Banging Your Head Against a Wall........

.......and searching for Real Estate in Denver......

One in the same?

For the past couple of day's we've been exploring areas in the Greater Denver area, both with our real estate agent and without, for a place to call home when we land next spring. The market here is very strange. Some areas are depressed but prices are not dropping, just holding. Other areas are hot and prices are going up fast. A majority of the places we looked at were empty (folks just get tired of waiting and move on?) Yet, according to our real estate agent, people aren't really negotiating on price. Go figure that situation out? It's a good thing we're not buying now, just trying to figure what area we like and a general idea of what we can get for our money.

One thing we know for sure, we can rule out living anywhere in or near Boulder(it reminds us so much of Ann Arbor, MI which we just love) There is only one major road leading in/out Boulder enroute to Denver (BAD traffic). The houses our agent showed us around Boulder are C-R-A-P (I had a much more appropriate word but decided against its use!) It seems the favorite past time of homeowners in Boulder is to sit and watch their property values go up. In the mean time, they don't do ANYTHING with their houses such as updating, cleaning, painting, maintenance and yard work!

despite being frustrated with the real estate search, we've really been enjoying the city of Denver. We are not used to a bright, vibrant and active downtown. Keep in mind, we have Detroit as our reference ;) There is just so much to do and see in town. The city is clean, the people are friendly and there are paths and parks everywhere. If you're bored in Denver, it's your own fault!

In the meantime, we keep searching and learning more about the place we're eventually going to call home :)

Rich & Laura