Downtown vs. The Burbs

[Madeline Burke]

Good morning BP! I recently moved to a very competitive and quickly expanding market in Fort Collins CO and am house hunting aggressively.  I want to live in the property, bring in a housemate or two, and eventually convert it to a rental (maybe after doing a small amount of remodeling).  

If you don't know FOCO it has an extremely desirable trendy downtown district and then a lot of suburban communities surrounding. In my price range (<$400k) I can either get ~900sq/ft 2br/1ba down town or as much as 5br/4ba a few miles out...

Emotionally I want downtown. I tell myself that the value retention and the rent-ability there are much more stable than where there is more inventory further out. That the aesthetics and amenities of downtown that I love would keep rent up and my property occupied. 

But am I right or is $/sqft more important investment-wise?