DENVER — Live in one place long enough and change becomes the only constant.
"I have seen changes. A lot, since I’ve been here," said Mela Ornelas as she sat on the front porch of her Sunnyside neighborhood home. "I was young when I moved here. They were all young. Now I’m still here and they’re all gone or passed away. There’s a lot of new people coming in."
The Ornelas have lived in their North Denver home for more than 50 years. Their neighborhood is changing quickly now as older houses sell for close to a million dollars, only to be torn down by developers who rebuild for big profits.
"Over the last 10 years it’s changed dramatically," said Dennis Ornelas, Mela's son. "Seeing people that you grew up with and your fellow neighbors, seeing their houses torn down. It just takes away a lot of memories and stuff like that. That’s the downside for me."
Two houses down the street from the Ornelas' home, the newest example of change is evident. Another house sold to an investor.
"The asking price for this one was $850,000 and we had competing offers up to $890,000," said Chris Crumrine, the real estate agent representing the seller. "Eventually, all these other little houses up and down these streets will also be purchased by an investor probably."
The investor who bought it told Crumrine they plan to tear down his client’s home and replace it with a duplex, just like they did next door. Crumrine also grew up in North Denver and understands what the high cost of real estate is doing to the neighborhood.
"It’s driving out the lower-income families," Crumrine said. "It’s just so expensive now to live in the Highlands, Sunnyside. The whole North Denver area has become so expensive."
Crumrine added that the redevelopment of the area has brought down crime drastically.
Priced Out: Investors pay high prices for homes just to tear them down
The properties that are selling to developers and investors are worth a lot more money than the Ornelas paid for their home in the 1960s.
"I can’t believe the price, in this neighborhood," Mela Ornelas said. "My husband bought this house for $13,900."
Investors are willing to pay exorbitant prices for homes, just to tear them down. Like the property that another one of Crumrine’s clients is listing in the Lower Highlands neighborhood.
"Right now, the asking price is $1.6 million," Crumrine said about the 10,000 square foot property. He's listing the property with the intention that whoever buys it will bulldoze the lot and build a new building full of apartments or townhomes.
"They just want the land. They don’t care about the house at all," Crumrine said. "The investors that come in, they won’t even look inside the house. They don’t care. They’re going to tear it down. A lot of investors are coming in and taking distressed properties and tearing them down. It’s the dirt, it’s the location that gives it the value."
In Edgewater, $450,000 will get you this 500-square-foot home on the market right now. In Washington Park, $725,000 just bought a lucky investor the rights to tear down a home and build something new.
9NEWS real estate expert Lane Lyon said these aren’t necessarily ridiculous listings. It’s what people are willing to pay right now.
"These developers saw opportunity," Lyon said. "You have to believe that developers are not going to roll the dice and pay a pretty penny for these lots if they didn’t think someone was going to come buy them."
Lyon said property in Denver's most desirable areas is hard to come by. While many people want new-build homes, the only way to get them is to pay premium prices.
"We’ve had areas of town that have become real prime areas for development and redevelopment," Lyon said. "The complexion of the look is changing, but oftentimes, those houses are being replaced with something much more expensive."
Back in Sunnyside, Mela Ornelas said crime has gone down over the past couple years and the neighborhood is a lot cleaner now. What’s lost are the people who’ve been pushed out because they can no longer afford to live here.
"There’s a lot of strange people that I’ve never seen," Mela Ornelas said. "As long as I’ve been here, I kind of knew the people. Who was who. Now there’s a lot of strange people coming around. Walking their dogs. A lot of young people."
Her son notices the change as well.
"For me, I have my culture and my background," Dennis Ornelas said. "I figure if I had the money, that’s fine, but it doesn’t replace the memories where I grew up at. I see the money and that’s a really nice thing. But at the same time, I like the memories I have more than the money."
After more than five decades sitting on the front porch, change continues to be the only constant.
"They have offered me a lot of money," Mela Ornelas said. "They want to buy my house. But I don’t want to sell it yet. It’s got a lot of memories. I don’t want to let it go. They’ll probably knock it down and build one of those square houses. This is my life."
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