Relocating for job in Greenwood Village (Denver, Aurora: middle-class, homes, buy)

[amb]

Hi all, I've done a search, but I thought it was still worthwhile to post asking for input. I appreciate any and all information y'all can share, as my husband is being offered a job in Greenwood Village and we know nothing about the Denver area.

We have a 13 year old son, so obviously we want an area that is good for children. From my search it seems the schools in Greenwood Village are very good, however the homes may be a bit out of our price range. We are hoping to find a home under the $300,000 mark (wouldn't mind going even lower if possible).

I would like suggestions of areas near to Greenwood Village that 1-would be a good place to raise a teenager, 2- have homes under the $300,000 range.

Any additional information about the areas you suggest would be great. Like I said we know nothing of the area so I'm interested in everything from, safety, to dog parks, to community colleges, traffic, etc.

Phew, sorry I didn't intend for my post to be quite so long. Thanks.

[2bindenver]

Besides good schools for a teenager, what is important to you in a community?
You can buy a home in south Denver for less than $300,000 - average price for a single family home for April $283,000.

Safety? Denver suburbs are not known for being reckless.
Dog Parks? We got them.
CC? Arapahoe CC is on Sante Fe west of GV (20 minutes via C-470)
Traffic - yup we got that too. Easier on the eyes to commute from east to west in the morning, but sometimes ya gotta live where ya gotta live.

[amb]

Well, we'd like a short easy commute to Greenwood Village, a family friendly community with activities for the family as a whole and for our son on his own. A home with a yard (fenced or that we could fence)

I'd prefer to be slightly more rural than not, but that's not a deal killer, because I would also like easy access to public transportation.

A dream dinners or similar such place close, a great CSA that we could join.

Does that help answer your questions? Do you need more specific information?

Also I assumed Denver has traffic, however we live in Las Vegas right now and traffic is horrible here, I was hoping for maybe some details on the traffic situation. Is it terrible all the time? Are there certain areas to stay away from? Is traffic only difficult between the hours of 4:30p-5:30p?

Thanks for all the help, again we know nothing of this area so I'm grateful for any information people are willing to share.

[tfox]

You don't have to pay GV prices to be in the Cherry Creek School District. Parts of Centennial and South Aurora are part of the same school district and offer middle class suburban living at middle-class prices.

Traffic in the south burbs is bad at times, but I think comparable to other cities of Denver's metro population, or possibly better than average. I've noticed that after about 6:00pm or so things definitely calm down. In the south metro I-25 is actually not too bad after the recent expansion project, and the toll road E-470 never has traffic, but if you check out the toll rates you'll understand why. C-470 (the portion of 470 west of I-25) is pretty bad though. I-70 through Denver can be bad as well, but if you're living down south you'll probably not take it too much.