Overwhelmed! Need advice on moving (schools, location) (Denver, Aurora: for rent, how much)

[jayhawk15]

Our family is transferring from the Kansas City area to Denver because of my husband's job. We have two young children (the oldest is in kindergarten) so schools are very important to us. His office will be downtown, but he will also have to visit a work location in Aurora fairly frequently.

How so I figure out what school district is best? I have no idea where to begin searching for homes and neighborhoods! I have looked a bit in Littleton/Highlands Ranch, but only because I have relatives who live there and like it. It seems like a commute downtown would take 45 minutes from there?

We are a very active family... we ride bikes all the time, so I'd like to live near bike trails, parks, etc. An area with a good bicycle club would be a great way for us to get involved as well.

I guess I am just overwhelmed. There are SO many suburbs... I'm thinking that's where we'll end up because I don't think we could afford to live in the city. I won't be working right away, so we'll be looking at a budget of probably low 200's for a home purchase.

Any tips/suggestions would be helpful for good areas to raise our kiddos!

[Katarina Witt]

I would say relax about the schools. There are few, if any, "bad" districts here in metro Denver, and you aren't going to buy a house in a bad district. The districts here are large, for the most part, so a "best" district isn't the same thing as it is back in say, Pennsylvania where there are lots of tiny districts. I really don't know the situation in KC, just talking about what I know.

People are very active and into outdoorsy things here; you'll find that wherever you live. Locating in/near Aurora would make sense if DH has to go there on a regular basis.

[davebarnes]

Rent, don't buy right away.
Be prepared for how much houses cost in Denver.
Denver: median asking price = $314K
Kansas City: $156K

[NoDoubt1993]

I was going to suggest Southeast Aurora in the acclaimed Cherry Creek school district (I went to a HS in that district...it's excellent). Your budget could be problematic though...although I'm not sure what you are expecting for the low $200's. We started out looking in the low $300's when we moved here, and ended up paying almost $450K for a decent house in a very nice suburb.

Off the top of my head, the houses on the north side of Smoky Hill road, in the general vicinity of Smoky Hill High School might be attainable. It's an okay neighborhood, but definitely not what I'd call "nice". But at least you'd be in the best school district in the Denver metro area.

[Jamesla30]

Check out the Stapleton neighborhood in Denver. Only problem might be home prices...otherwise fits everything you want.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

[Augie Daugie]

Stapleton would work if you are able to spend closer to 300K (and are willing to settle for a smaller home). I would also suggest Centennial. It is a little bit closer to downtown (unless you are on the eastside - Centennial is really sprawling) than Highlands Ranch and Littleton and the schools are mostly solid throughout that area.

[TigerLily24]

I agree about renting first. There are a lot of nice houses for rent in SE Aurora and in Centennial, though they are on the high side. I looked here because I have family in Centennial and wanted to be in the same school system.

I concentrated on the area that is sort of within the Smoky Hill, Piccadilly, Hampden borders. Most of these fall within zip codes 80015 and 80013.

Virtually all are in sub-divisions - i.e. Mission Viejo, Smoky Hill, Parkview, Ridgeview Glen, The Meadows and so on - and are all within the Cherry Creek school district.



I know that it is really hard to try to do this long distance. I found that narrowing my search down by zip code really helped

[livecontent]

If your husband is working downtown then it is convenient by excellent public transit from most locations. As you said, he has to go to job location in Aurora frequently, so the best bet is to live in Aurora.

Aurora is really a large city by itself, by Colorado standards, and the area is oft referred to as Denver/Aurora metro area. Aurora has many good areas to live and it is some not so good. However, if you look in the South/Southeast part of the city, you will find good housing prices and a convenient location and good public transit. Extensive parks and trails are everywhere in this area. Bicycling is extremely popular and you will have no problem finding good trails. This is a link to the trails in Aurora https://www.auroragov.org/CityHall/M...Maps/index.htm

Livecontent

[jayhawk15]

Thank you all so much, this feedback is really helping calm me down!

[NoDoubt1993]

If you do decide on Aurora, make sure you are in the part of Aurora (SE) that is covered by the Cherry Creek School Distrist, and NOT the Aurora Public Schools.....HUGE difference. HUGE! Commuting to downtown is easy via the Light Rail...you are only about 10-15 minutes from the 9-Mile Light Rail Station (the Denver RTD), and you can get from the 9-Mile Station to downtown on the light rail in 30 minutes. You can DRIVE downtown from this area in 30 minutes, but ONLY if you are not going during typical commute times. Rush hour morning and evening will easily double that number.