New year, new Denver hot spots to try out! It’s time to review the some favorite places to eat from 2015 to try now that it’s 2016! The Westword has awarded some worthy neighborhood favorites in this years “Best of Food & Drink” 2015. Check out our list below to learn more about some of the most delicious food in Denver:

Best Casual Urban Eatery: Chop Shop
Located on east Colfax near City Park, Chop Shop has an upscale dining atmosphere while still being classified as a fast causal restaurant. The interior is adorned with tables made of reclaimed wood and fences. The menu has a broad range of different foods inspired from global cuisine of entrees, salads, and sandwiches. The owner, Clint Wangsnes has years of high end cooking experience and has put together a winning menu with items such as pork tenderloin with yuzu-cherry chutney and a delicious French onion soup that is slow cooked for 72 hours. Drop by this great eatery for a fast casual experience with food that exceeds expectations.

Best Ice Cream: High Point Creamery
With flavors such as basil with blackberry swirl, dark-chocolate orange with marshmallows, and even Earl Grey-flavored, High Point Creamery has something to offer for every age and taste. The prices are a little high, but well worth it. Located in the Hilltop Neighborhood, it’s a prime spot for families to get a tasty treat.

Best French Fries: North County
Located in the beautiful Lowry neighborhood, North County is known for its fish tacos, Baja centered menu, slow cooked meats, and an impressive tequila list. However, one surprising thing on the menu stands out, the carne asada fries. These fries are cooked just right with some serious tasty toppings such as four-cheese queso, steak, guacamole, creama, and cotija. You can even request the fries to be wrapped up in a tortilla for an off-menu California burrito.

Best Hot Dog: The Uber Sausage
Don’t know where to get a quality hotdog that wasn’t frozen before? Luckily, the Westword did all the work to find the best hotdog in Denver. Two blocks from City Park in the Park Hill Neighborhood, Uber Sausage showcases some more complex flavors than your average hotdog. One of the most popular hotdogs is called the Tijuana dog, which is a preservative-free bison hot dog topped with a mix of crème, mango pico de gallo, and queso fresco.

Denver is a hot spot for new restaurants and the neighborhoods are constantly changing. Elevation Realty wants to help you find a neighborhood that’s right for you. Choosing a home is an important and consequential process that requires you to consider and evaluate many different factors, including affordable and walkable local eateries. If you are purchasing a new home in Denver, Elevation Realty can help provide information regarding the features, properties, and real estate market trends in the Denver metro area.  Give us a call today!

Time to sell your Hilltop home, but leery about making the leap right now? While it’s true that winter is a less desirable time of year for home buyers to purchase, sellers of Hilltop real estate can often benefit from the season’s lower inventory by getting the same kind of price they might get in the summer—and sometimes even better. By managing expectations and staying flexible when it comes to the weather, there’s no reason why you can’t make a good sale this time of year. Read on for tips about how to sell your home during the winter:

• Accept the weather – One of the best approaches to selling your home in the winter is to simply accept that weather can be a factor. Snowstorms can delay inspections and hold up the transferring of paperwork. But realizing this beforehand will help you keep a patient outlook throughout the process.
• Ask the right price – Even if winter inventory is low in your neighborhood, you’ll still need to price your home right. Overpricing can keep your home on the market longer and raise concerns that something may be wrong with it.
• Spruce up the landscaping – There are a number of things you can do to show off the outdoor space around your home, even in winter:
  • Trim your trees and shrubs, and clean up your flowerbeds.
  • Shovel snow off the driveway and walkways (or hire a service to do it for you).
  • Consider placing potted evergreen plants near your front door for added greenery and visual appeal.
• Keep up exterior maintenance – Do some paint touch-ups to your doors and trim to make everything look clean and neat. And be sure to take care of your gutters along with any ice dams that may have formed.
• Time your picture-taking – Once your home’s exterior and landscaping is up to par, make sure to take pictures on a nice day. We’re lucky in Denver to get many days of sunshine during the winter, and a blue sky can really help since most buyers start their search by looking at pictures online.
• Show off your interior – Keeping your home clean and free of clutter is always important, but you can also employ a few more tricks in the winter:
  • Create a feeling of warmth with homey smells of baking and apple cider, and light a fire in your fireplace if you have one.
  • During daytime, open the curtains and turn on some lights. Or if you’re showing in the evening, consider turning on all the lights to create a brighter, more welcoming feel.
• Make it easy to get to the lockbox – Don’t leave a snow drift between the lockbox and potential home buyers. Make sure to keep a clear path to it as long as you are showing your home.
• Be upfront – Because winter weather can make it difficult for things like roof inspections, be upfront by sharing information with potential buyers about any repairs that will need to happen after winter and the results of previous inspections.

Selling your home is easier—no matter the time of year—when you work with Elevation Realty. For the latest Hilltop market trends or other information, feel free to contact us any time.

Denver is lucky to boast several residential neighborhoods with mid-century modern architecture still intact. “Mid-century modern” typically falls between the years of 1945 to 1970. And the neighborhood of University Hills—bordered by I-25, South Colorado Boulevard, and Highway 285—is one of Denver’s mid-century neighborhoods, featuring many ranch and minimal traditional style houses built in the 1950s. If you’re considering purchasing a home in this neighborhood, or just want to learn more about the defining characteristics of the ranch, split-level ranch, and minimal traditional styles from this time period, here’s a breakdown:

Ranch
Ranch houses dominated American residential building from the 1930s through the 1960s, eventually replacing the Tudor style in popularity and favored by the baby boomer generation. Originating in California in the 1930s, the ranch style took inspiration from many other styles of architecture, such as the adobe “rancho” style of the Spanish Mission, as well as the Craftsman and Prairie styles. Ranch houses from the 1950s can be identified by:

• Wood or brick exterior walls—and sometimes a combination of both
• Low-pitched roofs with a moderate to wide eave overhang
• One story
• Ribbon windows or large picture windows, especially in the living areas
• Decorative iron or wooden porch supports
• Modest detailing

Split-Level Ranch
Instead of one level of floor space, three levels of floor space were born with the split-level ranch style of home, which began to emerge in the 1950s. With the same horizontal lines as a ranch house, the split-level style sought to separate noisier living and service areas from the quieter sleeping areas. The lower level usually included a garage and a family room, the mid-wing level housed a quieter living room or den, and the upper level usually housed the bedrooms. Although less common in the Southern and Western states, split-level ranches from the 1950s can be identified by:

• Half-story wing attached to the one-story ranch
• Variety of wall cladding
• Some traditional decorative detailing (vaguely Colonial)

Minimal Traditional
Considered “early modern Tudors,” minimal traditional homes came on the scene during the Depression and were built in large numbers right before and right after WWII and throughout the decade of the 1950s. Despite their simple detailing and facades, as well as the sheer numbers that were built (reminiscent of the tract homes built post-WWII by Levitt & Sons in Levittown, New York), these homes were well-designed and crafted. Minimal traditional houses from the 1950s can be identified by:

• Typically one story, but occasionally two stories
• Dominant front gable
• Big chimneys
• Low roof pitch
• Eaves and rake are close, but do not overhang
• Simple façade

Mid-century architecture produced other styles of houses as well, such as the Contemporary and the Shed styles. Learn more about mid-century modern from 1945-1970.
The team at Elevation Realty are your go-to real estate experts when it comes to finding the mid-century modern home of your dreams. Get more information about University Hills market trends and current homes for sale in the neighborhood. Or feel free to contact us with any other questions. 

Few neighborhoods in Denver offer the proximity to downtown along with relatively affordable rent and home prices than the Lowry neighborhood, a former U.S. Air Force base turned modern residential community and success story. Shopping, dining, entertainment, culture, and an extensive park system provide a work/life balance that’s particularly attractive to young professionals looking to purchase Lowry real estate. Learn all about what Lowry has to offer by visiting their neighborhood directory. Or check out a sampling below as you consider your next home purchase:

Retail & Dining
Bars, restaurants, and shops are aplenty in the Lowry neighborhood, and many can be found in the Lowry Town Center. Centrally located, the Town Center is a charming, bustling area filled with clothing boutiques, gift shops, restaurants, coffee places, a grocery store, and other local businesses and services. It’s a great place to stroll and shop, or take a break on a beautiful day to sit outside with a beverage or a snack. Parking is convenient, both on the street and in a large public lot. And plenty of other dining and drinking establishments can be found outside the Town Center as well.

Recreation
There are over 15 parks and public spaces sprinkled throughout Lowry, where you can walk, jog, bike, hang out and read, play Frisbee with your friends, or even bring your dog. Lowry also offers a golf course, an ice arena where you can play hockey or learn to skate, and a sports complex with fields, tennis courts, and picnic spots. If working out in a gym is more your speed, Lowry offers five different fitness and yoga centers where you can work up a good sweat. And the nearby Montclair Recreation Center offers sports, fitness, swimming, and other activities.

Culture & Entertainment
Lowry is home to the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum. Located on East Academy Boulevard, the museum showcases aircraft, space, and rocketry exhibits, and undertakes many restoration projects to repair and accurately represent their many artifacts. For stage buffs, the John Hand Theatre, located in the Colorado Free University building, puts on live shows from two local theatre groups. There are also many pieces of public art that can be found in Lowry, including sculptures, murals, and a working sundial.

Housing
Boulevard One Lowry was once the tail end of the Air Force base’s Runway One, but now it’s Lowry’s premier housing development, combining single-family detached homes with row homes and apartments. Following their motto “Right-sized living,” Boulevard One seeks to give residents smarter—not necessarily bigger—living options. And with its access to multiple mass-transit routes, commuting from Boulevard One to work or elsewhere in Denver is made easier. Lofts are also popular in Lowry, and many are built in former plants or warehouses that were used in and around the Air Force base.
If buying a home in Lowry is on your agenda, look to the local experts at Elevation Realty. We’ll find a home that suits your lifestyle. Contact us today.

Thinking about buying your first home in Holly Hills, but not sure if you’re crossing all your T’s and dotting all your I’s? The purchase of a home is exciting. But as any mortgage professional knows, first-time home buyers often end up making errors that can be avoided. From credit hassles to money transfers to communication failures, check out a complete list of top mistakes made by Colorado home buyers outlined in The Denver Post. And in the mean time, here are a few rules to follow to make your first home purchase a positive experience:
Pre-approval

• Get a quick prequalification first – As much as you may be chomping at the bit to find a house, falling in love with one you can’t afford is no fun. Instead of searching for homes online or driving around neighborhoods, your time is better spent by first having a 15-minute phone call to discuss your credit, income, debts, and down payment so that you know what you can qualify for.

Credit

• Review your credit 2 to 3 months before you want to buy – Errors on credit reports happen all the time, and while some may be insignificant, others can really hamper a real estate deal. Pull a professional, FICO-based credit report a few months before you buy so that you have time to correct any errors you find.
• Leave credit card accounts open – Pay them down to a $0 balance if you can, but don’t close them completely. Closing credit card accounts can affect your FICO score in a negative way.

Major Purchases

• Put off big purchases – You may have heard that buying a car right before you buy a home is a bad idea, and it’s true. Making any large purchase can 1) lower your FICO score by showing recent debt, 2) increase your debt-to-income ratio which in turn lowers the price of the home for which you can qualify, and 3) requires even more paperwork to explain and document the purchase(s). So it behooves you to put off a big expense until after you buy your home.

Money in the Bank

• Don’t move money between accounts – While this may seem counterintuitive, transferring funds between accounts is actually a red flag for underwriters. It gives the appearance that you may be trying to double-count the money you have available for a down payment. If you plan to move any money around, it’s always best to speak to your loan officer first.
• Deposit “gift” funds wisely – The same is true for depositing a large sum of money, or a “gift,” into your account(s). Again, alerting your loan officer first lets them get you into a program that fully allows gift funds and reveals it to the lender. Without properly notifying your loan officer of a potential gift, the deal could fall through.

When it’s time for you to buy in Holly Hills, look to the real estate experts at Elevation Realty to help you find the perfect home. Contact us for more information or to learn about Denver neightborhood market trends.