In general, everyone wants to stay in the nicest property that they can afford and when groups get together, the affordability of the nicer properties increases and the lower-end properties will fight each other for bookings.

The people who are born and raised in Denver continue to opine about the affordability, but those who are moving into the city with fresh eyes will gladly take their profit from the coasts and pay all cash, over ask in order to live in (again, my opinion) the best city in the country - diverse economy, great work/life balance, friendly people, city without most of the big city problems, 300 days of sunshine....

Since you are planning to house-hack, I would recommend you figure out what is affordable for you in terms of monthly expenses. 

Since the prices of homes are so high in California, purchase a home you can afford with your pre-approval letter with the most bedrooms you can find, then you live in the master and rent the other rooms out to college students, young professionals, single people, etc.This will help you break even for your mortgage payment/could potentially make money each month.

Although I don't want to live in it long-term I could certainly afford double my rent and put that toward a rent-to-buy agreement. 

We listen for entertainment purposes.This was one of his six voicemails left last night and it was the funniest.My girlfriend was a WWE on TV...

I am a school teacher who is looking for a way to afford a 2+ acre lot for my family to live on some day (hopefully soon).

Truly much needed affordable housing . 

I’ve also entertained flipping, but don’t know if I could afford  down payment and the cost of repair.

While there may be some policy issues worth debating surrounding incentivizing affordable housing development, and L&I is a total nightmare, these are two completely separate things.