Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just under two weeks before I send the first big shipment of stuff up to go into storage, then we hope to finalize our move in July. I moved to Phoenix from the Springs back in 2021 to care for my aging father in law, and he passed last year, and we are finally wrapping up all of the estate hassles and getting this show on the road to get back home.
I can't wait. I never needed to know how many shades of beige could possibly exist in one place.
So now I'm trying to figure out some logistics. I want to put this house on the market down here and have an agent handle everything, it will probably sell pretty fast (we're lucky enough to be near a couple of absurdly prestigious schools that people are obsessed with I guess?) and then we will be looking to buy with cash. I'm thinking we will have to rent someplace while we wait for this house to sell and while we try to find the house we want to buy.
Areas I'm looking at are mainly near some of the open space type parks up in the north side of the city, like Erindale, Pulpit Rock, near Palmer Park, near Sunset Mesa Open Space, and parts of Rockrimmon. I've been watching the market and I've driven around those neighborhoods...the price and the character of those houses are right for me.
Wondering if anyone knows anything about any of those neighborhoods that would be useful for me to know? Like I know that the Pulpit Rock (Off Dublin and Nevada) areas do not have HOA, and while I am not fully opposed to an HOA, it's kind of a perk to not have one. Mainly I would just rather avoid any where the HOA is really nasty and in all your business. Anybody got any stories about any of the aforementioned spots?
And I'm also trying to figure out what my strategy should be in terms of renting. I know that houses in these neighborhoods don't come up every day (except Rockrimmon, as that's a big area.) I wonder if renting for six months is enough or if I should plan on a whole year...
"while I am not fully opposed to an HOA, it's kind of a perk to not have one"
It would be a real perk. Just read this article today. This is in Denver, but insurance and property taxes in the 'Springs has skyrocketed as well. Their fees doubled, and I imagine the same thing will occur here as well. I really feel for these folks, and so grateful I'm not in an HOA.
I think in those areas you still need to be careful to look at some of the soil studies, mining history, etc. Some people in those areas used to need to get extra insurance against mine collapse under their property or against land subsidence issues, etc. Somewhere in the past in these forums people have posted links to maps that showed soil issues and the overlay of the old maps.
"while I am not fully opposed to an HOA, it's kind of a perk to not have one"
It would be a real perk. Just read this article today. This is in Denver, but insurance and property taxes in the 'Springs has skyrocketed as well. Their fees doubled, and I imagine the same thing will occur here as well. I really feel for these folks, and so grateful I'm not in an HOA.
Yeah, just...for me it depends on the HOA, even though I know that you can start out with one that isn't abusive and that can change over time. My experience with them has been that some are OK with pretty reasonable fees and good upkeep of common areas (some value for what you pay)...and some are expensive and/or massively restrictive about what you can do with your own property. I did watch the John Oliver episode on HOAs! But I had one when I lived in Security-Widefield that charged us $70/year and actually did some pretty good work keeping up the various paths and green spaces around the neighborhood at the time, and they were not much of a pain about restrictions...though they failed to enforce things now and then, that I kinda wished they would. The one where I presently live charges us $50/quarter and I haven't had any issues with them.
But really it's not just the cost. I used to live really close to University Park neighborhood up there off Union/Academy, and it is a beautiful neighborhood. I used to drive through there and think, "man this place is gorgeous, I'd love to live here" and imagine having a house that nice. Well here we are and there have been some houses in that neighborhood on the market that we could have afforded with our situation as it now is....but I got to thinking. The extreme uniformity of character in the landscaping, the way the houses look, it's pretty but it tells me something. I would bet anything that the HOA expects to have input on anything you want to do with your property and they are really restrictive. Not that I want to go nuts with weird stuff but I like to decorate for holidays. And I don't want hassles from neighbors on a power trip who have nothing better to do than nit pick at me over petty nonsense. So yeah, I've ruled out that neighborhood. And that's before even looking into what they charge for HOA dues. I bet it's pretty high.
I think in those areas you still need to be careful to look at some of the soil studies, mining history, etc. Some people in those areas used to need to get extra insurance against mine collapse under their property or against land subsidence issues, etc. Somewhere in the past in these forums people have posted links to maps that showed soil issues and the overlay of the old maps.
For renting, you might look for options like a 6 or 9 months lease with options for renewing month-to-month.
Yeah, I'll be looking into those options with landlords. Also any that have a provision where you can pay a fee to terminate a lease early. I had a company I rented from when I lived there before that allowed that, for like $400 and it did not harm your rental history or anything...just kind of "we understand that things can happen." I did not have to use it, but it was in my lease as something I could do. Unfortunately that company seems to have vanished off the face of the earth...which does not really shock me since they seemed a bit sketch in terms of their office space being a hole in the wall and whatnot. Little bit "fly by night"...though I never had any real issues with them. Well, except for the fact that about once a year they told us that they had investors who were considering buying up the townhome block we lived in who needed to walk through our home and look at it for some reason. I was always like, "sure, whatever." And we'd get two or three people show up and walk around looking at the place and then nothing happened. I always wondered if they just wanted to come by and poke around to inspect if we were trashing the place or had non-allowed pets or were running a flop house or some such. Since I was a good tenant, I always thought, "if you want to inspect my home you could just say so..." I actually found it amusing because there is no rule against rather shocking adult artwork on walls and my husband's tastes are...eccentric. I did warn them. /shrug
But now I wonder if in fact they were selling off properties and going out of business or what. Dunno.
Thanks for the heads up about the Rockrimmon area. I wonder if similar problems exist in Erindale, Palmer Park, Sunset Mesa, Pulpit Rock, etc. Those are the places I would really prefer to live, mainly Erindale, I adore that neighborhood in particular, but houses don't go up on the market terribly often there. I'll have to look into it. I have known folks who lived down in the Skyway neighborhood and also off 21st closer to Cimarron who had serious issues from settling soil and foundation damage. Would rather not deal with that!
Whether the properties are in the CS city limits or unincorporated county, call the appropriate building department and ask about soils reports. Sometimes issues can vary from lot to lot, so you do have to be careful. Also, be sure to ask the realtor in writing if there are any of these conditions that they need to disclose.
Thanks for the heads up about the Rockrimmon area. I wonder if similar problems exist in Erindale, Palmer Park, Sunset Mesa, Pulpit Rock, etc. Those are the places I would really prefer to live, mainly Erindale, I adore that neighborhood in particular, but houses don't go up on the market terribly often there. I'll have to look into it. I have known folks who lived down in the Skyway neighborhood and also off 21st closer to Cimarron who had serious issues from settling soil and foundation damage. Would rather not deal with that!
Welcome back!
Yes, areas in Rockrimmon and around Palmer Park may all have potential mine subsidence issues. Same with Cragmor and the fringe of University Park, although no issues have been reported in UP. Not every place in those areas are over a mine, but many are. In some cases, the shafts are so deep it won't matter, In others, it is a risk. It also has been quite a while since any of these problems have popped up. I do believe the state offers a special insurance program for those who live in these areas. No mining was ever done around Erindale, Sunset Mesa, Pulpit Rock.
West of I25 you have expansive soils and especially in the more hilly areas, risk of landslides. East of the highway you have sandy soil issues. Most of the areas you are considering aren't new construction, so close inspection of foundations are going to reveal any potential issues as we have had a range of dry and wet years over the last decade.
Yes, areas in Rockrimmon and around Palmer Park may all have potential mine subsidence issues. Same with Cragmor and the fringe of University Park, although no issues have been reported in UP. Not every place in those areas are over a mine, but many are. In some cases, the shafts are so deep it won't matter, In others, it is a risk. It also has been quite a while since any of these problems have popped up. I do believe the state offers a special insurance program for those who live in these areas. No mining was ever done around Erindale, Sunset Mesa, Pulpit Rock.
West of I25 you have expansive soils and especially in the more hilly areas, risk of landslides. East of the highway you have sandy soil issues. Most of the areas you are considering aren't new construction, so close inspection of foundations are going to reveal any potential issues as we have had a range of dry and wet years over the last decade.
Thanks!
Yeah I was hoping that it would help that I'm not really interested in newer developments. I could envision getting some odd piece of land someplace and getting a custom home built on it, that would be super cool and everything...but I probably can't afford how expensive such a process would get, to get what I'd end up wanting out of it. So if I'm not doing that, the homes I'd be looking at are several decades old at least.
Mostly because of an issue I've encountered in multiple states, where the newer developments are planned to put the most house on the least land possible, and it feels like the homes are too crowded up close to one another. If I had my way, the shadow of a neighboring house would never touch my own, nor mine theirs. And if I go into my backyard and look around, I will not see the windows of any other structure. I may or may not be able to get it quite that good, but that's my idea of optimal...and you sure as heck don't find that in new-ish developments even with big expensive homes.
Of course there are a couple of other factors I then have to look at with some of the houses in the neighborhoods I like. Many have crazy steep driveways, I'm not a huge fan of those, and some of them have drainage concerns. I once lived in a house in Virginia with a steep wooded hill behind the house, and when it rained, all the water flowed off the hill and right into the basement. When I see those rocky hills going up behind the home for some of them near the open spaces, I remember that and wonder what they've done to mitigate that problem.
I just saw a news article on my Facebook feed about a house fire in a northeast Springs neighborhood that claimed several homes...started with one house, but rapidly spread to a bunch of others.
I mean, it's not better if a house in Erindale or somewhere catches fire and it's surrounded by trees that also go, of course, but this whole thing of building houses right on top of each other like that... I just don't like it.
It was a duplex structure, apparently that's all that was involved. I would've thought building codes require a concrete firebreak between shared walls, but if not so, then it should. Another reason why I want to stay in a SFH as long as I can.
__________________
- Please follow our TOS.
- Any Questions about City-Data? See the FAQ list.
- Want some detailed instructions on using the site? See The Guide for plain english explanation.
- Realtors are welcome here but do see our Realtor Advice to avoid infractions.
- Thank you and enjoy City-Data.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
