DFW(Dallas) to Denver, Family of Four, Schools & Area to Live (Lakewood: rentals, houses)

[zephyrr]

Hello All

I'm sure this has been asked before, and I've scanned the forums. We are a family of four moving to Denver in a couple months (Jul 2017). Two kids, 10 year old who will start 6th grade (middle school) and 6 year old (going to second grade).

My job will be in downtown Denver, and we would like keep commute within 30 mins.

What are

1. Some areas with great schools for elementary and middle schools?

2. Access to facilities and kids activities, eg recreation center, music learning schools, Kumon and the like.

3. Trails that we can get on, this is important for us and to be able to enjoy the milder weather in Denver.

4. What about buy vs rent decision, I've noticed the Denver housing has gone up a lot, but is the price/rent ratio worth buying, or rent for a couple years. Our budget is 2.5K-3K/month. Buying budget would be $400-$550K.

Thanks in advance for the input. Excited to move to Denver.

Z

[2bindenver]

Schools are for you to choose - If work is downtown does the job come with parking? Otherwise, would light rail be an option?

Both the rental & buying housing markets are tight. A little looser in the more than $500k range. If you plan to rent this year and buy next year housing will be 10% more and it's unknown what interest rates will be.

Begin with the end in mind - housing for a July move is probably not yet on the market. If you decide to buy, you could find something now, close in June & let the Seller rent back for 2 weeks. July rentals will be published in June.

[Augie Daugie]

I think there are a lot of options to consider---it depends on what else you are looking for in a community. Areas like Broomfield, Ralston Valley in Arvada, and Green Mountain in Lakewood probably fit the bill.

[emm74]

You could also check out Stapleton - it's a residential neighborhood in Denver, a planned urban community on the site of the former airport. Schools are good to excellent, and it's a wonderful family neighborhood - lots of block parties, neighbors hanging out together, kids out and about riding bikes and walking to school, etc. House lots are quite small but there is a lot of public green space including trails to encourage people to get out and interacting with others rather than spending time in their own yards. 6 pools within the community and a nice rec center, and pretty much all the family focused activities anyone could want. My area of it happens to be right near a large nature preserve. And it's an easy commute into town either driving or there is also a light rail stop.

Not too much under 500K as far as a detached single family, but 500-550K gives you a fair number of option. Or you could look at a paired house (side by side duplex) which is what I have - it really feels like a single family, and you'd have more choices in the 425K to 500K range depending on size and age (age is relative, the oldest houses are about 10 years old at this point). If you are interested, there is also lots of new construction in the area - many people rent and then stay in the rental while building in the area.

[goofygrin]

We did this last year. Ended up in green mountain area of lakewood.

I can drive to downtown (parking is a *****) easily. Light real is convenient, but takes 45 mins (including drive time to the station) and costs $5.

Note that some schools have 6th in elementary.

[NorthDenverGirl]

As mentioned above it is hard to give school advice because everyone has different thoughts on what makes up a good school. I can tell some of the more popular school districts in the area are Cherry Creek, Boulder Valley, Adams 12 and Littleton.

My son is in 4th and attends a school in Adams 12 we have had nothing but a great experience and the school district really invites parent participation in many different ways which I really like.

Many of the school districts have choice options so that if you find your neighborhood school doesn't fit your child's needs you can apply to get into one of the choice schools, there are also a lot of Charter School Options here.

I would say buy if you can afford in that price range. The competition above $450,000 is not as crazy and if you are going to pay that amount in rent you might as well buy before prices jump up again, which they likely will. If you end up not liking where you live you will likely have equity when you sell again.

A great thing about a lot of the suburbs is that they do have Rec Centers and access to trails, on the north side I would look at Broomfield, Thornton, and Westminster. We live in Thornton and can jump on our bikes and get straight on the trails, no having to load bikes on the car and drive. From here we can go in just about any direction on the trails. We have ridden into Denver, out to Golden, Out to Arvada and out to Brighton. Broomfield and Thornton probably have the best Rec Centers out of these two and Thornton is in the process of building its second Rec Center.

South I would look at SW Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Parker, and parts of Centennial. I know that Highlands Ranch and Parker both have great rec centers and easy access to trails. Centennial might be closer to downtown. I have friends with children in both Parker and Highland Ranch schools and they have been very happy.

You shouldn't have any trouble finding places like Kumon and sports activities.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by goofygrin

We did this last year. Ended up in green mountain area of lakewood.

I can drive to downtown (parking is a *****) easily. Light real is convenient, but takes 45 mins (including drive time to the station) and costs $5.

Note that some schools have 6th in elementary.

Yes, mostly Jeffco schools, although that may be changing.
Sixth-graders could move to middle schools in Jefferson County | FOX31 Denver

[zephyrr]

Originally Posted by NorthDenverGirl

As mentioned above it is hard to give school advice because everyone has different thoughts on what makes up a good school. I can tell some of the more popular school districts in the area are Cherry Creek, Boulder Valley, Adams 12 and Littleton.

My son is in 4th and attends a school in Adams 12 we have had nothing but a great experience and the school district really invites parent participation in many different ways which I really like.

Many of the school districts have choice options so that if you find your neighborhood school doesn't fit your child's needs you can apply to get into one of the choice schools, there are also a lot of Charter School Options here.

I would say buy if you can afford in that price range. The competition above $450,000 is not as crazy and if you are going to pay that amount in rent you might as well buy before prices jump up again, which they likely will. If you end up not liking where you live you will likely have equity when you sell again.

A great thing about a lot of the suburbs is that they do have Rec Centers and access to trails, on the north side I would look at Broomfield, Thornton, and Westminster. We live in Thornton and can jump on our bikes and get straight on the trails, no having to load bikes on the car and drive. From here we can go in just about any direction on the trails. We have ridden into Denver, out to Golden, Out to Arvada and out to Brighton. Broomfield and Thornton probably have the best Rec Centers out of these two and Thornton is in the process of building its second Rec Center.

South I would look at SW Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Parker, and parts of Centennial. I know that Highlands Ranch and Parker both have great rec centers and easy access to trails. Centennial might be closer to downtown. I have friends with children in both Parker and Highland Ranch schools and they have been very happy.

You shouldn't have any trouble finding places like Kumon and sports activities.

Thanks for the great info.
Since my work is going to be in downtown Denver, I would like to keep the commute to within 30 mins. Commute time has a really adverse impact on quality of life for us! Parker might be too far. How about Thornton?

Also, we would like to be in a community that is diverse. I see that Cherry Creek School District is highly rated, what about the area around Cherry Creek Reservoir, I think it is Centennial? And places like Greenwood Village and Englewood?

[zephyrr]

Originally Posted by emm74

You could also check out Stapleton - it's a residential neighborhood in Denver, a planned urban community on the site of the former airport. Schools are good to excellent, and it's a wonderful family neighborhood - lots of block parties, neighbors hanging out together, kids out and about riding bikes and walking to school, etc. House lots are quite small but there is a lot of public green space including trails to encourage people to get out and interacting with others rather than spending time in their own yards. 6 pools within the community and a nice rec center, and pretty much all the family focused activities anyone could want. My area of it happens to be right near a large nature preserve. And it's an easy commute into town either driving or there is also a light rail stop.

Not too much under 500K as far as a detached single family, but 500-550K gives you a fair number of option. Or you could look at a paired house (side by side duplex) which is what I have - it really feels like a single family, and you'd have more choices in the 425K to 500K range depending on size and age (age is relative, the oldest houses are about 10 years old at this point). If you are interested, there is also lots of new construction in the area - many people rent and then stay in the rental while building in the area.

Thank you, yes we will certainly put Stapleton on the list.

I noticed that some of the Stapleton schools as not as highly rated.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by zephyrr

Thank you, yes we will certainly put Stapleton on the list.

I noticed that some of the Stapleton schools as not as highly rated.

The only school you could be seeing that isn't highly rated is George Washington High School. It's not in the neighborhood, but was the closest High School to it. It will not be the high school for Stapleton starting next year when the new Northfield High School opens. It will be highly rated like the elementary and middle schools that are in the neighborhood.