas with the best nightlife?

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There are a bunch of goos neighborhoods around downtown: Wash Park, Cherry Creek, Highlands, Capitol Hill. Where are you coming from?