Top Things to Consider When Buying a Condo in Denver

"John Wilkinson (00:03)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Living Colorado Getting Real Estate Podcast. I'm your host, John Wilkinson, with my co-host Kenda Ruck, and we are here today to talk to you about condos in Denver. Purchasing condos, the process, the good, the bad, the ugly.

Kenda Ruck (00:21)
Yeah, I was really surprised because last week we were showing one of our sweet clients around at condos in downtown Denver. And when I think condo, like I'm from Cabo, so I think, you know, beach condo and and like the beach hangout where you need to make sure that your your sand has a place to get washed off and you have a place to put your surfboard. But these were very different. These were like downtown condo buildings, and I was blown away by how gorgeous some.

John Wilkinson (00:43)
So

Kenda Ruck (00:51)
of them are. They're beautiful.

John Wilkinson (00:54)
Me too, right? The and I think the the one that stood out that our client really loved is The Beauvallon down on Lincoln Street and Ninth in Denver. And man

It's like a it's like a building you'd find in France, in Paris, right? It has the it really ornate architecture, two towers and on the fifth floor, when we walked to that beautiful garden terrace and the pool level, it was just breathtaking and the views of the mountains, from there I I could just imagine myself, you know, in the jacuzzi, looking at the mountains, enjoying, a a cocktail or whatever there. it was really spectacular.

Kenda Ruck (01:31)
They the views were beautiful and I agree the architecture just like you said, it was like old Italy or something. I don't know. And to be able to see the skyline of downtown and then I like you was picturing like the snow covered mountains in the background. It just it seemed incredible. The other thing I thought was really cool was like down below these two towers.

there were like restaurants and coffee shops and a beauty salon and a like all of these things were right there. It kinda felt a little bit like New York City but Denver style.

John Wilkinson (02:05)
Yeah, totally. little bit smaller, yeah, for sure. It's just, you know, it's very walkable. That that area of Five Points in Denver is very walkable. Lots of restaurants, shopping, really anything that you'd you'd need to do. And the great thing obviously for our client is, her sons live very close, she's relocating, so that was very important. Beauvallon also has twenty-four hour, seven days a week concierge and security, at each tower. So that helps with those looking for a little bit more security.

And obviously the parking is a big deal. You know, when you're looking at condos in Denver, there are, I think, a few things that people have to take into consideration, especially if you want to live, in the Five Points area or Congress Park or West City Park or, you know, any of these in kind of like the central hub right of of Denver is parking. Not all condos come with parking and some of them are older homes that have been converted into condos and there's street parking.

I know another consideration she was looking for is washer and dryer in the unit, right? That's a big one. Some of the buildings, old and new, have common area laundries. She didn't want to deal with that. You know, and also a patio, some outdoor space to be able to open the door, maybe have a little grill or something. So that was a little bit of a challenge finding, you know, condos with all of those characteristics.

you know, for her, that that like check marked all those three things.

Kenda Ruck (03:33)
Yeah, but we were able to find something really cute for her. And the thing that I was really surprised about, it it is a small condo. It's a one bedroom, one bath condo, but it was, you know, under four hundred thousand. It was what it was like under three fifty. It was well below that. And

I thought, you know, I could live here. I could, I could enjoy a life here. What hidden costs do you think that a condo buyer might need to consider in addition to just the purchase price, the ticket price of the condo?

John Wilkinson (04:09)
Yeah, no, great question. So I think, you know, you're like you said, under 350, obviously great a great price for somebody, either a first-time homebuyer or maybe somebody who's downsizing, you know, or relocating for a job and and needing doesn't want to rent, what would rather buy. You know, there's obviously the mortgage, but then HOAs, right? That's a fee that can vary greatly between buildings. Now there are always some inclusions in that HOA fee. And so I think, you know, just looking

at what the HOA fee is, what it includes, because it could offset, right, maybe $600, but maybe that includes, you know, water or heating or maybe electric or not, you know, you just just knowing like snow removal, you know, what does it include, what doesn't include, but that is a hidden fee because it obviously is on top of the mortgage and you know can can be substantial.

Kenda Ruck (05:04)
The other thing that we had to inform her about was when you're buying a condo, it's not a quick close. It takes a little bit more time to go through the closing process. And I think that has a lot to do with the mortgage companies checking the health of the HOA. Do you agree?

John Wilkinson (05:26)
Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, and and you know, here in in Denver, there's new regulation that the HOAs have to be

researched and audited in terms of like their books, what kind of special assessments are there, do they have enough funds in case of an emergency, you know, so you want to make sure you have a healthy HOA and it does take some time. You know, getting the condo and the HOA th first it's the condo documents and also the HOA certificates, you know, that take time. And so that adds to the process before you get an appraisal, you have to have all of these things in place. So it just delays things.

Normally if you had that, you know, close quickly in seven to ten days on a on you know a standard detached, single family home, that's possible. With condos, it's a little bit more difficult. And, anybody, I guess purchasing, you just want to make sure you have enough time to be able to do that. Unless you're a cash buyer, obviously then that kind of takes it out. But if you're getting a loan, those things definitely add time.

Kenda Ruck (06:24)
let's go back and talk through the entire process that we took her through. and then we'll get to the closing. And then after that, I I do wanna ask you a little bit about

If you want to resell your condo, because I think there's some issues with selling condos right now, also in the the Denver area. So I think we need to touch on that. But let's first talk about when she contacted us. What are some of the steps that we took her through to get her prepared for when she actually came to Denver to go look at properties?

John Wilkinson (07:01)
That's a great question. our client d was moving from out of state and so obviously doesn't really know the area very well. She knew where her kids live and she wanted to be close to that area.

Kenda Ruck (07:14)
And that helps because

at least she could narrow down an area. Sometimes they just say, Hey, I wanna live in Colorado, you know.

John Wilkinson (07:21)
Yeah, I

want to get the best condo regardless of location, right? People also choose, I think in general, they're like either want to live close to work because it makes it more convenient for them, or they want to live close to their lifestyle, right? What they like to do when they're not working, right? And so she is an employee that that does not work remotely, right? So she didn't wanna live live close to work because, you know, she goes to work and does that. She wants to kind of live by, you know, have the opportunity to go

Kenda Ruck (07:25)
Right.

John Wilkinson (07:51)
walk the dogs with her sons that are you know go to dinner you know randomly you know and not have to drive somewhere she'd rather walk. So that was all those were like that was the the the biggest nut of what she was looking for. And then the specifics were, you know, obviously not she wanted in unit laundry, she needed a parking space, a reserve space because she didn't want to have to like search around for a parking space, you know, in the winter, when there's snow or ice outside. She definitely did not want to do that.

And she wanted a patio so that her dogs could sit outside, she could sit outside, look at the beautiful views, you know, that that Denver afford all of us. so those were kind of the marching orders. This this area, of town, and then something that has those three things and also

relatively newer. She didn't want something that she has to fix up, you know, no renovations. you know, and in Denver under under really around under 350, that's that's a it's tough, right? There's a lot of condos on the market. Yeah, but once you start adding kind of these parameters, you know, it it narrows the pool quite a bit.

Kenda Ruck (08:49)
That's a tall order.

And I love what you said about having p buyers fall into one of two categories. and I think this is something for every buyer.

if you're thinking about moving to Colorado, no matter where you want to be, would you like to be close to work? Is that important for you so that you don't have a long commute? Or do you want to be close to your lifestyle? That is up to each individual person. Different people have different priorities and different things that consume the majority of their time and are important to them, to their quality of life. And so as a buyer, I guess our first

question to the buyer is, hey, where do where do you want to be? Do you want to be close to work or do you want to be close to your lifestyle? And I think a lot of people in Colorado kind of wanna, they choose to be closer to their lifestyle.

John Wilkinson (09:43)
Yeah.

Yeah, what so in Cabo, Kenda what I know there's there's many condo developments down there. How did your buyers kind of decide what what area or what condo was gonna be the best fit for them?

Kenda Ruck (10:10)
You know, John, in Cabo, the reason for buying

was completely different than it is here. It was all emotion. It was all the dream of I want to bring my grandkids here, or I want to be able to come here during the winter and golf every day. Or I want to watch the whales breaching in the ocean from my patio. So it wasn't I need to be close to work or I need to be close to my kids' school or I I want to be close to fame. It was all emotion driven. And I think

It was they would walk into a place and if the feeling of the place was matching the feeling that they had imagined in their mind about what their ideal

scenario was then people would just know and that's a little bit hard to nail down also sometimes and of course they wanted the dream for you know $350,000 and in Cabo that's just not that's you know not really a thing. but motivation of what it is that you're looking for, I think that's what helped me be a better agent was

John Wilkinson (11:14)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (11:22)
asking the questions that helped me understand what is really at the heart of this property search. And I think for our client here, it's she wants to be closer to her boys.

John Wilkinson (11:34)
Yeah, totally. And I think, two things can be true, right? Where it's

location for her by her boys is super important. but also I think I you remember when we walked into some of the units, you know there was definitely a different reaction for some units versus the others. You know, I think anybody considering buying a condo here, you know, it's it's really thinking about what we've talked about, but also

the characteristics of the building itself, right? So the Beauvallon's beautiful, it's newer, and has in unit, you know, laundry in most of the in a lot of the units, or if not all of the units. but there's some buildings that we looked at that, you know, don't have that, but have charm. Some people like that that historic kind of building feel, like where there's brick exposed brick walls, right? Spiral staircases to a loft area, you know, and those are things that I think are very specific to each individual

buyer that's out there. and one thing I think I love is is is having discovered these different buildings in around Denver condo condo developments that offer just so many different characteristics. Which I know Cabo has that as well.

Kenda Ruck (12:44)
Yeah, and you d

exactly. You're absolutely right. They're all very you can have the supermodern, the ultra modern, the the more Mexican hacienda style. and and we presented our buyer with a list of options.

which met her criteria. And that included pictures. But the thing that I always find interesting is the ones that you think, yeah, based on the pictures, this is this is a great place. But then when you get there, you're like, I didn't think I was gonna like this one based on the pictures, or I thought I was gonna love this based on the pictures, but I really didn't. So I guess that speaks to the importance of two twofold.

going to look in person or having your agent go to look. And secondly, trusting your agent's experience and trusting our experience with the area. And we know, okay, this is what this these pictures may look great. This happened in Cabo all the time. These pictures may look great, but I'm just telling you, you don't want to live there, you know, and that's trusting that the person who lives on the ground, the agent who's the professional is

John Wilkinson (13:50)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (13:58)
you know, really plugged in and understands the community. but the ones that she thought she was gonna like the best, based on the pictures, no, and the ones that she she was surprised by, you know.

John Wilkinson (14:07)
Yeah.

Yeah,

I agree. You know, I think you bring up a great point about previewing, you know, spaces. That is one of the benefits of working with an agent is whether they are you know willing to go preview places before actually touring, the client. The client's time is very valuable and I think the benefit of working with us, right, and and agents in general, but is it's just our desire to find the right place for them.

them

and that that takes extra steps right it includes like going previewing places doing research on the area making sure that it fits the criteria and there are so many condos that that are out there here in Denver today on the market that you know may not have fit one of her criteria and if we took her there without doing that research it's a waste of everybody's time

and you know, I've been on the the other side of that with working with with an an agent when we were buying a place and

we'd walk in. I actually I wouldn't even go in I'd see the outside and it's like I'm not even going into this home because I know I don't like this neighborhood, right? Or, you know, and that and those are things that where you're you're kind of frustrated, like we drove here and we wasted time. So I think, you know, spending that extra time previewing places, making sure that it's the right place for someone, especially if someone moving from out of town, they're here for a limited amount of days, right? You gotta make the best of it.

Kenda Ruck (15:17)
Yeah. Right.

John, I think that's not to toot our whole own horn, but I think that's one of the things that make us unique. there are great real estate agents, but we're not just trying to sell people houses and help people buy and sell houses. We are trying to build a community where anybody who's thinking about moving to Colorado can make a confident

knowledgeable informed decision. And that's why we take the time to do this podcast. We take the time to have our Facebook insider community. We take the time to do videos on YouTube. We take the time to interview local people. That that is those are events that do you know take a lot of time and effort, but we are trying to help people who are considering moving here have

The ability and the the tools to make informed decisions.

John Wilkinson (16:37)
I think you know that's that's exactly right. It does take time for us to do these things. And you know, we had Billy and I had had clients who are now friends over for dinner at our house on Saturday. I that's the level of of relationships that I know we're looking to build is not just a check mark or an additional sale or that, you know, whatever. It's it's really to build community, like you said, to build friendships, relationships that are that are ongoing. I mean, life is way too short to just

be transactional and I think you know that's that's important and even this client who who we just met right moved came picked us out of all the agents that that are out there and I feel like we're building a good friendship I totally like you listen I'm gonna come hang by the pool with you you know you know here at at the Beauvallon just because it's it's such a cool place but you know it's it's definitely a process it's a big decision for people to make and you know whether it's a whether it's a single family home

Kenda Ruck (17:08)
That's right.

That's right.

John Wilkinson (17:36)
or a condo. Yeah, there's there's definitely unique character unique needs in buying a condo here in Denver and and we're here to help them through that process and also build the relationship that we want to have.

Kenda Ruck (17:49)
Absolutely. And I think that just goes to our b our basic our personalities too. one of the reasons I moved to Denver in the first place was because I so many of my clients in Cabo had become my friends and the majority of them lived in Denver. And I was like, Well, there's so many cool people in Denver and these are now my friends. I may as well go move there.

John Wilkinson (18:09)
Crazy.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. So, you know, and and looking at the the you know, this specific example, you know, all the the the condos in in Denver, you know, I know there's a lot on the market. So do you think there's a challenge in in selling a condo here and how can people maybe take an extra step to make theirs their their their condo either more marketable or desired among amongst all the that are

Kenda Ruck (18:43)
Yes.

Yeah, if you are trying to sell a condo right now, there are some very important things that you need to keep in the forefront of your mind. Number one, go ahead and do all of the maintenance that you need to do. Any deferred maintenance, catch up on it. because there are so many condos on the market and buyers have a large

selection pool. So yours is going to have to stand out as special. They're not gonna have to come into your condo and do a bunch of maintenance or updating. So if you really have to sell your condo, go ahead and do that. Make sure that the pictures are great, that it's presented in a in a great way, and also make sure that you're priced correctly. So many people have aspirational pricing dreams, and pricing isn't what it was.

Post-COVID or you know it's just different now, and especially for condos. When you have a great number of units on the market, that is more supply. And when you have more supply, the demand goes down. And that means that you have to price it correctly in the first place. Don't chase the market down and keep reducing and keep reducing and keep reducing. Come out of the gate strong, confident in your price, and make sure that the condo is showing.

John Wilkinson (20:14)
Yeah, I agree. And you know, the p the photos for sure. And like you said, when you walk into a space and if it

You've done all you can to make these photos amazing. Hopefully you're not using AI or some other tool to clean it up because when somebody walks in, reality is gonna hit them in the face. Right. So it's making sure that you've done all of the things that you need to do to make sure that the unit is presentable. One of the services you know that that we like to offer is staging consultation, right? Because that is a big thing. It's not our opinion. You get a professional designer to go in there and and look at what you have.

Kenda Ruck (20:31)
That's right.

John Wilkinson (20:49)
have and maybe just kind of tweak things so that it really does stand out when people walk in and th the you like as they say that the photos match the reality, right? So that's they're not walking into some you know fake you know fake or or photoshopped images and and hoping that I'll sell it.

Kenda Ruck (21:05)
Right.

Because they that is a big turnoff because it shows I don't want to be sound dramatic, but it shows like a a level of dishonesty and people don't like that. I I always told my clients always that what

John Wilkinson (21:15)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (21:25)
is attractive to live in and what you want to live in in your home and how you want to represent yourself in your home is different than how you need to sell your home. So when you're selling your home, it needs to look different. It shouldn't reflect your personal style. It shouldn't reflect your personal life things that you love and and hobbies. It should be very generic so that any person who walks in can project their style

John Wilkinson (21:50)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (21:55)
In your house and not have that like conflict of, how am I gonna change all of this? And that's why people always say paint your make sure your walls are neutral, make sure everything's neutral. It's not because they want you to like not be express yourself, it's because any barrier to a buyer walking in.

John Wilkinson (21:57)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (22:16)
A condo or a home and they see a barrier, like, I'm gonna have to paint, or this is not my style. That's one moment that they are taking away from falling in love with your house. So staging is not about making it look like you think it should look. It's about making it look like what the no most number of buyers would view without any objection. Does that make sense?

John Wilkinson (22:44)
One

hundred percent. Yeah. I think that's you know, having sold and I know you have sold your home, it's you've gotta do everything you can to kinda neutralize you know the space, make it stylish but in a way that's that's enticing to everybody. It's like a model home, right? You walk into a model home

or any any new development, even in condos or or high rises, is the you know, they have the sales centers, like those are those are designed to be attractive to almost everybody, right? And then you can start to envision, you know, your stuff in that in that place. I think with our client looking at, you know, the the condos here in Denver, it that was important, right? It's look like some units are vacant and she can visualize her stuff there. Some are staged. I think staged units show better than

Kenda Ruck (23:33)
They always

John Wilkinson (23:34)
They they

Kenda Ruck (23:34)
do better.

John Wilkinson (23:34)
they do because you know space, you know, usage of space is important, especially if you have a unit that's you know, eight hundred square feet. it's not very large, so you've gotta show buyers who who are not designers themselves how to use space or how you can use space. And if it's vacant it's tough to do that. And so you kinda let their mind think like, no, this is too small. When in fact you can actually do some really great things in an eight hundred square foot space, right? So I think she was she was

Kenda Ruck (23:54)
Yes.

John Wilkinson (24:04)
she loved that we were able to kinda walk her through that.

Kenda Ruck (24:07)
Yeah. And don't you remember, John, that listing that we had last year that had been on the market for with another agent for like nine or ten months, and we took it over and we had it staged and we actually increased the sales price and it sold in a week. And you know, like it's there's more to selling a house than just putting it on the market. And that's why I love working with you. My question that I'd like to ask you now is we did an inspection.

John Wilkinson (24:19)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (24:36)
And a few issues came back, nothing nothing horrifying, but how do you counsel buyers on the balance of going back and asking for repairs and asking or objecting to the the this condition of the property? How do you counsel them to use caution and also get what is important to them?

John Wilkinson (25:03)
It's great. I think one is what is the market like, right? What's the market doing today? You know, the condo market today, you know, July 2026 in Denver for condos, there's a lot on the market. and so there's a little bit more wiggle room in terms of negotiations, but in general, I always counsel clients to think about

Health and safety issues first, right? Carbon monoxide detectors, you know, any radon levels, roofing. Especially in high rises, that's not really an issue. But some, you know, these old homes, those c those can be issues. Heating and air conditioning, you know, those elements are obviously important. When it's things like, you know, cosmetic items like caulking or you know

What b paint colors or or whatever, holes in the wall those things I think can be done by a handyman and, you know, again, depending on the market,

can come across as being a little bit too aggressive. And so I always try to like tow that line. And I and always would go back to the listing agents and say, hey, we found all these things, but we're only focused on these things. We're not worried about this stuff. So they also feel like okay, they're not actually trying to get everything taken care of. It's really just focused on health and safety primarily or things that, you know, obviously like

Kenda Ruck (26:18)
huh.

John Wilkinson (26:28)
for for comfort and peace of mind of of our client need to be addressed. And, you know, just kind of work through that in a friendly, you know, straightforward kind of manner.

Kenda Ruck (26:37)
Yeah, you're such a good agent. That that's such good counsel because, you know, we've been on both sides of it. You know, we've been the one representing the homeowner. And you have to go to your homeowner and say, they want this little snag fixed and they want this little, you know, and that creates a a feeling, you know, of annoyance, you know, by somebody who who thinks that their house is in great condition. So it's such a tight rope that we walk.

John Wilkinson (27:00)
Right.

It's such a tight rip. It is.

It is. And you know, you want to make sure your client you're like you said, that the client buying our client is is happy, right? And not and but but it's it's education. At the end of the day, it's like, hey, this is kind of how it is, this is what our recommendation is. And obviously, you know, they they make the final decision on on what they want to do. and we just have to provide the best counsel that we can. You know, and then walk then so like once that inspection comes through and we're and we're moving forward, it's just walking them through the steps, whether it's their first home.

that they're buying or fifth home or sixth home or whatever. There's always going to be nuances to the transaction. And I think we do a really good job at making sure that they know what the next steps are, you know what we're going to be doing, and just guiding them along through closing.

Kenda Ruck (27:55)
John, walk us through what's coming down the pike with Getting Real (Estate) Living Colorados podcast.

John Wilkinson (28:03)
Yeah, very excited. So in the next few weeks we will be interviewing the person that was instrumental in getting the mighty Argo gondola system in Idaho Springs up and going. And having visited there, it is truly spectacular. Can't wait to hear the backstory of what it took to get that built. yeah, there's there's I I don't want to spoil it, there's a lot beyond the gondola that's there, which is really exciting. I think we have some really fun

local personalities that we'll be interviewing who've been in Denver for a long time. I'm interested to hear, you know, their perspective on life on living here in Colorado. And you know, as we move forward, I know there's there's conversations about, you know, back to school and you know those those events that surround that. Obviously there's all these national parks or state parks that are beautiful here in Colorado. We definitely want to touch base on those. And you know there's there's a lot on on the

Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (29:03)
Yeah, there's so much to discover, and we're just having a blast discovering things. And we want to ask you like, what questions do you have about Colorado? We want to be able to answer your questions. You can join the conversation over on our Facebook page. It's called the Getting Real Living Colorado Insiders Community. And we would love to have you join the community. You can ask questions of us, make comments about the podcast, and just connect with other people who are.

John Wilkinson (29:06)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (29:33)
considering moving to Colorado or have recently moved to Colorado. So we thank you so much for watching. Please like and follow. It helps us a lot to know what the issues that are important to you are. And we look forward to building this community with you.

John Wilkinson (29:49)
Absolutely. Thanks everybody.
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