Relocating to Denver, Co from Texas

Hi from a fellow Texan living in CO! I really think you will like it here. Yes, we have winter and that will take some getting used to, but it is so much milder of a winter than most places, and the summers are not humid and not super hot! I think its a good trade-off. Plus, we have decent Mexican food (but nothing beats Texas for that!). And, the mountains are tons of fun for kids- especially in the summertime.

Now, to answer your question as best I can, I would recommend looking in Highlands Ranch (it was rated one of the top ten places to live in the nation last year). There is a gated golf community called the Golf Club that is really nice. I'm not totally sure why you want a golf community, but if you want a gated community without the golf, there is also the Backcountry that has amazing mountain views and is gated (and brand new). We live in Firelight and although it is not gated, the homes are beautiful, new, and we back to a reserve, so we get some cool wildlife and amazing bike and hike trails outside our backyard. This is a really safe area of town! The benefits of Highlands Ranch is that the homes are newer (and still building) and living in the community makes you a part of the community association. I think its like $125 quarterly and you have free access to the four rec centers (which are amazing), the maintained trail system and tons of free concerts and events for kids. Check it out as http://www.hrcaonline.org/Home.aspx The point is that is is very kids oriented with tons of stuff to do, and its close to downtown as well. It is part of the Douglas County schools, which you have read about in other responses. I've heard that Cherry Creek is the best, but I've been happy with DCSD. Plus, you can open enroll your kids in any school, so if you are unhappy with your neighborhood school, you have tons of options open to you. I went to Klein High School near Houston and they are one of the best school districts in the state of Texas, so I understand you wanting a good school. We've been pleased with our choices here (such as I just open- enrolled my son in a peanut free school in Highlands Ranch for kindergarten and it was no prob). Let me know if you start looking in Highlands Ranch and I can recommend a great realtor! Or, I'd be happy to answer any more questions for you as I understand!

Hi S.,
You will love CO! Check out Douglas County School district. It is one of the best in the state. You'll have to be more specific on the housing costs to know if there is anything that meet your needs. There are not that many gated golf course communities and they are expensive $1 million up in most occasions. Your realtor can give you more guidance on that. Douglas County could be a long commute for your husband - probably 30-60 minutes based on traffic. You might also want to check out the Cherry Creek School District too. Sports are very important and there are great rec center and specialty programs too. If you wind up on the south end of town, email me back and I'll give you more info to get you acclimated.
Take care,
S.

welcome to colorado - i think you'll love it here. there are great schools everywhere - in every district, and that's the truth. one district that tends to get national attention for it's consistency and reputation, especially to future home buyers from other states, is the cherry creek school district. there are a few communities that are near golf courses as well. the cherry hills area offers a nice course, greenwood village has a course, and on the east side of the district there is saddle rock golf course. ask you realtor to show you homes according to your criteria, and see what he/she comes up with. you may be surprised what you can find these days! typically you can get a lot more house in texas for your dollar, but again, it's a great time to buy in colorado right now, that's for sure!

good luck in your search, and welcome!

Any of the southern suburbs are nice, Littleton, Centennial Englewood. Littleton schools and Cherry Creek are the best. Douglas county is nice but I have heard the schools are crowded.( and also further from down town) Also, Cherry Creek passed their bond issue and Douglas county did not. You would probably need to spend around $450/500k for a "gated" or community, those are not that popular here and in the suburbs you really don't need it, it's pretty safe. There are a lot of golf communities, to be on the golf course once again $450 to 500k. Maybe a little less if you are not actually backing to the course. Good luck!

If you will need special ed services, Cherry Creek does have a good reputation. You may want to contact our parent to parent group at www.p2p-co.org . We can help recommend schools that will meet your son's needs. We have a wonderful listserv and you can write and tell us what your son's needs are and ask for suggestions. A lot of families do that before moving to help target their home search.

I hope your move goes well, always such a stressful thing. I suppose I am echoing a lot of other replies, but as far as school districts go- Douglas County and Cherry Creek are considered the best. They usually trade back and forth for number one spots- depending on what is being rated (sports, specific academics, etc.). You generally can't go wrong with either choice. Douglas County has lower taxes, and home prices will vary depending on what part of either district you live in.

We live in Highlands Ranch and are very pleased. We love the schools and the neighborhoods. It is a 'master planned community' and is always rated one of the best places to live.

I think you'll be happy no matter what you decide. Colorado is a fabulous place to live. And you're sure to find other Texas transplants- they're everywhere! :-)

S., We moved to colorado too, just before my son started elementary school. We didn't want him in the public schools of California. I agree with everyone else, Cherry Creek School district is the best. I know of three great elementary school, Bellview, Homestead and Willow Creek. They all have suburbs for them, but you can pick schools if you are out of that district, if there is room. All these schools have website, just check them out. The two Middle schools for these particular elementary schools are Campus and West, they feed into Cherry Creek High school. Next year two of the elementary schools are getting "facelifts" so there will be construction going on. But I will say there are great schools in most of the districts, but try to avoid Denver Public School district, that one isn't as great.

Good luck with the move!

M.

Hi, S.,

I'm a teacher here in Douglas County Schools, which normally I would say is a GREAT district, but it's a little "iffy" right now since we are going through a major budget reduction, and personally, I think it will hurt some areas of the district next year. With that being said, there are some GREAT schools here if you feel brave enough to "weather" the bad economy right now. However, DCSD has some of the BEST sports teams in the city. www.dcsdk12.org

If you want to look for something more stable, I would also advise the Cherry Creek School District, but try to stay towards the Southeast side. www.ccsd.k12.co.us

Another option if you are staying home with your kids and want to "school" them somewhat yourself is the Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA) which is a charter school in the Adams 12 district. Your children would take classses online with your guidance, and there are even opportunities where the kids take "field trips" and other get-together activities so they are interacting with other kids. As far as sports, they partner with local MS/HSs so your kids can participate in varsity sports. The nice thing about COVA is they use the award winning K12 curriculum, and you can take the classes from anywhere in CO, so you could live in a gated golf course community down in Douglas County, take classes through COVA, and have your kids participate in the sports at some of the Championship winning schools in DCSD. Their websites: www.covcs.org and www.k12.org

Hope that gets you started!

Chrissy

Welcome (soon) to Colorado! We moved to Castle Rock last year from Colorado Springs, so we are in the Douglas County School District. We LOVE it so far. Castle Rock is really close to Denver and we noticed when we were pricing housing that if you buy a house, the cost of housing is generally cheaper than some places. For example, I saw a house here that was around $210,000 that in Colorado Springs would have been at least $300,000 or so, but it was in a better neighborhood. I also love the amount of kids there are here- there's never a shortage of "friends" at the library or the park. It's a very family friendly place to live. There are golf communities here- not sure how expensive those are, but can check it out.

check out the Cherry Creek School District - Denver Tech Center area - so many good schools that feed into a nationally recognized high school - sports are top notch - check out area around Cherry Hills, Greenwood Village

You have to be careful about the Cherry Creek school district. DO YOUR RESEARCH!!! Just because you are in the district, which does have excellent schools, does not guarantee you will automatically go to the best school. There are some awful schools there. DPS (Denver public schools) has some of the best schools and the worst schools in the state. Teller Elementary, Bromwell Elementary, and Steck Elementary are all EXCELLENT schools. They also feed into two of the best middle schools, Morey and Hill Middle school. All of those schools are within 5 miles of downtown, so your husband's commute would be a breeze. Jefferson county also has wonderful schools. The best thing you could do is go to greatschools.net, and look for yourself. The website offers both CCAP ratings and parent ratings. It lists teacher to student ratios, demographics, and just about everything you need to know.

Good luck, and I'm sure you will love Colorado. It has so much to offer!