Hi, my family is moving to the Denver area this summer. We have narrowed our search down to several areas...Highlands Ranch and Superior. We liked Cherry Creek schools, but the homes are too expensive for what you get for your money (in our opinion). We researched the schools in both HR and Superior and they seem to be excellent. We specifically like Redstone Elem. in HR. My husband will be working in downtown Denver, so we know the commute will be long. We have children ages 9, 5, and 3.
I love to hear pro's and con's of both places. Which one is more kid friendly, which one is more open to transplants, which one is less conservative (we are coming from TX...so we can keep that in perspective)?
I appreciate your advice and opinions! Thank you!
Denver is full of tranplants. Colorada is libral in thinking. The housing market is very expensive for the house you buy anywhere in the area and compared to Tx it is really high. We have lived in 6 different states including TX and it is a high cost of living.
I can not speak for Highland Ranch or Superior but just general info about Denver.
C. B
I don't know anything about Superior, but I live in HR. HR is full of transplants. it is mostly conservative, but I'm a dem, and haven't had any problems. Douglas County Dems had a good turn out at the 4th of July parade in HR. HR is very kid friendly. There are 4 rec centers each with indoor and outdoor pools with wading areas for young kids, slides, fountains, etc. There are parks everywhere. There are seasonal sports sponsored by HR Metro Districts. It isn't hard to find something to do with kids. HR is basically all tract homes no older than about 25 years. Yards are mostly small, but it is not impossible to find something a little bigger. I don't have a child in school yet, but I hear Doug Co schools are very good.
I know nothing of Superior, but I can tell you about Highlands Ranch. We moved here 4 years ago from Arkansas (by the way, I lived in Plano, TX for a while). You know, I keep hearing from people that HR is very conservative, but I just haven't been hit by it...and I am not conservative. If people are conservative here, they don't try to force it upon you. HR is extremely kid friendly...it has to be because there are tons and tons of children. With all the parks, even one with fountains that shoot from the ground for children to run around in, the library has a separate kid room where you don't have to worry about them being noisy. I'd never run across anything like that. The recreation centers provide so many activities which our children have participated in pretty much since we arrived. The only thing I don't like is how crowded the pools get. We also researched the schools here as an avenue to figure out where to live here in Denver. My daughters attend Northridge Elementary and it has been a wonderful experience. One of my daughters has a learning disability and although they are only required to give her a half our of extra help each week, they provide her with help every day. My other daughter who is in school there is gifted and luckily Northridge houses one of the 4 schools in Douglas County with the gifted program. There is a lot of parental involvement at the school which is so important. Over all, I have been very happy with our experience here. Good luck to you guys...if you have any other questions you can think of, I'd be glad to try to answer them!
HR is a nice place, lots of kids, rather homogenous. Superior is nice, lots of kids, rather homogenous, but much smaller. You really can't go wrong with either choice. However, for the commute downtown, Superior has a great express bus service straight downtown. There are also HOT lanes that you can pay to use, again, straight shot downtown.
Just FYI Texas has very high taxes compared to CO. So home prices seem high, but once you figure in the tax payment, its not so bad. For example a house that is $200K has taxes of roughly $1500/year or $125 a month. In Mesquite it would be roughly $5000/yr. or $417 a month. With the extra $300/mo that you will save in property taxes, you'll be able to afford $30K more in house.
Welcome!
As a teacher with connections to "high up" education folks, I can tell you that Douglas County schools have recently surpassed Cherry Creek to become the best in the state. Just food for thought. -Although- Colorado is an open enrollment state which is a little known and seldom mentioned fact, so you can send your children to any public school that you prefer, as long as there is no waiting list.
