Fixer-Upper Fantasies

The other day, I dropped by this home for sale near Federal Boulevard & 29th Avenue in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver. From the outside, the place appeared to be a little worn but in good shape. Curious to see if might be a good investment fixer-upper, I set up a showing for myself to have a look around.

It was a mixed bag, but in general the news was good. The house has a stone foundation in good shape and a seemingly not-so-old roof. A good amount of recently updated plumbing and wiring implies a lot of work that wouldn’t have to happen. Though I noted a few potential issues (it might need a new sewer line, there were no signs that it had been recently cared for), I was able to glean over the course of about 20 minutes that this house had a lot going for it. Since I’ve looked at hundreds of houses and fixed up plenty, I was able to quickly make an educated guess about how much work this place would need to make a certain return on the remodel investment.

It’s a lot of fun to look around at places like this and get a sense for where Denver’s rapidly shifting market is. Not only does it help me stay informed about what’s out there when doing a search for a client, but it allows me to exercise creativity in imagining what folks could do to make a good housing investment without scraping off or building new.