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Thread summary:

Colorado: Denver, realtor, buying a new house, rental, apartment complex.

 
Old 09-22-2007, 11:25 PM
 
11 posts, read 50,253 times
Reputation: 10

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Hello there! I just found this site and its way useful! Thanks for all the knowledge!

Anyway, my wife and I have decided it's time to buy a house instead of continuing to rent in the NE part of town. Our realtor found a new housing development near Black Forest Road, not far from Woodmen and the new hospital.

There are like 10 houses up out there, and non are being lived in yet. The house we looked at was really nice and has an excellent view..(because there are no houses built in front of it yet!)

Anyway, just thought I'd see If I could get some opinions on this. We are looking to be here at least 5 years, and hopefully that area will be built up by then. (the road isn't officially opened I don't think,...we're talking brand new!) Also, the builder is offering good incentives.

Do you think this would be a smart buy now....get in early before it's all built up? Is the market and city really moving that direction?

I guess I'm just looking for some opinions on moving to the dirt wasteland that is marked all around by utility tubes sticking up from the ground. Let's hear your thoughts! Thanks!
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Old 09-23-2007, 06:47 AM
 
Location: Falcon, CO
41 posts, read 387,283 times
Reputation: 44
It's a lovely idea... New house, all the amenities you would want.... but, the flip side is you'll be living with construction noise for quite some time. Weigh your options!

Where is the neighborhood? We are also looking to buy soon.
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Old 09-23-2007, 07:08 AM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,329 posts, read 93,743,760 times
Reputation: 17831
Quote:
Originally Posted by wink182 View Post
Hello there! I just found this site and its way useful! Thanks for all the knowledge!

Anyway, my wife and I have decided it's time to buy a house instead of continuing to rent in the NE part of town. Our realtor found a new housing development near Black Forest Road, not far from Woodmen and the new hospital.

There are like 10 houses up out there, and non are being lived in yet. The house we looked at was really nice and has an excellent view..(because there are no houses built in front of it yet!)

Anyway, just thought I'd see If I could get some opinions on this. We are looking to be here at least 5 years, and hopefully that area will be built up by then. (the road isn't officially opened I don't think,...we're talking brand new!) Also, the builder is offering good incentives.

Do you think this would be a smart buy now....get in early before it's all built up? Is the market and city really moving that direction?

I guess I'm just looking for some opinions on moving to the dirt wasteland that is marked all around by utility tubes sticking up from the ground. Let's hear your thoughts! Thanks!
Do you have kids? What school would they go to? Is it a good school?
Where do you work (geographically)? What will the commute be like? Could you get to Denver for a job if you had to?
What is the future of the land adjacent to your community? Are they going to build residential friendly amenities, traffic friendly roads? Or, are they going to build three more cement factories, an industrial park, a garbage truck facility, etc.? Did you check the zoning?

As far as timing, the LA Times had a good article this morning:

Watching for signs of a market turnaround - Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-re-lew23sep23,0,6143485.story?coll=la-class-realestate-news - broken link)


If you need a login to the LA Times (or many other registration required news sources), go to

Bugmenot.com - login with these free web passwords to bypass compulsory registration

for free, anonymous logins and passwords.
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Old 09-23-2007, 08:47 AM
 
11 posts, read 50,253 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
Do you have kids? What school would they go to? Is it a good school?
Where do you work (geographically)? What will the commute be like? Could you get to Denver for a job if you had to?
What is the future of the land adjacent to your community? Are they going to build residential friendly amenities, traffic friendly roads? Or, are they going to build three more cement factories, an industrial park, a garbage truck facility, etc.? Did you check the zoning?
Charles,

That's a good list of questions! Here are some answers:

No kids (hopefully not for awhile yet, hopefully); the house is just barely in the D49 schools, which is where both my wife and I work (both in schools near Stetson Hills); and the land closer to woodman is zoned commercial, so hopefully that equals light shopping, a nice 7-11 (for the slurpee fix).

The commute will be minimal, which is sweet. My wife and I will be able to handle the construction noises as we live currently in a ghetto apartment complex and before that were both in busy college apartments.

It would be a little weird being the only tenants in what will hopefully someday (in the next 5 years!) be the next Stetson Hills. I'm just imagining the bonfires we could have out there on that dirt.
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Old 09-29-2007, 03:32 PM
 
11 posts, read 50,253 times
Reputation: 10
So the new subdivision I am talking about is Forest Meadows. Just FYI, my wife and I just signed a contract for a new home there! So pumped!

Incase anyone is wondering, the builders out there have A LOT of room to work as far as incentives.
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Old 09-29-2007, 04:25 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,329 posts, read 93,743,760 times
Reputation: 17831
Quote:
Originally Posted by wink182 View Post
So the new subdivision I am talking about is Forest Meadows. Just FYI, my wife and I just signed a contract for a new home there! So pumped!

Incase anyone is wondering, the builders out there have A LOT of room to work as far as incentives.

I know exactly where it is - east of BF Road in the wedge with BF Road and Vollmer.


Forest Meadows-Aspen View Homes-719-359-5355 Colorado Spgs, Colorado New Homes


What financing rate did you get? They advertise $216K- $246K. How much did they end up charging you? Did you get air conditioning? Is the basement finished? Is there landscaping? Is it well or street water? Septic or utility sewer? Is there 220 volt service? Is it gas dryer, gas furnace? What is the lot size? Garages? Wired for cable? Ethernet? What is the square feet of home? Bedrooms? Are most of your windows oriented south and are most of your windows not oriented east or west?

Man it is windy today.
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Old 09-29-2007, 05:48 PM
 
14 posts, read 63,787 times
Reputation: 18
I am very new to this forum and also considering relocating to COS for work and have found this site very informative, so you may see a good amount of questions from me...

My first two.....why is the orientation of the windows in the house important and what is 220 volt service.
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Old 09-29-2007, 06:03 PM
 
11 posts, read 50,253 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by ballou3 View Post
I am very new to this forum and also considering relocating to COS for work and have found this site very informative, so you may see a good amount of questions from me...

My first two.....why is the orientation of the windows in the house important and what is 220 volt service.
Here's just a bit of knowledge for you...

If you buy a home with a driveway/entryway facing north...you'll have a long winter! Snow is much worse on driveways facing north as little sun will help to melt the snow. This could equal ice, which isn't a fun thing to have on your driveway.

Charles,

We actually bought a Journey home. They are a Colorado based builder and have a lot of homes in Fort Collins area.

We are paying under $200k for ~1100 finished and 1100 unfinished (basement). We are hoping to get El Paso county bond money. Rate is still unknown..will find out when we get the bond money. (Most likely 6.25%)

The area has services ran for all communication providers (Comcast, Porchlight, Qwest). City Utils, obviously. Two car garage (it's HUGE). They are landscaping the front and sides of the house. 2 bed/2 bath, we will be adding another of each as well as a 'rec room' in the basement. No A/C..bummer!We got wash/dryer and a frig included as well as 8k in closing costs. As a nice little addition we got them to throw in a large Lowes gift card.

One of the nice things is that just 2-3 blocks away Richmond is building 300-400k homes. Hooray for big homes bringing up values of smaller homes!

Any other questions, feel free to ask. Pumped to soon be a homeowner!
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Old 09-30-2007, 09:49 AM
 
26,212 posts, read 49,027,375 times
Reputation: 31761
Southerly exposure = snow melts off driveways/steps and sunlight comes into windows and really does help warm your home.

The 220 volts refers to the electrical service in a home. You WANT 220 coming in, not the ancient 110 volt service. You need it run the A/C, electric dryer and ovens, etc.

We also built a new house from the ground up and got to work with the electrician to select many options. We upgraded a few rooms (like my model railroad room) from the usual 15-amp circuits to the more powerful 20-amp circuits. If you'll have any such unusual aspects to your home, get in the loop on these choices. If you get a French Drain with sump well for rain water control, get an outside outlet next to the sump well to power a sump pump.

If your decorating budget is a constrained, I'd put money into can lights in the ceiling before I spend money on fancier cabinets or countertops. Same for plumbing. Both wiring and plumbing are inside the walls and ceilings, and to put that stuff in later usually tears the hell out of your home. You can change countertops easier, and IMO, often for less money than builders charge for such things in their design studio.

s/Mike
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Old 10-01-2007, 12:10 AM
 
Location: Colorado Springs
648 posts, read 2,940,250 times
Reputation: 191
I just wanted to add that those of you that are able to get in on the first phase of construction will have it made when the devopment is done. You will have gotten the best possible price for the house. You will be able to get the most equity out of your home in the long run! You can handle the noise of construction, it is worth it! bashep
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