Downtown – Lodo – City Park

Downtown Denver hosts the tallest buildings in Denver. Residentally, downtown consists of mostly condos, apartments, and older lofts. LoDo, Union Station and Ballpark have recently been transformed with hundreds of high end, multi-unit apartment highrises. The good news is that we offer a discount for smaller condos. Find your inspection pricing here.

East of downtown is RiNo and City Park. These areas are currently redeveloping with a mix of 1920-1950s single family homes, and modern row home duplexes. This is a very popular area currently, with an abundance of new restaurants, bars and housing. As inspectors, this area has many older homes with a broad mix of fix and flips and original homes. Many of the houses in this area are 1950s ranch style homes with crawlspaces. Older homes in these neighborhoods with older plumbing and multiple units are good candidates for our mold air sample testing.

Baker – Capitol Hill

In the very center of the Denver Metro is Capitol Hill. Named for hosting the Capitol building, this is one of Denver’s most iconic neighborhoods. Housing wise, this area is full of 1900-1960s, 3-5 story apartment buildings. Most of these units are rentals. However, many of them have been converted to single owner units. These buildings have shared entrances, and most of them do not have exterior balconies. Make sure you find one with a parking lot as parking is in high demand. There is also a mix of newer apartments and older highrises as well.

South of the main downtown area is Baker. Baker is Denver’s oldest neighborhood for single family homes. This whole area is populated with turn-of-the- century houses. 1890s-1920s. If you love old Tudors or Victorian styles, this is where you will find them – but you will have to pay quite the premium. As inspectors, these buildings usually have very old foundations (sometimes stacked stones) which we try to carefully evaluate. Also, the height and pitch of the roofs in these areas make them very hard to walk and inspect. Older neighborhoods typically have some older plumbing present. We recommend a water quality test in this area because of the possibility of lead supply piping.

Cherry Creek – Hill Top – Virginia Village

Cherry Creek is southeast of downtown. It is well know as the most expensive area of Denver. The area is full of custom built homes on larger than average lots. North of the Cherry Creek shopping district, you will find some of the larger and nicer houses in the city. The average list price on homes in this area is just shy of $1 million. Also, the famous Belcaro neighborhood is in this area as well which is adjacent to the Denver Country Club. Many homes in this neighborhood have basements, which can have higher radon levels. Make sure you order a radon test with your inspection.

Hill Top and Virginia Village are southeast of Cherry Creek. This neighborhood has many 1950s houses and many pocket neighborhoods of “mid-century modern” homes. These homes have flat roofs and classic architecture. When inspecting these homes, we pay particular attention to the roofs, as flat roofs tend to be more prone to leaks.

LoHi – Highlands – Edgewater

If you have lived in Denver for the last 10 years, the neighborhood that has changed the most is the Highlands. Named for being adjacent to downtown, but with higher elevation, this area has been completely redeveloped with high end condos, apartment buildings and modern row homes. Slot homes, or row homes in this area were so popular that Denver’s City Council put a moratorium on further construction of this style. However, they are still very prevalent. These units typically have an HOA, so it is important to understand what they cover, and how much that costs. But many of them have rooftop balconies which give you a great view of Denver (and a great view of the roof coverings during your inspection)!

Edgewater is located around the west and north sides of Sloan’s Lake. These homes are typically 1940s-1950s. This area is also filled with the classic brick duplex from this time period. When buying a duplex in this area, it is important to ensure that your side has access to the crawlspace if there is one. It is typically home to the furnace and will give you a good view of the foundation.

Federal – Athmar Park – Barnum

Across I25 from Baker are the many neighboorhoods along Federal Blvd. This area is also in a redevelopment phase but has many more affordable homes. As a rule of thumb, the closer you get to Colfax, the older the homes will be. Generally, the homes range from 1920s to 1960s. Many of the homes in this neighborhood are smaller, but have decent sized lots. If you want a big backyard but you want to be close to the city, this is a great spot.

Most of these homes will be on crawlspaces, but some will have basements. Almost all will be ranch style with no 2nd floor. This is an important area to get a sewer scope inspection as many of the houses will have the original sewer lines, and mature trees are everywhere. Also, you do see a fair amount of original plumbing and wiring throughout this area. Your inspector will be on the lookout for problems with these older materials.

Denver University – South Broadway

Broadway south of I25 is a very popular area. There are many new breweries and restaurants to choose from. This area has a broad mix of homes. The closer you are to Broadway, the older the houses are, but typically were built between 1940-1960. This neighborhood mixes in with the University neighborhood around DU which has a great night life and a small university center.

Around DU there are many duplexes and fourplexes mixed in with the single-family homes, but like most of Denver, many of the older houses are being demolished. The row home duplex is a pretty popular build in this neighborhood, especially around Pearl Street. However, one of the best features of this area is that you are very close to Washington Park, yet you are still outside of the city and its very high prices.

This area in particular has a high concentration of asbestos-based building materials. Siding, popcorn ceilings, asbestos duct wrap and more were used liberally when building homes in this area. It is important for your inspector to call these items out. Also, if you are planning a remodel, we recommend that you test these products for asbestos.

Park Hill – Stapleton

East of Denver is Park Hill and Stapleton. If you are not familiar with the story, Stapleton was Denver’s airport before DIA opened in 1995. This area was earmarked as one of the biggest redevelopment projects in the country. In the last few decades, there has been major development of this area. The closer you are to the older airport site, the newer the homes are. These are typically modern town homes and paired homes on smaller lots. However, they are very nice and generally the builders produce great quality houses. Stapleton has grown in popularity and because of the development of the east side, the traffic has increased on I70. Because of this, the city is doing major reconstruction work to the highway to expand it.

There are pockets of older homes around this area as well. 1950s ranch style houses are more typically in Park Hill. Park Hill is a classic American neighborhood with brick homes and allies in between homes. This is a very popular fix and flip neighborhood with many freshly remodeled homes. Fix and flip homes are great, and ensuring that the contractor’s work is high quality is one of our priorities as an inspector. Also, older homes bring the risk of extra pests. Our pest inspection can help ensure there are no wood destroying organisms in the home.