Case Shiller Report Paints a Rosier Picture for Denver Real Estate
May 27th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
Yesterday, the S & P Case Shiller report on real estate was released.
Denver was cited as one of 3 major metropolitan areas with a slight uptick in home values, in this case .1%. While this may seem like a tiny bump, combine it with the Today Show appearance of Barbara Corcoran who placed Denver as the number 1 recovering city and the fact that houses in low to medium price ranges are getting multiple offers and you’ll begin to see a pattern.
Denver is in the national and local news because our economy tends to be counter cyclical. We hit the skids earlier than most cities and we’re rebounding first. We like to be on the cutting edge. Or maybe we were the canary in the coal mine. In 2007 we led the nation in foreclosure sales, now we’re getting multiple offers and the days on market is shrinking in certain price points. You can see in this chart from Keeping Current Matters, that as months’ supply goes down, appreciation begins to go up.
I was interviewed by Bazi Kanani of 9 News yesterday. She wanted to know what the market fundamentals were that boosted Denver’s real estate market, and what a practicing real estate agent is actually experience at ground zero.
If your home is priced between $150,000 and $500,000, you’re competitively priced compared with the competition and your house is in top showing condition then you should get an offer within 2-3 months at the longest. If you don’t, then the price needs to come down.
Luxury homes and higher priced properties are taking longer to sell, and if you want to sell your luxury home you must be exceedingly well priced and prepared to negotiate. You may also need to factor in regular and aggressive price reductions to get a sale.
Who knows what lies ahead? As Roseanne Roseanna Danna said, “if it’s not one thing, it’s another.” Here’s to a recovering Denver market with out “another.”
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Today Show Ranks Denver Real Estate as Number 1 in Recovery
May 25th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
This may be old news, it’s been a crazy busy week!
Last week, the Today Show asked Barbara Corcoran to rank the top 5 recovering cities in the U.S. Corcoran cited Denver as the number 1 recovering city.
She used employment, strength of the residential market, weather and education level of the population as factors in her research.
This is good news for Denver, and we’re definitely feeling like we’re turning the corner in certain price ranges. It’s still a stratified market, though, and we’ll really feel healthier when our $million plus homes are selling too.
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Memorial Day Gaylord Street Festival, Washington Park Neighborhood
May 24th, 2009 categories: Life In Denver
This weekend is the annual Gaylord Street Festival in Denver’s Washington Park neighborhood.
There’s something for everyone at the Gaylord Festival:
- Food booths
- Games for kids
- Mini carnival rides for the little ones
- Gift ideas - clothes, art, jewelry, candles
- Music and dancing
Afternoon showers are likely this weekend so head over this morning or tomorrow. We walked Duke there yesterday and he was excited to run into his long lost buddy, Whiskey. They came together from the same doggie prison in Texas and haven’t seen each other in awhile.
Looking for Denver Real Estate? Check out www.GretchensDenver.com. 
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You Can’t Market Your Way Out of This
May 15th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Selling Strategies
We’re at a crossroads.
Denver real estate agents acknowledge our job requires that we spend personal dollars on marketing our listings, that’s a part of the package. We pay ourselves back after a transaction closes. There is no company behind us sponsoring the ads we run, the postcards we mail, the internet sites we buy.
In a real estate market like we have today, many sellers think (hope?) that we can market ourselves to a sale, we can’t. Buyers are few and savvy.
Exposure is happening. Your real estate broker is advertising and marketing more than ever in the history of brokerage. Properties today are more exposed to a broader market than they’ve ever been in the past. We post them all over the internet, we blog about them, we tweet them, we post them on Facebook, we buy old fashioned print advertising (particularly magazines with a longer shelf life,) we send out email blasts to other brokers, we hold open houses and Broker open houses, and we spread word of mouth like crazy to any broker we think might be lucky enough to be working with buyers.
Still, our clients call us and ask, what more can you be doing? Phone calls like these add to our sleepless nights. What more can we do? We stare at the ceiling at night and pray that this one gets an offer before the seller pulls it and lists it with another broker. To a broker selling hope, but not necessarily selling houses.
The worst indignity is when a seller pulls the listing, lists with another broker and then reduces the price to where you knew it should be all along. Now the second broker has the benefit of all the months you’ve exposed the home, all of the marketing you’ve paid for, plus a price that you weren’t allowed to list it for.
Phew! We tell ourselves to move on, it’s a part of the job, it’s the nature of the business.
It still stinks because you can’t market yourself out of the problem, but you can price yourself out of the problem.
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Washington Park Home Tour 2009
May 8th, 2009 categories: Life In Denver
Many of Denver’s classic neighborhoods hold annual home tours as fundraisers for their neighborhood schools. Washington Park’s Home Tour is tomorrow, Saturday, May 9, 2009, 10 am -4 pm.
Visitors can start at any address on the tour, tickets are on sale there or on the web site:
- 232 S. Franklin Street (Spanish)
- 285 S. Williams Street (Historic)
- 492 S. Williams Street (Cottage)
- 605 S. Gilpin Street (Mediterranean)
- 201 S. Lafayette Street (Historic Rebuild)
- 431 S. Gilpin Street (Dollhouse): garden and grounds use only
This year, all houses and activities are within walking or biking distance from the north side of
Washington Park or Steele Elementary School.
A bonus house, the “dollhouse” at 431 S. Gilpin Street, offers visitors a glance at one of the smallest
houses in the area. This house will not be open but will have refreshments and Steele Elementary
student art for purchase.
The public is invited to Steele Elementary School, located at 320 S. Marion Parkway,
Denver, from 10 am - 3 pm for a plant sale, student performances and barbecue.
Visit www.washparkhometour.org for more information. Have a great time!
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Denver Colorado Real Estate | April 2009 Market Statistics
May 6th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
Yay! The market statistics are out for the month of April. This is always my favorite blog post of every month, and I wait with baited breath for the Metrolist stats to be put up on their site.
These statistics are based on homes listed for sale in the Denver MLS, and do not reflect private sales, many foreclosures or much new construction.
In April, our inventory remained about equal to what we had on the market in March. Combined single family and condo listings were at 20,628 in March and 20,705 in April. Sales have dropped from a year ago, but are up from last month. I showed a house to some clients this past Sunday, and when we called to tell the listing agent we had some interest I found out they already have 3 offers…
The most notable thing I see this month is the average days on the market continues to drop for single family homes. We’re at less than 4 months on the market, average, for most properties. This suggests that properties are selling much faster than they were, and is a sign of a market that is in balance. Even condominiums, where DOM have risen slightly since last month, are selling in less than 4 months, average.
It looks scary to see that we’ve dropped 17.56% in number of homes under contract, but as a percentage of inventory, we’re actually doing better. We had 25,030 active properties in April ‘08 and 6,093 were under contract.
Our high end of the market is still out of balance. There are $million+ homes selling, but buyers seem reticent to get into the market just yet and sellers are resistant to drop their prices any more. Many sellers in this price point have the financial wherewithal to hold out so we’re at a stalemate.
What does all of this mean for buyers and sellers? Many sellers are getting real with their prices or taking their homes off the market. I think that the lower price point is the hot spot, but since the average sold price for single family homes is up over 1% that may be a sign that the recovery is gradually trickling up to a slightly higher price point.
Spring is here, buyers need to get off the fence quickly. The current combination of low rates and low prices can’t last. If the economy at large stabilizes (the DOW was up again today) then rates will begin to creep back up. You’ll stand to lose a lot of buying power that you have right now. With Denver Real Estate sales showing more and more signs of life, we’ll see more than a 1% jump in average sales price.
Real estate is not scary, if you are wise and educate yourself you can make a smart real estate decision.
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A Tale of Two Markets - Denver Real Estate’s Opposite Ends of the Spectrum
May 3rd, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News, Relocation Tips, Selling Strategies
I was a busy Realtor today. Showing houses in the morning, an open house in the afternoon. Typical Sunday.
Morning Glory
It was an interesting dichotomy. My morning clients are an adorable couple with their baby looking for their first home together. They can spend around $160,000 for a single family house. That’s a tough price range in Denver Metro Real Estate. The houses that fit their criteria are either trashed foreclosures or they already have multiple offers. The best house today had three offers pending bank approval when I called to tell the broker we had some interest.
In the lower price range, we’ll need to be ready to move fast when we find that perfect house. Buyers must be pre-approved, should think hard before they ask a seller for concessions, and shouldn’t expect sellers to accept an offer contingent on the sale of another property.
Afternoon Delight
This afternoon, I held my Park Hill listing open. This is a new home built in 2007 and is priced at $1,749,000. The house is absolutely gorgeous, but this price range is struggling in Denver. We’ve marketed the house like crazy, held it open many weeks in a row, even reduced the price a couple of times. Sellers in this price range must understand that the only real weapons we have are price reductions until the house sells or time. Time may take longer than most sellers would like. Thankfully, these sellers are very supportive and patient and they understand the market. Many Realtors I know are receiving tremendous pressure from their clients, and it’s a big burden when you have little control over market dynamics.
I firmly believe that our burgeoning lower end real estate market will soon be trickling up into higher and higher price points. Jumbo mortgage rates are more affordable and comparable with conventional loans. Pent-up demand is seen in the numbers of people going through open houses every weekend - even with the Nuggets in the playoffs this afternoon!
Buyers - Prepare by contacting your lender first. Get a pre-approval, keep on top of new inventory through a real estate broker, and don’t assume you can lowball anymore.
Sellers - Respond to what else is selling in your neighborhood. If similar houses are selling at 10-20% less than yours is listed for, then you are overpriced. Appraisals are tough right now, you need to be able to see what the market is telling you about the value of your house. Give it time, there’s an ass for every saddle - someone will love your house - listen to the wise counsel of your broker and the buyers’ feedback and in time you’ll have your name off that title.
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