anyone familiar with this neighborhood (Denver, Littleton: real estate market, foreclosure, crime)

[twowolves]

Brighton East Farms

if so, can you give some details like good area? crime? mtn views? how many minutes from downtown? is the neighborhood kept up?
how close is a good, large mall? (100-200 stores)

thanks!

[FentonForche]

I'm not familiar with that neighborhood specifically, but I can give you some general info on Brighton.

On what the city's like - Be comfortable with a heavy hispanic influence. I don't mean this in a derogatory way, it's just something to keep in mind. Once, when I was considering pursuing a career in teaching high school, I got in touch with a recruiter for one of their programs, asked her if there was anything that would make me an especially attractive candidate, to which she replied, "Are you bilingual?" then told me that something like 35-40% of Brighton's kids have Spanish as the primary language. It also has a reputation as being a bit of a cow town, you'll feel an agrarian presence there.

On views - totally depends on the positioning of your house, and more importantly, what's immediately to your west. You're at the exact same latitude as RMNP, so there are good views to the west, but you're further out on to the prairie than most of metro Denver so they're somewhat diluted.

On proximity to Downtown - half hour commute to Downtown, significantly longer if you're in the tech center.

On proximity to a mall - I don't know if there are any new malls in the NE part of the metro area, but you're about 15 miles from Flatiron Crossing, one of Denver's newest malls, and perhaps the prettiest. It's just a straight shot over e-470.

On crime and schools - I would say "fair to middlin." Brighton's not a slum, but it's not in league with the southern school districts like Littleton, Cherry Creek, and Douglas County in terms of quality.

If there's something specific that's taking you to Brighton, that's understandable. But if you're just looking at coming to the Denver area and are looking for a place to settle down, there are better places to go.

[FentonForche]

Follow up, Brighton's been heavily built up over the past few years and I'd bet that the real estate market there is a lot weaker than the rest of metro Denver, which was comparatively resilient over the recent housing crash.

But maybe that's why you're interested--foreclosure bargains to be had and such.