Relocate · Healthcare
For physiciansmoving to Denver
Matched, recruited, or taking an attending position. The house is the easy part. The part that goes wrong is buying before you understand the commute and the call schedule.
I would rather tell you the inconvenient version now.
The commute, honestly
Where you workdecides where you live
Anschutz is in Aurora, on the east side. That single fact rules out more of Denver than most incoming physicians realize.
| If you're at | Live close | Live for lifestyle |
|---|---|---|
| Anschutz Medical Campus | Central Park, Lowry, Park Hill, Stapleton area. Ten to fifteen minutes most days. | Northwest Denver, Cherry Creek, Wash Park. Twenty to thirty-five depending on the hour and the season. |
| Denver Health | Baker, Wash Park West, Platt Park, Golden Triangle. | Almost anywhere in central Denver works. It is the most centrally located major campus. |
| Presbyterian St. Luke's / Rose | Congress Park, Hilltop, Hale, Cherry Creek. | Northwest Denver is twenty minutes off-peak. |
| Swedish / Porter (south) | Wash Park, Platt Park, Englewood, Bonnie Brae. | The foothills and C-470 corridor become viable from here. |
I specialize in Berkeley and the surrounding neighborhoods and I am not going to pretend they are convenient to Aurora. They are not. That drive is real. If you want the walkability and the character enough to trade twenty minutes each way, it is a good trade and plenty of physicians make it. If you are taking heavy call, live east and thank yourself at 3am.
Timing
Match to start,compressed
If you matched in March for a July start, you have a narrow window and it overlaps with the busiest part of the Denver market.
March to April. Get on the phone, decide east versus central versus northwest, and get pre-approved with a lender who understands physician loans and employment contracts that have not started yet. Not every lender does and finding out in June is painful.
April to May. One well-planned trip. I will have walked and filmed everything worth seeing before you land so the visit is decisions, not discovery.
May to June. Under contract, inspection, appraisal. If you are buying, this is when a physician loan program earns its keep.
If it slips. Take a furnished place for sixty to ninety days rather than forcing a purchase. I have properties in Berkeley and access to more. Buying under time pressure in a city you have lived in for four days is how people end up selling in eighteen months.
Rent. I will still help you find the right neighborhood and I am not going to push you into a purchase that does not work on a resident salary. When you finish and the numbers change, I will be here.
Start here
Tell me the campusand the start date.
I will tell you which neighborhoods actually work, what your number buys in each, and whether to buy now or land first.
Heidi Kuker · milehimodern · Denver, Colorado