Homes at Lowry rise in value despite tough market

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 5, 2008 at 10:04 a.m.

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Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky/2007

Homes at East Ninth Avenue and Trenton Street at Lowry. Last year, houses at the former Air Force Base rose on average by 2.6 percent, while the overall metro area lost 0.5 percent in value.

Mark Betchey bought a home in Lowry from McStain Neighborhoods in December 2001 for "an eyelash under $400,000."

He said he is confident that he could sell his home, even in today's tough market, for at least $600,000.

"I sometimes joke that one day I woke up and found myself living in the community in The Truman Show," Betchey said, referring to the 1998 movie starring Jim Carrey, who lived in a perfect neighborhood. "Lowry is just a wonderful place."

Homes at Lowry have increased in value far more than the Denver area as a whole, and that includes Cherry Creek, Congress Park, Hilltop, Montclair and Washington Park, according to a report released Thursday by the Genesis Group.

The Lowry Redevelopment Authority hired Genesis, a housing research firm, to do an analysis as the authority is launching its final residential phase, the 600-home EastPark at Lowry Boulevard and Yosemite Street.

Genesis Group analyzed initial and subsequent resale prices for detached and attached homes at Lowry from 2000 to 2007 and found that homes on the former Air Force base appreciated at an average of 8 percent per year.

Last year, Lowry homes rose on average by 2.6 percent, while the overall metro area lost 0.5 percent in value, according to Mike Rinner of the Genesis Group.

Overall, single-family home prices in Denver fell by 7.8 percent last year, according to Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight data, Rinner said.

"This tough market has been a challenge to us all. And while nobody's performance has been smashing, we think we more than held our own," said Tom Markham, executive director of the Lowry Redevelopment Authority.

• June 6, 2008

  7:29 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Oh_Wise_One writes:

  Your house is only worth as much as someone else will pay for it.
  So it's bluster to hear Mark Betchey say he is "confident" or maybe it is wishful thinking.

• June 6, 2008

  8:43 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  fmikey writes:

  As always, a single, unsubstantiated example set forth to support the writer's simplistic story. One would not do himself or herself any favors buying in Lowry at this time with the idea of the home being anything more than a place to live, as in other Denver metro neighborhoods. Buy a home you can afford, put as much down as you can, and don't buy the most expensive house on the block. Don't over improve it. And research the area you're looking at in greater depth than this writer clearly did.
  Unfortunately, this story may cause some naive, uneducated buyers to go to Lowry with the idea that they'll reap a windfall in a few years....with the possibility of more foreclosures looming.

• June 6, 2008

  1:23 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  darladenver writes:

  Negativity overblown by the press or strangely enjoyed by some members of the public, is a big part of the problem. There are very healthy markets within Denver, Lowry included, where people do very well, thank you. The naysayers just have more fun stirring things up - after all, good news is boring, right? Those negative noodlers ought to remember they are the agents of their own demise - in real estate, business, and their own lives. Come on, folks - Coloradans are tough, optimistic, and we are winners. It may take a little longer to sell these days, but things are selling, and not at losses projected in the news. Foreclosures are a tiny percentage of all mortgages held, and over 30% of Americans own their homes free and clear! I'm a resale agent earning a great living right now, not selling any foreclosures, and people tell me my positive attitude is what helps. Try it sometime.

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