Moving with middle/high school kids - need input (Denver: house, neighborhoods)

[yogicrafter]

We're looking at a move to the Denver area soon. Spouse will likely move immediately to start work, with me and kids following when school gets out this summer.

Spouse's job location would be north Aurora, near Buckley Air National Guard Base. Current commute is 15 minutes where we live now. It would be terrific if we could minimize the commute time and find great schools for the kids. Would prefer to keep the commute to 30-45 minutes max under normal conditions.

Kids will be in 7th and 9th grades in the fall, so we are shopping for middle and high schools. In Aurora, it looks like we would definitely want to be in the Cherry Creek School District. We are open to looking at other areas, but I'm not seeing the best options on the screen. Would love opinions.

Older child is in a math/science magnet school now and if we stayed where we are, would be moving up to the math/science magnet high school in the fall. I've looked at the new STEM center at Overland High School online, and it looks good on paper, but does anyone have any real experience there since the new center opened last fall? We're in a very diverse district and schools now, so the diversity of the student body there is appealing. We're also accustomed to the magnet schools where we live now being located in the lower income parts of town. How is the neighborhood around Overland? Safety, amenities, etc. Does admission to the magnet program get the student busing from other neighborhoods?

Younger child is in an arts/classical magnet middle school now, which includes instruction in dance, gymnastics, Latin, great books curriculum, etc. Are there any middle schools with that type of focus in CCSD?

Both kids are in auditioned choirs and would like to continue. I see that many schools in CCSD don't appear to have choir as an elective class, but rather as an after school club that only meets once a week or so. Is this correct, or am I missing something?

I've looked at the new Vista Peak schools in the older Aurora school district. Interesting idea, but I'm concerned about the district. Does anyone have any information about how those schools are working out now that they're open?

As far as housing goes, we'd like to find something with at least 3 bedrooms, but preferably 4. We'd like to keep the cost under $300K for sure, but closer to $200K would be great if we can find a house that's not a huge money pit for that price. Current house was a money pit that we've spent over ten years fixing, and we'd prefer not to repeat that experience.

If you've read this far, thank you! I'd appreciate your insight, and if you have suggestions for other areas where we might want to look for suitable housing and schools, I'd love to hear them.

[davebarnes]

Where do you live now?

[yogicrafter]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Where do you live now?

Dallas area, but both of us grew up in Kansas.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by yogicrafter

Dallas area, but both of us grew up in Kansas.

1. According to deptofnumbers.com, the median asking price for a house in Dallas is $193K and in Denver it is $280K.
2. More data
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Aurora-Colorado/
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Denver-Colorado/
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Dallas-Texas/
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Topeka-Kansas/

[yogicrafter]

Yeah, I know it's going to cost more to buy a house in the Denver area than we'll get for our house here. We've made a practice of buying considerably less house than we can afford, which allows us a lot of leeway when it comes to budgeting (or lack thereof).