Denver Market House Hacking Location Recommendations

[Angie DeNardo]

Hello everyone my name is Angie DeNardo and I am fairly new to the Bigger Pockets forum. I will be relocating in early 2020 to the Denver area from Philadelphia. Instead of throwing my money away renting I would like to get involved in real estate. I have been reading books, listening to podcasts, and networking for about six months. I am targeting the house hacking strategy.

Does anyone have experience house hacking in or near the Denver market?

Where are locations/neighborhoods you would recommend for house hacking? I have no commute to the office... just to the airport. I am looking for a class B or C location that is turning into a class A location ideally.

Thank you in advance for your insights!

[Steve K.]

Hi Angie welcome to the forum and (preemptively) welcome to CO. When I first moved out here I got started with a house hack and it was a life changing decision so I highly recommend it. Denver is a big city so which part to land in is kind of a difficult question to answer without more info about you. 

The most important piece that will dictate which part of the city I'd recommend would be budget, as Denver has gotten pretty expensive so price is often the biggest limiting factor in getting started. If you're not sure on your budget, the place to get started would be talking to a mortgage broker to see what the max loan amount you would qualify for is (sorry if this is too obvious and elementary, and you may be paying cash because money is no object for all I know, but my assumption would be that you'll take advantage of the low money down financing available for owner-occupied which is a big advantage of house hacking, and that your price point is entry-level so I'll base my advice on that).

 For a house hack you'll want a larger size house like a 4/3 to fit all those housemates who are paying your mortgage, so that combined with being close to DIA and B/C area becoming an A makes me think of Fitzsimons neighborhood of Aurora near the Anschutz Medical Campus, and the surrounding area. There are some larger houses in that area for reasonable prices still and although it's not real swanky right now it is developing fast so it's got upside potential, and super close to DIA. Stapleton and Lowry are equally close to DIA and connected via RTD's A-line commuter rail service which is very convenient, but that neighborhood is already considered an A area and fairly expensive so not sure if that fits your budget/investment plan. You might be able to find something just on the outskirts of the newer part of Stapleton that hasn't skyrocketed in price yet, as there are some blocks of older, less expensive homes kind of mixed in with the fancy new townhomes around there, but mostly smaller homes. Gateway/Green Valley Ranch is another area very close to DIA where one can buy a large house at a low price-point compared to the rest of Denver metro, however I wouldn't recommend GVR for various reasons. 

Another big factor will be how rough of a hood you're willing to live in. You mentioned B/C but the C areas can be pretty off-putting, so I'm guessing when you visit them you may pivot more towards B areas. However C areas do offer the lowest price point and perhaps the biggest upside potential if you choose wisely and predict the path of progress accurately, so you have to strike a balance that only you can really make a judgement call on. Again a lot of it comes back to budget combined with personal tolerance for things like crime and proximity to industry as the east side has a lot of gross polluted areas and crime. It also depends on how long you have to wait for an area to turn around. There are some C areas near DIA that are turning a corner quickly: Cole, Mayfair, and even parts of Commerce City spring to mind in this category, but you'd have to see them for yourself as not everyone will be attracted to those areas. 

I prefer the west side of town myself as I like having quick access to the mountains personally and many people in Denver are like me and prefer to be close to the mountains. That increased demand combined with the geological barrier to development created by the mountains is driving appreciation more on the west side in general, whereas out east Oakwood Homes is banging out new cookie-cutter homes willy-nilly across the plains as far as the eye can see, so there isn't any limit to supply (one reason I wouldn't recommend GVR). So if appreciation potential is of primary concern, you may want to sacrifice the convenience of being close to DIA in order to open up the option of being on the west side. Anyway some thoughts to get you started. 

One more thought is you may actually just want to rent for a little while until you get familiar with the different parts of the city, and look at a ton of properties during that time in order to familiarize yourself with the housing market. Good luck!