Another Young Couple with Neighborhood Questions!

[DenverDomers]

Everyone,

Thank you so much for all the neighborhood advice. We felt very prepared for our house hunt when we arrived, and that is in large part thanks to City Data. We wanted to update you on our search, especially because it might help others in our situation in the future.

We ended up finding a perfect little place in West Washington Park. It's a small 1 1/2 bedroom house with a nice yard, and it is close to two light rail stops. We are very happy with the results.

Our search was a little crazy, so we would have some advice for others in our situation. First, do not rely on a real estate agent to help you. We had one agent completely flake on us and another didn't get back to us until the day we left. Therefore, you should plan to find a place one of two ways: First, diligently check craigslist for the week or two before you are going to be searching and while you are searching. Second, drive around the neighborhoods (up and down every street) and look for For Rent signs. We found a number of nice places through this method. It seems like many people in Wash Park/Platt Park/DU use this as their exclusive advertising method, so if you don't drive around looking for signs you might miss out on a great place. Also, driving around the neighborhoods gives you a good sense of their character and which parts of the neighborhood you would like best.

Also, realize that rental properties in the Wash Park, Platt Park, DU area go fast; we had a few people call and cancel right before we were about to see a place. If you can (via blackberry or iphone), keep checking craigslist while you are out during the day. We are pretty sure we got our place because we were the first people to see it go up on craigslist.

Thanks again for everyone's help. We can't wait to get out to Denver and move into our place in a few weeks!

[2bindenver]

Welcome to Denver.

There is no such thing as half a bedroom.

For clarification, when you contacted Realtors - did you tell them you were looking for rental property?

Most Realtors sell property, a small portion does property management.

Most Realtors are not flakes.

Good luck with the move.

[katenik]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

Welcome to Denver.

There is no such thing as half a bedroom.

For clarification, when you contacted Realtors - did you tell them you were looking for rental property?

Most Realtors sell property, a small portion does property management.

Most Realtors are not flakes.

Good luck with the move.

I was wondering about that "1 1/2 bedroom," too. I'm new here, so I figured it was something unique to the area. I have a "1 1/4 bath," which is a new one on me, but I really like it, as guests don't have to see all my lotions and potions cluttering up the bathroom counter, and it keeps my toothbrush out of the danger zone of bacteria flying out of the toilet water with every flush.

[2bindenver]

Originally Posted by katenik

I was wondering about that "1 1/2 bedroom," too. I'm new here, so I figured it was something unique to the area. I have a "1 1/4 bath"

Here a full bath has 4 pieces - a tub, a shower, a sink and a toilet
a 5 piece bath has two sinks.

A half bath has a sink & a toilet (I am guessing you have 1 full and 1 half bath)
a 3/4 usually has a sink, a toilet & a shower (but it could have a tub.)

A bedroom is a bedroom no matter if it is very large or very small. There is no definition that says it has to be at least 10x8 or have a window, a door, and a closet. A lot of older homes have no closets as people had armoires.

[katenik]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

Here a full bath has 4 pieces - a tub, a shower, a sink and a toilet
a 5 piece bath has two sinks.

A half bath has a sink & a toilet (I am guessing you have 1 full and 1 half bath)
a 3/4 usually has a sink, a toilet & a shower (but it could have a tub.)

A bedroom is a bedroom no matter if it is very large or very small. There is no definition that says it has to be at least 10x8 or have a window, a door, and a closet. A lot of older homes have no closets as people had armoires.

Nope. I have one full bath, plus a separate sink/vanity with a door in between. That's the quarter.

I'm pretty sure that a bedroom has to have a window, and a bathroom has to have some kind of ventilation, either natural or mechanical. That's per building code, but I suppose that might vary by jurisdiction. I don't know about you, but I would hate to sleep in a bedroom without a window. (I did once, in a basement in Brooklyn. But that was an illegal conversion.)

[DenverDomers]

Sorry! We hope we didn't offend anyone; we didn't mean to suggest that all real estate agents are flakes. All we meant to say was that we had the bad fortune of a flaky agent. Therefore, we only meant to suggest that it would be a good idea for people to do diligent searching on their own as well, especially when they are in a tight time constraint like we were. And of course we told them we were looking for rental properties. That wasn't the problem.

Also, it is a two bedroom house. We only referred to it as 1 1/2 bedrooms to express the fact that the second bedroom is very small, without a closet. We didn't mean to use it as a technical term. We're sorry for the confusion.

Our main point was to thank everyone who has provided helpful information on this Forum. It is a great resource for people moving to Denver, especially from across the country.

[2bindenver]

I have seen my fair share of extra sinks - I think that was the big new thing in the 1970's.

All I hear in my head when I see one is "Honey, turn the water off while you are brushing your teeth."