After getting my ass kicked in taxes by a metro district (which I never knew about until I built my beautiful house) I've learned my lesson. I've decided to downsize and move closer to family about 40 minutes away from me. Doing so I can get into an existing HOA,(not a metro) pay off all my debt, and reduce my mortgage over $1200 with putting minimal down. Sounds like a great idea to me.

I currently live in downtown Denver in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, only a few blocks away from all the major riots/protests were taking place. I pay an insane price for a tiny studio apartment in a building that was built in 1907. The building still has the old steam radiators, no air conditioning, and only stairs. For the amount of money I am paying I could get myself an apartment at least twice as big as the one I am in now in a smaller suburb about 30 minutes outside of the city, but the location I’m in offset the small apartment. There used to be a lot to do, a lot of great restaurants, and a lot of clean nice parks. In the past year and 6 months especially the city has drastically taken a turn for the worst. All the stores around me have boarded up either for protection or because they had to shut down. The parks have been over-run with the homeless and now are completely filled with human waste, used needles, and trash. The news reports of major rat infestations in the parks because of this. They have burrowed through the ground and who knows if the parks will ever recover. Violent crime has gone way up, robberies especially. I’ve had my window in my car broken 3 times the past 3 months of someone breaking into it. Fireworks are being lit off at all hours of the night and when I say fireworks I’m not talking about little fire crackers or similar things. These are mortars and other huge fireworks that will wake you up from a dead sleep. Mix that with gunshots in the middle and you have to learn to differentiate which “POP” you’re hearing. It’s truly a shame, I’ve lived around here my entire life and the area has changed so much and the people in it as well, that I don’t want to be here anymore and I know countless others that feel the same. It’s not worth it. Most people have figured out they can work remotely, or they can find a place that is not that far out of the city and save money and escape from all the nonsense of Denver. I know native CO people are leaving more than they are staying and the city is becoming more and more filled with California transplants. Soon I believe the city will be San Francisco volume 2. Nobody wants to be gouged by rent and also feel unsafe and ignored. I could go on more, but in a nut shell this is why I am moving at the end of the month when my lease is up and not coming back.