Young professionals buying a house but not quite ready for family (Denver: real estate, loans)

[alphaj]

So I think I have read just about every "which neighborhood do I live in" post in all of this forum but still haven't seemed to get just the right answer. My boyfriend and I are looking at where to buy a house. We have driven all over Denver but I feel like we are still missing what feels like home to us. We are in our 30s and are liberal minded and professionals. We are looking for a place in the 300-400k (though 250 would always be nice) range and would like to get 1700- 1900 square feet. We don't have children yet but that will probably be in the near future. We don't want to live in a suburb where life revolves around soccer games and PTA meetings. We have both lived in urban areas and enjoy the walkable feel and diversity though I think we are getting to a point in life where we want a garage and a lawn.

We tend to like the east side of town over west. We enjoy the idea and the vibe in Wash Park but after years of living in the heart of the city I am exhausted looking for a parking spot. A garage is a must. But the Wash Park folks seem to be the types of people we would enjoy being around. We have looked at Stapleton and it is nice but the lack of personal yard space irked me more than him. I really want to feel like I know my neighbors but I don't want to feel like I can't get away from them. We looked at some of the Englewood neighborhoods but they seemed like they are full of retirees or a bit more run down. We looked in DTC and the housing communities seemed to be an older crowd too. Obeservatory Park was pretty but I believe it is out of our price range.

Please help! We know the major areas of Denver so a basic over view isn't what we need... I think we need some more hidden gems that we are overlooking. I am new to denver but he grew up here. So many of the canned responses I have been hearing we already knew about.

Please help from you long timers in Denver.

[2bindenver]

So what is important to you?

Have you looked at "West" Wash Park? Southmoor? Park Hill? Mayfair? Cory - Merrill, University Park?

I am guessing that if you searched for lot size, age, style, bedrooms. baths & garage, property features that you would have 15-20 to choose from in different neighborhoods.

[Dorthy]

What About Platt Park, Rosedale/Harvard Gulch, Wellshire and Mayfair?

[Brian_M]

My first thought is, have you voiced the above to a Realtor? If you're Really ready to buy, why not enlist the help of a professional who will be better equipped to point you in the right direction. If you are ready, there's a very good write-up on interviewing Realtors here on CD-forums (but in the CoSprings forum from 2005, it still is relevant) that I can dig up again. And I'd be more than happy to recommend the Realtor I'm working with right now. He was the best of the 15 I interviewed, head and shoulders above about 13 of those others, and just seemed more prepared and competant when cold-called vs. the 14th.

Brian

[MileHiGolfer]

You might want to consider looking at North Denver (Highlands/Sloans/Berkeley) also. I recently bought my first home in the Sloans Lake area and really like the neighborhood. Definitely less developed than Wash Park, but you also get a lot more home, with more upside potential, and still plenty urban. You won't get much for $400k in Wash Park, as we discovered ourselves.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Brian_M

My first thought is, have you voiced the above to a Realtor? If you're Really ready to buy, why not enlist the help of a professional who will be better equipped to point you in the right direction. If you are ready, there's a very good write-up on interviewing Realtors here on CD-forums (but in the CoSprings forum from 2005, it still is relevant) that I can dig up again. And I'd be more than happy to recommend the Realtor I'm working with right now. He was the best of the 15 I interviewed, head and shoulders above about 13 of those others, and just seemed more prepared and competant when cold-called vs. the 14th.

Brian

Here's is BenWolfe's advice on how to interview a realtor, from 2007 (city-data didn't exist until late Dec 2005). He probably took the bulk of it from the NAR website.

Like Brian, I am neither a realtor, nor in the biz in any way, but I do recommend picking the best realtor you can and work them. We also have long discussion in this thread on what are called a "Buyer's Broker" or a "Buyers's Agent" who are realtors that (IIRC) work exclusively for the buyer. (Realtor members, please tweak my understanding if I'm off the mark here).

[alphaj]

I really appreciate all your responses! So, to answer questions. No we haven't talked to a realtor yet because we are still not ready to buy... logistics. I am getting a new job and we are trying to get other things settled. But we are trying to spend our time now to see what part of town feels most like home. We will definitely use all your advice when picking a Realtor though because we have both had bad real estate agents in the past. So I was looking online at the Mayfair area and in bringing that up I saw his temperature rise. We are going to go and check it out but he has a opinion already before we see it. His impression is that it is a bad part of town. I saw lots of homes in that area that were in our budget. Most of them look to be old victorians which have lots of character but also can have difficult floor plans and frustrating problems. Anyone had experience with this? Having lived in Silverlake california for years which is dominated by turn of the century bugalow homes I know the little nitnoid problems they come with and usually the most frustraing is the vast number of walls that divide the place in to a puzzle. I like character but I think he wants more ease.

We decided Wash park is more fun to visit than live so we have marked it off the list just due to the feeling of the cost versus what you get. We make great money but we never want to feel cramped and house poor.

Platt Park he still feels is a bad part of town. Do you have neighborhood/street suggestions that might open his mind?

And let me stop right here and say.... see how much fun this compromise is? He is a suburban guy and I have spend the last ten years in the heart of Los Angeles so we are trying to find a middle ground. But... he doesn't want to be in Highland Ranch or Parker just as I don't want to be raising a family in the "bohemian" neighborhoods I have been living in.. So what is important to us? A good value for our money (the garage as I had mentioned), a feeling of community, and open minded liberal people. I like neighborhood resturants and can't stand the idea of eating weekly at Chili's or Outback and he doesn't want to spend a great deal of money on a hundred year old house.

Okay.. So, we will be doing the great denver driving tour again in about two weeks so any suggestions of blocks, neighborhoods, or streets that would give you the feel of some of these communities that you mentioned?

I hope we aren't being too picky or too much of a pain but figured we would do our homework now while we have the time. Thanks again for all your help I really appreciate it.

[alphaj]

Oh and we have decided to add Boulder (though I think it will to expensive), Golden, Arvada, and Westminster to the mix just to make sure we give everything a shot. And one more piece of the puzzle is that it looks like I will be working in Golden and he works in Broomfield though he can get a job most anywhere. So freeway access would be a huge plus.

[Dorthy]

What makes him think that Platt Park and Mayfair are bad parts of town?

[steveindenver]

What makes him think that Platt Park and Mayfair are bad parts of town?

LOL no kidding.

Then again, he is not going to touch anything in either neighborhood for his preferred 250, and likely not for anything up to the max 400 that doesn't need some work. So maybe sometimes ignorance works out for the best?