At a time when mortgage rates make homebuying look like a reach for younger apartment dwellers, older houses often have prices that sound better — particularly if the family is growing and needs space that apartments will just never have.

Kentwood agent Elizabeth Hotz has a house like that in Lone Tree, a city that is a suburban success story for its office and employment base, a growing restaurant scene, and lots of recreation — including Lone Tree Golf Club and Lone Tree Rec Center, both run by South Suburban Parks and Recreation.

MORE SPACE THAN NEW-BUILDS

Hotz calls this 4-bedroom, 3-bath tri-level a “Brady Bunch” house — classic looks of a 1970s design, although this was built a little more recently. The room sizes and an 8,000-plus square foot lot offer much more space than new-built products can deliver on the smaller lots builders are working with today. The backyard, she said, will look appealing to a growing family cramped in an apartment.

The price is $835,000 — on the market for three months now, still below the five-month hang-time that Hotz says listings in the surrounding area are showing today. Nevertheless, Hotz says her seller might be flexible about the price.

“It’s space that you can’t get in new builds,” she added. “There’s a lot you could do with it if you put in a little elbow grease.”

The floor plan has a main level that includes two possible home office spaces, along with a walkout family-room level with a fireplace opening to a deck, a courtyard off the entryway, and a primary suite with a balcony.  The home shows an appealing street face with generous brick that she said compares well to neighborhoods further west, built in Highlands Ranch during the period.

The home and its Charter neighborhood were coming out of the ground just as the golf club and its 7,054-foot fairways were getting set to open. Even nicer areas (Heritage Hills) arrived further east during the decade after the club opened, now showing prices in the $1.6 million to $3 million range. But this area west of the fairways is way more down-to-earth.

Around the corner is South Suburban’s Cook Creek Pool and Waterslide, where residents get discounts. Dining at Park Meadows is four minutes away, and Charles Schwab, Sky Ridge Medical Center and other jobs campuses are just as close. Blue Island Oyster Bar has arrived along Lincoln Avenue close to Lone Tree’s performing arts center. 

BLUFFS TRAIL SYSTEM

Meanwhile, residents get something that’s a rarity for suburbs along South I-25. Hiking and mountain biking for Centennial and Greenwood Village residents typically involve a 35-minute drive to the foothills. But Lone Tree has an expansive trail system into Bluffs Regional Park, a 350-foot climb from three trailheads, six minutes from this home.

All of that works for the 2,200 households who rent in Lone Tree, too. But Hotz says she sees the city as an exciting place to buy, as the town builds a city center east of the freeway.  Her phone was ringing over the holidays, and she speculates that any drop in interest rates from their holding pattern in the sixes into the fives could sharply raise demand.

“We could see a flood into the market,” she said.

OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY, JAN. 3:

WHERE:  8159 Lodgepole Trail, Lone Tree; from South Yosemite  Steet at the 470 interchange, head south on Yosemite 0.8 mile to Lone Tree Parkway, turn right (west) 3 blocks to Arrowhead Way, turn right 2 long blocks to Lodgepole Trail, then right.

SIZE: 4 bedroom/3 bath, 3,600 sq. ft. 

PRICE: $838,000 

WEB: LarryHotz.com 

OPEN:  Saturday, Jan. 3, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.  

AGENT:  Elizabeth Hotz, 303-601-5253