Relocating to Denver - looking to buy Lakewood area townhome (Sheridan: 2013, apartment)

[Kelsi87]

I've officially been offered a job and will be moving to the Denver area within the next 3 or so months. Instead of renting, I am not looking into buying. My office is located in Lakewood (near Federal Center) and I would love to live within 5-15 minutes of it. I am looking for a 2 or 3 b/r townhome around the 200k mark. Under 200 would be amazing. I have looked into the following townhome communities, and any advice would be much appreciated:

-Hutchinson Townhomes
-Telluride West
-Sunpointe
-Carrington Place
-Lakewood Pines
-Greenbrook Condos

The newer the better, the cheaper the better (shocking, right? ) I'm a young (20s) female who will be living alone, so safety is also a huge factor. I love the Belmar area but it seems to be too expensive.

[Kelsi87]

I guess I could have been more descriptive...

-Hutchinson Townhomes - W Jewell St & W Alameda Pkwy
-Telluride West - Right St & West 6th Ave
-Sunpointe - W Pacific Cir & W Atlantic Pl
-Carrington Place - S Carr St & W Jewell St
-Lakewood Pines - W Jewell St & S Balsam St
-Greenbrook Condos - Pierce St & W 10th Ave

[2bindenver]

I found 12 townhomes in MLS within a 5 mile radius.

Look up 5746 W Atlantic Place
Lakewood,CO 80227

in recolorado.com

[davebarnes]

You need to hire a "buyer's agent".
Who knows the neighborhood.

And, by the way:
Denver Inventory

[VT_CO10]

i bought a place in Lakewood in 2011 and searched condos pretty extensively in the same area you are looking. I was generally looking for more of an apartment style condo with 2 beds and 1-2 bath around 800-1,000 square feet as opposed to a larger townhome...price range for these was $100-$130k at the time (now it's more like $115-$150k).

You can get into a smaller place (1 bed + loft or den and under 800 sq ft) for around $125k close to Belmar. Not sure about the 2-3 bedroom options in Belmar, they likely will exceed $200k.

I recommend searching on cohomefinder.com based on your preferences and certain zip codes. I focused on 2 zip codes - 80226 and 80228. These were the most desirable in that area of Lakewood in my opinion that have good upside.

80226 is Belmar and vicinity...I wouldn't recommend going east of Belmar as the neighborhood gets a little rougher (not terrible though). West of Belmar in 80226 is nice as there's a couple large parks (Belmar and Addenbrooke) and good surrounding neighborhoods.

80228 is Green Mountain and has another cluster of amenities (gyms, restaurants, shopping) around Union and Alameda. Also very close to hiking/biking trails in the foothills. This area should improve further when the Light rail comes in the spring time. Telluride West is in a good spot close to there.

I looked at Sunpointe and personally did not like the area. It was far enough east so the good things about Lakewood (Belmar, Parks, Hiking Trails, Light Rail etc..) are not close amenities. Kind of a strange spot next to an upper class neighborhood but bordering Sheridan which is a grittier street. Also, even though it borders Denver it's not that close to the more desirable attractions of the city (at least not that much closer than Belmar or Green Mt are).

80227 and 80232 are other Lakewood zips to look at, these are just south of Green Mt/Belmar. These zips seem more suburban/family orientated...there isn't a ton of 20-30 somethings in Lakewood in general but you'll find most of them in Green Mt and Belmar. Probably will be more in the future with light rail coming in and Denver getting too expensive.

Hope this helps, good luck! I also second the recommendation of using a buyers agent with knowledge of the area.