Ikea coming to Centennial. Questions about the area. (Denver, Aurora: best neighborhood, apartment)

[rkb0305]

Originally Posted by Moonwalkr

Well, they are hiring mostly local, so I'm sure there's some training going on, but 18 months seem long to train. Maybe so you can soak up some of this intense sun before working.

I'm not sure if you can get a new construction in cherry creek school district with your needs such as yard for $300K, they tend to be older homes needing updates and even at $300K they're usually fixer-uppers. That said, I did see one home in our neighborhood for sale at $300K and it was pretty dated, but it did have a decent lot in a cul-de-sac. It's just steps away from Cottonwood Creek elementary (a good CCSD school) so it seems like a nice place to walk your kids to.

Parker may be less expensive but I'm not sure. Highlands Ranch is newer build but probably priced higher up, especially if you want yard.

The median home price in HR is $300,000. Most yards are small, but you can get lucky and find a larger yard, if that is a priority. Our home is worth about $300,000. It is 2030 sf, + unfinished basement on an 8000 sf lot. The house has a small footprint, so the yard seems big for HR.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by Jake Gittes

Our family might be moving to Colorado to work at the new Ikea store that will be opening in Centennial. We'd be coming from the East/Midwest, have kids. Looking to spend maybe 225k to 325k on a house. The school district is VERY important. I've heard that Cherry Creek is a very good school district. Can you get into a 4 bedroom, ~2,500 sq ft. house for that kind of money in that school district? Also, if anyone has any information on local seeded soccer programs, and competitive cheerleading programs.

I'm sure there are other questions that I'll think of, if anyone is nice enough to respond. Thanks......

In terms of the quality of schools, given the attributes you listed, you're pretty much good to go anywhere in the south metro area. The one limiting factor for you will be your housing budget. Look at Cherry Creek HS (the flagship school of the entire CCSD district), for instance, which is the largest school in the state and also one of the highest ranked. 325k doesn't buy much-- if anything-- in the Cherry Creek HS attendance area. Double that budget, and then we're talking. If you live in the CCSD district though, you can request to transfer to a different school in the district than the one you're assigned to, and they're usually granted. My sister just graduated from Creek, even though we don't live in the attendance area of that school.

I on the other hand, went to Smoky Hill (class of 04), in south Aurora, and I think in many ways, Smoky Hill is one of the best schools in the state. It has an IB program (which I graduated from), a strong AP program, strong sports (other than football, which notoriously sucks), an excellent theater/ fine arts program; even though the actual school building is ugly and prison-like, it's a top notch school. At Smoky Hill there is true diversity-- a huge portion of the student body comes from countries all over the world-- when you walk down the hallways, you usually hear four or five different languages. There's also a wide wange of socioeconomic diversity, from quite humble areas to upper middle class represented at the school. Name pretty much any ivy league school or well known, prestigious school in the US I can probably name at least one, maybe even 2 or 3 of my peers who went there. The only complaint I have is some of the middle schools that feed into Smoky Hill leave a lot to be desired.

Then there's Grandview and Cherokee Trail, two new CCSD schools further out in SE Aurora. These are basically all white schools where everybody is upper middle class, pretty good on paper but not too much in the way of distinction. You could probably find a new or new-ish house in the attendance area of either of those schools for $325k. Point is, I'd look at southeast Aurora, which is in the CCSD school district, specifically 80016. Smoky Hill and the older part of SE Aurora is 80015. If you're willing to pay the tolls to jump on E-470 you can have a very easy, quick commute to the new Ikea store.

[Mike78613]

IKEA - When it was in Houston we used to go at least 3 times a year from Austin.
Then one opened in Austin (Round Rock) and we only went once. No biggie. Cheap furniture that when you move it once it will break. Cheap stuff and I am meaning both cheap cost and cheaply manufactured.

But expect lots and lots more chain retail stores right next to it

[Jake Gittes]

"325k doesn't buy much-- if anything-- in the Cherry Creek HS attendance area. Double that budget, and then we're talking."

Well, this is the kind of thing I need to know. The first response in this thread indicated you could find something for that price. If Littleton School District is also nice, and might be a little easier on the pocket book. We've lived in places where we had to spend double that on housing....would rather avoid having to do that if at all possible.

I have to get a good map. South Aurora? No idea how close to Centennial that is. You don't have to respond to that....I'll find it. Google maps ftw.

[Jake Gittes]

Mike78613

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...reenshot.1.jpg[/img]

"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by Jake Gittes

"325k doesn't buy much-- if anything-- in the Cherry Creek HS attendance area. Double that budget, and then we're talking."

Well, this is the kind of thing I need to know. The first response in this thread indicated you could find something for that price. If Littleton School District is also nice, and might be a little easier on the pocket book. We've lived in places where we had to spend double that on housing....would rather avoid having to do that if at all possible.

I have to get a good map. South Aurora? No idea how close to Centennial that is. You don't have to respond to that....I'll find it. Google maps ftw.

No, there are plenty of areas within the Cherry Creek School District that have good schools that are in your price range-- especially southeast Aurora. CCSD is a HUGE school district. What I said was that the Cherry Creek High School (which is only one of many schools within the district, but it's considered the flagship high school) attendance area, which encompasses Greenwood Village, part of Centennial (look at neighborhoods like Willow Creek-- they may be in your price range), and Cherry Hills Village has some of the highest home prices in suburban Denver.

Don't get so hung up on what the names of the municipalities are-- think in terms of cross streets and zip codes.

[2bindenver]

There are plenty of house in the CCSD for $300-$325.
There are plenty of house in thelittleton SD for $300-$325.
There are plenty of house in the DCSD for $300-$325.

what are you looking for?

[bhcompy]

you will be able to find houses in your range in any of those places.. take it from someone that did that search less than 6 months ago.

anyways, a warning, check out the schools individually before you purchase. being in the cherry creek district doesnt mean the school is the best, its just they have a solid record of good schools. we noticed this when researching schools in the area. some schools do better than others. and that goes for cherry creek and douglas

[Moonwalkr]

CCSD is the school district, and it's huge and like posters above said, not all schools in the district are the same. Cherry Creek High School is the well-known school in that district, but there are other high schools in that district. If you want real cold hard facts or test score data, you will need to go to the district website and check out each of the schools (there's a PDF factsheet about each school).

As I mentioned in a post above, you can find $300K houses districted for CCHS, but they are generally dated or fixer-uppers. Additionally the higher scoring elementary schools (such as Cherry Hills Village, Belleview, and Cottonwood Creek) that feed into CCHS are also more expensive areas. The difference is subtle but meaningful to some parents, you are comparing good elementary schools to excellent elementary schools.

[TexaCo Mom]

If you can get your hands on the September issue of 5280, their cover story is about Denver's top schools and what makes them so.

5280.com - September 2008 - The Honor Roll