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Just when you think the word “urban” becomes passe, a developer comes along and reignites the urban flame:

Carma, known as a suburban land developer in the Denver area, today unveiled a $225 million, “green” urban-style residential community in Adams County.

Read the full story: Carma unveils $225 million development

Two notes:

1. Colorado == Gateway to the West
2. Colorado <> Urban

Growing up in suburban NYC, there was one choice when it came to hardware stores - Pergament. When I went to college in upstate NY, there was one choice as well - Chase Pitkin. When I first moved to Denver, there were several choices including Builders Squares and Hugh M Woods.

Today, these stores don’t exist. They’ve been replaced by two home improvement mega centers: Lowes and Home Depot. These home improvement centers are growing at a rapid pace and leaving a closed hardware stores in their wake.

A few years ago we planned on remodeling our bath room but after getting two quotes from contractors we decided that our money was best spent on a Mexican vacation. This year we revisited the idea of remodeling our bath room but we decided to set a budget and keep things within reason since we’re planning to go to Mexico again next year. In order to keep things within reason, it means doing it yourself and going to Lowes or Home Depot.

To make life easier my wife and I ventured to Arapahoe and I-25 in the Tech Center where Home Depot and Lowes are about a block apart. Plus, if we didn’t like their selection, the Great Indoors, was a stone throw away on I-25 and County Line. We went shopping. I hate shopping but you don’t have to twist my arm to go to a home improvement center. We looked at flooring, vanities, sinks, counter tops, faucets, and just about everything in between.

This shopping adventure brought up a great question: How do you pick between Lowes and Home Depot? You can go with Nick Bakay’s “Tale of the Tape” method:

Number of Locations: Way too many (Home Depot) vs Not enough (Lowes) advantage Home Depot

Location of restrooms: At the Front (Lowes) vs At the Rear (Home Depot) advantage Lowes

Parking: Even on a busy day it’s not bad (Lowes) vs No matter what time you go, it’s just plain bananas (Home Depot) advantage Lowes

Checkout: Self Checkout (Home Depot) vs No Self-Checkout (Lowes) advantage Home Depot

NASCAR driver: Jimmie Johnson (Lowes) vs Tony Stewart (Home Depot) push

So far we’re even 2-2, so here’s the tie breaker:

Closing time: 10 PM (Lowes) vs 9 PM (Home Depot) advantage Lowes

So there you have it, Lowes wins 3-2!

Update: We ended up getting the vanity, sink, flooring and counter top at Home Depot. My wife simply didn’t care for my affinity to Lowes.

• Westword discusses the decline of the northern suburb Northglenn.
• Woody Paige returns to the Denver Post as a sportswriter. His stint in New York on ESPN2’s ultra boring Cold Pizza ended so he’s returning to Denver. Woody may have a style that ruffles feathers here in Denver but he’s the closest thing we have to Mike Lupica.
• File this under: real estate agent discusses the perils of the option arm.
• If it’s built for yuppies, it will attract yuppies.
• Where the heck is Pitkin and Garfield counties and why are home sales blowing up in these areas?
  (answers)
  • Pitkin county is where Aspen is located.
  • Garfield County is where Glenwood Springs is located.
• To find out if wood burning is red or blue, click here.
• Note to Mayor John Hickenlooper, it’s December and snow is falling.
• Note to John Elway, it’s GO time!

Could rising gas prices kill the suburbs? MSN explores the effect soaring gasoline prices will have on people moving to the suburbs. The article uses a Colorado couple choosing a nearby suburb of Denver to further illustrate their point:

Matt Loose, 28, and Dana Loose, 29, chose their first home — in the close-in Denver suburb of Centennial — with an eye to keeping their commutes as short as possible while fulfilling their dreams of owning a brand-new home. They recently closed the sale of their $250,000, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home in a KB Home development called Village at Centennial.

“The main driving force behind our move was the convenience of the commute, as opposed to moving to a location that is farther outside of the metro area,” said Matt. The new home is near a park-and-ride lot and a soon-to-be-built light-rail line, which will give him a 30-minute commute to his job as a civil engineer in nearby Englewood. Dana, a meeting and hospitality specialist, will be able to get to her job at a downtown Denver law firm in about 30 minutes.

While they won’t be able to walk to work, many of their contemporaries are driving 45 minutes to an hour, to new subdivisions being built on farmland. “We really liked the surrounding neighborhood,” Matt says of Centennial, “and we liked the fact that it wasn’t way, way out in the middle of nowhere.”

South of Denver lies Highlands Ranch, a vast neighborhood in Douglas County. As you drive down C-470 or County Line Road all you notice is how closely the homes are built. Fittingly, the LA Times has article on the development of Highlands Ranch. After all, California based Mission Viejo Co. built “the Ranch” 25 years ago.

The article mixes potshots:

…the epitome of sterile suburbia, with garages but no front porches, a multiplex but no museum, a Wal-Mart but precious few mom-and-pop shops. The stereotype was cemented when National Geographic magazine ran a picture of Highlands Ranch in 1996. It showed a dizzying panorama of rooftops, one after another after another, so close they practically touched.

with praise:

Indeed, for all the carping, Highlands Ranch may turn out to be a model for master-planned developments, said Robert Fishman, a professor of urban planning at the University of Michigan.

I have several friends who live in Highlands Ranch and they seem to enjoy the rec centers, parks, and mini malls that Highlands Ranch has to offer. They cite many advantages such as quiet neighborhoods, well kept lawns, and proximity to shopping. The only disadvantage they see is that it’s not convenient to Denver.

I came across the article via another Highlands Ranch article: Denver Subdivison Moves From Monstrosity to Model Planned Community

Editors Note: Due to the mortgage and credit crunch, rural property loans may require additional paperwork. If you’re in need of a Denver Home Loan contact us to discuss your mortgage options.

Rural generally refers to areas outside of larger or medium size cities. Each lender has their own version of what rural exactly is.

You can still get the common 30 and 15 year fixed mortgages with rural properties. Various types of ARM’s are also available. A lender may require a prepayment penalty if you have a rural property, you may be able to buy this down or buy it out completely.

There are lenders that will lend up to 100% of the appraised value of a rural property. The interest rates are generally higher on these programs due to the risk involved for the lender.

Guidelines and underwriting requirements usually change a little bit and get a little more strict on a rural property compared to a suburban property or urban property. Rates may sometimes increase for rural properties and the allowable LTV’s (Loan to Values) will usually decrease slightly. For example if you were able to borrow 90% of the value of your home with a suburban property, you may only be able to borrow 85% of the value of your home with a rural property.

It is usually much more difficult to obtain comparable sales in a rural area. This makes appraising the property more difficult, as well as harder for the bank to determine the properties values.

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