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

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…..

  Lawrence Yun - NAR Chief Economist foresees Denver’s Housing Turnaround

Denver’s housing market is not as bad off as most of the rest of the country is what I believe and have been reporting. The same will hold true for 2008. We’ll see the Denver markets improve faster than most. Prices will remain stable, no up’s or downs.

On Wednesday, Lawrence Yun, chief economist and senior vice president of the National Association of Realtors presented his 2008 real estate forecast to the Jeffco Board of Realtors in Lakewood Colorado. “All markets are local and the bleak national market conditions do not represent what is happening in the Denver area. The one thing that may be holding back your market is buyer pessimism. You have very strong affordability” Yun said. 

“Interest rates are basically at a 45 year low” and he reminded us that buyers have a bad attitude based on false beliefs fueled by the press and that the mistakes of Wall Street are in the past, not related to home buying now or in the future.

 Mr. Yun noted that if there is a recession, interest rates will go even lower making Denver housing even more attractive. Denver would weather a recession better than the country as a whole because of the educated work force here.Yun also noted however that the high number of foreclosures  will continue this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

The press and news reports are screaming “the sky is falling, the sky is falling” about the real estate market.  The only thing falling are interest rates!

Mortgage interest rates, reported by our beloved Freddie Mac fell to the lowest level in  a month, matching rates from more than a year past! Sure this could give investors reason to worry about about a possible ressession, but let’s face it money investors worry about everything!

30 year fixed rate mortgages averaged 6.07% The Adjustable Rate Mortagage (ARM’s) were unchanged and remain at 5.9%.

Yes, most neighborhoods in the Denver area real estate markets have suffered with declineing prices and slowed activity. The facts remain that homes are selling and there are many homeowners who need to sell. The banks are loosening up and understand they MUST sell to reduce their number of REO’s (real estate owned) as they anticipate the next wave of foreclosures.

Buyers,  sitting on the bench waiting to get in the game should seriously think about getting in shape, ready to buy in this amazing real estate market place.  Getting in shape?  Yep, get ready to buy, prepare yourself for the marketplace in order to optimize you ability to purchase.

So what to do to get in shape: First talk to a great lender with a long track record. Stay away from the fast talkers and promises of way below market interest rates. Then, think about your “wish list.”  Your written wish list is a must. Write it down then prioritize it. Include everything you want to find in your new home, from number of bedrooms, bathrooms, lot size, architecture, square footage to neighborhood schools, room sizes and everything else you can think of. Now reorder the list from “must have” to “really want” to “it would be nice to have.” Prioritizing will really make you think about the property so that when you begin your property search you will have a heighten understanding of what is important to you. Read the rest of this entry »

The National Association of Realtors membership roles are declining. Why? Real estate markets almost everywhere are in turmoil. An abundance of listings, the mortgage crisis and many buyers still fence-sitting waiting for whole bubble to burst.  The days of fast and easy transactions are gone. Loan criteria is tight and tightening. Appraisals are coming in low. Property inspectioners uncover often costly needed repairs and owners, especially bank owners, are unwilling to make the fixes.

So, no more “fast money” for agents who got into the business for just that! That’s a blessing. Let them go and stay gone. Better agents with more education, better customer service,and advanced marketing techniques who understand their fiduciary responsiblities to their buyers and sellers will tough it out, as in past down markets. 

Many times this year while attending a closing, the Colorado ceremony to celebrate the passing of the deed and signing the lender and title company documents, I felt the lack of communication, trustworthyness and misdoubt between the other client and their agent who “represented” them. Those agents often taking phone calls during the closing or their rudeness by leaving room to go work on another “deal”  make me think and wonder if this is the way they treated their clients from the start.

Jeff Rickard at 1760 Mortgage Guide asked me to be a guest speaker on his mortgage blog and talk about how to find a good agent to represent a home buyer’s best interests. I offered Jeff’s readers 12 points to consider when choosing a real estate agent. To find out more read Not Just Any Realtor.

I am not an economist or futurist, however my observations regarding the Colorado ecomony have been confirmed by the University of Colorado Leed’s School of Business economist Richard Wobbekind.

 I have experienced my share of the up’s and down’s of the Colorado economy and housing markets over my past 33 years in business here in Denver. I know that when the real estate markets on the coasts are taking a beating, Colorado’s markets pick up.  Sure the foreclosures and tighter than tight credit standards will continue to mess with our housing markets, but we will shake it off better than almost anywhere next year as our economy begins to booms again because of oil, gas, mining and technology. Read about the natural gas boom and how it will impact Colorado in today’s Rocky. Remember the oil boom of the 80’s and the positive impact it had on the entire state?

 Colorado will feel a small “boom” at that but enough of a boom in 2008 to put us out front of the national economy! Watch for the growth to start next year as related business and professional service provide jobs to support our growing economy.

The Denver Post reported that more than 100 economists, academicians and business leaders contributed to the 2008 Outlook. At the 2008 Colorado Business Outlook held Monday in downtown Denver, Mr. Wobbeking told the audience “Continued moderate gowth is on tap for the state.  Colorado will definitely not enter a ressession.” 

The jobs outlook continues to be strong as the State of Colorado continues to beat the national job growth index.  Unemployment will rise some as the Colorado population grows.

Look for more than a 100,000 new residents in 2008 pushing the state population over 5 million! A new record.

The economists suggest that inflation in the Denver metro area will  continue to move downward from 2.9% to 2.7%.

Banks are skiddish about investment lending. I think this turn upward for the state’s economy will provide the confidence needed to allow for substantial investment in the real estate markets, both residential and commercial. So what should you do. Buy real estate of course!

Today, from the Associated Press: Hundreds of thousands of strapped homeowners could get some relief from a plan negotiated by the Bush administration to freeze interest rates on sub-prime mortgages that are scheduled to rise in the coming months.(article)  Please, read that again…COULD get some relief. Remember the “Katrina victims could get relief in days” headlines.  

Strapped homeowners MUST GET relief or 1000’s more will fall into the foreclose pit in the months to come. I say bail-out the people not the banks. It’s time for a bail-out for the borrowers who fell into the traps set by lenders as a direct result of the greed of Wall Street investors. Sure, there are some exceptions for the bail-out…those who beat the lenders at their own game through fraud and deception!

It doesn’t matter whether it is Denver or Las Vegas, Phoenix or Des Moines no community needs more foreclosed homes and condominiums.

I know what foreclosed, empty, forgotten, unkempt homes mean to a neighborhood; loss of pride of ownership and declining values.  Foreclosed properties wasting away on the real estate market for months at ridiculous prices that make no sense.  Why? Bankers are doing their corporate due diligence by attempting to recapture their lost assets, $ money $, for their shareholders. Not just the money loaned, but the unpaid interest with penalties on top of penalties, servicing fees, attorney’s fees, REO management fees and several charges I never heard of before. After months of due diligence for their shareholders and neglect for the properties, realistic pricing may become a reality. The process of buying a foreclosed home is often difficult and leaves the home buyer responsible for everything!

Banks and their 3rd party property managers are not good neighbors!  They don’t mow the lawns, mend falling fences, shovel the snow or drain the swimming pools. They don’t care about falling prices of homes nearby, or the impact of unpaid HOA fees. 

Bail-out the strapped borrowers. Hold the banks responsible to maintain and care for the properties they’ve already acquired through the foreclosure process. America needs no more foreclosed homes and the banks don’t either.