Three buckets, one dashboard — home search fit, price & mortgage, and the finance plan behind it. Updated Jul 18, 2026.
What every listing gets checked against.
PRIMARY AREAS
Douglas County. Large master-planned communities (The Meadows, Crystal Valley, Cobblestone Ranch, Terrain) with pool-amenity HOAs.
Douglas County, just north of Castle Rock. Upscale communities, several with golf/HOA amenities; some newer metro-district neighborhoods (fee shows up on the tax bill, not as a monthly HOA charge).
BACKUP AREAS
Straddles Weld & Boulder counties. Newer communities (Vista Ridge, Colliers Hill, Erie Highlands) — pool HOAs common.
Mostly Douglas County. Mix of established neighborhoods (80134) and larger rural-edge/horse-property lots (80138).
Douglas County, closer in toward DTC. Established, upscale neighborhoods, generally larger lots.
The full weighted scorecard (fill in each listing) lives in the companion workbook — this dashboard mirrors the weights below.
Scored against your must-haves. Est. monthly payment uses your 5.75% quote, 0% down, and the area assumptions from Bucket 2.
School component is blank for all four (couldn't verify exact attendance-zone ratings), so these scores are missing their 20% weight there — see the companion workbook for the full caveat. Full detail and editable fields live in Home_Plan_Colorado.xlsx.
0% down, VA funding fee waived (you're exempt — service-connected disability compensation). Adjust and everything below updates.
| Principal & interest | $4,377 |
| Property tax | $394 |
| Homeowners insurance (est.) | $250 |
| HOA (est.) | $150 |
| Total monthly payment | $5,171 |
Insurance is a rough Colorado estimate (~0.4%/yr of home value, hail-prone market) — swap in a real quote once you have listings. HOA assumes a pool-amenity community; confirm the exact fee per listing.
Same assumptions, at four price points, comparing your quoted rate to the current market average VA rate (6.30%, Mortgage News Daily, Jul 16 2026).
Pick a scenario to see net monthly cash flow before and after a $750K Castle Rock mortgage.
VA lenders require a minimum residual income after all obligations — West region, family of 4, loan > $80K.
Scenario A is your cash flow right now — active-duty pay only, no VA disability yet (starts Sept 2026). Once you're off active duty and into the Cisco AE role, build the budget around Scenario B, Cisco AE Conservative (base pay + VA disability, zero commission) — that's the number a VA lender will likely qualify you on anyway, since new commission income usually needs about two years of history to count. At $750K in Castle Rock and your 5.75% quote, the estimated PITI+HOA is roughly $5.0–5.2K/mo, which Scenario B still comfortably covers with several thousand dollars a month left for savings and irregular expenses. Treat Scenarios C and D — commission ramping up — as upside for extra principal payments, 529 contributions, or rebuilding savings, not as income to plan the mortgage around.
Rate each listing 1–5 stars on 1 · Home Search — click a star to set the rating, click the same star again to clear it. Sorted highest-rated first. Click any listing to see its full breakdown below.
Rate a listing above, or go to 1 · Home Search and click "View full breakdown" on any listing — it'll open here with its price, facts, and a live mortgage calculator pre-filled for that home.