"That’s what the postcard says – $900,000 for the 2,000-sq. ft. brick bungalow on a corner lot on Newton Street around 37th Avenue," Griego wrote in a story for her new employer, The Colorado Independent. "It is a price that is at once unbelievable and plausible because every once in a while after we moved, I would go online to check the estimated value of our old house in the same Northside neighborhood. We lived in a 1920s, two-bedroom, one-bath, galley-kitchen red brick bungalow with a little more than 900 sq. ft. upstairs and a smaller basement that was inhabitable if you weren’t picky. When the estimated market value surpassed $440,000 — $440,000! – almost 40 percent more than our sales price, I stopped looking because my masochism has its limits.
"I consider myself part of the middle-class, shrinking as it may be, and it’s a jolt to realize that I can no longer afford the neighborhood I left only a few years earlier."
After four years away, Griego says she finds Denver to be an "evolving" city, one that has to find answers to questions on topics like changing neighborhoods and affordability. She also has some ideas on self-evolution and how to remain relevant as a journalist.
Griego spoke with Colorado Matters host Nathan Heffel.
