Affordable housing, good school

[bhcompy]

Northern Douglas County areas like Highlands Ranch and Parker will certainly fit a) suburban b) $200k or less and c) good schools. Both of those areas have light rail into downtown, and, at least with Parker, it's cheaper to live near the rail than further south.

[insahmniak]

So of the suggested burbs with good schools and something under 200k, which have best commutes? Worst? Job is at CU Denver (downtown).

[Count David]

Check out Arvada, Wheat Ridge, and Lakewood.

[insahmniak]

A big Thank You to everyone for the advice and information. We haven't arrived at a decision yet. There is a lot to weigh and it's going to take some time to sort out.

Can I derail my own thread now? What kind of reputation does CU Denver have as an employer? Do they tend to keep their people on or lay off regularly? Is there much promotion from within? Are wages there average for the city or considered higher or lower? I realize it's a big institution and hard probably hard to generalize. But I'll take anecdotal information if you have any. The position is non-academic, at the downtown campus.

[denver_hacker]

Originally Posted by insahmniak

A big Thank You to everyone for the advice and information. We haven't arrived at a decision yet. There is a lot to weigh and it's going to take some time to sort out.

Can I derail my own thread now? What kind of reputation does CU Denver have as an employer? Do they tend to keep their people on or lay off regularly? Is there much promotion from within? Are wages there average for the city or considered higher or lower? I realize it's a big institution and hard probably hard to generalize. But I'll take anecdotal information if you have any. The position is non-academic, at the downtown campus.

CU in general has a good rep. It's a Government job, so it'll have more red tape than a smaller private organization, but has good bennies. In general, I'd guess that their wages are going to be lower than private sector, but their benefits might make up for some of that. CU is also subject to the state's spending, which in Colorado is going through interesting times right now because there are conflicting mandates between spending money on schools and staying inline with tax revenue.

I interviewed at CU Anschutz Medical Center a while back for a non-academic job and got an offer. The benefits were good, and I liked the idea of working in the CU system...but it ultimately didn't work out.

I tend to think that job security is roughly the same anywhere nowadays - not good. Companies and governments are both struggling. Denver can be hit or miss in terms of finding work, and it's a small town - your reputation is very important here, especially since everyone is at most two degrees of separation away (usually one). I guess you'd need to weigh whether or not there are more opportunities here than Idaho.

A commute from Highlands Ranch or Littleton into downtown isn't bad along the Santa Fe light rail line. There's a new light rail line going in along 6th ave from downtown to the west that'll be open in 2013. And there's good bus service at the park and rides along 36.

The whole transit system is really set up with downtown Denver as the central hub of the area. Having a job downtown means you can benefit from mass transit. A bad commute would be from Parker to Boulder, or near DIA to Morrison.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by davidv

Here is a possibility:

Bear Creek K-8 school is a very good school in South Jefferson county. I know several people and their kids who love the school.

The attendance boundaries of the school are here.

Some affordable, but nice apartment complexes in the area include The Retreat at Fox Hollow, Whisper Creek, and Preserve@Weaver Creek.

There are some houses in the area that can be bought for around $200k search Westborough Park in Lakewood. The zip code is 80227.

Bear Creek K-8 school is what I would recommend as well.

There are condos adjacent to the school for ~130k, approximately 15-20 to downtown, 30 in traffic, here is one for 114k:

10613 West Dartmouth Avenue, Lakewood CO | MLS# 1052346 - Trulia