Family moving to (Denver, Lakewood, Littleton: for sale, rent, houses)

[dekkmama]

I have been lurking this site for the past several months as a move was likely and now it is time for my post! My family will likely be moving to Southwest Denver area (95% sure) and I would love your input. We were out in the area a couple of weeks ago and got a sense of some of the area and will be back next week. So I would love direction on what neighborhoods to drive through and checkout so we maximize our time-- what are great areas in Lakewood and south? We are preparing ourself that just my husband might be out doing actual walkthroughs and making the call on our house while I am home with our girls, so I want to see as much as I can while I am out in the area.

Some information about us: We are avid hikers and backpackers, mountain biking (hubby) and road biking (both of us). Looking to buy a home and being able to regular live an adventurous life - 3 bedroom- in the highly competitive $350,000 range. Work will be in Littleton. We have two little girl with my oldest entering kindergarten. With our girls entering school, we want a great school. Sadly, we noticed there really aren't any language immersion schools here (what we have at home)-- but we love inquiry based schools, PBL, and other ways that schools are being innovative. We are Minnesotans, so used to the snow, and we are intrigued by the idea of living in the foothills where great hikes are everywhere. Any midwesterners out there who moved to the area? How is it getting used to those windy roads in the winter? There are homes right now in our range in the Conifer area and the commute would be 20 minutes (in good weather).

I greatly appreciate any advice you have. And if you need any further information, just let me know! I tried to cover the bases but am off to settle my girls for bed so hitting the submit button

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

I lived in Conifer for five years and commuted to downtown Littleton. As long as your house is on a school bus route, the roads will (usually) be cleared quickly. In fact, the roads in the foothills are cleared quicker than those in town.

Where in "Littleton" (cross streets) is your husband's job?

[dekkmama]

Bowles and 470

[SkyDog77]

You'll likely be in Jefferson Country School district. Foster Elementary has Spanish immersion. It is north Jeffco though so maybe not too convenient.

There are many other immersion programs in the area if that is very important to you.

[dekkmama]

I did find Foster on JeffCo's website-thanks! Haven't driven around that area yet, currently there aren't any homes in our price range in the school's boundaries. I haven't come across other immersion programs so I will have to keep digging. There are so many schools! If you happened to know any specific schools with immersion programs, I would love to hear about them. Thanks!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by dekkmama

Bowles and 470

Just be aware that this is not in the city limits of the City of Littleton. It has a Littleton mailing address, but is actually unincorporated Jefferson County. So when you are looking around at houses, many may say Littleton, but they are actually not in the Littleton School District. Can be very confusing for newcomers.

[alliern]

Commuting from Conifer to C-470 and Bowles would be a painless commute almost all of the time with the exception of super snowy days and when there is the occasional accident in the canyon or at Windy Point on 285. If there was an accident on 285, you could come up/down Deer Creek Canyon/Pleasant Park Road into Conifer...so there is another option besides the highway to get to work.

The public schools in Conifer have great reputations, but there's another option that you can check out which is a newly formed school named Harmony Hills Academy. Right now they have K-7th grades. It might be closer to what you are looking for.

Our inventory has picked up as the summer has gone on and there would be some good options for your family in your price range.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by dekkmama

I did find Foster on JeffCo's website-thanks! Haven't driven around that area yet, currently there aren't any homes in our price range in the school's boundaries. I haven't come across other immersion programs so I will have to keep digging. There are so many schools! If you happened to know any specific schools with immersion programs, I would love to hear about them. Thanks!

Many of these may not be convenient from a location standpoint, but here are options with language immersion that I'm aware of:

Denver Language School (Denver Public Schools) Denver Language School

Global Village Academy (Network of Charter Schools) Global Village Academies

International School of Denver (Private School) International School of Denver |

Colorado International School (Private School) Colorado International School | Give your children the world

There may be others

[dekkmama]

Thanks everyone for your responses. We will be there midweek so planning out where to drive around and what schools to contact and visit. How about Lakewood or the area south of 285? How do the neighborhoods compare concerning both homes and the community, as well as the schools.

[2bindenver]

Check out Search homes for sale & rent in Denver and Colorado for homes for sale. You can see what is available in that area in your price range. Most of the area is unincorporated Jefferson County. Same school district as Lakewood. There is a part of Denver and a part of Lakewood south of Hampden (285) in a community called Grant Ranch.