Friendly, walkable neighborhoods w/ lots of kids? (Denver, Highlands Ranch: real estate, townhouse)

[evaofnc]

My husband and I are exploring the idea of him transferring to his company's Denver office (located in Lone Tree). Right now we live in a neighborhood built in the 70s with lots of diverse families, neighborhood meetups, walking distance to Trader Joe's and lots of great restaurants/shops, good schools, yaadaa yaadaa. Ideally we'd like to find a neighborhood with a similar vibe if he decides to take the transfer. I've done a lot of reading on this page but it's honestly very overwhelming!

Do such neighborhoods exist in the Denver area? We are perfectly happy with older construction and smaller houses if that's what it takes to find what we're looking for Our current house is about 1500 sqft and we can't imagine going much bigger than that since we only have one child.

I will be joining him on one of his business trips this fall to check out the area myself so plan on checking out some of your suggestions to get a sense of where we should concentrate on looking.

Thanks in advance for the help and suggestions!

[philberf]

For within the city of Denver, the automatic default for lots of kids is Stapleton. There are other neighborhoods with kids, but probably none with the concentration to rival stapleton. However, it is not very walkable compared to other places. For more age diversity in both homes and residents, with walkability, and since you only have 1 kid (do you want more?) you may end up moving more centrally to places like Hilltop/Crestmoor/Mayfair/congress park.

Much of what you can do will depend on budget at this point. Do you care about suburb vs. in Denver proper?

If your husband is working in Lone Tree, Stapleton may be a bit far of a commute, depending on your preferences.

[SkyDog77]

Budget?
Acceptable commute time?

[2bindenver]

There is Lone Tree, Highlands Ranch Centennial & Parker to be researched.

No TJ's in Douglas County but we have Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Vitamin Cottage.

[evaofnc]

Budget would really depend on the type of relocation package they offer. Would definitely like to keep it under $400k and ideally closer to $300k though I've noticed from real estate listings that's a rare find in a lot of areas out there.

Suburb is fine as long as it's reasonably walkable. Where we live now I have a 30-minute drive to work and even that feels long to me lol. I have a much higher threshold for long commute times if it's on a train.

[philberf]

Consider Centennial/Littleton to be close to work. Options widen if work in Lone Tree is close to light rail.

[evaofnc]

Yes he said the office there is close to the lightrail station which is great! And yes we'll only have one kid so no need to upsize after a couple years

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by evaofnc

Yes he said the office there is close to the lightrail station which is great! And yes we'll only have one kid so no need to upsize after a couple years

Your budget eliminates a lot of the walkable neighborhoods in Denver that are close to light rail with a lot of kids. The high $400's might be doable, but there won't be a lot. You'll have to look along the SE rail corridor (the E and F lines) for houses if you want to keep the commute time down via transit. I'd look around the Colorado, Yale, and Southmoor Stations. If light rail isn't a big thing, then Centennial/Littleton are strong possibilities; there's a historic downtown in Littleton where there is a good amount of walkability. Lone Tree is also working on some walkable neighborhoods, but they're pretty lousy at this time.

Stapleton is a possibility (I live there and 90% of the residences consist of families with kids), but the commute wouldn't be too fun.

[emm74]

Don't bother with Stapleton - it's not a great commute to Lone Tree plus it's not in budget anyway. Walkable is debatable, as that varies by exact location and the equation will change again based on pending commercial development.

OP, would you consider a townhouse rather than a single family? That would give you some more options in your price range.

I would also recommend you do some research regarding school districts. A lot of the areas you might look at with a job in Lone Tree will be in the Douglas County district, and for some people, that could be a dealbreaker. So I would recommend trying to figure out what districts you are ok with, so you can narrow down your search parameters if you rule anything out.

[evaofnc]

Are park and ride stations a thing out there? That's how I commuted when living on Long Island which helped with the crazy commutes up there.

We've definitely been surprised by housing costs in Denver. About 50% more than what you see in the Raleigh area even for older housing stock!