Villages at Riverdale/Thornton (Broomfield: house, neighborhood, buy)

[Lizasya]

My husband and I just found a house we love in this neighborhood. We have a rising kindergartener and a 2 year old. West Ridge is our elementary school. We are moving in from out of state and don't have much info on the area except what our realtor has told us. I did notice a brand new elementary school (branther?) that just opened.

The house faces west and backs to the east. In the summer I know this will be nice but how about the winter? The house also backs to open space.

Anyone out there familiar with this neighborhood? School?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

Liz

[mic111]

I looked this neighborhood up. I live in the area so am familiar with it in a general sense. It is a nice area. The homes look nice. The elementary school is rated pretty high at an 8 but the middle is rated 3 and high school is rated 4. If this doesn't change it will affect resale, especially if the market cools off. This neighborhood could go down in value quite a bit when things cool off as I think good schools tend to cause a neighborhood to be attractive when things aren't selling.

Its probably not a bad choice for a newer home with a good elementary at a middle of the road price. If you look on the map to the west where the railroad tracks cross 128th that is a planned RTD light/medium rail stop. This isn't likely to be there for a long time but the RTD folks just put out the request for proposal so things are moving.

Just to the east is the Adams County Regional park which has some nice walking trails around their lake and along the Platte River (where you can go a long ways). They also have a kids playground and folks come out to play volleyball and picnic.

A little bit farther away but to the west is Eastlake. That is a great area to walk around. If I lived in Thornton I would try to pick a house within walking distance of Eastlake. In fact something like this might be a better long term buy because the schools are better (7, 8 and 6), it is considerably cheaper, and it will be closer to the eventual light rail.
4745 E 129th Pl, Thornton, CO 80241 - Zillow

13910 Grape St, Thornton, CO 80602 - Zillow with schools of 9,8 and 6 is also probably better but it might be over improved for the neighborhood. But this could mean that a lower offer might be accepted if they aren't getting alot of action due to their house being nicer than the rest.

Facing west and backing to the east could be OK depending on how the windows are positioned. If you have some exposure to the south light or west light in the main living areas it will likely be fine. If you only have eastern windows in the main living area it will be very dark pretty early in the winter.

Not sure of your price range but for $360K you could get into:
14265 Corrine Ct, Broomfield, CO 80023 - Zillow
With schools rated 9 elementary, 7 middle, and 9 high school this would be the clear winner if you could afford it.