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Being as I am what you might call "anti-urban, anti-suburban" , I guess I'm going to swim against the stream here
Must Have:
- At least 2 acres of property. (Like observing nature, not the neighbors back porch)
- Old growth trees (no prairie living)
- Within 1 hour commute to Denver (like being out where the night sky's are clear w/ no light pollution)
- Room for a 2k sq ft garden (we grow all of our own organic produce)
- South Facing Family Room with picture windows (preferable East Facing House)
- expansive Decks
- 3 Bedrooms all w/ walk in closets minimum size 12x13 (Master minimum 16x18)
- 3 Car deep garage (at least 28 ft deep)
- Walk out basement partially unfinished (for workshop)
- Insulated windows
- Gas fireplace in master bedroom
- Concrete tile roof (have now and love it. Hail does nothing to it)
- Large Kitchen opening on to large family room (we constantly entertain)
- Gas water heater, furnaces and Kitchen appliances (soooo much cheaper than electric)
Nice to Have
- integrated outdoor fireplace on rear deck
- Trex decking material (no maintenance)
- triple paned windows w/ low E glass
- 8 burner commercial gas range
- Additional building to park an RV inside
Dont Want:
- anything "in town" (been there done that, cant stand the noise, traffic, pretentious wannabe people)
- anything with 2x4 exterior walls (too inefficient)
- restrictive HOA's
- manicured lawns (I prefer to landscape with natural materials and wildflowers instead of generic grass)
When we moved here 2 years ago from CA this was our basic list:
needs:
newer (energy efficient, not in need of updating right away)
minimum 1800 sf (preferably 2000+)
4 bedrooms, 3 up, 1 down
dining room
decent sized yard
2 car garage
basement
no back yard street noise
wants:
3 car garage
finished basement w/ bathroom
south facing
what we ended up with:
2060 sf
built in 1996
4 beds up
formal dining room and living room
big back yard
2.5 car garage
unfinished basement pre-plumbed for bathroom
south facing
our big compromises were the main floor bedroom or office and the finished basement.
If we were to move now our list of must haves:
main floor office! preferably a 3/4 bath on the 1st floor for guests.
3 car garage
2300 sf
if we couldn't find that in our price range it just wouldn't be worth moving.
3 bed/2 bath
>1800 sq. ft. (we like smaller houses)
walkable to work, shopping, school, and a park
west or south facing driveway
small backyard
separate kitchen & dining areas
>$300k in a very specific neighborhood
What we got:
all of the above
Compromises:
Ended up on a busy street and had to go a bit higher on price, but no regrets
I def. want a garage or covered parking, lots of closet space, a pantry, and some of those built in spaces in the wall for decorative items, or a tv, something like that.
Just as an FYI for "property virgins"...it SEEMS cool to have built ins for TVs but it's not. We have a built in that cannot be renovated. It divides our family room from our living room and has a gas fireplace right next to it. The previous owners had a television that fit perfectly inside the designated tv area. It's nearly square. The problem, however, is that no one makes square tvs anymore. They're all rectangular for the HDTV sets. That means that we are VERY limited in how wide our tv can be and by the time we found one to fit lengthways, it seems very small vertically. Also, the built-ins have space for the DVR, Wii, CD player and home theater system but they fit EXACTLY, so any modification or buying a bigger model of any of those items is out of the question. I would give anything to not have a built-in. It's a pain.
Just as an FYI for "property virgins"...it SEEMS cool to have built ins for TVs but it's not. We have a built in that cannot be renovated. It divides our family room from our living room and has a gas fireplace right next to it. The previous owners had a television that fit perfectly inside the designated tv area. It's nearly square. The problem, however, is that no one makes square tvs anymore. They're all rectangular for the HDTV sets. That means that we are VERY limited in how wide our tv can be and by the time we found one to fit lengthways, it seems very small vertically. Also, the built-ins have space for the DVR, Wii, CD player and home theater system but they fit EXACTLY, so any modification or buying a bigger model of any of those items is out of the question. I would give anything to not have a built-in. It's a pain.
Our built-in next to the fireplace had to be modified to fit a 50-inch plasma set. I found a chap to do the wood working part of removing the center divider in the built-in, putting in a full width platform for the TV and doing the re-finishing. Great fellow, transplanted Californian, only charged me about $225 for the job. I tried the local dudes but they were not interested in the work.
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HOUSE
-Steady and sound.
-All or partial brick/stone
-Will happily consider a house that needs updating in a nice neighborhood v.s. new construction especially for yard space
-2200-3000 sq ft (not including basement sq ft)
-Full basement unfinished. If finished - with a paper trail of permits for construction done.
-1 or 2 story depending on the house and yard -I prefer 2 story.
-3 car garage -the hub - newly in his 40's- wants a motorcycle and I have a good sized snow blower
-3 bedrooms + den or 4 bedrooms
-Good sized closets
-Open floor plan. I actually would like to get away from soaring vaulted ceilings though
-Fireplace (gas)
-Washer dryer on first floor/laundry room with a sink
-South facing(with a porch) or east facing is good but not required
-A/C is a must
-Self cleaning . Seriously. The house must be self cleaning. But I can be flexible on this…for the right yard.
KITCHEN
-Should have work horse potential and accommodate more than one person in the work area comfortably – lay out is key. Or being able to create a good layout is key.
-A gas double oven and a 36” gas cook top would make me soooo happy. Rainbows and puppy dogs kinda happy. Sigh.
-Tile floor.
-An absolute minimum of 12 feet of counter space in addition to the area for stove and sink.
-Range hood that vents out not a microwave over the stove.
-I’d love a small desk.
YARD
-5 foot fence. I have 2 dogs that are very athletic and very fast.
-A flat (ish) yard of .25-.75 acres with some evergreen landscaping
-Deck...we are particular ours right now is Trex. We can rebuild a deck easily enough
-Screened in porch in the back or room for us to build one.
Our current deck is 18ft x 21ft. we have a 9ft x 11ft screen room on it. It steps down onto a 13ft x 15ft aggregate patio. We eat outside as often as is possible.
I am very much looking forward to trying my hand at gardening in CO! I already plant for low water usage and zone 4; already thinking about rock features
COMMUTE
-If driving, within 1 hour (each way) of 80265
But in a perfect world near a rail system that gets the hubby to 80265. Anything under 2 hours 40 minutes total commute daily is going to be absolutely amazing for him because that is what he has been doing for 8 years.
COMMUNITY
-Swarming with kids!
-Would like to be within 20 minutes of: Lowes / Costco
-Hope to find
A dance studio (hip hop, jazz, tap, ballet) and guitar lessons for my daughter
Drum lessons for my son
Health club
Pool
Community center or park district
Bike paths and sidewalks
Parks with swings slides maybe skate park
SCHOOLS
High schools with ACT composites of 22 or better CSAP proficiency of 55% or better
Middle and elementary with CSAP proficiency in Math at 65% or better
THINGS I DON’T PREFER
-Granite tile (or any tile whatsoever) on countertop. I would rather have laminate
-Laminate flooring
-Cedar roof
-Vinyl siding
ABSOLUTE DEAL BREAKERS
-No fence
-Corner lot
-Backing to a busy road
-An HOA that is rigid to the point of restricting
1) my gardening - I am not growing anything illegal nor do I like to water a shrub border daily
2) or front door color (basic brick toned red is all I seek).
-Closeness to neighbors; if on a .25acre lot I don’t want a huge set back from the road and then an eyebrow of yard in the back.
-At the top or bottom of any lots ( extreme grading )
-Under performing schools
-Deciduous trees that are fast growing, weak wooded or susceptible to breakage (some pear and silver maples) or infestation (ash – Ash borer)
Hmmm...I seem pretty picky? Should be interesting to see what I end up with. The first POD and packing materials arrive next week. Preparing to put our house on the market.Driving in in 2 weeks for a few days to poke around. Drinking lots of water, gobs of Aveeno on hand. Not sure how the curly hair is going to adapt.
We were renters while my husband was in the Air Force and when he retired and we could finally look for a place, we had a very specific list and found a house that met all of our criteria. Our realtor probably wanted to shoot us in the end, but we knew we aren't planning on moving for many years and ideally would like to live in our house until it's paid off. We weren't going to compromise on any of our requirements but were fairly flexible on things that could be changed (flooring, cabinets, paint, fixtures, etc). Our list was the following (in order).
1. Good school district in a "walking neighborhood". Our kids are young and the oldest was getting ready for Kindergarten. We went right for Cherry Creek SD and also looked at Douglas County SD and had specific schools we wanted our kids to go to in that district (after a few weeks of taking tours and talking to the principals).
2. Friendly neighborhood. We spent time driving around neighborhoods we were interested in (especially on the weekends). We ultimately decided on our block because there were tons of kids playing in the street, lots of people mowing their lawns and doing yardwork, and the clincher was the group of adults gathered in driveways talking and watching the kids play. Our kids are now part of that group and many of those adults are now friends of ours.
3. Open space behind us (that preferably has a trail or park...not just an empty lot ready to be bought and built on). It's nice to not have the neighbors sitting on their decks looking down into our yard. Most homes in Denver are built very close together. We've got neighbors fairly close on both sides but the open space in the back allows us to not feel so claustrophobic. Bonus: Our backyard faces the Rocky Mountains. It's awesome to sit on the deck and take in the views. Summertime is hard because the air is so dirty but the fall, spring and winter air is clean and gorgeous.
4. A community with a very involved HOA (I prefer restrictive HOAs because I never wanted to give someone directions to my house by saying, "we're next door to the neon lime-green house with the 10 dead cars in the driveway). We're responsible homeowners and it's nice to live near people who also take care of their yards (and get fined if they don't).
5. An unfinished, walk-out (door versus windowwells) basement so we could store things that would normally be kept in the garage. It's Denver...that means you will either have to park your car in the garage or spend 15 minutes trying to scrape off your windows/warm up your car/dig it out of the driveway. We wanted to park both of our cars in the garage. We also wanted it unfinished so that we could renovate it if/when we chose. If it didn't have a basement, it had to have a 3-car garage.
6. All the bedrooms must be on the same floor. We have younger kids so the split floorplan (bedrooms on opposite floor or sides of the house) wasn't an option for us.
7. Four bedrooms and 2.5 or 3 baths. We definitely did not want a loft and we wanted an extra room to use as an office/guest room.
8. The front of the house cannot face north. We rented a home our first year in Denver that faced north. Every winter, we'd open the front door and literally a pile of snow that had built up against the door would tumble into our entranceway. BTW, because the snow is very light and blows around a lot, no matter which direction your house faces, you are going to get snow on it. We found a great house with a large front porch that blocks most of the snow and wind. It also keeps our house cool in the summer.
Something I didn't think about but am glad we have:
Cement tile roofs. We live right near Southlands Mall. When the tornado came over our neighborhood this summer and touched down a mile away, lots of people had damage to their homes. Many homes that had vinyl siding were damaged by the hail. They looked like someone took a BB gun and shot numeous holes into the sides. Also, nearly every home with the standard flat roofs have been replaced. Not one single home on my block (that was built by a specific builder) has had their roof damaged or replaced. We all have the same cement tile roofs. I'm sure there's probably something negative about them, but at least in the case of a tornado, the houses without vinyl siding and with cement tile roofs held up and the others did not.
Mature trees. We have big trees in our front and back yards. They not only look great but really help shade our yards in the summer. Our neighborhood was built in 2001 so it's not too old, but the trees have matured and grown.
Nearby community pool. My family practically lived there this summer. It's cheap, it was fun for them to see so many of their school friends, and it's a great way to cool off.
Just as an FYI for "property virgins"...it SEEMS cool to have built ins for TVs but it's not. We have a built in that cannot be renovated. It divides our family room from our living room and has a gas fireplace right next to it. The previous owners had a television that fit perfectly inside the designated tv area. It's nearly square. The problem, however, is that no one makes square tvs anymore. They're all rectangular for the HDTV sets. That means that we are VERY limited in how wide our tv can be and by the time we found one to fit lengthways, it seems very small vertically. Also, the built-ins have space for the DVR, Wii, CD player and home theater system but they fit EXACTLY, so any modification or buying a bigger model of any of those items is out of the question. I would give anything to not have a built-in. It's a pain.
Let me guess: Richmond Home. We had a rental house that had that configuration, and we don't have a TV. I hated that stupid hole in the wall. Worst idea ever.
HOUSE
COMMUTE
-If driving, within 1 hour (each way) of 80265
But in a perfect world near a rail system that gets the hubby to 80265. Anything under 2 hours 40 minutes total commute daily is going to be absolutely amazing for him because that is what he has been doing for 8 years.
Just as an FYI from someone who hasn't lived here too long. A 1-hour commute is WAY too long in Denver. Denver is a great city and while I wave the flag for my side and the school district (SE Aurora/Centennial and Cherry Creek SD), I can also assure you that Denver has many well-performing school districts and safe neighborhoods on all sides. The only reason to commute for so long is if there was only one safe place to live with the only decent school district in the city. I used to live in Florida (Tampa) and can vouch that that is a city that really only has one area to live in if you have kids (or not enough money to put them in private school). Denver isn't like that. My husband commutes 25-30 minutes each way and he works at DIA which is out in the boonies, no matter where you live. There are some less-than-stellar places to live in the metro area, but you'll find decent places all over and not just on one particular side. It was quite liberating, actually, to realize that we had numerous choices when we started our househunt.
-Deciduous trees that are fast growing, weak wooded or susceptible to breakage (some pear and silver maples) or infestation (ash – Ash borer)
My neighborhood is filled with absolutely gorgeous ash trees. Ash borers are making their way west to Colorado, but infestation is easily prevented with an annual treatment. We haven't had any limbs break even with heavy, wet snow because we have the tree checked for soundness and dead wood trimmed every couple of years. I love that tree, and I wouldn't give it up for anything.
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, I guess I'm going to swim against the stream here 
and I have a good sized snow blower
