Gayle and I took a road trip last weekend to Omaha, Nebraska to attend the Berkshire Hathaway (BH) Annual Shareholders Meeting and the opportunity to learn from the 77 year old Warren Buffet and 84 year old Charlie Monger. We were shocked to see the massive growth in Omaha. According to the World-Herald, Nebraska’s economy tops the nation.

Saturday morning, we arrived at the Qwest Center along with 31,000 others. By 9:30a.m. the Qwest arena was standing room only. Warren and Charlie sat a simple, draped table. Plenty of Cherry Coke and See’s peanut brittle was arranged in front of these two investment guru’s. Around the arena, the were 13 microphone stations where for the next 3 hours Warren Buffet moved from station to station taking questions from his flock.

Lot’s of questions as to the successors for Buffet and Monger. Mum was the word from Warren except to note that the Board of Directors had narrowed to the search to 3 or 4 candidates for each position, CEO and CFO. Charlie Monger thought there no need to worry as he had great “young” man at the helm (Buffet) who had plenty of good years left.

Warren usually answered each inquiry with less than a few sentences. Monger, next to reply, would often answer with only a few words and many times just a “no comment” except when a question came up about bio-fuels and if he were to rant about something bio-fuels was it. “Ridiculous, sure to fail, short term fix fo the farmers, to expensive to produce” were just a few of his comments and Buffet wholeheartedly agreed.

Questions about how to invest; Warren Buffet suggested any sized investor (small investors he classified as working with less than a million dollars!) follow him by staying away from get rich quick, trendy or highly risky ventures. Look for companies with broad appeal, steady growth financially and more importantly companies that have had the same managers in place for a long time and who intend to stay in place. Make your investments for long term. Stay the course.

When asked about the Presidential race, Buffet refused to saw he would support. Instead he noted that 2 of the 3 running he felt would make a good President. “The way the government system is set up, anyone could run it, even an idiot, and we have proof of that” he said as the crowd roared with laughter.

Many questions concerned the econony, oil prices and housing markets. The two guru’s assured the crowd, “we’ll be fine, just fine, were just in rough spot.”

In the convention center outside the arena, several companies owned by BH were there to promote themselves and offer the shareholders samples and special discounts on their products. After listening to Buffet and Monger speak of their investment strategies, it was apparent their advise worked well. Company’s in attendance included Fruit of the Loom, Justin Boots, Benjamin Moore Paints, Geico Insurance, Dairy Queen, Mars Chocolate, See’s Candies, Nebraska Furniture Mart and Wrigley Gum…not bad huh and Berkshire Hathaway has $66 Billion in the bank.

Final note: Buffet spoke of making hundreds of billionaires and thousands of millionaires…many of whom invested $10 a share, 44 years ago or $700 a share just 25 years ago…a share of BH “A” stock is trading today around $130,000 a share. Nice return on investment.

Get ready for another amazing summer under the stars at RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATER. For the entire summer concert schedule CLICK HERE

The Denver Post just released this Neighborhood by Neighborhood Report on Metro Denver Real Estate. You can check out your neighborhood for average price, price change, average discount, number of days on the market, percent of foreclosure and short sales. Thanks to George Lupiba Jr. from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage for sending EskyKnows the link.

PLEASE PAY ATTENTION! Get off the fence. Quit waiting. I’ve been telling you that the Denver area real estate market is not the doom and gloom market the press is bellowing about. The “cranes” are everywhere and we are not talking birds.  Enterprise and commerce create jobs. Big box developments featuring top name tenants are quickly replacing old style shopping centers or once vacant acreage.

Denver Colorado ranks as the 6th BEST residential real estate market (single family homes) according to the Standard and Poor’s Cas-Shiller Home Price idices released data for February 2008. Rankings for the 20-city composite recorded an annual decline of 12.7% while Denver recorded an annual decline of only 5.5%.

Las Vegas, again the weakest market posting a 22.8% decline followed by Miami with a 21.7% decline. San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles were the worst performers in the west!

Charlotte with a 1.5% increase in home prices was followed by Portland Oregon and Seattle, leading the composite as best markets.

More good news. Read the rest of this entry »

The Universtiy of Denver Real Estate Chair, the MLS statistics continue to reinforce the facts that  the real estate markets in Denver and the surrounding areas are not in the same miserable condition as most of the rest of the United States.

Here is a link to an report from the local CBS4 affiliate in Denver. READ ON it’s GOOD FOR YOU! http://cbs4denver.com/seenon/denver.housing.market.2.685642.html

I say an article in the NY Times last Sunday that answered the question but was not area specific so I asked my insurance guru buddy Theresa Byrnes the question. Here is her reply:

“ Yes, I read the same article and yes this is true.
The reason it is more expensive is because first of all, most insurance companies (Farmers included) will NOT write vacant homes.  We have done this, but they can not be vacant for more than 90 days and in the market today it can be tough to flip these houses.  So….then you are dealing with “specialty dwelling” coverage which I can write though Foremost (Farmers affiliate)…however…the premium is higher.
 
The reason for this is because vacant homes are risky.  Vandalism is very high and water damage also is very high. When pipes break no one is there to know about it so the water runs for days causing catastrophic damage to the property. 
 
I get phone calls all the time from Realtors and attorneys or ask me to help them with this because foreclosed properties can’t get insured because the owner left and cancelled the insurance policies, and now it is vacant.  Because of all the ridiculous negative media about the housing market….it’s raising more concern….
As far as how much this can effect your premium? It can double. I have been writing Foremost policies more now than ever because of the exact thing the paper wrote about. So….for once, the paper is right.
 
I hope this answers your question and prevents any problems in the future.”

Theres Byrnes Farmers Insurance

The ANSWERS ARE RIGHT HERE!

I’ve been asking you to quit reading and watching the national gloom and doom real estate pornography and pay attention to our market facts, here in the 6 county metro Denver area.

Now I am telling you it’s time to thow you away your newspapers and turn off the news and just give your attention to ESKYKNOWS DENVER. I’ll give you a quick example…

Last week the local daily newspaper here in Denver properly reported the upswing in our Denver market based on February sales statistics from the keeper of real estate stats, Metrolist our multiple listing service. More homes were sold this February in the Denver area than in 2007 and fewer homes were available here in February 2008.  The article was less than 2 column inches in size, in the lower left of the page, the least read newspaper position.

Just a day later, a very large well placed, top of the page article proclaimed “February Homes More Doom and Gloom”. This was an article referring to the worst real estate markets in the U.S.! No mention of Denver!

In the upper right corner of this blog site is a Questions and Answers bar.  See it?

 Just point and click on the Questions and Answers bar and a question box will open. Send me questions or concerns and I’ll answer you!

TELL YOU FAMILY, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS WHERE TO GO…. Thanks for not keeping us a secret!

Get the FACTS, just the FACTS here at ESKYKNOWS DENVER.

BIG NEWS for the 6 county Denver area.

New FHA and Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac conforming loan limits released today by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.
Six County Denver-Metro area maximum loan is now $406,250. Expect the positive impact of these loan limit increases on the housing
market to be significant because of the infusion of capital into the mortgage market, which should result in lower rates.

More GREAT NEWS February stats on sales recorded through the Denver MLS indicated a strengthening marketplace in the Denver area. Fewer homes for sale this February than in February 2007 and more SOLD.

Proof the Market is changing!

We just listed a home that was available for 9 months last year, with 4 showings, total. I  put the property on the market, in the MLS, signed and brochured it this past Monday.  We’ve had 9 showings this week, and 2 agents are telling me they are writing offers and that I will have the written offers over the weekend. Stay tuned…..

Denver’s news about foreclosures led the national media for some time. Now Denver ranks 10th on the national scale. Real estate values in the metro Denver area never had the fast run up that cities like Phoenix, or Las Vegas experienced. Sadly our large minority populations seemed to have been victims of predatory lending now creating massive foreclosures in the inter-city neighborhoods. The builders who qualified about any buyer who could fog a mirror sold overpriced homes with huge incentives to buyers who added tens of thousands of dollars worth of upgrades to their already inflated mortgage amount. The result created massive foreclosures in the ex-burbs.

Today, Denver is looking up! Construction cranes populate the city as premium developments pop-up all around town. High dollar to extravagant projects are selling fast. Four Seasons & Ritz Carlton condominium offerings begin at $800 a square foot with already sold penthouses going for $10 million. Denver is fast becoming a destination for well healed 2nd home purchasers. Read the rest of this entry »

   You’re from Colorado if…

You’ll eat ice cream in the winter.

When the weather report says it’s going to be 65 degrees, you shave your
legs and wear a skirt.

It snows 5 inches and you don’t expect school to be cancelled.

You’ll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature.

You have no accent at all, but can hear other people’s. And then you
make fun of them.

‘Humid’ is over 25%.

Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and Away from the
mountains.

You say ‘the interstate’ and everybody knows which one.

You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard.

You grew up planning your Halloween costumes around your coat.

You know what the Continental Divide is.

You don’t think Coors beer is that big a deal.

You went to Casa Bonita as a kid.

You’ve gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such
activities. Read the rest of this entry »