need recs for places to buy house (Denver, Aurora: days on market, short sales)

[ddccii77]

older couple retiring to the denver area to be near kids/grandkids. they live in centennial near parker and arapahoe. would need to be within 30 minute drive of them, preferably no interstates *required* to get there. budget is limited, max mortgage would be $180K but in the $160 range would be preferred. most important is nice, safe neighborhood. by nice just mean kept up, not run down looking, no cars parked in the yard/up on blocks or 15 people to a house or foil and bars on the windows. we are both (currently) college professors. any advice would be appreciated, and if you need more info please ask. the kids are of course helping us look, but they haven't lived there that long to know all the ins and outs.

[vegaspilgrim]

$160k for a single family house-- not a condo/townhome? That's on the very low end for this area. An average home in a "nice" neighborhood in the suburbs of Denver starts at pretty much $250k on up. I would start looking at Aurora (central areas, south Aurora if you can find something there you like, maybe take a glance at what you can get in north Aurora), as that's where you'll find the most affordable housing. Regardless of all the misinformation you'll hear frequently spouted off about Aurora by idiots who have no idea what they're talking about, Aurora does have some very nice areas (such as the part of Aurora/Centennial where your kids live), but the nicest neighborhoods in Aurora are going to cost a lot more than $160k.

[davebarnes]

Turn on Zillow and use filters.
Consider REOs and short sales.
According to "Asking Prices and Inventory for Homes in Denver Colorado | Department of Numbers" you are looking in the bottom quintile.
You are going to need (how I hate saying that) a real estate agent on the buy side. Pick one who KNOWS the neighborhood(s) you wind up considering.

[ddccii77]

of course remember that a mortgage of 160-180 means a sale price of 192000-216000. we really didn't feel that that was such a low number to completely price us out of a reasonable working class neighborhood--we just don't want to live in fear of crime while looking at our neighbors' collections of monster trucks and vintage washing machines.

[2bindenver]

Median list price is $237,000 167 DOM on average, average list price $362,000.

In the lower third (middle 25%) average is $179,975 price, 1800 sq ft, 3 bed 2 bath 41 days on market, 53 years old.

[royhobbstn]

Originally Posted by ddccii77

of course remember that a mortgage of 160-180 means a sale price of 192000-216000. we really didn't feel that that was such a low number to completely price us out of a reasonable working class neighborhood--we just don't want to live in fear of crime while looking at our neighbors' collections of monster trucks and vintage washing machines.

I think that is more than a little optimistic, this isn't Las Vegas or Florida. Don't let me stop you from trying, however, try to manage your expectations.

[ddccii77]

just to be sure we're clear--it is likely that anywhere within a 30 minute drive of 80015 there is nowhere to live without significant crime and dilapidated houses for $215K ?

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by ddccii77

just to be sure we're clear--it is likely that anywhere within a 30 minute drive of 80015 there is nowhere to live without significant crime and dilapidated houses for $215K ?

Of course you can find a house.
But, have you used the Zillow? Or Trulia? Or CoHomeFinder?
Do some homework and then tell us what you are considering and we will jump in.

[ddccii77]

yes we've used all of those (and more) and gone out twice with our realtor. we've looked at southeast aurora, tollgate crossing (a foreclosure there) east quincy highlands, jackson farm (foreclosure/short sale); near e-470 between smoky hill and quincy, ones scattered around arapahoe all the way from i-25 to broadway, a few in parker. tried park hill/mayfair but that price only got us into north/eastern park hill (eastern being v. close to but definitely not stapleton). would love a neighborhood with walking/shops/restaurants, but those are apparently out of reach for us since we need some space for dogs/grandkids and wouldn't be prudent to choose condo/townhome (especially given stairs, not good for 70+ year old knees). it is somewhat hard to judge any of the areas with such limited time frame, (if they are not obviously seedy). i guess we were just hoping that someone with a better sense of the place could give us some ideas.

[ddccii77]

we especially had trouble gauging the ones off of arapahoe--they all had a centennial address and were mostly just a few houses off of arapahoe (both north and south)