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My wife and I are relocating our family to the Denver area in the next 6 months and would appreciate an honest assessment of the Denver suburbs.
After some exhaustive research of the Denver suburbs online, we are still confused what Denver suburbs would give us the most for our budget. We would like a nice 4-bedroom, 2.5/3-bath house in the $450k-$500k price range, but will both be commuting to Lakewood (Denver Federal Center) and would like to keep our commutes to under 45 minutes in traffic.
Of course, the most important things to us are good schools for the kids, a safe neighborhood, and normal amenities. Living in the Washington DC area (Maryland suburbs) we are well accustomed to the wealthy enclaves as well as the lower-income high crime areas. We live in a middle class area (Frederick County) where the typical house price is $400k-$500k. We could afford to live closer to DC, but we would be looking at $600k and above in pretty sketchy neighborhoods of Montgomery County with questionable public schools.
There are quite a few contradictory blogs out there concerning specific Denver suburbs. On the surface, Arvada appears to be a nice established suburb with a mix of newer homes. However, depending on where you are in Arvada, the schools vary in ranking. Ralston Valley HS appears to be the highest rated in that area (as well as nationally ranked).
From a bunch of other comments I've read, Highlands Ranch appears to be very materialistic, competitive and sprawling, but with good schools. We have areas in MD and Northern Virginia that are very similar (McMansions with expensive cars, etc.). I hesitate to believe all those comments, since some appear to be written out of jealousy. I think the material stuff can be found in every city now and is just a sign of the times.
There are a few other areas that interest us. They are:
I know these towns are all over the map and some may be unrealistic based on commute time and traffic, but I just thought I'd ask. I'm especially interested in opinions on crime trends and housing price trends. I've seen first hand how much Montgomery County, MD has gone down in 30 years. It's still considered one of the wealthiest in the country, but that is decieving. There are big pockets of low income housing with high crime. And every other school is bad. We, like many others, have moved farther out to avoid some of these problems.
I'd appreciate some feedback. Thanks very much.
Having grown up in the DC metro area, I agree with commenters that say Highlands Ranch is very NoVA, especially given the politics of Douglas County. Boulder County school district is probably closest to the quality range of MoCo, but the price is above your range and at the edge of your desired commute to Denver Federal Center. That said, if you can find a house in Fairview school district on the southern side of Boulder, you can take the GS bus straight to work (albeit about an hour each way). That would be my first choice if school district is that important.
Second choice would be Lakewood High School district--it has an IB program, and living in the district means no worries about school choice. You can try doing school choice to get in if you live outside the district, but I have no idea on the competition to get in there. The neighborhoods in north Lakewood/Wheat Ridge are of the 1950s-1960s vintage and reminiscent of Chevy Chase, MD, but not at the current wealth level of Chevy Chase--maybe something like Chevy Chase in the early 1980s. With the W line in place they should hold value well due to commute options to downtown.
Third choice would be west of the above in what is deemed "Applewood", also north Lakewood/Wheat Ridge and additionally unincorporated Jefferson County (with a Golden mailing address). This area is also of 1950s-1960s vintage. That's mostly Wheat Ridge High School (with the option for Golden High School west of I-70 for the Golden mailing addresses). Both good schools as far as I understand, but not great--WRHS has a gifted and talented program and offers AP Calculus BC, Golden does not.
These are from my experience of where I live in Applewood and knowing people who live in Boulder and research I have done accordingly. Options 2 and 3 would also be very close to work for you. Others familiar with the schools in Arvada or mid/south Lakewood and points south can chime in if they know the school quality there relative to what I've mentioned.
Generally, the further south you go from the Federal center will be newer (1970s+) homes with smaller lots than the north end of Lakewood and likely have HOAs. Downtown Littleton is the exception to this I think.
Location: I roam around. Spend most my time in the West or the Northwoods.
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I don't even consider Evergreen to be part of Denver. It is to Denver what Sonoma is to San Francisco. A commutable community with superior quality of life, but not by any means part of the metro.
Pretty hard to compare Evergreen with, for example, Broomfield. Your life would be quite different in one spot versus the other. In one, you are living in the mountains (or foothills). In the other, you are living in a metro area.
I work for a real estate agent so I'm pretty familiar with the areas you are looking. I would rule out Centennial and Broomfield just based on commute to the Federal Center. You are very fortunate with your work location because you have your choice of many really nice areas in the Western suburbs with an easy commute. Personally I really like some of the older (1970s or so) neighborhoods in Lakewood close to that area with larger lots and lots of trees. I'm not sure of the exact neighborhood name but one is off Garrison, Green Mountain area is really nice and the neighborhood just Southwest of the Belmar shopping area. I prefer more mature neighborhoods with pretty trees and landscaping. Not sure if you want newer but I think Solterra in Lakewood is still building. Not many trees but pretty houses and easy drive to the mountains. The schools are Jeffco.
We live in Littleton (80127) Ken Caryl area but not Ken Caryl proper (which is KC Ranch & The Valley). I love our area and our neighborhood and we were able to find a house with a very large lot. I think one of the things I love most about our neighborhood is the great mix of people. There are lots of kids for ours to play with but also some retired and empty nesters. My kids have many surrogate grandparents in the neighborhood which is great because we have no family here Our HOA does some fun events like concerts in the park, hayride/Santa at Christmas, Easter Egg Hunt, etc. It feels really established over here, everyone takes care of their homes and you are close to everything you need. The schools are also really good. If you have a chance check out Woodbourne, Canterbury, Willamsburg, Meadows Sanctuary, Ken Caryl Valley & Ken Caryl Ranch. With a price point of $450K-$500k you might have a hard time with the Valley. If you can go higher you would be able to find something pretty nice. We looked there with the same budget but that was a few years ago. There were some homes in that range when we looked but most needed some work with the size we wanted. It is beautiful there though and the elementary/ middle school is very good. People I know who live there love the community feel. The Ranch is really pretty too with a great community center/ pool just be sure to have an engineer check for foundation/structural issues if you are interested in a house there. We looked at one that was completely lopsided over there but they are not all like that and many have already been fixed/ mediated or never had issues.
There are actually some new builds being done now by Century Homes just West of Simms between Coal Mine & Ken Caryl right down the street from The Ridge Rec Center. Someone told me the lots are small but some will have nice views and are in the $500K range. That's a pretty area to check out too.
Golden is very nice too. I'm not a huge Arvada fan but mostly because I don't spend much time over there. One of the advantages with Arvada is you are close to Denver and Boulder. A good friend of mine lives in the Western part of Arvada and she is noticing the traffic in the shopping areas is getting worse and worse all the time. Her neighborhood is really nice though.
Good luck and hope you have a smooth transition. Like I said- you guys have some really great options based on work locations!
Many suburbs/town around Denver have different feels to them, in case that's important. They are all white bread and staid compared to the DC area, but some are cookie cutter suburban, some foothills get-away, some still a bit horsey. I think the OP should get off the net and on to a jet.
We are a married couple with sons in 11th and 5th grade, I think a trip out there is a definite must. I thought we knew enough just by visiting a couple of times in the past and doing a lot of reading and research. But We found out really fast that we needed to see it in person to feel it, if that makes sense. There are a lot of decent areas around the metro but each is distinctively different IMO.
We were really disappointed in highlands Ranch to be honest. If you are familiar at all with Chantilly VA I would compare it to South Riding but a bit bigger. A true soccer mom community with tiny little lots, short 1 car deep driveways, community mailboxes down the street and just a cheap overall feel
We really liked most of Centennial. Pretty good lot sizes. Older feel. 70's/80's homes, well maintained. No real complaints other than it feels a little more like a suburb than its own city. In Northern Virginia Id compare it to Burke or maybe more like Oakton but without all the water. It is close to Cherry Creek though and that is a nice area
We didn't spend a lot of time in Lakewood but got the feel that it is in a bit of transition. It looked like they are in the process of adding a lot of apartments. I think it is a nice city, but would compare it to Tysons Corner in the aspect that its the close in city that provides a lot of ease for commutes but will be overcrowded soon and a lot of mixed housing options. But the town of Lakewood seems nice overall.
We were also referred to Arvada, but never even made it there because we ultimately fell in love with Littleton. we liked the areas east of Wadsworth and all they way to Centennial. Littleton reminds us of a large version of Vienna VA really cute downtown, Nice homes, very well taken care of. Seems like people take a lot of pride in living there and there is a ton of shopping, dining, entertainment etc and the commute downtown is easy, but not sure how it is to the Federal area. We are under contract on a house in 80123 off Bowles Ave just west of Sante Fe and love love love the neighborhoods We currently Live in Fairfax VA and it has a similar feel except instead of such generic strip centers, they are a little more modern and definitely has more variety
Our agent told us to just stay away from Broomfield and Parker. Not for safety reasons, just because it is the trendy area where "EVERYONE" is moving and traffic is horrible. My wife works with people who moved to new homes in thornton and regret it as well
A LOT OF PEOPLE complain about the bad traffic in Denver, but id compare it more to Weekend 495 traffic in DC. It is slow but on our last couple of days we purposely went out at 730am and late afternoon/evening and drove around and noticed slow downs at the downtown exits, slow on the north side i70 and slow south 470 toward Highlands Ranch. But nothing like i270 or 66 here in DC. It took us 35 minutes to get downtown from Highlands Ranch at 730am and19 minutes from Littleton a little before 8 am the next day.
I sent you a private message, if you want to chat more id be happy to help. I can even text or email you some pics we took of the area when we were there of the neighborhoods. good luck to you
. No real complaints other than it feels a little more like a suburb than its own city.
That is because Centennial was unincorporated Arapahoe County until 2001 when it was formed by the residents to combat Greenwood Village annexing the areas along I-25 and grabbing the tax base. Centennial still has fairly low taxes today.
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Our HOA does some fun events like concerts in the park, hayride/Santa at Christmas, Easter Egg Hunt, etc. It feels really established over here, everyone takes care of their homes and you are close to everything you need. The schools are also really good. If you have a chance check out Woodbourne, Canterbury, Willamsburg, Meadows Sanctuary, Ken Caryl Valley & Ken Caryl Ranch. With a price point of $450K-$500k you might have a hard time with the Valley. If you can go higher you would be able to find something pretty nice. We looked there with the same budget but that was a few years ago. There were some homes in that range when we looked but most needed some work with the size we wanted. It is beautiful there though and the elementary/ middle school is very good. People I know who live there love the community feel. The Ranch is really pretty too with a great community center/ pool just be sure to have an engineer check for foundation/structural issues if you are interested in a house there. We looked at one that was completely lopsided over there but they are not all like that and many have already been fixed/ mediated or never had issues.
