We're moving to Denver

[Teckeeee]

The former co-worker that lived in EG said like others get used to shuttling your kids unless they have really simple needs.

Pros and Cons

[Coloradomom22]

Originally Posted by Teckeeee

The former co-worker that lived in EG said like others get used to shuttling your kids unless they have really simple needs.

Pros and Cons

This exactly. We are moving for this very reason. When children are little activities don't usually involve as much time. But now that my kids are teens the driving has become too much. When you have multiple kids who each play a sport that requires 3x a week practice and/or games it can become overwhelming driving especially in the winter months. And frankly as my oldest approaches the age of driving I am not comfortable with him having to navigate those roads either. It's something to consider.

[Mike A.]

Originally Posted by guyatwork37

The school system is going through some turmoil at the moment, but I assume that will be corrected in the next school board election in November.

What's going on with the schools there? My family and I are also looking at moving to the Denver area. A few years back when i was researching the area all the reviews were great. Now its very hit or miss according to GreatSchools and SchoolDigger.

Thanks,
Mike

[Gorges]

Originally Posted by Mike A.

What's going on with the schools there? My family and I are also looking at moving to the Denver area. A few years back when i was researching the area all the reviews were great. Now its very hit or miss according to GreatSchools and SchoolDigger.

Thanks,
Mike

Mike, below are links to just two threads on this subject. If you use the advanced search function at the top of the page you can find more discussions. The bottom line is, teachers are treated like crap in Douglas County and experienced teachers and administrators are fleeing the district.

Can someone give me the straight poop on Douglas County schools?
What Am I Missing??

[Emichele22]

Hey! We are in the same boat, thirties, a 1 and 5 yr old, and contemplating move to CO area. Did you settle on a spot? Have you liked it so far? Any input appreciated! Thanks!

[brodiego]

Hi! Sorry for the delay, we actually just moved into our new house a few days ago. After a 10 week stay in an Airbnb & an intense search for a home, we chose to move to Highland's Ranch. Here is an updated version of my thoughts on the areas we considered:

Littleton - There are some great areas and our initial 90 minutes touring Littleton left us with the wrong impression. There are distinct neighborhoods within Littleton; I think that a realtor with expertise on these individual neighborhoods would be valuable.

Ken Caryl - We loved KC. The homes we tended to like (north side) we're expensive and ultimately was outside of our price range.

Highlands Ranch - It is definitely the burbs in every sense & connotation. That said, it's a great area for families and we're going to make the most of it. Highland's Ranch is HUGE, so some areas are better than others; don't write it off too quickly.

Castle Pines - MOSTLY UNCHANGED. The schools don't get as good of ratings as in other parts of Douglas County. We liked a lot about Castle Pines; definitely a different vibe (trees!). It feels like maybe it would be a better fit for an older family and not so great for young kids. Thoughts?

Castle Rock - It was too far south for us.

Parker - We loved The Pinery in Parker but ultimately decided it was too far from Denver and the mountains.

Genessee - It took a while to understand the geography of Genessee; many homes in our Golden search kept coming up in Genessee and Lookout Mountain. Anyway, it's beautiful up there, but if you want to get away from I70 road noise, you're going to have to wind your way back into the mountains quite a ways. Also, the houses are spread out in such a way that it might be difficult for young kids to bang around the neighborhood the way I did growing up.

Solterra - We have friends that just bought there. Nice homes, but very high density. Higher taxes than most, too. It just wasn't for us.

Golden - We would move to Golden in a heartbeat; the right house just never came available.

Morrison - We loved Morrison as well. Many of the homes in our price range needed quite a bit of work.

Roxborough - We wrote it off pretty early in our search as being too far south and also more of an empty nester community. Take it with a grain of salt, though, because we wrote it off quickly.

New communities I will add:

Centennial - I think Centennial is outstanding. The location is great and much of the city is in the Cherry Creek school district (incredible schools by all accounts).

Aurora - There are parts of Aurora that also fall into the Cherry Creek school district. There is a stigma with an Aurora address, but there are definitely good areas.

Evergreen - Depending on A) your work/commute situation and B) your fondness of winter, Evergreen could be a great choice. We decided that we don't like snow quite that much and that Evergreen would be a short-lived experiment for us. We have friends that live there and love it, though.

Other thoughts...

Housing is even more expensive than we expected. This is relative to where you're moving from, of course.

Marijuana isn't in your face. You certainly see dispensaries, and there are neighborhoods where you smell it (constantly), but Denver isn't a city with 3M Cheech & Chongs.

Homelessness is a serious problem here. There are panhandlers at every street corner, and the downtown area has recently increased security because of some violence & general harassment of people walking down the street. Even in Cherry Creek, there are "camps" of homeless people... I don't know what the solution(s) is/are, and it's very sad, but just know that it's an issue.

Air quality isn't always the best and ground level ozone warnings are issued from time to time. Wildfires, heat, lack of rain, millions of people & cars...

So far the whole 300 days of sunshine claim seems to be true. It is very dry & sunny here.

No one is from here and you'll be "yet another" transplant. There are pros & cons to this, for both natives and transplants. I suspect that neighborhoods in general are going to be very transient.

Traffic is indeed pretty bad. Then again, I've lived in four metro areas in the past 8 years and traffic was an issue everywhere.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Feel free to DM me for more info and I'll help if I can. All in all, we're very happy with our decision, though housing really is as expensive as they say.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

thanks for the great write-up, Brodiego! It's always nice when an OP comes back and tells us about their experiences. Glad you found a place in HR and I hope it all works out for you.

[Gorges]

Excellent post, brodiego. As a relative newcomer, I pretty much agree with everything. Enjoy your new home!

[philberf]

as a side note about natives vs. transplants, my feel is that the further west and north you go, the more likely you are to get natives, and the further east you go, the more likely you are to get transplants (that includes eastern half of denver - park hill, stapleton/lowry and aurora, and some of SE suburbs). Due south is a mix of both natives and transplants. more natives in denver proper, a few more transplants in southern suburbs.

[emm74]

Welcome brodiego! Good luck settling in to your new home!