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Here's a question I'd love to get a diverse set of opinions on.
Let's say that you were going to buy a home in the Denver area, but you were only going to spend 200K. Perhaps there's a little wiggle room, but 225K would be a pretty hard ceiling.
The whole of the metro area, from Boulder on the north to Castle Rock on the south, is up for grabs.
You plan on having kids. You want a single family home (no townhouses or condos). It could be a fixer upper or brand new construction, a spacious home way out in the burbs or a dinky alleyhouse in some odd corner of Denver.
Based off neighborhood alone, where would you go with your 200K?
Feel free to elaborate as little or as much as possible (e.g. this place because of the schools, this place because it's a cool neighborhood this place because it's ripe for a turnaround, gentrification, etc).
Thanks in advance!
I lived in Denver for twenty years, am interested in returning, and have honed in on a specific place that I'd like to live...but without giving that away, I'm really curious about what other people would do in my situation.
The whole of the metro area, from Boulder on the north to Castle Rock on the south, is up for grabs.
You plan on having kids. You want a single family home (no townhouses or condos). It could be a fixer upper or brand new construction, a spacious home way out in the burbs or a dinky alleyhouse in some odd corner of Denver.
Based off neighborhood alone, where would you go with your 200K?
Feel free to elaborate as little or as much as possible (e.g. this place because of the schools, this place because it's a cool neighborhood this place because it's ripe for a turnaround, gentrification, etc).
Thanks in advance!
I lived in Denver for twenty years, am interested in returning, and have honed in on a specific place that I'd like to live...but without giving that away, I'm really curious about what other people would do in my situation.
I'd think I would eye Littleton. Close to Denver, walk-able, nice downtown (i have heard), and the Light Rail. I'm guessing as more people move into Colorado (and if there are jobs there to sustain this) places like Littleton may increase in prominence and desireability.
Well, that pretty much describes exactly what my wife and I just did 3 months ago, only with a slightly lower ceiling (bought for $185k). No job to worry about commuting to, no pre-conceived notions about areas (well, other than Lakewood where we signed a 3-month apartment lease.. we knew we wanted to be nowhere near the area around Wadsworth from 6th down to about Bowels).
We looked at the available houses everywhere that met our criteria and found that the further away from Denver city/county we got, the crappy the home in terms of build quality. We also didn't like ANY of the neighborhoods in Arvada... not a single one. Living there would be akin to eating plain oatmeal for every meal, bland (IMHO). We eventually got things narrowed down to homes built before 1970, that seemed to be the age at which build quality took a major turn south (for this price range at least... though our realtor said it was fairly universal across the board). That limited the areas to look, and we ended up in Ruby Hill with a Brick Ranch, 3 car garage, 2400sq/ft, hot tub already in place, full finished basement, tons of 1950's character and the house had been basically unmolested as we bough it from the original owners.
While we did due diligence to check out the neighborhood (had actually already seen 3 other homes within a mile of the one we bought), it was absolutely a function of "This is the right house". Especially after having so much trouble getting a house under contract... one we wanted went under contract the day we toured it which we continued to look at other homes (instead of getting the contract in ASAP). Another had multiple offers, several for over asking price and the last had a full price offer (as was ours), but in cash and ready to close within a week. We didn't take any chances with the home we bought and skipped looking any further so a contract could be submitted.
You could look in a specific neighborhood/area, but if you're strict with your home 'must have' list you may be waiting a long, long time. If you're more interested in getting into a specific area and less concerned with the type/build/quality of house.. well, then looking by neighborhood may just work out. Make sure you know what side of that coin you're on. My wife and I were strict about the house wants after our last home and got everything we said was a must (well, except the home is bigger than we'd wanted), and about 80% of what we wanted in the house.
I would ask you to prioritize a few things. $200,000 isn't a lot of money to spend on a house in Denver. Even with the economy suffering, a $200,000 house is going to mean either a not-great area, a smaller floorplan, a true fixer-upper or a gift from God.
So...I don't consider myself an expert, but my husband retired from the military a few years ago so 10 years of my life was basically spent in base housing or in rental homes, always with the dream of one day actually putting down roots somewhere and buying our very first house. We did tons of research and had a list that was very specific to our goals when we began our househunt. Incidentally, we rented a house for a year in Denver because we moved out here for a job and wanted to have a better perspective on the city that only time can give you.
Our list prioritized a good school district since we already had once young child and were planning on more. For us, the school district was the #1 priority and if living in one meant that we would have to have a tiny house, that was okay with us. Fortunately, Denver isn't that kind of city and a great school district is not the sole benefit of the super rich. Our #2 priority was location though we had a different perspective after living in cities that offered a minimum 1-hour commute. We would drive if we had to, but again, Denver isn't that large of a city and you can get from one side to the other in an hour (minus snow). Our #3 priority was a non-fixer upper. We love HGTV and those home improvement shows but know that we are pretty limited on our abilities (and patience) so the house would just have to need some basic cosmetic work. I would never walk through a house and think to myself, "well, I can just knock out this wall and expand here."
So...as with everything else in life, buying a house means you have to prioritize. Decide what's best for you (and don't change your minds when you start your househunt because it is so easy to want the "new house smell" and let your list fall by the wayside) and spend the time finding it. Don't put yourself in a situation that puts you on a deadline...you'll make mistakes that way. Finally, only buy the house you can AFFORD. Again, you are going to be in that house for a while...the economy isn't going to turn around and put us back in the 7-days-on-the-market real estate time we were in any time soon. You need to find a house that works for you and allows you to have some wiggle room at the end of the month to enjoy yourselves. No amount of granite or stainless steel will make up for not having enough money at the end of the month for emergencies.
the3Ds said it well. I would add, a good school district is in the eye of the beholder; take these "great schools" ratings with a grain of salt. High scoring schools have a direct correlation with high socio-economic status so the high scoring schools will be in the most affluent neighborhoods. However, being in a high scoring school does not guarantee that your child will score high.
Decide how long of a commute you can tolerate. Remember that being an hour away from your home means you will likely miss many school activities such as plays, concerts and the like.
There are no spacious suburban homes in the Denver metro area for $200-225K. None. You might find one that is 2000 sq. feet.
I had the same budget- 200k to 225k and I found plenty of smaller nice shape houses or a little bigger minor fixers in highlands ranch and parker. We had a very nice house with a fully furnished basement under contract in Pinery Glen, Parker until we hit problems with one of the liens on the home, and had plenty of houses we were eying in Highlands Ranch in the same range that we passed up for this one.
Our criteria were good family atmosphere and good schools. We found both in both areas. Never seen so many kids out playing in the park, riding their bikes around, parents walking with their kids, etc.
the3Ds said it well. I would add, a good school district is in the eye of the beholder; take these "great schools" ratings with a grain of salt. High scoring schools have a direct correlation with high socio-economic status so the high scoring schools will be in the most affluent neighborhoods. However, being in a high scoring school does not guarantee that your child will score high.
Decide how long of a commute you can tolerate. Remember that being an hour away from your home means you will likely miss many school activities such as plays, concerts and the like.
There are no spacious suburban homes in the Denver metro area for $200-225K. None. You might find one that is 2000 sq. feet.
I don't think it's in the eye of the beholder--I think there are plenty of more empirical approaches to addressing the issue, e.g. CSAP scores, attrition rates, etc. And yes, socioeconomic status correlates well to school quality--but only up to a certain point. I would argue that it follows more of a marginal utility curve. Income helps to improve schools, but only up to a certain point. I bet there is a huge difference in school quality when comparing neighborhoods where the median family income is 40k versus 80k...100k versus 200k, not so much. And of course simply getting your kid in to a good school system doesn't automatically mean your kid will perform well. Nobody would assert that--it's the difference between a necessary and a sufficient condition. I was a product of LPS and I am quite thankful for how prepared I was for college.
Anyhow, I guess you could say that spaciousness is what's in the eye of the beholder, because to me a 2000 sq ft house is fine for a family of 4, especially if there's a basement to expand into. And there are ample houses available in the metro Denver area that are 200-225k and around 2000 square feet. Finding one wouldn't be a Herculean feat, at least in my opinion.
But returning to the original point, I was wondering what people would say if the only hard and fast restriction was the price cap. I know what my preference set is and already have a neighborhood in mind, just curious if other people would come up with the same thing or go in a totally different direction.
Re: Colorado schools, the School Finance Equalization Act of 1989, amended 1994, equalizes funding between rich and poor districts. It doesn't work perfectly, but it helps. There are many things to look for in a school district besides test scores.
A 2000 sq. foot house with additional finished basement is not a 2000 sq. foot house.
A 2000 sq. foot house with additional finished basement is not a 2000 sq. foot house.
But it *IS* listed as a 2000sq/ft home (unless it has a walk-out basement) on the MLS.
And I disagree about "spacious" too... my house is EASILY 1000sq/ft too big and it's listed as a 1500sq/ft home (has the above mentioned not-included basement, 2500sq/ft total). If this house had no basement, it would be the right size. Of course, when we were shopping, we didn't find one single smaller home with a floorplan that made sense (again in the under $200k range).
There's enough room here for a family of 4~5 very comfortably as it sits, or the basement (with kitchen and bath) could be turned into an in-law suite, or have 1 more HUGE bedroom added very easily with the addition of a simple 6' wall.
It's not McMansion "spacious"... but if someone wants that, they would turn their delicate noses up at the 'common' people in most of the neighborhoods of Denver and never even consider looking beyond the well defined, "Safely white" areas.
Brian
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