Are there any nice neighborhoods in North Aurora? (Denver, Granby: bank owned, apartments)

[murof]

It's hard trying to figure out a neighborhood by the aerial view orthe street view, via google maps. The neighborhoods I look at in North Aurora all pretty much look the same; that is, older, lower middle class. Have any areas in N.A. been gentrified? Any new housing developments to consider? Any neighborhood niches that are desirable?

[steveindenver]

Yes, at least in my opinion. In fact it is one of the best areas in Denver to be looking to buy at the moment.

The 80010 area code is diverse and what you might consider "nice" is in some cases block by block. Generally south of 13th is nicer; blocks with no high density apartments are nicer, blocks with schools are nicer still.

North of Colfax is still a bit more sketchy but there are great quiet streets therein too.

Some people will be turned off by the faces that are other than white; if that is an issue don't bother looking. Some of the local schools are above 95 percent hispanic enrollment, a fact that might answer some of your further questions. There are not to my knowledge any new single family home developments within the area, but there are plenty of very reasonably priced 50s and 60s (occasional 30's) homes that have been well kept after on sometimes very large lots (for the city) at very, very good prices.

Bank owned properties are many in the area right now. Some collusion in the market seems to be keeping those prices around 85 grand but quick flips, even without the fix part because they often don't need it are going in the mid 100's. Peaks a few years back pushed values above that, 180 or so.

I ride through the area frequently, day and night and have a very good friend who just moved into the area this past year. You notice a lot of cases where people are tossing their old iron window bars in the alleyway; an interesting indicator.

A couple of quick links that might help. For those properties in that area code that are in Adams county you can find the property history online at:
http://co.adams.co.us/gis/quicksearch/ (broken link)

For those in Arapaho County (up to Colfax -- most of the area code, Adams just has a strange sliver):
http://www.co.arapahoe.co.us/Apps/Pa.../PropForm.aspx

[murof]

thanks for the info and the links. That's an interesting observation about the iron bars coming off windows. I suppose this implies that people are feeler safer, or aremore concerned about the look of their neighborhood. There is something about an early 1950s house that makes my skin crawl. Have you noticed how high the windowsare on the wall? The houses just seem to give me the willies. It's good to hearthat someone thinks that Aurora has some of the best buys in the Denver area right now. I would think that this older part of the Denver metro would also have betterhousing lots, mature trees, for example. I have found one interesting section of town in which the houses appeal to me. The subdivision is called Granby Commonsand is located on the West side of Chambers at 18th ave. The houses in GranbyCommons were built in 1993 and our priced around 110K. Do you know anything about this area?