looking for affordable, quality family area (Denver, Highlands Ranch: houses, good schools, to live)

[whetski]

my husband has been offered a job in denver and i was wondering which areas may be best for us to look to live. we are in our mid-thirties and have 3 children, ages 5, 3, & a baby. excellent schools are our first priority. we would like to spend about 300k for a house. and finally (at the risk of offending the locals...) i am not impressed by mountains, nor snow... i like a convenient, suburban lifestyle. thanks for your help!!!

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by whetski

my husband has been offered a job in denver and i was wondering which areas may be best for us to look to live. we are in our mid-thirties and have 3 children, ages 5, 3, & a baby. excellent schools are our first priority. we would like to spend about 300k for a house. and finally (at the risk of offending the locals...) i am not impressed by mountains, nor snow... i like a convenient, suburban lifestyle. thanks for your help!!!

It would help to tell us in what area of Denver you are going to be working. Denver and the suburbs are not in the mountains, they are on the Great Plains and it gets much less snow than the mountain communities.

All suburban areas around Denver can meet your requirements and you can have a good easy, convenient commute, depending where you are working??? Denver can also meet your needs because there are many areas of Denver that are very suburban in character.

Livecontent

[Charles]

This might come in handy:

Colorado School Performance Maps

[Mike78613]

How about frederick? Flat land, suburbs and probably get lot of house for 300k

[whetski]

wow, love that school map! the job is in littleton, so highlands ranch appears close with good schools... and i plan too find fredrick later today. thanks!

[Pilot1]

Great map!

[Katiana]

I'm stating the obvious here, but Frederick would be a h*** of a long commute. You can probably find what you want closer to the job.

[Mike78613]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I'm stating the obvious here, but Frederick would be a h*** of a long commute. You can probably find what you want closer to the job.

I was just teasing

[COflower]

Castle Rock (some areas that is), Highlands Ranch and Centennial are all good areas to look into.

I lived in Centennial (it wasn't Centennial then) but the schools are decent, the housing (just south of Greenwood Village) is older - think late 60s to early 80s - but established schools, easy access to all that you need, great trails and close enough to I-25 to get most anywhere in the metro area relatively quickly and with T-REX (widening of I-25 and the train) it makes it much easier to go places without driving your car all over the place.

I also liked that (even though you said you don't care about mtns and snow) C-470 was close enough that I could go up in the mountains pretty quickly.

EDIT: When I say Castle Rock (some areas that is), I am talking about having a home in your range. Oh and BTW, although the houses in Centennial are older, the area is established so the trails are well done with trees, streams and such. I miss it up there.

[whetski]

thanks for all of your help! i think highland ranch looks like the place for us -- i've located about a dozen homes to see.