Relocating to Denver, Co

Dear S.,

Good luck with the move. I am a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, and I have contacts in the Denver area. I could put you in touch with an agent there, if that would help. If so, please let me know. Best way to reach me is ###-###-#### (cellular) or ____@____.com (direct email address). Others I know who have moved to the area, absolutely LOVE the lifestyle there. It's more relaxed than around here. I bet yall will be happy there.

Deb D

I grew up in Denver and Aurora. The Cherry Creek School District in Aurora is very good. Stay out of the Denver Public Schools and any district in Aurora other than Cherry Creek. I graduated high school from Englewood High School in the suburb of Engelwood and it was a very good school. If you are considering heading towards the foothills to the west, (beautiful part of the state btw) then Jefferson County has great public schools. I am not sure about the schools but you might also want to consider areas like Lakewood, Longmont, Parker, Castle Rock or Franktown. I am a Denver Gal myself, I love the city. But these are all nice suburban areas without a horrible commute into downtown or the Denver Tech Center.

Hi S.,
Go with the Cherry Creek School District in the Aurora area. It's comparable if not better than Keller ISD. We were close to moving there in June last year but something else came up and my husband ended up not taking the position. We have friends that live in Aurora and their daughter attends Cherry Creek schools, they have nothing but great things to say about them. You do have to watch which area of Aurora you end up in, you need to be south or you'll end up in Aurora's school district - not as highly ranked.
Cost of living is more there expensive than here but just about anywhere is more expensive than the DFW area when it comes to housing. Taxes are comparable. If you're truly relocating with your husband's company they should have someone to assist you with all the stuff that goes with it. Realtors etc.

Aurora HS is huge....your children might adapt better to the Highlands Ranch/Littleton/Cherry Creek area. I moved here from Highlands Ranch - wonderful, family centered community. Castle Rock is wonderful too. You'll love it out there - so much to do! Hiking and biking trails....make sure you take the kids to Waterton Canyon....and teach them how to ski! You'll love it - I'm jealous. :-)

Congratulations on your new adventure! Denver is a beautiful place. Contact your husband's company's HR department and ask them to recommend a realtor in that area. He/she can help you research the answers to all your questions. Their fees are paid by the seller, not the buyer, so USE them! That's what they are paid and trained to do.

Good luck!

M.
"Our pediatrician misses us. So does the pharmacist."
Visit my Mamasource profile to find out why

We have family who have lived in Aurora all their life and LOVE it... I can email my cousin to see what district they were in- It is gorgeous over there. I would pick up and move in a heartbeat to CO! Good luck!

first i just want to say how jealous i am :) we lived in colorado springs for a few years and we absolutely loved it in colorado. i don't know about denver but the taxes in the springs were practically nothing, they literally were about $300 a year so you can afford more than you think. what i would do is look up the tax appraisal district for the town you want to live in and it should be able to tell you what taxes are. because colorado has a state income tax i think the property taxes are lower. good luck.

My husband's brother and his family live in Littleton. I know they are very happy with their neighborhood and their school. Their school is good but I know she mentioned several others send to private so I guess they are not all that way. We live in Keller and I know we have 1000 more sq foot. We paid $200,000 less than they did and they lucked into a great deal. Housing is VERY expensive there but I am not sure about the overall cost of living.

Hi S.,

I lived in Denver for several years and all I can say is you are a lucky girl. I have been back here for 12 years and I still miss Denver. I agree with the others about Cherry Creek District. Aurora is a huge area and there are parts to stay out of for sure. Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock are also good. The cost of living is more but with the housing situation you should be able to get something at a fantastic price. Good Luck!

We moved to the DFW area from CO 3 years ago and really miss the 4-season weather and skiing. Yes, houses are definately more expensive there (though you do get a basement!!!!!), but auto and homeowners insurance and property taxes are a lot less, so your mortgage payment should pretty much stay the same (our's did, unfortunately, as we were hoping for it to be less by moving here). Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock are prime places to live there and are just south of Littleton, where you are considering. They are also in Douglas County, a top school district in the state, so I've heard. We lived in the Adams County school district (Noth of Denver), which I would not recommend. What I would recommend most is a charter school, which there are a lot of in CO. Most of them use the Core Knowledge Curriculum, which I highly recommend (and miss very much). I'm not sure charter schools are best athletic-wise, though. Usually kids at charter schools can participate in sports at their neighborhood schools. Best wishes to you - I envy you. I'm not at all a fan of the weather here, especially in the summer!

Hi S., good luck with your move. I think you'll like it there. I grew up in what was called Englewood at the time, but is now called Centennial. I went to Cherry Creek schools (Dry Creek Elementary, Campus Middle Unit and Cherry Creek High School) which are EXCELLENT. My family all still live there and Cherry Creek still has the best reputation. Their athletics are excellent also. Ask anyone around and you'll hear the same. My brother is even insisting to his wife that they pull her kids out of very posh private schools (in the Washington Park area) to go to "Creek" high school for football. I lived in a neighborhood off of Yosemite Street between Arapahoe Road and County Line Road. Lots of family neighborhoods in that area. There are also some very expensive neighborhoods that feed into Cherry Creek schools, though too. Centennial is definitely the more affordable area for that district. Take advantage of the mountains........hiking, skiing, etc.! Good luck.

Wow, you are sooo lucky to be moving to Denver...think beautiful mountains for the weekend, versus the flattest of lands!!

I just moved from DFW to Austin (as close as I can get to Colorado right now---topography-wise) and I did exactly what TL is recommending to you: I put an Austin zipcode into a new Mamasource registration and had an Austin community of mamas to which I could ask my questions about Austin neighborhoods, schools, etc, and then once I was here, I received great doctors recommendations from those mamas!!

I also looked on the state's Texas Education Agency website http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index.aspx to see the "accountability ratings", which showed me the history of a school's ratings, i.e. whether a particular school has been CONSISTENTLY rated as at least "recognized", if not "exemplary" (there are multi-year reports to look at in Texas). Yes, these ratings are based on standardized testing, but it's the only way I know to compare schools.

I'm sure that Colorado has the same type of website. Just search for Colorado + education and it's bound to be the top listing.

Once I had a list of schools that were acceptable to me, I supplied that list to our realtor, who was able to search for homes for sale with the schools as one of the criteria!!!

Well, I hope this helps you. Good luck in your move!

Oh, one more thing...I think since the national housing market is seriously hurting, this may be the perfect time to purchase a home where prices would have MOST corrected...which would be the more expensive areas...as long as you feel you'll be there for a few years ('cause who knows where the bottom of this market will be before it goes back up again), then you may be able to make some dough when the market recovers...

Have fun!
D.

We recently relocated to Ft Worth so I know what you are going through. There is a great web site called Greatschools.something(not sure if it is net, com, or edu). They will give you all sorts of info on schools. From that we chose 5 public schools that we thought would fill our needs. When we went house hunting we visited those schools first and spoke to the principals. Check out the attitudes of the office staff and students in the halls. From those visits only one school stood out. Staff was happy, polite, welcoming and helpful. The children in the halls seemed happy to be there and willingly participating in the classes. We then spoke to our realtor and only looked at homes in that school district. Because your child is 10 you may need to check out elem. and middle schools. We ran into that because some districts 6th grade is in elem and some jr high. Either way it will not be long before he/she will move up. Sometimes a good elem does not feed into a good upper school system so be careful. Moving is a great experience for children but it takes a lot of adjustment and they are not always happy at first. We were lucky, our child loved it the first day and everyday since. He came from a Charter School and were not sure how he would adjust but it is great. Good luck with your move. we have moved a lot and always loved it. May God Bless your move and new life.

S.,
You can find a zip code for where you are thinking you want to move and then post on Mamasource in that area asking your questions. I did that when we thought we were moving to Arkansas and had some great mamas give me some really good info!
Good luck!

my sister (a texan) lives in denver and LOVES It. they live in parker where the schools are excellent. I'm pretty sure that overall their education standards are simply higher than in texas. There are actually alot of texans that live in the denver area. People who live in denver love it and it was rated one of the best places to live recently.

As far as housing. Half of our mortgages goes to taxes. you don't have to pay that in denver so even though their houses are soo much more expensive the actual monthly payment really isn't that much more.
Good luck with your move. I've only visisted a few times but every time i do i really love it. It's so much cleaner there than here.

S.,

Denver is a major city, so I am sure that it has nice suburbs. When my husband and I relocated here from Florida, he asked his new boss (when we were still living in Florida, right after he accepted his new job in Irving) what suburbs are nice and not too far from Irving. One of the suburbs his boss suggested was Flower Mound (which is where we live). So why don't you have your husband do the same? Have him ask his new boss about good suburbs that have excellent schools. Have your husband ask as many people at his new office as he can. The more opinions on where to live, the better! Also, hopefully some people on mamasource used to live in Denver or have relatives who live in the Denver area who can also give you advice on where to live. In my opinion, you should do another post, asking moms if they are familiar w/ the Denver area (or if they have relatives who live there), who can also hopefully help you. Denver is a nice place to live. I'm sure you will end up in a very nice suburb w/ great schools. Good luck!