Looking for housing options in Denver

Hey MPers,

I am looking for a small 1-2 bedroom apartment or house in the south of Denver. I work in Englewood and currently am commuting from Thornton. The drive stinks.

If anyone knows of any modest housing options in or around the area of Lakewood/Littleton/Englewood, I would appreciate a PM or a post here in this thread. I would move at the end of January or beginning of February.

I am looking through rentals.com, craigslist, and a few other sites daily, but know there must be some good options out there I am missing.

Much thanks-

patrick

p.s. I am a non-smoker, no pets, and have a stable job, if anyone has a place they are looking to rent.

Hey Patrick,

I also work in Englewood and just moved into a place nearby 2 months ago. I found a moderately priced, newly remodeled apartment near Denver Heights University, about 5-10 minutes from Englewood City Center. Not the prettiest neighborhood but the price is better than many places, the neighbors aren't bad, and my commute is painless. There are two complexes there, Loretto Heights and Fielders Creek.

I've also see a number of houses for rent in the neighborhoods south of Hampden and east of Sante Fe. Again, not all in the prettiest of neighborhoods, but the prices might be decent.

Hope this helps,

Doug

The catch with craigslist and housing helpers you have to be Johnny-on-the-spot with places. Be willing to leave work at the drop of a hat and write a check. Good housing in Colorado especially in places like Dever and Boulder get rented crazy fast, and you'll find that once people get a good spot...they stay.

Hey Patrick,

I just spent a great deal of time hunting for a place in the area. Scott is spot on, your schedule needs to be flexible and places do get rented super fast. All the landlords typically figure out their vacancies 30 days prior, so for a 2/1 move in you need to start looking around 1/1. Being the 11th, I imagine things may be pretty picked over by now. Craigslist was by far the best resource, and their search by map feature is awesome. Padmapper.com was also a decent help. Housing Helpers was no help. At all. They told me I'd never find what I was looking for, sent me a bunch of listings way late, and most of them weren't even the city I had requested. Well, I found lots of places that fit my criteria. Don't waste your time with them. Good luck on your search, stay persistent!

Add Craigs list and the westword to your search options.
Most 'for rent' craigslist adds are legit.

One advantage to these two sites top some search/finder sites is that they are free and at least partially owner-driven not a search service that adds a surcharge into your rent above what the owner is getting. That means less mark up.

Wade J. wrote:Hey Patrick, I just spent a great deal of time hunting for a place in the area. Scott is spot on, your schedule needs to be flexible and places do get rented super fast. All the landlords typically figure out their vacancies 30 days prior, so for a 2/1 move in you need to start looking around 1/1. Being the 11th, I imagine things may be pretty picked over by now. Craigslist was by far the best resource, and their search by map feature is awesome. Padmapper.com was also a decent help. Housing Helpers was no help. At all. They told me I'd never find what I was looking for, sent me a bunch of listings way late, and most of them weren't even the city I had requested. Well, I found lots of places that fit my criteria. Don't waste your time with them. Good luck on your search, stay persistent!

+1 to what Wade said. I strongly recommend Padmapper which aggregates the sites you mentioned so you only have to look at one, clean, easy to use interface, and you can set up email alerts so that you get a daily email with new rentals that meet your needs. I'd also recommend driving the neighborhoods in Englewood before or after work (or during your lunch hour?)--there's a good chance you'll see some for rent signs in yards of people who don't do the Craigslist thing.

It sounds like buying might not be an option for you right now, but there are definitely some good deals to be had in Englewood. Check out this NY Times buy v. rent tool nytimes.com/interactive/bus…. With interest rates where they are right now, a lot of people are surprised that buying actually might make way more sense for them than renting, assuming they have enough for a downpayment (which, in Englewood, could easily be less than $7k). There are also programs like CHFA (Colorado Housing Finance Authority) that allow you to purchase a home for as little as $1,000 down as long as you take an online class.

I work as a residential real estate agent in Denver and have helped out several MPers--let me know if you want to talk through options.

Cheers,

David