House hunting at sub 225K (Thornton: neighborhoods, school district, price)

[woodsier]

Thanks for the responses. Actually, my time horizon is anywhere between now and 2 years from now. I'm under no pressure to move, so I'll probably just start applying to jobs as they arise (I work in a pretty narrow field, there isn't a ton out there) and start to look seriously at housing if/when I land a job.

A couple of follow ups:

1) Parker. When I browse zillow there are usually 2 or 3 that pop up in my range. How's the commute from Parker to central Denver? I've heard the Douglas County schools are quite good.

2) Anything on the north end of the metro area that might be a fit? That's the side I'm less familiar with. I lived in Denver from 85 to 08, but only in Littleton, SE Denver, and a brief stint in Capitol Hill.

[Claire S.]

Originally Posted by woodsier

Thanks for the responses. Actually, my time horizon is anywhere between now and 2 years from now. I'm under no pressure to move, so I'll probably just start applying to jobs as they arise (I work in a pretty narrow field, there isn't a ton out there) and start to look seriously at housing if/when I land a job.

A couple of follow ups:

1) Parker. When I browse zillow there are usually 2 or 3 that pop up in my range. How's the commute from Parker to central Denver? I've heard the Douglas County schools are quite good.

2) Anything on the north end of the metro area that might be a fit? That's the side I'm less familiar with. I lived in Denver from 85 to 08, but only in Littleton, SE Denver, and a brief stint in Capitol Hill.

I know a few people that make the commute from Parker to downtown. Personally, I wouldn't want to do that. There are definitely options in the northern suburbs. In particular, Westminster and Thornton --- but you'll want to do research on which schools will meet your criteria.

[kevin_in_Denver]

I love Athmar Park for that price range. Some of the best views of the city from there.

[Willy702]

Just punch in an address in Parker to Google maps and find the driving time to Downtown without traffic. Oh and make sure it's not using the toll road unless you are willing to pay for it. Then to play it safe double that, although most days won't be quite that bad. If you find it acceptable then Parker is a good choice.

[rockyinyourradio]

Originally Posted by woodsier

Thanks for the responses. Actually, my time horizon is anywhere between now and 2 years from now. I'm under no pressure to move, so I'll probably just start applying to jobs as they arise (I work in a pretty narrow field, there isn't a ton out there) and start to look seriously at housing if/when I land a job.

A couple of follow ups:

1) Parker. When I browse zillow there are usually 2 or 3 that pop up in my range. How's the commute from Parker to central Denver? I've heard the Douglas County schools are quite good.

2) Anything on the north end of the metro area that might be a fit? That's the side I'm less familiar with. I lived in Denver from 85 to 08, but only in Littleton, SE Denver, and a brief stint in Capitol Hill.

I think Parker would be a good fit for you. There are some homes just below 200K but are 3/2's at most. What's attractive to me is the crime rate is considerably below the average of the Denver metro area. A mighty good selling point IMHO. It's a pretty town with nice parks and all the basic amenities are close by. Schools are supposedly very good.

Another place to check out is Bennett, about 20 miles east of the Denver proper area. A little bit of a commute but the town seems like its growing every time I go through there. Many people do commute from Bennett, straight shot west on I-70 will have you downtown with normal traffic flow in about 45 minutes. Real estate prices again are in your range. I don't have any knowledge on the school system though. The one downside to Bennett is that they are subjected to more hailstorms and a tornado or two close by each summer, but don't let that stop you from at least checking it out. I have a couple of friends of mine who live there and absolutely love the place.

[Suzatlarge]

Just a comment about living in Parker. Many people live in Parker and commute to Downtown Denver for work, using light rail. They have to drive over to the Lincoln Station (I-25 at Lincoln Avenue, which is the main exit from I-25 to go to Parker), then take the train from there.

I live in SE Denver (Southmoor Station) and am a light rail convert when it comes to downtown commuting. During rush hours when I'm taking light rail, I look out the window at the cars creeping along I-25 - or stopped - as the train zooms along leaving them behind. Sun, rain, or snow.

I generally like to drive, but if I went back to work full time downtown I'd get a light rail monthly pass in a minute. (I work occasional jobs downtown, usually convention work with crazy hours, and have come to love light rail for those.)

Here's a link to the Denver light rail route map: http://www.rtd-denver.com/routemaps/141/r0_101_SE_F.pdf

[stevestr]

You can find homes in Reunion that used to be sub 220s but they've now gone up to 240s.

Unfortunately, honestly, our school district here sucks. And we're not even in the worse one. Brighton 27J schools always seem to get C to D ratings for some reason.

There used to be homes in Green Valley Ranch in the 190s but they are manufactured homes and it's honestly not one of my favorite Denver neighborhoods.

[Teckeeee]

Parker to downtown takes about 45 minutes did it for years, snow day huh 2 or 3 hours. Parker is great, just far.

[scrapper105]

I can't speak to the price point and what neighborhoods will have it, but I will say that Thornton is changing fast. Also, don't disregard an entire school district. You can look at my other posts to see my soapbox about schools and NOT using the ratings on the greatschools.net website. Generally speaking Adams 12 is a solidly good school district and even Adams 50 has great schools within the district even though the average test scores are low.

My kids are in elementary school and I found it easiest to search for a good high school (and good means different things to different people) and look for houses within that HS district that were within my price range.

[lrmsd]

Hey this is a random suggestion, but you could also check out Longmont, too. Also, you might find a job along that corridor somewhere [don't know your field, just a thought], instead of just Denver proper. Longmont has some nice areas and good schools [one of their middle schools and one high school are in the Niwot district. Good to look for houses in that district.]. Also, it has a nice old town, decent farmer's market, Montessori charter school option, etc...We (a family in CA, coincidentally) looked in the same price range as you, a couple of years ago; we ended up not moving at that time [we were also going 'back to CO'], and had lived in Longmont prior. We found it had blossomed in a nice direction, with more amenities, and recently I noticed they're scheduled to put in a Whole Foods, as well.

Also, maybe Superior? [I have no idea what that market is doing-just tossing out an alternative option.]