Blog > How To Spot a BAD Denver House In 1 Minute!
How to Spot a Bad Denver House in Under a Minute
Most buyers don't choose a bad house, they miss the warning signs. Here's the exact process I use as a Denver broker and former contractor to spot problems in under a minute.
Key Takeaways
- Google Street View reveals busy roads, commercial neighbors, and sun orientation listing photos hide.
- Horizontal foundation cracks can cut resale value by 10% or more and require a structural engineer.
- Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco electrical panels have known fire hazards and cost $4,000 to $5,000 to replace.
- Polybutylene piping from the late 1980s and early 1990s has documented failure issues.
- Colorado expansive bentonite soils can heave foundations six inches or more, cracking brick and concrete.
Watch: How To Spot a BAD Denver House In 1 Minute! on the Living in Denver YouTube channel
Video Chapters
What should I check online before seeing a Denver house?
I run three online checks before stepping foot on any property: Google Street View, neighborhood orientation, and price compared to recent sold comps.
Listing photos are designed to flatter. Maps don't lie. Pull up Google Street View first and look for things photos hide: backing to a strip mall, sitting two houses off a busy road, or a warehouse next door.
In Colorado, orientation matters more than people think. A north-facing driveway in the foothills barely sees winter sun, so snow and ice stick around and ice dams become a real concern. Not always a deal breaker, but you want to know going in.
Then check the price against recent sold comps in the area. If it's way overpriced, that usually signals an unrealistic seller. Unrealistic sellers make inspections, negotiations, and repairs a nightmare from start to finish. Most of the time the smartest move is to skip the showing entirely and find a better fit.
What exterior red flags matter most in Colorado?
Brick, concrete, and sidewalk damage top my list because Colorado's expansive bentonite clay soil can heave foundations six inches or more.
When I pull up to a house, I take the back way through the neighborhood first. If every yard on the block looks neglected or rented, that's not a coincidence. Run.
At the house itself, I'm focused on anything that touches the ground: brick veneer, concrete driveways, sidewalks, and porch slabs. Brick doesn't crack for no reason. Stair-step cracks, gaps at corners, or heaved concrete tell me the soil is moving.
Siding matters too. Some older Denver homes still have asbestos siding. It's not always a deal killer, but when it's time to upgrade, you're adding $15,000 to $20,000 in abatement on top of the normal siding replacement cost. That's the kind of hidden expense that catches buyers completely off guard at resale.
Are flips, old houses, or new builds riskier in Denver?
I don't rank them, but I inspect each differently because surface workmanship usually predicts the quality of work hidden inside the walls.
On a flip, I look at paint lines, caulk lines, tile straightness, and how the wood floors are installed. New finishes look great, but if the details aren't tight, the stuff in the walls probably isn't either.
Old houses are honestly my favorite. Grandma's place with the yellow fridge and pink toilet means nobody's messed with it. The worst homes I see are DIY specials where everything looks fine until you scratch the surface and find Home Depot conversations turned into permanent decisions.
New builds get the same scrutiny. Builders are squeezing margins and Colorado has a real contractor shortage, so quality varies wildly. A new house should be essentially perfect: straight tile, level transitions, doors and windows that open cleanly. If something feels off, it usually is.
What kind of cracks should scare me in a basement?
Vertical foundation cracks are usually normal settling, but horizontal cracks can mean structural failure that hits resale value by 10% or more.
Drywall cracks freak buyers out, but stair-step cracks above doors or windows happen as houses settle. What I care about is patterns. If I'm seeing cracks across multiple rooms, something bigger is moving.
The basement is where the real story shows up. There's a joke in construction that concrete only does two things: dry and crack. Vertical cracks in foundation walls and small cracks near windows are usually fine, and epoxy injections are relatively cheap.
Horizontal cracks are a different animal. That's lateral pressure from soil pushing the wall in, and the repair can run tens of thousands. Bring in a structural engineer before you go further. Honestly, if it freaks you out enough just looking at it, throw your hands up and walk away.
Why is the utility room the most important room to inspect?
The utility room shows the heart of the house, and three things tell me almost everything: piping, the electrical panel, and how organized the space is.
Old furnaces and water heaters don't scare me. A 30-year-old furnace that's been maintained has already survived the bad production runs and might go another 30. I'm looking at what's around the equipment.
For pipes, I want copper, cast iron, or PVC. Watch out for polybutylene, the gray plastic water pipe used in the late 1980s and early 1990s with known failure issues.
For electrical, Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco panels are the big ones. Both have documented fire hazards and run $4,000 to $5,000 to replace. What worries me more is sloppy homeowner work in the panel itself: unlabeled breakers, added circuits, messy wiring. If they were comfortable doing that themselves, that mindset extends to the rest of the house.
What inspections do I actually need in Denver?
A Denver buyer typically needs four inspections: full home, sewer scope, radon testing, and a separate roof inspection, plus septic if the property has one.
Your agent is inspection number one. If you ever feel like you're being sold on a house instead of guided through it, that's a red flag. We're here for the process, not the commission.
The sewer scope is the only system you literally can't see with your own eyes, so don't skip it. Radon is required knowledge in Colorado given our geology. Mold inspections are less common here because of the dry climate, but available if you want one.
Seller property disclosures are helpful but not gospel. Take them with a grain of salt. Owners of 20 years forget things, and inherited properties often have huge knowledge gaps. Once the house is yours, it's buyer beware in nearly every state. Do your own due diligence and get as many inspections as you need to feel comfortable.
Full Video Transcript
Full transcript from this video, organized by chapter. Click any timestamp to jump to that moment in the video.
Introduction to Bad Houses
[0:00] Most buyers don't set out to buy a bad house. They actually just miss the warning signs that they should have seen earlier. And by the time you actually realize it, it's probably already too late. And I say this as someone who's been in construction for a long time. I've fixed a lot of houses. I've flipped a lot of houses. I've torn apart a lot of really bad work. And I've walked through hundreds of homes, thousands of homes with my buyers. And you can usually tell pretty quickly when a house is going to be a problem if you know what you're looking for. So, in this video, I'm going to walk you through exactly how I do it, the process that I go through, just like I would if you were to call me and say, "Hey, Alex, we're thinking about buying this house.
[0:38] What should we be on the lookout for?" Number one, you're going to want to start with doing your online homework first, okay? Before you even go and see the house, there's stuff that you should already know. First thing I do always on any house is I'm going to pull up Google Maps and I'm going to do a street view of it. Always. The listing photos are designed to hide things, to shift things. Photos always make everything looks better. Maps don't lie, right? Is it right off of a busy street or within a few houses? Does it back to commercial space, a warehouse, a strip mall, right?
Reading Listing Photos
[1:10] Something you're not going to see in the photos. And here in Colorado, the orientation of the house matters, too. Especially if you're looking in the foothills, right? If a house faces north, uh, it's probably not going to get much sun on that driveway. and winters can be a little bit rough here and so snow and ice is going to stick around longer. You might have ice dams and even though it might not be a real deal breakaker, it's something you're want to know going in and you're going to want to look for things that the other homeowner has done to kind of prevent anything uh from building up there. Then I'm going to check out the price. Right? When you look at a house online, all you see is the price. You can't pull up cops effectively like an agent can. Now, when I take a look at it, uh, if it's way overpriced compared to everything else around it that is sold, that's actually kind of a bad sign. And it tells me that you're going to be dealing with an unrealistic seller. Now, if it's the perfect house, okay, maybe it's worth jumping through the hoops, but generally unrealistic sellers make everything really hard.
[2:08] Inspections, negotiations, repairs, the whole thing the entire way. And it makes buying your dream house kind of a nightmare. And most of the time it's the smartest move just to not see the house period. Number two, first impressions and taking a look at the exterior. So when I go and see a house, I don't just drive straight there, right? If you're 10 houses off of a busy street, I want to go the back way and come through the neighborhood and check it out. I want to take a few turns. I want to get a feel for the neighborhood. You're going to learn a lot that way. Then when I pull up to the house, I look at the neighbors, right? If every yard looks neglected or like it's been a rental, it probably is. And that's usually not a coincidence. Run. Right now, the house itself in Colorado especially, I'm going to be paying attention to brick and concrete work, sidewalks, driveways, anything that touches the ground. Why?
Location and Neighborhood Check
Foundation and Materials
[3:06] Because we have a lot of expansive soils here. Uh we've got bentonite and it's clay and when things move, they can move a lot. I have seen houses that have heaves by six plus in brick doesn't just crack for no reason whatsoever. Uh siding matters too. You know, some older homes still have asbestous as siding, you know, and even though that might not be a deal killer for you, you should know when it's time to upgrade that siding, there's going to be another $15 to $20,000 expense on top of replacing the siding like there would be regularly. can be a really expensive upgrade if you ever need to mess with it. Number three, and this might be the most important one. Uh people always ask me, right, what's worse, a flip, an old house, or a new build? And first of all, you're going, "Oh my gosh, how do you even put all those in the same category?" But honestly, I really don't care what category it's in because I look at each one of them differently.
Interior Quality and Finishes
[4:08] the work that you see on the outside, meaning the surface level, the cosmetic work, is usually a pretty good indicator of the work you can't see, the stuff in the walls, right? So, let's start with a flip. You know, it could really look okay on the surface, but if it's not really buttoned up, that's going to worry me. I'm looking at things like paint lines, caul lines, uh how straight the tile is, how the wood floors are installed. If it's new, that's great.
[4:39] But is it installed by someone who knows what they're doing? I don't know. We didn't see it being installed. But there are signs when you've been in construction your whole life that you know what to look for. Now, an old house, probably my favorite out of all three of these, to be honest with you. Uh, and grandma's house with a yellow fridge and a pink toilet matching the sink. Like, I love that house. Why? Cuz that means no one's messed with it. The worst type of houses I see are the DIY specials, right? Where stuff might look okay on the surface and then you dig into a little bit and you realize that everything there has been done non-professionally with conversations from Home Depot. And now I'm a huge believer you can build a rocket if you wanted to by watching YouTube. But then if you don't do this every day, like you're going to be different than a tile guy installing tile. And so on the surface, if it looks fine, you still don't know what's behind it. uh and a new build. It's kind of the same here.
[5:38] You know, as builders have to save more and more money to actually make any money, they have to hire cheaper and cheaper contractors. And Colorado already has an issue with contractors and getting people to show up for work. Uh there are some great builders out there. There are some really crappy builders out there. And again, I'm looking at things like paint lines, how straight the tile is, how doors open and close, how windows open and close. a new house should be essentially perfect, right? Transitions in the flooring, trim, how all this stuff lines out.
[6:10] That's what we're looking for here. Uh, and if everything does feel just a little bit off, it's usually not a coincidence, right? Construction doesn't hide problems, well, run. Number four, this is a big one. The one of the more expensive things I'm looking for cracks. Okay. Now, cracks generally freak people out, whether that's in concrete or drywall. Um, then no, cracks scare me, right? Drywall does naturally cracks. Uh, houses do settle over time, right? Window, stair step kind of cracks in drywall or over doors. That does happen over time. Houses do settle. But what I care about is patterns, right? If I see cracks all over the drywall in multiple rooms, that tells me that something else might be going on.
Structural Cracks and Basement
[6:59] Something is generally moving. Then I go to the basement. This is where the big one is. Concrete. Now, I was told once there's only two types of concrete, and I hate concrete work. I hate it in general. It is unsexy and it is very expensive. But the two types of concrete are drying and cracking, and that's it. There's no in between. It's kind of a joke in the industry, but concrete is going to crack over time. Uh some cracks in foundational walls are normal, right?
[7:27] Vertical cracks, cracks by windows, things like that. Uh that is not too uncommon in most structural engineers, even though I'm not one, will tell you that. And you can fill in cracks and get epoxy injections, which aren't super expensive depending on how many you have. Horizontal cracks, on the other hand, are a different story. Uh that's when I slow way down because those can turn into really really expensive structural issues that not only will cost you a lot to fix, but will also affect the resale value of your house by 10% or more depending on how extensive the work needs to go. Uh for this, this is where you bring in a structural engineer when there's cracks in the basement. And if it freaks you out just enough, don't even go that far. Just throw your hands up and walk away. avoid the bad house altogether. Number five, my favorite room in the house is the utility room. Not because it's exciting, but because it tells the story of the entire house. This is the heart of the home. And you know what? Old furnaces don't bother me. And old water heaters don't bother me. You know, if you have a furnace that's 30 years old and it's been taken care of and well-maintained and cleaned, that darn thing might last for another 30 years. I I'm friends with some HVAC guys. My furnace in my house is over 30 years old right now. Knock on wood as I say that. Hopefully I'll never have any problems with it. But they said basically you've made it past all the crappy production, right? They make 10,000 furnaces in a run and you know there's going to be a few hundred of them that make it past 20 25 years. And if you get one of those, don't touch it until it dies. Um water heaters, they're kind of cheap and they're pretty predictable. Um what I'm looking at is everything around them, right? I'm looking at the pipes, the water pipes, the drain lines. I'm looking for corrosion. What type of piping is here?
Major Systems Inspection
[9:18] You want to look out for polybutylene piping, uh, that was used, I think, in partially in the early 90s, late 80s. Um, it's a plastic water piping, and there's a lot of known issues with it. I love copper. I love cast iron. I love PVC in this room, but I want to see how organized it is, how clean it's kept, right? When that room is taken care of, it usually means the rest of the house was as well. Then there's the electrical panel which here in Colorado most of the time it is on the outside but it lumps into the major systems of the house and there are a few panels with known issues that you should be on the lookout for.
[9:51] Federal Pacific Stablock and Zinsco are just a few of them there that have known fire hazards, right? And can they be replaced? Absolutely. And you're going to spend about four or five grand to do that. But what really concerns me is when I see electrical work that's been done by the homeowner, right? breakers added, uh, labeled, just not lined up properly, shoddy work in the panel, which generally means the homeowner was gutsy enough to do stuff themselves and not do it 100% right, which means that is going to extend to the rest of the house, right? That's where things get sketchy. And that's where I usually tell my clients, you know, hey, at this point, probably worth passing on. Let's just keep going. Now, what about the other major systems, right? your roof, your windows, your sewer line. You know, all these things are good to put a quick eye on. Roof is easy to kind of see if it's buckling or if there's multiple layers of shingles on there, if branches are kind of rubbing on the edge. Uh, you know, sewer scope, you're not going to be able to check anything at all. You're going to have to get a sewer scope for that. Uh, windows of the house, of course, check them opening and closing.
[10:57] If they're old windows, they still may be great if they've been taken care of. uh new windows that were put in incorrectly are going to have to be replaced at some point. It is a costly upgrade to replace all your windows. So, you really want to pay attention to it. And then pay attention to how all the doors open and close, right? The cabinets, how the cabinets are lined up. You know, all these little things throughout a house. And you're going to get a gut feeling on things. And you really need to trust that gut feeling more than anything in a house. your gut is a better indicator than any home inspection or agent is going to be. So, beyond just looking at the surfaces, what else can you do that's a little bit more substantial in making sure that you don't buy a bad investment? Well, the first step before I tell you to go get a home inspection is to trust your agent.
Professional Help and Next Steps
[11:45] Right? We are point number one of that check before you have to spend any money. And what I will say is if you ever feel like you're being sold on a house, right, instead of just being guided through and given the information about the house, that's a real red flag in my book, right? I don't think we sell houses. We're here for the process. We're here to help you make smart decisions on the biggest purchases you will ever make in your life, and we're here to make you feel comfortable about that. Then, yes, you absolutely need to get inspections. Now, here in Colorado, uh that usually means a full home inspection. uh sewer scope, which is the only thing you really can't put your eyes on. Radon testing. Um and then some people want to get mold, which isn't really common here. A separate roof inspection, and then a septic inspection, depending on where the property is at. Uh and if you're asking about seller disclosures, well, I would take them with a grain of salt. They can be helpful, but they're not gospel. Uh they're filled out to the best of the owner's ability. Everybody thinks like, well, seller's property disclosure, it should have it in there. And if it's not, that's a problem. Well, if you've owned a home for 20 years, sometimes you forget. What if someone inherited the property? They don't know what's been done over the last 30, 40 years. So, you just got to take that information and then you've got to do your own due diligence. And once the home is yours, unless there's been some nefarious hiding of information, like it's buyer beware in pretty much every state in the country. So do your due diligence and get as many inspections as you want to feel comfortable with things. You know, at the end of the day, it's your responsibility and it's going to be your home. Make sure you do the right things no matter what anybody else tells you during the transaction. Now, if while looking around online, you're finding yourself with questions, feel free.
[13:34] That's literally what I'm here for. Call me, text me, reach out. I'd love to talk to you about what's going on at our market. Or if you really just want information and just want to digest it on your own time, just go ahead and download my buyer relocation guide. It's over 50 pages. so much information about the entire Denver metro area and the process here in
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do horizontal foundation cracks cost to fix in Denver?
Repairs vary widely based on extent, but horizontal cracks signal structural failure from soil pressure and often run into the tens of thousands. Beyond the repair cost, they can reduce resale value by 10% or more. Always bring in a licensed structural engineer before moving forward on a home with horizontal foundation cracking.
What electrical panels should Denver buyers avoid?
Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco panels are the two biggest red flags because both have documented fire hazards from breakers that fail to trip. Replacement runs about $4,000 to $5,000 in the Denver metro. They're not automatic deal breakers, but you should price the upgrade into your offer.
Why does soil matter so much for Denver foundations?
Much of the Front Range sits on expansive bentonite clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry. That movement can heave foundations, slabs, and brick veneer six inches or more. It's why I pay extra attention to driveways, sidewalks, and any masonry touching the ground during a Denver showing.
Is polybutylene piping a deal breaker?
Not automatically, but it's a serious concern. Polybutylene was used in the late 1980s and early 1990s and has known failure issues with sudden leaks. Many insurance carriers won't even cover homes that still have it. If you find polybutylene, get a plumber's bid for full replacement before going under contract.
Should I trust the seller's property disclosure?
Use it as a starting point, not the final word. Sellers fill it out to the best of their memory, but owners of 20 years forget things and inherited properties often have huge unknowns. Colorado is a buyer beware state, so independent inspections and your own due diligence matter far more than the disclosure.
What inspections does Alex recommend for a Denver home purchase?
At minimum, a full home inspection, sewer scope, radon test, and separate roof inspection. Add a septic inspection if the property has one and a mold inspection if anything looks suspicious. Sewer scopes are non-negotiable because that line is the only major system you literally cannot see otherwise.
What's the difference between a flip and a DIY special?
A flip is professional renovation work where the contractor's quality shows in details like paint lines, tile straightness, and floor installation. A DIY special is homeowner work that looks fine on the surface but hides shortcuts behind the walls. DIY specials are the riskiest category I see in the Denver market.
How do I know if a Denver listing is overpriced?
Compare the list price to recent sold comps within a half mile, not active listings. Your agent can pull this data quickly. If it's significantly above sold comps without a clear reason, you're likely dealing with an unrealistic seller, which makes inspections, negotiations, and repairs harder throughout the transaction.
Thinking about buying or selling in Denver?
Call or text (303) 552-4804 for a no-pressure conversation about your situation.
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