Why should you think about buying a home in Denver? Among the first things we want to let you know about are the many advantages of home-ownership.
For starters, you get to be a part of a local community around you, where you can grow roots, get to know your neighbors, and join in anything from holiday parties and parades to neighborhood watch. Decades of Harvard study demonstrate that settling in and staying at one location actually leads to longer and healthier lifespans.
Take advantage of home-ownership to stabilize your housing costs each month instead of being a victim to rent fluctuations. That is until you pay off the mortgage, at which point you own the house. Believe us when we say that retirement is much easier to afford this way, especially when you take advantage of tax breaks and benefits only available to homeowners.
Along the way, you have the privacy of your own customizable domain. You can even use options like hosting an Airbnb, renting out a room, or even converting one space into a rentable apartment to make and save more money throughout the years.
Start with checking out your credit score, as this determines what your mortgage interest rate is going to be. Also, check your score and reports for accuracy. Dispute or correct misinformation, and do anything you can to improve the score.
Secondly, determine a specific goal in regards to your down payment. This is often going to range from 10 to 20 percent of the home value. Your challenge here is choosing a payment you can actually afford instead of the payment necessary to afford the property you want.
Your third task is possibly more crucial than selecting the right house, as you need to choose the best possible mortgage. The mortgage you sign up for might be something you have to live with for decades, so be careful. Compare ARM loans versus fixed rates, weigh conventional loans to government-backed options, and think about how many decades you want the loan to last.
Fourth, identify a great mortgage lender. Obviously, you want one offering a great rate. However, we also suggest you look into specifics like closing costs, so you know what you’re responsible for later. Shopping around for this might seem tedious, but take it seriously. This is an area we can assist you in, helping you find a great mortgage broker to work with.
The fifth phase is when it gets fun. After you determine your budget and choose your lender, get a pre-approval letter. This lets you finally start shopping for a home, armed with the power of financing.
Submitting your mortgage application means you need at least a month of pay stubs, proof of all other income sources, and two years of documents like W-2 forms and federal tax returns. That’s all before you get to recent bank statements, forms of identification, Social Security numbers, and numerous bank statements.
Finally, you can dive into things after finding a great real estate agent like Scott or Lisa, letting us know about listing features that important to you, considering the importance of school districts and public transportation. Look for your ideal home, but also look for your ideal neighborhood. You can do much of this online anytime you want, but eventually, you’ll need to start physically visiting properties too.
You might feel like you could build your own house out of the paperwork, even if most of it is hopefully in PDF format. However, if you were diligent about looking into closing costs earlier, there are no surprises waiting for you while you get full approval for your mortgage and nail down final negotiations with the seller. Now you own your own home!
Earlier we asked you why should you buy a home in Denver? We’re not going to leave you hanging here because we’ve plenty of good reasons to consider the Mile High City.
Denver has over 300 days of sunshine a year, actually getting more hours of sunlight than places like Miami Beach and San Diego. The Rockies nearby to the west don’t just provide scenic horizons, but they also mean that Denver is mild and dry enough that nearly a hundred golf courses are open 12 months a year.
Denver residents get to enjoy the Rockies without actually living in them. Situated on high rolling plains, the state capital offers easy and quick access to peaks soaring over 14,000 feet and gorges and canyons plunging scenically below the surrounding terrain. If anyone in your family loves nature and the great outdoors, they’re going to love it here.
Take your time to enjoy the city itself though. Denver has the 10th biggest downtown or center city area in the entire nation, filled with hundreds of pubs, art galleries, and theaters.
Denver is one of just two cities featuring seven professional sports, including NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, and MLS. The mile-high elevation is also a golfer’s dream since the thinner air lets balls fly 10 percent further down the fairway. Still, that same thin air means a quarter more sunlight, so working on your tan is easier too.
Two hundred parks total more than 14,000 acres. Denver residents are the fittest and skinniest of any big city in the country, thanks to 800 miles of bike paths not on streets and an urban trail system connecting 200,000 flowers across two dozen formal gardens every spring.
The city of Denver proper is houses about to half a million residents, but the greater metro area starts with Denver County before extending into Adams, Jefferson, Douglass, Broomfield, and Arapahoe counties. On average, expect to pay roughly half a million for a single-family house. A condo or townhome runs around two-thirds that price tag.
Various neighborhoods each offer you their own styles of dominant homes. Some of the oldest houses in the city are classic Victorians, whereas later homes that are still quaint with charm include ‘Denver Square’ or ‘Foursquare’ properties. Look hard enough, and you’ll also find hundreds of available Classic Cottages, Denver Bungalows, Tudors, and mid-century moderns on the market.
We need to tell you that you have to balance your desire for amenities and convenience with having access to outdoor spaces. The hustle and bustle of the city and center and some planned developments put shopping, dining, and entertainment at your doorstep, but you won’t likely have your own yard. Also, parking can be hard to find in such high-density areas.
On the other hand, much of the city is well-spaced, with easy access to those famed natural spaces and miles of trails. Plus, you are more likely to have both a front and backyard, hopefully with a magnificent view to the west.
Some buyers deep inside the city are able to balance things with a rooftop deck, where they can enjoy the great weather and lack of bugs. However, if you do want a place with a yard, look for extra features like a fire pit, outdoor kitchen, shade structures, and water features.
Knowing when to buy is also crucial. If you want motivated sellers willing to do affordable deals, look for them in the months just before winter. However, if you are looking for variety, there is far more inventory during the stretch of March through June.
Always get an inspection. Nearly half of all Denver homes are over 50 years of age. The mild climate helps with durability, but Colorado is second only to Texas in hail claims, so look for roof damage. Radon detection and drainage analysis are both particularly good ideas in this market, too.
By now, we hope you know that buying a home means privacy and potential wealth. Buying one in the Denver area means enjoying great weather, diverse culture, and the great outdoors. Use what you have learned here to make home-ownership a reality for your family.
Call us today and we will help you every step of the way. Why choose one agent when you can get the power of two. We know Denver like the back of our hands: (720) 352-7704 or [email protected].
Scott Jensen, a Denver Native, started his Real Estate career off investing. He owns multiple properties from Mobile Homes to an Apartment building. He has built, developed, and helped many clients buy and sell.
Lisa grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado and moved to Denver in 1999. She loves this city and can’t imagine living anywhere else. Real estate investing is what brought Lisa to be a real estate broker.
