In Denver, in July, 2185 homes sold, prices are up, days on market are down and the number of sales year to date is also up. What the press and the National Association of Realtors did not tell you is that July almost always “slumps” compared to June. Here is the chart of sales in Denver since 1999 http://www.denverrelocation.com/DenverStatisticschart.html.

OK, I have pounded that to death. What am I seeing out in the market? Buyers who have decided to take advantage are being cautious. Yet Buying up in a down market, even with a house to sell, is a great opportunity. And that house to sell can be rented too!

Sellers are nervous. Homes not in top condition are languishing on the market while homes in good condition are selling quickly. Neighborhoods that have had prices stay steady if not edge up a bit have continued their slow climb while others that were more impacted by lower prices have rebounded a little more quickly.

As an example in July the “Denver” metrolist there was a 7.4% increase in average sale price while having the average days on market drop 14.3% and total sales for the year to date were up 1.2%. The Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree sections of that same MLS indicate a 2.7% increase in average sale price while days on the market fell 3.9% and the total sales were up 4.2% from the previous year. Inventory of available homes is also up.

Is there a sweet spot? Yes and no…with interest rates as low as they are most folks are figuring out a way to re-finance and stay put. The sellers that need to move get realistic quickly on their price and condition. But if there is a spot it is in the 330-450k range as those folks want to move up, but cannot until their’s sells.

The range that seems most active is still in the 200 – 250k area although I have great traffic on a 279k listing with lots of showings. And a 349k home that languishes. A year ago I said the sweet spot was the million plus market as the small builders were folding their tents and leaving them with the banks. Now I think the move up market is the prime target in the 300k and hugher to make a sweet deal.

Long and short…houses are selling. Buyers are Buying. And a full time professional Realtor can help you see the opportunities.

All real estate is local.

So the new housing starts are down too…hmmm?  Well what they did not tell you was that prices for single family homes in the Denver metrolist were up over 7% from the previous year and that the number of days on the market were down by over 14%. Prices up? Selling faster?

OK what is going on? We (midwestern values, slow appreciation, investment moderation) metro Denver never inflated the real estate bubble to as big as some other national markets. So when things went south across the country, our market was not as badly affected and therefore we are able to recover sooner.
Sadly, I must report that the Highlands Ranch – Lone Tree market only experienced a 2.7% price increase and a drop in the days on the market of just less than 4% and the number of year to date sales are up 4.2%.
Slow & steady is how I prefer my market

Make sure to look at the interactive statistics map at http://www.DenverRelocation.com for all areas of the city including Centennial, Englewood and Littleton.

It is always interesting to see what the National Association of Realtors has to say and yesterday was no real surprise. What they did not say and could not know was that in July over 2200 single family homes sold in the metro area and 563 condos and townhomes sold and closed.
Many years ago I remember posting at the www.HighlandsRanchRealEstateBlog.com a note that there was an increase from 24,000 licensed brokers to over 42,000 in one year. That was a huge change.

Yet today from conversations and just watching  various statistics I know there are about 25% fewer Realtors who are currently active licensees. I expect that number to shrink even further as those who are approaching retirement age follow that option and those whose license expires decide not to renew.
Do those numbers reflect what has also happened to sales? It is interesting to note that in July 2007 we sold 3120 single family homes in metro Denver versus 2267 in 2010. That is 74% of what was sold in 2007…
It clearly is not a great market, but homes are selling.  Of course they cannot sell if they are not on the market. 

A full time professional Realtor can give you honest answers about your local market. You may want to know if your broker is going to be arround next year and an indicator could be their license renewal date. You can check it at the Colorado Division of Real Estate website http://www.dora.state.co.us/real-estate/. But my guess is a full time pro is your best choice in a market like this.

“Can’t you find a real job?” Those words still ring in my ears from over 24 years ago when I told my mother I was going to sell real estate. “So what got you into real estate and what has kept you there?” some folks ask? Well, long stories longer, here goes…

In 1984 I was a successful young Landman in the oil and gas business with the company car, the expense account, and all the benefits except one; a contract. Do not get me wrong. I had a great boss who was fair and kind, but who had said to me when he hired me in 1982 that “when the money runs out, the job runs out”. “Fair enough” I had responded. My work should cause the money to keep flowing! And I worked!

Well, sometime in the late summer of 1984 the price of crude oil fell to an especially low point. It was sometime in September or October, Vince poked his head in my office door and reminded me of our conversation and added “well the money has run out!” effective November 30th. 

Being the young confident guy I was, I decided I could do the business better and stepped out and sold some prospects to other companies that they drilled, all dry holes though. And there was that last prospect that just about broke us as it was bought by a guy who went bankrupt. Never a word! But just in case I had gotten my Real Estate license so I could collect in court. NO, I never did.

And that young confident nature caused me to never file for un-employment either. My wife did daycare in the home, I plowed snow and did day work in the old office. I sold a couple of homes for my partner too as I had a brokers license. It was an unsettled time!

So I am “working at home” one day in Englewood Colorado in late 1985 or early 1986 and there is a knock on the door. I open it to find a foreclosure notice! Well, as you can imagine, my wife and I had some agitated words that night but we succeeded in  formulating a plan: We could either sell the house and buy another smaller one and stay in Denver; we could take a job in Midland (and get laid off again there); or I could sell real estate. We needed some money to get out of hole we were in and so I called the first national bank of MOM the next day. We explained our alternative plans and she politely agreed the first 2 were not good at all but when I came to #3 I heard the words: CAN’T YOU FIND A REAL JOB?

That is what started my real estate career in 1985. What has kept me here is a passion for the process, and getting to know more about people every day! It is fun. Up market or down market. No real difference. And Denver is just a very stable mid-western type of place to be.

Check out the Colorado Railroad Museum website at www.coloradorailroadmuseum.org or come out to visit at 17155 W. 44th Avenue, Golden, CO 80403For driving directions and a map, click here Google Maps

From Mark Bennett of Bennett FIXIT

Roof, gutters, and driveways are your most important yearly care items which if cared for will last along time.

• Seal all cracks in driveways, seal entire driveway with a clear acrylic sealer.  Make sure gutters are free of fall leaves and debris at all times of year.

Keep all bushes, trees, vines away from the house, they are insect highways, and trees can cause damage to roofs and sidings.

*No large tree should be within 15’ of the house foundation. Have all trees thinned at least every 3-5 years.

Sealing your HVAC system will keep dirt out of your house, and will help with overall circulation, and will cut costs. Make sure you have a thermostat that can be programmed. Air Filters should be the pleated type.

*Use only metal tape for duct seals.  Close vent in unused rooms.  Even a closed vent lets 40% of the air flow.

Every spring, ring your house with insect powder to drive insects away. Airate the lawn and apply any insecticides at the first sight of green.

*Bugs start to grow in the spring, and any kill off will help for the rest of the year.

Make sure doors and window seals are in good condition, or repaired, they are one of the largest sources of heat and cooling loss.

*Many seals can be replaced, and even some sliding window seals can be replaced.

 Make sure you have current appliances because they are much more effective than units that are just 8 years old.

*An appliance older than 8 years if often not worth fixing.

Use power strips to protect and turn off energy suckers.  Your TV, VCRs, phone transformers, and computers can all be turned off, and you can save as much as $ 100 a year, and protect them from lightning strikes, power spikes and surges. Use light dimmers on clusters of lights to save money.

• Leave cable boxes on.  They have information and data that needs to stay on, and if they get fried, they will be replaced for free.

Be sure that all water and snow run off is away from your foundation. Be sure your sprinklers are watering only the grass and flowers, and not your driveway, walkways, or foundation. Repairs to the foundation are always very costly, and can affect your entire house.

*You should walk the inside rooms of your house looking for cracks in the walls.  If you see any, it can be a sign of foundation shift.  Also walk the exterior of the house in the spring after the last snow.  If you feel spongy areas near the foundation, you must find a way to drain away the water, because it will attack the foundations.

Incandescent light bulbs are being eliminated!  A law signed in 2007 will stop sales in 2012!  Few good solutions exist at this time, and most are very costly.  CFL lights contain mercury, are poor quality, and LED lights are very costly.

* Web sites for CFL and new products are: www.hatrack.com and www.foxnews/junk science. These sites give honest comments on what to do.  Most people say stock up on light bulbs now.

Timers to control lights during the night or when you are away can help secure your home, and save you money because even small lights give off lots of light.  Use only digital times, gear timers use more power than a small light, and are on all day and night. Also great for security when away from home.

Security:  When away from your house, close drapes or blinds, and leave a radio on.  Also leaving garage doors open is still the #1 reason for crime in Douglas and Arapahoe County!!Do not advertise what you have in your house with items of value left in the garage!

Mark Bennett, Bennett Fix It

303-547-4757

bennettfixit1@comcast.net

Mortgage lenders from out of the area failed to close or deliver funds on time in over 80 percent of the cases last year according to Pete Doty’s limited data base.  In stark contrast local lenders all performed 100% on time with only an hour or two delay at the worst. The ratio of  33%out of town lenders to 67% local lender closings. In one case, while the lender created the initial delay, the seller would not authorize funding for 4 days after the pro-ration date as a result.

Out of town lenders were mostly only over due to the closing table by a day but the stress this creates on the schedules of all involved is huge. In one case an inept loan broker had not submitted the required forms and documents causing a 14 day extension in the closing.

Any Realtor worth their salt will attempt to have you work with someone they know. Personally I do not originate loans and never have. I simply do not want to know that much about you. I have never owned any portion of a mortgage company (or a title company) as I feel there is a real conflict of interest for you, the consumer, disclosed according to RESPA or not, it just is. So when I recommend a lender, I do not see anything from the lender except a happy client at closing. And that is as it should be.

The horror stories about the clients who have their belongings on the truck to be delivered the day after closing are true. Every penny they saved in origination fees or interest rates are gobbled up in storage of their belongings. What a shame. And all we can do is sit and watch.

So what causes this huge disconnect in performance? From my perspective it seems there are 2 kinds of lenders, those huge like the government and those like small business. Stay with me…if you worked for a government agency and your computer needed to be replaced (blue screen of death-it died) what chain of command would you have to go through to requisition a new replacement unit? Would you ever actually speak to the person doing the purchasing to make sure it did what you needed? Now, if you worked for a small company you might have to walk around the corner to tell the IT guy it died and you need a new one, or just go buy it yourself making sure you got what you need.

In the above case you would be the employee whose computer died (loan officer) and the people providing the tech support/new computer are the underwriters. Having appropriate access to the right people, them knowing and respecting your work, means your file is processed accordingly. Just because I know the loan officer, I too have access, through the system, we can respond faster and be generally lighter on our feet.

Here are a couple of articles from 2 sources on Remodeling costs and returns. Take a look at http://highlands-ranch-real-estate.blogspot.com

Introduction to Real Estate IRAs
    2 credit hours
   (more details)

   02/03/10
   9:00AM-11:00AM MST

   Location: 110 W. Harvard
                   Fort Collins, CO. 80526
 
   Event Host*: Security Title
  
   REGISTER HERE

The Douglas County Housing Partnership has re-instated their Shared Equity Program for 1st time Buyers so that you only need to invest $1000 in the purchase of your home, principally in the Castle Rock census tract area. Details are at http://www.douglascountyhousingpartnership.org/sharedequity.htm