Help with schools and neighborhood! (Denver, Lakewood: real estate, 2015, leasing agent)

[Slang7]

Hi! My family and I currently live in Encinitas California. We are planning on moving to Denver by 6/2015 at the latest. We do not know where we will be working yet. My dilemma is that I do not know what neighborhoods to consider as Denver seems incredibly spread out. Here are my specific questions and issues:

1. What is best option for a family friendly neighborhood if we don't know job location yet? I know that people say to live near where you work, but don't people switch jobs every once in awhile? I don't want to feel stuck at a job simply because of where I live. That being said, our reason for moving to Denver is to simplify and slow down so I'm hoping to avoid a major commute and traffic.

2. My daughter will be starting kindergarten in the Fall. What do I do? I can't participate in the choice application since we aren't yet CO residents. It seems like many really nice neighborhoods are assigned low ranking schools. I don't know what district to consider etc. and based on my reading on this forum it seems that schooling in the Denver area is a bit political. Help!!! This is really stressing me out. I want my daughter to have a great kindergarten experience. I want to start at a school and stay there. I want to meet like-minded people, and make friends. I want the school to be like a community and welcoming.

3. Where is my tribe? We are late thirties, have two girls (4 and 1). We are both professionals (school psychologist and real estate). We like down to earth people (not snobby or pretentious), we enjoy being outside (hiking, running, skiing, etc), having neighborhood get togethers, taking our dogs to the dog park, watching sports (my husband), eating good food, etc. we don't know anyone in Denver and want to make friends that are as close as family.

4. Is living more urban better or worse for families? We love love love the neighborhoods of Washington Park, Hilltop, Welshire, Park Hill, with the different architecture, trees, and walkability to some things. That being said, we can't afford a million dollar house and want to be comfortable. We want to live amongst our peers and don't know who makes up these neighborhoods and if there are young(ish) families in these neighborhoods. We also can't afford to buy for more than $600k so that's also a factor. Ideally we'd like to be below $500k. That's why we've looked in the suburbs, but have mixed feelings. We like that we'd have more space, but we don't love the tract housing and lack of trees. The best suburb-y area we found was Ken Caryl, because of its proximity to the mountains and the amount of trees. What're Lakewood and other suburbs like? Highlands Ranch feels too cookie cutter, but perhaps that's where our tribe is? I just don't know!

5. Should we rent or buy first? My hesitation with renting is that I don't want to throw away that money (I.e., it's not going towards a mortgage) or get locked into a lease if we find a great house, and I'd like to have stability in terms of my daughters schooling. My hesitation with buying is making a mistake in terms of the neighborhood and then being stuck.

So here would be my absolute ideal if I could wave a magic wand. We'd live in a neighborhood that looks like Wellshire (older homes, mixed architecture, somewhat larger lots, wide streets with lots of trees) that is affordable (500k or less) and made up of normal professional families - not the stay at home mom who's married to a millionaire, very focused on appearance, and cliquish (often found here in Encinitas). Our house would be 3-4 bedrooms, 2000 sq ft minimum, with a yard and very bright/light inside. Our neighbors wouldn't be 20 feet away from our lot line. I'd love to buy a fixer-upper with good bones and that is livable. My kids would go to a school that they could walk to that is warm, friendly and inviting and has a strong sense of community. Green space would be nearby and the community would be active. Commute would be no more than 30min even with traffic and weather.

Ahhhh! There's so much to consider and so many question marks in our future. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I'm really feeling stressed about the school issue in particular and just don't even know where to start. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Sorry I'm so long-winded 😁

[mic111]

Ah, a planner. I recognize you because I am also one. I know you don't want to hear it but there is no point in looking at neighborhoods until you have a job. There are loads of good neighborhoods in every area of the metro area. When you have a job location some of them that are within 30 min. and have good schools can be suggested.

[Slang7]

Thx mic111, I've heard that from a couple people. But,here's the thing. I am a planner and the school thing is stressing me out. I work as a school psychologist and as such my job location could vary greatly from year to year (staying within one district though, but for example Boulder County school district covers 500 square miles). And it's highly likely my husband and I will be working in different areas. Is there really no happy middle ground, so to speak? Do people in Denver never change jobs and job locations? Or if they do, do they also move? It seems so odd to me as I currently live in a metro area and the living where you work isn't really an issue.

[bluescreen73]

A good question to ask is what job sector(s) are you in? If it's IT, the highest concentration of those jobs are in the Denver Tech Center on the south side of town, downtown, and along the US-36 corridor between Westminster and Boulder.

[Slang7]

I'm a school psychologist so will have to apply to one of the 13!!! school districts in the metro area. My husband works in commercial real estate acquisitions, analysis, finance. Hope that helps. Thx!

[emm74]

Yes, people change jobs but they either limit the area they look, or they accept that they will have a longer commute. That's what makes it pretty tough to give a lot of concrete answers. I'm guessing that your husband's most likely target zone will be downtown Denver, so maybe try to start exploring a 30 minute radius from there and see what starts to look like the kind of place you are interested in and then you can focus your own search in that direction. You might end up in the suburbs 20-30 minutes from home in one direction for your job while he travels the same 20-30 minutes in a different direction. But there isn't a middle ground that can guarantee you a less than 30 minute commute because as you noted, the Denver metro area is pretty spread out.

As for urban or not, it's a personal choice, but it's going to involve trade offs - at your price point, you aren't going to get as much house or anything close to what sounds like the amount of land you want unless you head out the suburbs.

[JohnnyDenver]

Originally Posted by mic111

Ah, a planner. I recognize you because I am also one. I know you don't want to hear it but there is no point in looking at neighborhoods until you have a job. There are loads of good neighborhoods in every area of the metro area. When you have a job location some of them that are within 30 min. and have good schools can be suggested.

Agreed . . . where are you with potential job employment, et al.? Have you applied to these school districts and received any interviews? Does your husband have any contacts in the Denver area for his potential job prospects? I do know several people in teaching programs in college and they are student teaching and applying to every school district in the area. It's not an easy market, but with the influx of people to the metro area, if the funding is there more schools will need to be constructed.

As to commercial real estate, does your husband specialize as a leasing agent? The best work in this area is for actual construction personnel and attorneys who are involved in the negotiating and compliance issues and those actually doing the construction.

I'm not sure about the area of California you live in, but from my trips to the LA area on business, I can tell you that traffic here is not all that better than the LA metro area.

[davebarnes]

Slavens K-8 in Denver Public Schools.
You must live within the boundary.

[Count David]

OP, why are you moving to Denver in the first place? I mean, it's the same size as San Diego, has comparable (if not worse) traffic, all you're doing is trading surfboards for snowboards, and cool summers for warmer summers, and cool winters for cold winters.

"Simplify and slow down" does not = Denver. At all. Maybe if you're from Manhattan or The Loop, but the only slow down you'll see between here and CA is in (customer and food) service.

[mic111]

Originally Posted by Slang7

...I am a planner and the school thing is stressing me out....Do people in Denver never change jobs and job locations? Or if they do, do they also move?...

To be perfectly honest it is silly to worry about the schools. Just buy in a neighborhood with good schools. Then you don't have to worry about trying to choice into something. There are loads of good schools and good neighborhoods. You can find walkable neighborhoods everywhere. You can have access to trails everywhere.

Yes people change jobs but they generally try to stay within commute range. If they aren't then yes they do move. Employers are also cognizant of how the commute affects their employees and all things being equal will hire the person who lives within a reasonable commute or has expressed a desire to move because they know that if they hire someone with a miserable commute they aren't likely to stay.

People move to CO for the quality of life (great weather, outdoor activities, like minded people etc). They want to spend their non-working hours on a trail or a bike. They do not want to spend it in a car. If you move here and set yourself up for a miserable commute then you might as well have not bothered to move at all.