Denver Real Estate Named a Bargain…
It is always nice to be recognized, particularly when the recognition is for a good reason! Fortune Magazine on CNN Money.com published their Top 6 Real Estate Bargains .
The lead line reads,
"Think hikes and horses instead of golf–a\in a market that managed to avoid the mania." Well they are right about the mania, our Denver real estate market didn’t take huge jumps in appreciation over the last decade.
While other areas were exploding off the charts, Denver metro was appreciating at a slow, but solid rate. Now while other areas in the U.S. are dealing with absorption rates with anniversary dates, Denver is headed up. Our appeal to the retirement crowd is the fact our median prices have remained attractive compared to others.
Now I must take exception to the comment about "Think hikes and horses instead of golf…" Yes, maybe in the middle of winter golf is a challenge, but for the most part Denver enjoys four very mild seasons. We play golf easily through 3 of them. In fact we can even go outside in the middle of summer without getting cooked!
Retiring to an area rich in natural beauty, diverse in culture, with four fabulous seasons to enjoy is appealing to many retiring adults. Thanks for the recognition CNN Money!
For those who want more choices, the other areas targeted by CNN MONEY as real estate bargains are:
Miami Real Estate ~ talk to Ines and Rick
Las Vegas Real Estate ~ talk to Jacqulyn Richey
Phoenix Real Estate ~ talk to Jim Wexler or Dru Bloomfield for Scottsdale Real Estate
San Diego Real Estate ~ talk to Roberta Murphy
Tampa Real Estate ~ talk to Jack or Cyndee Haydon
Real Estate Undressed
Thank you Larry from Real Estate Undressed! It is always nice to be recognized and this week one of my photos was honored!
This tenacious tree was found along the Mt. Evans highway, the highest paved road in North America. It is a spectacular drive and only a few minutes from downtown Denver. Just go west on I-70 to Idaho Springs, turn at the second exit and follow the signs to Mt. Evans. Its up. Very up!
Why not make a day of it, pack a lunch and stop along the way to enjoy the view. At the top of the mountain it is very common to see Big Horn Sheep, Rocky Mountain Goats, Marmots, Ptarmigan and a variety of other birds. Of course the view of the Colorado mountain range is worth the trip alone!
If you have time, stop at the Echo Lake Lodge and watch the Humming Birds through the window and munch on some tasty homemade pie. Yum!
Living in Colorado has it’s benefits…why not enjoy them soon…
P.S. If you look hard you will find this tree! 
Bike to Work
Gas prices are forcing more and more folks to reevaluate their lifestyles. When you have to fill your tank at the cost of giving up something else in your life, it’s easy to start thinking about alternative solutions.
I’ve always enjoyed riding my bicycle. When I was in college, I rediscovered the joy of riding a bike. In fact I took my first over night trip from Toledo to someplace in Michigan that was 75 miles away. I can’t remember the name of the town, but I do in fact remember it was 75 miles, because that weekend I rode a $69 K-Mart purchased Huffy for 150 miles. It was a joyous and painful experience.
My current ride has greatly improved from the Huffy to a Specialized road bike complete with wireless computer and more gears than I can remember to use. Still as much as I would like, I don’t ride my bike nearly enough.
Why? Well I have a ton of excuses. Mainly my work is not open to bike commuting. My trip is less than 10 miles one way, no biggie, but the route to get there is not easy. Besides that, I have no place to "freshen up" once I arrive. Probably the most viable excuse of all, is where would I put my clients?
Typically I work with people who need to be driven to the four points of metro Denver. Somehow giving them a personal bike or even having them ride on a bicycle built for two just doesn’t seem the right thing to do.
I suppose I could tell folks to drive their own car and I’ll meet them at the property. LOL I doubt that would work either. They would probably get tired of waiting for me.
Lately I’ve been drooling over a cute little orange scooter. I can see myself on it at least this time of year. But then I wonder if I’m really tough enough to ride in January when the days are short and the temps are a tad chilly?
As much money as I’m spending of gas the scooter would pay for itself in a few months, providing I parked the car and took the scooter.
Hummm, that’s food for thought!
There is another alternative. What if I leave the car at the office and commute via bike and light rail? Sounds a little complicated but it just might work.
The light rail is less than 1 mile from my home. I can cycle to the light rail, hop on bike and all. When I get to the station I would have my bike to take me the rest of the distance (about 1 more mile). My bike could probably sit in my office while I worked. If I ended up needing to show property, my car would be there.
Maybe, just maybe I have a plan here.
Now I’m wondering what others are doing. Are you pumping at the pump and thinking how to beat it?
BTW next week is Denver’s Official Bike to Work Day. Check out their website and all the great supportive activities, t-shirts on DRCOG.
Taste of Lone Tree
Mark you calendars now! This weekend is the first annual Lone Tree Art and Food Festival. Starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday & Sunday, continuing to 5 p.m. each day, visitors will have the opportunity to munch on samples from 30 of Lone Tree’s restaurants.
The event will be held in the parking lot of TREO on Quebec. Artists from Parker, Castle Rock and Lone Tree will be presenting their artwork.
This fun event is sponsored by the Lone Tree Chamber of Commerce and the Parker Artists Guild. Hope to see you there! (I’ll be the one behind the Canon)
Fix and flip
Good news for investors who want to capitalize on current market conditions. FHA has announced:
In an effort to facilitate the sale of bank-owned properties, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has temporarily suspended its 90 day rule against flipping properties. Under the anti flipping rule, the FHA will not insure a mortgage loan if the sales contract is executed within 90 days of the seller’s acquisition of the property. Effective June 9, 2008, the anti flipping rule has now been waived for one year for properties acquired by lenders.
Outsmarting Ourselves
Denver Dwellings would like to welcome a guest columnist, Greg Polashock. Greg is a mortgage lender who enjoys answering the challenging call of the consumer. Please welcome Greg by sharing your thoughts in the comments section below.
Sometimes I wonder if we are just incapable of learning “the lesson.” In the real estate industry five years ago we
pretty much collectively acted in a way that shouted, “I want it now, I want it free, I want it my way, and no matter what history teaches, I expect things to turn out the way I want.” As Dr. Phil would say, “So… how’s that workin’ out for ya?”
Many people got a very hard lesson on the exercises of self-indulgence. And, too many people failed to listen to voices of reason and moderation, instead flocking to squawkers who simply said the things people wanted to hear, in spite of a lack of soundness and reason.
It seems the same thing is happening again, only different. Everybody is now gun-shy of risky mortgages (hurray for finally having gotten THAT message), but it seems like many people still are making financial mistakes when it comes to making real estate decisions.
I see the current phenomenon as a meeting of what I’ll call “analysis paralysis” with an attitude of “I know more than the experts.” I’ll analogize it to people deciding to waste a gallon of gas to find the station that will sell it for ten cents a gallon less. (Think about it for a moment if you’re not getting it immediately.)
I expect Yogi Berra would say something like, “we’ve all gotten so smart, we’re now stupid.”
It doesn’t seem to matter who I talk to – realtors, financial planners, builders, bankers, mortgage professionals… the stories I hear and the personal experiences I have seen indicate that the consumer generally seems to think that they know better than the professionals. A sarcastic aside – I am curious to see how well this mentality goes over once it bleeds over into their relationships with doctors and lawyers!
I am at a bit of a loss as to how to help consumers these days… I really am! And it is taking a toll on me. It bothers me to see people hurt themselves financially. They would have been better off listening to good advice early on. It concerns me to see someone walk away from a great transaction after the realtor has negotiated in an exemplary manner only to have the client dicker about the inclusion of the refrigerator, but not see the $60,000 in equity they’re getting because of the realtor having gotten the contract as such a bargain price. It REALLY burns me at the failure of ethics when a client, through actions, basically shouts, “Thanks for that excellent, free advice that nobody else was smart enough to tell me about… I’m gonna take your great advice and now go over to ‘XYZ Mortgage’ so I can save $13 a month on my housing payment.”
While we seem to have learned a lesson over the past year about risky mortgages (and we probably wouldn’t have learned that one if the marketplace had not been absolutely forced by economic necessity to teach it to us); we still haven’t seemed to learn the lesson about prudence and the need to listen to sound professional advice. As I look around these days, the underlying issue I really see is that the lesson to have been learned from five plus years of shady real estate trickery (where everyone from consumer to title company and everyone in between was complicit) is that we must apply ethics and morals in how we interact with others and in how we represent ourselves. I am concerned that that most important lesson has not yet been learned.
From the desk of:
Greg Polashock
Home Mortgage Consultant
Cherry Creek Mortgage
w) 303-887-0672
Greg@GregisFinancingSolutions.com
Gregis Financing Solutions
Top 10 Home Features
According to the National Association of Realtors Annual Profile of Buyer’s Home Feature Preferences, buyers want:
- Central Air Conditioning
- Garage (2 or more spaces)
- Walk-in closet in master bedroom
- Backyard/play area
- Cable/Satellite TV-ready
- High-speed Internet Access
- Separate shower enclosure in master/main bath
- Patio
- Fencing
- Home less than 10 years old
What do home buyers in Denver want?
- Central Air Conditioning is a maybe, or rather that depends. In the city and the suburbs air conditioning is a favorite feature. However as one gets up into the higher elevations above Denver, air conditioning becomes less and less necessary.
- 2 Car Garage. Once again, that depends. Urban parking doesn’t require or should I say "allow" most home owners to have a 2 car garage. In urban areas designated street parking might be the ultimate cat’s meow. Of course travel a few miles to the ‘burbs and the desire holds true. A 2 car garage is the minimum standard for most homes. Of course when homes are priced over say $400k a 3 or 4 car garage is the minimum standard!
- Walk-in closet. No argument here. Inner city home owners would settle for a closet that is wide enough to fit modern day clothes hangers! Suburban home owners wince at the thought of not having proper storage for all their worldly goods.
- Backyard/play area. Dream on homeowners. Colorado has been "Californicated" the smaller the lot the bigger the smile on the developer/tax collector/water marshall. What we do well in Colorado are parks, open areas and recreation centers.
- Cable/Satellite TV-ready. no argument here. Homeowners have a variety of choices from cable to satellite dishes. To each his own delight!
- High-speed Internet access. Actually this amenity is right up there with "air" when it comes to necessity. Who can remember a world without it?
- Sparate shower enclosure in the master/main bath. Around these parts we call that a "5-piece bath". Count ‘em; 1. toilet 2. double sinks 3. shower 4. tub. = 5 pieces in the bathroom. Most modern homes will have these features.
- Patio. Absolutely! Colorado sunshine is so delightful to soak up. We all enjoy the big bar-b-que out on the patio or deck.
- Fencing. Fido and kids need to have boundaries.
- Home less than 10 years old. It’s true selling a newer home is much easier than selling an older one. However many of our charming older homes have been updated to retain the charm and still present a modern face. Need I say they also sell quicker?
What else would you count as important in a home feature?
Personally, I like spacious, sunny rooms. Most of my time in spent in only a few rooms, so for me the more spacious the better. I can do without the areas of the home that are seldom used. Give me space where I spend my time and do away with everything else!
How about you?
Recovery Road
Monthly Denver real estate statistics are out and the numbers have an interesting story to tell.
- The Metro Denver average price increased 3.4% from April to May ($255,944). The average Metro Denver sales price in May 2008 was 11.4% less than 2007.
- Available residential resale properties in Metro Denver has declined 9.54% from last May (26,333).
- The absorption rate has declined to 5.71 months (24.47 weeks). This takes the market into a “neutral” position, neutral generally considered to be an inventory supply of from 4-6 months. There is wide disparity in the various sub-markets.
- The “fallout” rate, (sales that do not close) is 25.81% in May of 2008. In May of 2006 the rate was 13.81%. This partly explains the general frustration the industry has with the market.
- Total May 2008 residential closings were down 9% from May 2007.
- Interest rates for 30 year fixed rate mortgages were holding just over 6% at the height of the buying season.
Yes there are a few holes in the recovery process, we deal with many buyers who want to buy but can’t. Some have credit issues and cannot qualify with today’s more stringent lender guidelines. Many persons trying to relocate to Denver are waiting for real estate in other part of the country to sell. Then of course there is the "lack of consumer" confidence. The focus in the news seems to be on the negative.
There are some good factors to focus on. The resale market in Denver has less inventory, fewer days on the market, and a lower absorption rate, all favorable factors for sellers. Homes priced well, and in good condition are selling in 30 days or less.
The fallout rate increase is particularly interesting. I believe much of it is attributed to negative media, misunderstanding of the local market and a lack of consumer confidence. Buyers and sellers don’t seem to be in the same camp. Buyers coming from hard hit areas of the U.S. where there is a seemingly endless absorption rate, feel they can "make a deal" here.
Noting once again the absorption rate (for the overall market) is 5.79 months. A "neutral" market is considered by many in the real estate industry to be a 5-6 month supply, while a "sellers" market is a 4 month supply. Our market is moving in that direction.
Good news in the future for home sellers. Not so good for those buyers sitting on the fence.
This site brought to you by Kristal Kraft, a licensed Colorado Real Estate Broker
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