Areas Near Arapahoe and Parker Road (Englewood: apartment, houses, neighborhood)

[TinajaCo]

I think if schools are important, tfox's idea of finding a school you like and then choosing a home based upon that is a good one. Most schools are likely to be in Cherry Creek, but you may find that they are occasionally Douglas County or Littleton. All three are good districts. Every school I know of is 5A. Some zip codes you could start looking in are: 80120 (west Centennial/Littleton), 80121, 80122, 80111, and 80112 (80121 and 80111 are shared with Greenwood Village and Cherry Hills, which are affluent towns, so you'll probably encounter some very high prices if you search those zip codes).

I know that basements don't add to the value of homes, but sometimes it is nice if you want to design it yourself (and adding value to the house is not your motivation). We've always gone with unfinished basements simplye because we like to be able to plan and design the layout how we want it, and by going with an unfinished basement we were able to do that. But, we were not really doing it with increasing our property's value in mind either.

[gpraceman]

I've seen some real good finished basements and some really bad ones. It can be a mixed bag. Personally, I would not rule out any house with a finished basement until you actually see it.

If you buy a house with an unfinished basement, only finish it with your needs and enjoyment in mind. You may or may not get your money out of it if you need to sell, but at least enjoy the house while you have it.

[FrAZToCO]

What is the opinion of the the 80015 and 80016 area along Smokey Hill Road from Parker Road to I-470 there seem to be soom homes that meet my needs. But is it part of Aurora that should be avoided? I did notice some new or almost new home already being sold. Are there some issues making the area a bad investment.

[2bindenver]

no the south area of Aurora is suburban, and yes there is a lot of new construction around E-470 (toll road)

another possibility is Acres Green between Lone Tree & HR older homes near Park Meadows Mall on the south side of C-470 between Quebec & Yosemite.

[gpraceman]

Originally Posted by FrAZToCO

What is the opinion of the the 80015 and 80016 area along Smokey Hill Road from Parker Road to I-470 there seem to be soom homes that meet my needs. But is it part of Aurora that should be avoided? I did notice some new or almost new home already being sold. Are there some issues making the area a bad investment.

That area of Aurora is OK. My aunt lives there, near Smoky Hill High School.

In terms of investment, Aurora does have a bad rep due to high crime in the older parts of the city. That may actually keep home values down a bit since Aurora is considered less desireable than many other nearby areas.

[FrAZToCO]

Does anyone know a site that will do a home search by a school name?

[gpraceman]

Originally Posted by FrAZToCO

Does anyone know a site that will do a home search by a school name?

I don't know of a site like that.

You can go to the school district website, for the district you are interested in, and check the boundries for specific schools. At least I know that the Douglas County School District website has that information.

[rebagirl]

Go to www.cohomefinder.com. You'll find a link to search homes by school name for a particular city. Very cool.

[2bindenver]

I have home search on my website and you can search for homes in a particular school boundry. PM/email me for my DenverHomeShowcase site url.

You can search by city name or change the radio button to area and for Highlands Ranch & Lone Tree pick DHL, for Centennial choose SSE, Parker DEP, Castle Rock is DCW, South Aurora is AUS.

[BTNS_TX]

We needed exactly the same type of search and I ended up finding this one that helped us keep in the Thunderridge high school area:

[mod cut]

We are still waiting to hear from my husband's job interview whether or not we will be taking the plunge, but would be in the same salary range and coming from Texas, just NW of Houston. For us, the home prices up there are outrageous and we are hunting for a place between $200,000-$240,000 when our 2300 sq ft house here will probably sell for $125,000.

I had the same questions about how people can do it, without vastly overextending themselves on "regular people" salaries. I still haven't quite gotten my mind around it.