Denver Relocation area / school info

[Moonwalkr]

Hi, if you are interested in Cherry Creek schools, you can try the 80111 zip which is where we live. Depending on your needs, the houses are a tad older, but the values have held up over the years mainly due to location and schools. 500K is doable but again it depends on whether you need land, and what sort of updates you want already in place.

I've seen outdated houses in Greenwood Village with 1 acre selling for 800k, these houses are only 2500sf but with 1 acre you can certainly invest in the upgrades to really McMansion them.

As you are looking for the best elementary and high schools around that area, try searching properties with Cherry Creek High and Belleview/Cottonwood Creek Elementary, they all have great curriculum.

[coloradosteener]

Interested in Parker, Golden, Evergreen; however, I do need to check schooling in these areas. I do understand Cherry Creek and Douglas County have the best. I'm not working at the moment, so I am flexible.

I have family in Cherry Creek and Highlands Ranch. Cherry Creek is too citified for us and Highlands Ranch is too "generic". We want about 1-2 acres of land with this $700,000 house.

Commute wise, ideally less than 1 hour during rush hour (ha, ha, she says!).

[steveindenver]

I would not touch any of the areas mentioned in this thread if there is a commute downtown involved. Why put yourself through that hassle when you could have all of the amenities you asked for and a 15 minute car or 25 minute bike commute?

Consider Stapleton or even Lowry. Trails, walking or biking distance to restaurants and groceries, great schools with the caveat that currently the default high school is still George Washington which is great only if you get into the IB program, otherwise it is worth the effort to list for East which is actually a little closer anyway.

The 550-900 real estate market is starting to see a hit, in large part due to the credit crunch that leaves many people who in the past could qualify easily for a jumbo unable to do so now. As such prices in that range in most areas have taken a dive. The further you are from the city, the steeper the depreciation (in general) has been.

Stapleton has bucked this trend; for now. The 1.1-1.3 million dollar homes however are sitting and rotting.

[Moonwalkr]

I'm not sure if OP can find a 1-2 acre home in Stapleton or Lowry for 700k. Plus there are a lot of 'ifs' for schooling in that area. For high school aged kids at this point, I'd rather send them to a school like Cherry Creek where the only focus is on higher academics.

[Katiana]

I think working downtown expands your options. In re: public transit, almost all roads lead to downtown, that is, it's much easier to get there on public transit than to Broomfield (one of the high-tech employment centers, for the OP's benefit) or Boulder (ditto).

(PLease excuse any typos I miss; I just got back from the eye dr!)

[steveindenver]

No but you won't find a 1-2 acre home in that price range with the bike trails etc anywhere within easy commuting from downtown either. In fact you are not going to find a 1-2 acre home with much of anything within an easy commute to downtown in that price range.

GW is highly rated in the IB program. East is highly rated too. The knee-jerk reaction to recommend all Cherry Creek schools as better than all DPS schools in innacurate and unfortunate.

I'm also not sure I understand the comment regarding Cherry Creek only focusing on academics. John Elway is an assistant coach in their football program as his son attends the school -- and they have a good name in virtually all athletic endeavors they participate in.