castle rock questions (Denver, Littleton, Parker: houses, transfer, neighborhood)

[seegrace]

hi, new to the board--we are considering a move to castle rock area--a few questions for anyone that has insight on these specific questions:

-any information on timber trail elementary? from some comments on another website with school ratings, it seemed as if the school was great when it first opened, but is going downhill--is this true or just the thoughts of a few dissatisfied parents?
-also, i've noticed a lot of multi-million $ homes on the market in castle rock--if the house we have found is 550k and our income is approx. 125k a year, will we be the norm or looked at as poor? i just think it's nice to be around others that are in somewhat similar financial situations. any thoughts?

[EscapeCalifornia]

http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/re...900_8853_E.pdf

Still scores high according to the state.

I don't think you'll be poor in a 550k house. I've looked down there and seen plenty of houses in the 200's too.

[Jerry Bckr]

You'll be fine in that price range for your income. There are a lot of high end homes on the market presently, so you're in a buyer's market for that price range. As one goes up from there in price the amount of inventory increases as well as the time for it to sell. Presently, it's calculated that there's a 30 month supply of homes in the one million and up price range.

[2bindenver]

Why are you picking Castle Rock? What other areas are you considering? Which areas have you dismissed? Why?

I am always suspicious of people moving here and they focus on only one neighborhood or subdivision, from the get go. People don't know what they don't know.

[seegrace]

i'm sure you are right--i don't know what i don't know--thats why i am asking questions, to find more out---we are leaning towards castle rock because of the school data, we want a suburb with somewhat of a small town feel & a family oriented environment. obviously, there are probably a lot of areas that include these elements & i've moved enough to know that there are good and bad things in any area. do you have other suggestions, i sincerely would love to hear them--thanks---

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by seegrace

i'm sure you are right--i don't know what i don't know--thats why i am asking questions, to find more out---we are leaning towards castle rock because of the school data, we want a suburb with somewhat of a small town feel & a family oriented environment. obviously, there are probably a lot of areas that include these elements & i've moved enough to know that there are good and bad things in any area. do you have other suggestions, i sincerely would love to hear them--thanks---

My first question would be "where will you be working?" If the answer is "Downtown Denver" or "Haven't found a job yet" I would strongly caution you against Castle Rock. It looks to be a nice little down but there's really not a whole lot down there and really no jobs except for retail and county government, as far as I know. There's plenty of family oriented areas all over the Denver metro. Now if you're independently wealthy or telecommute, and don't mind heading up I-25 to Lone Tree and beyond for a of services, then CR looks like a good spot.

[seegrace]

is the dtc considered downtown denver--i'm sure you're getting a laugh out of my ignorance, but i've only been to denver twice before this experience. the job is with my husband's current employer, it would just be a transfer. mapquest makes it out to be about 20 minutes, but does that compute to 45 minutes?
i don't mind a bit of a drive for shopping, etc. the schools and the community feel is more important to me. more thoughts?

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by seegrace

is the dtc considered downtown denver--i'm sure you're getting a laugh out of my ignorance, but i've only been to denver twice before this experience. the job is with my husband's current employer, it would just be a transfer. mapquest makes it out to be about 20 minutes, but does that compute to 45 minutes?
i don't mind a bit of a drive for shopping, etc. the schools and the community feel is more important to me. more thoughts?

DTC = Denver Tech Center. Its around the intersection of I-25 and I-225, well south of downtown Denver.

20 minutes sounds about right w/o traffic or weather but depending on where in CR you live, it could take you a while just to get to the interstate. Snow will also add considerable time to a drive, like 2-3x as long. Someone who lives there will be able to give you a better idea of the commute.

[2bindenver]

What do you like about living where you are now? What's important? What's not?

Sometimes the highway gets shut down at Lincoln - due to weather.

Centennial, Littleton, Parker....

[Americana1st]

Originally Posted by seegrace

i'm sure you are right--i don't know what i don't know--thats why i am asking questions, to find more out---we are leaning towards castle rock because of the school data, we want a suburb with somewhat of a small town feel & a family oriented environment. obviously, there are probably a lot of areas that include these elements & i've moved enough to know that there are good and bad things in any area. do you have other suggestions, i sincerely would love to hear them--thanks---

Littleton is where you want to check out. People seem to overlook this area, but I know more people than not, especially w/ kids, that after they find a home *not* in Littleton, they say, I sure wish I would have looked in Littleton more. Jefferson County.

Let me just say that Castle Rock is in Douglas County, one of the very highest tax property tax rates around the metro area, but they're supposed to have good schools, but I certainly can't vouch for that.

Cherry Creek Schools are supposed to be excellent too, because loads of money lives there. Also check out Centennial because that's more of a homey feel and you can find some places there that are in the Cherry Creek School district w/out the uber-rich price of Cherry Hills Village. Arapahoe County.

Again, and I'm a broken record on this, I favor (1) living near where you work, and (2) caring less about school districts and more about what your children learn at home from you!

Best of luck.