Denver Colorado Real Estate | January 2010 Market Statistics
February 8th, 2010 categories: Market Trends
What are real estate brokers working on these days in Denver? Listings. Sellers are getting their homes ready for the market, and our increase in number of available properties illustrates just that.
We’ve added 1,009 properties in the past month. 767 new single family residences and 242 condominiums. And more are on the way. I predict that the natural growth in inventory this time of year will continue to increase through the spring and may flatten out a bit over the summer.
This is good news for buyers who feel they’ve seen everything but nothing on the market fits their needs. Buyers who are in this boat must understand that they won’t be able to bargain like they once could. With the floor back under our real estate market and Days on the Market continuing to shrink, the bargain has already been factored into the price. On average, properties are selling nearly 12 days faster than they did a year ago.
Another interesting point to notice is average price - up nearly 13% for single family residences from last year. However, the prices were down from December to January. Sellers in December were realists and wanted to get their property sold and closed.
One final interesting tidbit - look at number of properties that went under contract last month. We’re down from last year! What does that mean? It means that sellers, even with all of the good news above, need to stay realistic about their chances to sell their home. We look to written production to forecast what is pending. There were fewer offers written this January than January 2009. So with the increase in inventory, sellers have only two ways to compete - price and condition. You must stay on top of what the market is telling you. And what your broker is telling you! As I’ve said in the past, you can’t market your way out of this.
Do I appear to contradict myself? That’s because every house, every nuance of the transaction, even the players in the deal are all distinct from other deals. Real estate is local, hyper local. One house might be well priced and in analyzing comparable sales should sell for near the asking price. Another house might be very over priced, and based on a similar analysis should be reduced. We also try to quantify for location issues, non-finished basements and improvements. Pricing isn’t an exact science, it’s a bit science and analysis and a bit of a meeting of the minds. This past month 2,353 people had a meeting of the minds in Denver, Colorado.
Gretchen Faber writes LifeStyleDenver. Visit Gretchen’s web site for property searches, mapping and relocation information.
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Bad Score, Bad Score - What You Gonna Do?
January 18th, 2010 categories: Market Trends, Relocation Tips
What you gonna do when they deny you?
I got my 
credit score the other day. We’re about to refinance our house and this was the beginning of the process. My score was always stellar - high 700’s at one time over 780.
This time my score was just below 720. By some people’s standards, not bad. Well, in this lending climate it’s not great.
When I began selling real estate over 14 years ago, a score of 620 or higher was considered pretty good. At the end of the last decade, 680 was the minimum needed to get favorable rates. Last Spring, the minimum score needed for the good rates was 720, and now lenders say borrowers need a score of 730 to 740.
What drove down my score and what should borrowers pay attention to?
1. My former husband had two credit card accounts that were closed, but for some odd reason were being reported with balances. I never had this particular brand of credit card, but I was listed as an “authorized user.” This was bad news for two reasons: first was the reported balances, and second was that these two cards, on top of my actual credit cards, skewed my ratios to look like I had way too much unsecured credit.
2. I got in a fight a few years ago with a certain Visa issuer (Chase.) One day, I decided to check my account on their site. This somehow changed my bills to paperless, but I didn’t realize the change had happened. Subsequently, I read that this happened to scores of people.
I waited weeks for my bill, called Chase and told the rep I hadn’t received it, and his response was, “huh, we mailed it.” A week later, still no bill. I again called and authorized a draft over the phone. What did Chase do? They reported me as “seriously delinquent.” More than 30 days late.
I called Chase again and begged. Pleaded. Explained that I’d had their stupid card for years and had never missed a payment. Their response? “Well, you missed this one.”
What did I do then? Totally peeved, I closed the account. Take that Chase!
Guess what that did to my credit report?
Again, this was bad news for two reasons: first was that I had a “serious delinquency” and the other was that the account stated, “delinquent, closed.” That does not look good to the credit agencies. Plus, a seasoned or older card is much more valuable on your score.
3. Finally, two of my credit cards were nearly up to the credit limits. Credit reporting agencies want to see your revolving credit be only about 30% of the limit. So if you have more than one card, spread the love, but not more than 30% of it. And of course, pay by cash as much as possible. That’s our new mantra - cash. Forget the miles. Use the cards a little to keep the credit agencies interested and your score high.
The good news is that these items can be relatively easily fixed for many people.
- Pay off as much revolving debt as you can, spread your debt over the cards you have.
- Don’t cancel cards you’ve had for a long time, just stop using them. Seasoned cards bear a lot of weight on your report.
- Don’t apply for too many credit cards.
- Make sure that your credit report is correct and dispute cards or other debt that appear and don’t belong to you.
After 30 days, your score will begin to come up and it should happen pretty quickly. MSN Money has written about fixing your credit score and you can check your credit report at Experian. Keep in mind that you do not need to pay for your credit report, you can access a free one every year. However, these reports typically do not include the FICO score that lenders use to evaluate you.
According to my lender, the basic fixes I did should positively impact my score in about a month. If you’re thinking about buying or refinancing a house this year, begin to get your score straight now. You may need more than 30 days or you may already be Platinum!
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Denver Colorado Real Estate | December 2009 Market Statistics
January 7th, 2010 categories: Market Trends, Selling Strategies
December. The end of the year. The end of the line?
Not really. December was another interesting month in Denver Real Estate. Inventory was naturally down, as it typically is this time of year. We’re down to 16,456 active listings. That’s the lowest number of homes on the market since before 2006 when the available MLS records stop. Meaning buyers have less to choose from than in the past 5 years.
The highest number of listings was in July of 2006 with 31,989 homes on the market. We’re almost 50% off that number.
I remember one day back in 2006 pulling up listings in Highlands Ranch to show to buyers I was working with. I had a match of over 500 homes for their criteria. It was a chore to eliminate properties to get a rational number to view. First everything with an unfinished basement was tossed. Then the small yards, then homes that were near busy streets.
Only the creme de la creme made it to a showing.
This month, we’re struggling to find properties to show to buyers. There are some great homes still on the market, but many are stale for a variety of reasons. Some have location issues, many are still over priced, some aren’t finished as nicely as their competition.
Sellers have an opportunity. Right now! They need to get their house in top showing condition and get it on the market.
Average sold price is up: 7.13% since November and 13.59% since this time last year. This number has been driven up by the sales in the lower price points. High end homes are still lagging.
Sellers - now is your time. Buyers want to take advantage of the home buyer tax credits. They have pent up demand. They don’t want to miss out on low rates. Get your house ready and get it on the market.
Buyers who were worried that the tax creidt was expiring in November hurried up their closings, and November sales were way up. December closings were down, but with the tax credit extended, the holidays over and rates still low - sales will undoubtedly begin to increase this month. The contracts written in January will close in February and March, so watch for closed properties to increase in those months.
The state of the economy is still in debate, but what is the average Joe doing? Joe the Plumber? Joe the Snowboarder? They’re starting to think this might be a good time to move.
Check out all the Denver area listings on my website; www.GretchensDenver.com and let me know when you want to buy a new house!
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Denver Colorado Real Estate | November 2009 Market Statistics
December 21st, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
Busiest December Ever!
That’s not an exaggeration. It’s December 21st and I just got an offer on a listing which went under contract today. Our office rocking. The contracts keep coming in.
And we all had a great time dancing to the King of Pop last week at our office party. The mood is light years away from the dreadful, scary, morose feeling everyone had a year ago.
Not to say that things can’t fall apart on a dime. We’ve learned that a few times in the past decade. But when the going’s good you need to embrace it.
The Denver real estate market is setting the tone for an excellent 2010. This will be a very different year and buyers and sellers should be prepared to adjust quickly.
Looking at November’s market statistics (Christmas cookies took over for timely posting) you can see that Denver’s inventory is extremely low. This is more than just a typical seasonal adjustment. It’s a reflection of sellers’ pricing reality and buyers’ pent-up demand.
Our market is up 23% from this time last year! That’s an incredible statistic. In the words of Steve Harney, “You have to be dumb or broke not to buy a house right now.” A new house, an investment home, a move up, a downsize - this is your time, baby.
The average price is also up just a shade from last month and over 5% from last year. Sellers - don’t expect this number to magically increase at a rapid rate. Prices will remain deflated for awhile, but as the market picks up steam, prices will too.
With average days on market at 81 days, inventory will continue to sell off quickly and buyers’ lament will be that there’s nothing to look at.
After January 15th -when the market breathes new life every year - we should see an increase in inventory, and an increase in sales. Properly priced and showcased homes will not languish on the market in 2010.
Happy Holidays to everyone! Thanks for reading LifeStyleDenver for two years. Keep coming back and let me know if you want to list your house or find a new home in 2010.
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Help ~ We Can’t Find A Good House!
October 23rd, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
I’m working with a lovely family who is relocating to Denver in a few weeks. We can’t find them the right house and their move date is looming. They want to be here and settled by December.
After a 4 1/2 day marathon of 56 houses, we kind of narrowed it down to two possibilities. These buyers are looking in a fairly significant price point. Not uber high-end, but enough to buy a very nice home in a very nice location.
Theirs is the price point that’s slow in Denver, and now we’ve seen everything on the market. Either the homes were location compromised, floor plan challenged or way over priced. There are two homes they would consider, if they were appropriately priced. As it stands, after a detailed market analysis, both houses are more than $100,000 off the mark. The sellers feel they’re “in the right” and their agents have said if we wrote an offer, we’d be unreasonably low.
So we’re back to square 1. If you know of a house coming on the market, or a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) that we could take a look at, please contact me. We’re looking in Cherry Hills Village, Greenwood Village and Littleton. Preferably under $1,000,000 with 4 bedrooms plus a study and a nice-sized lot.
Thanks for your assistance. They need the keys to their new house soon!
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Denver Colorado Real Estate | August 2009 Market Statistics
September 9th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
When looking at trends in anything, you want to take in the big picture, and then boil it down as necessary.
Real Estate in Denver is certainly showing a definite trend in the amount of inventory available. Month after month this year, we’ve experienced a depletion in homes for sale. In August, we’re at a low we haven’t seen since at least 2004, (my reporting doesn’t go back any further than 1/05.) There are only 3 months in these past 5 years where our inventory was less than today’s 20,225 and that was December 2008 with 19,600 available properties, Jan’09 with 19,748 and February ‘09 20,059. I would call that a normal seasonal adjustment, as well as an adjustment to the immediate economic cliff we’d just fallen off.
Today’s low inventory is more than just a seasonal slow-down for the winter. It’s still 90 degrees here, and I had 45 people through an open house last weekend.
And look how many condos went under contract this past month! Up nearly 5% from July. That’s a reflection of most condos’ price-points being lower than single family, and condos are great starter homes for many people.
We have a number of contributing factors:
- Pent-up demand. Buyers are off the fence.
- Rates are still at historical lows.
- Great looking and well-priced houses are selling pretty quickly (average days-on-market is only 3 months.)
- Denver’s economy is beginning to pick up steam. The City and County of Denver has to balance a difficult budget, as does the state, but overall in-migration is on an upswing.
- Investors are swooping in and buying up property.
While our average price is down from this year’s high in June of $258,000, it’s the mix of properties that are selling which is skewing this number low. Homes priced from $100,000 to $300,000 are getting multiple bids, making it increasingly difficult for first-time home buyers to compete. Homes priced from $300,000 to $500,000 are taking a little longer, but are still in that sweet spot of a likely sale. Homes above $500,000 and especially over $1,000,000 are taking much longer and homes in the very high-end are competing against several years’ worth of inventory.
The take-away this month? If you’re thinking about buying a home soon, better get looking right away. Not only is the first-time home buyer tax credit set to expire at the end of November, but with fall and winter upon us soon, we’ll probably not see inventory (and your choice of houses) increase until after the first of the year.
Sellers? Your take-away is to continue to react to what the market is telling you. If you’ve been on the market more than 30 days and/or 30 showings then you need to adjust. What’s your feedback telling you? How do you compare with the houses currently on the market and most-importantly with the homes that sold while yours has been on the market? If you’re not willing to remodel the kitchen, replace the carpet or finish the basement then you need to adjust the price. If you’re in a compromised location like a busy street, you haven’t quantified that enough yet. And if you’re not getting any showings and no feedback, then you need to drastically reduce the price until feet begin walking through the door. If you aren’t willing or able to, then your house isn’t really on the market yet so consider taking it off (if you can) and waiting a little longer for better timing.
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July 2009 Denver Real Estate Market Statistics
August 6th, 2009 categories: Market Trends
Prices are still coming down. A curiosity to me because I’m sitting here preparing an offer for clients and they are in a competitive bidding situation. We decided to offer slightly over list price, and we’re not sure they’ll get the house even with that. They need to ask for down payment assistance from the seller, which puts them at a disadvantage.
Their lender told them that it’s usual and customary for sellers to make a concession for closing costs in an FHA loan. I told them, “not necessarily.” Anyway, that’s what they think he told them. So now I explain that usual and customary are very different when a seller is desperate, can’t sell his house and wants to keep this buyer on the hook; and when a seller is receiving multiple offers and every cent he shaves off concession is less deficit to worry about in his short sale negotiations.
I’ve also received a counter proposal tonight for a very different transaction. A multi-million dollar home that has been on the market for over 18 months. My clients offered 50% off the original list price, and not that far off where we assessed the actual value to be. The seller wouldn’t even counter. We decided to humor them and rewrote another offer slightly higher. We’ve just received a counter barely below the list price. We’ll see where this goes, but perhaps this is why prices are declining.
We’ve only added 37 new listings above the total inventory we had in June 2009. That means people, banks, sellers are waiting to put their homes on the market. They’re happy where they are, decided not to move, want to see what 2010 brings. Here’s a warning to buyers - make a decision soon, especially if you’re in the low-mid range price point. You won’t have much to choose from in a few months. There will probably be even less inventory in October, November, December - and you won’t have the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit available either (unless Congress extends it - like they did tonight for the Cash For Clunkers program.) Just me here - but doesn’t it seem more important to help out consumers with the purchase of a potentially long-term investment and a roof over their heads than with the disposable automobile we American’s favor?
And while we’re musing about Congress and their ability to influence markets. It’s clear they can - first time home buyers are in bidding wars and my friend is out trading in her 2000 “clunker” right this moment. Why don’t they consider helping out those high end buyers and sellers as well? It’s a sad day when you show $3mm REO properties - and I have. Just as sad as any bank owned home - no one should lose their house.
But jumbo loans are still for the most part unaffordable and that’s seriously stymied the high end market. With sales drying up and only a few cash buyers out there, appraisals are tougher and buyers warier of overpaying. Not only are jumbo loans priced high, but the hoops applicants need to jump through in the application and approval process is a total pain.
So to the extent that prices are still down in July while we have extremely low inventory is probably mainly driven by high end homes. It’s not the low or middle range houses because those are selling quickly and at full price or close to it. Look at the condos category in the chart. Condo prices have actually risen in the past month and are only slightly off last year’s prices. Since most condos are in the middle or low range price-point - there’s your answer.
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June 2009 Denver Real Estate Market Statistics
July 6th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
In a real estate market the size of Denver’s, you might be surprised to learn that we only added 119 new listings to our inventory since last month’s real estate statistics were released. We added 121 new single family listings and we sold 2 more condominium listings than were added.
Our average days on the market has been reduced by 5 and our average sale price rose by $15,412. The single family residence average price rose $21,246, but the condominium average price fell by a whopping $10,515. That’s curious to me. With the number of condo listings dropping, you would assume that the resulting demand would drive prices up. It’s probably just a reflection of the basket of properties that happened to sell last month.
Our local real estate market is strengthening day by day. Why?
Denver’s employment is relatively stable, and in some sectors is growing. While we’re certainly having budget struggles at the local and state level, we’re not bankrupt. Many people from other states (California) are moving here to benefit from our fabulous lifestyle, great schools and more stable economy. California (my home state) has more out-migration than in-migration right now. Colorado is the opposite.
When you compare our market statistics year over year, we’re certainly down quite a bit from last year. And our average sale price is down by nearly $45,000 from the high set in 2006. But given the circumstance of the world, the events that have shaped our economy since last fall, we’ll take it!
Searching for a Denver home? Contact me for the latest update on specific Denver neighborhoods.
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May 2009 Denver Real Estate Market Statistics
June 6th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
The market statistics for residential real estate in Denver came out while I was on vacation. A Disney Cruise with 11 family members is a fabulous way to kick off the summer! Luckily, our family plays together nicely.
When I returned, I learned that resales of existing homes increased again month-over-month. This is the fourth consecutive month that number of sold properties increased. We’ve seen the bottom, it would appear.
While we may have seen the bottom, we’re still sitting on the floor. 70% of the homes sold were priced under $300,000. That signals a market pick-up in the lower price ranges, but we’re only just beginning to see houses in higher price points getting offers.
Today, I processed all of the office files that were piled up on my desk waiting for my return. In that pile were a few sales between $1mm and $1.5mm. That has been a rare occurrence since early 2008.
It is nice to see the average sold price creeping back up. April to May it increased over 4%. The high was in 2006 at $303,000. We also aren’t adding a tremendous amount of new inventory. I was hopeful that the number of active listings would stay steady through the spring to give us the chance to sell off the inventory we already have. That’s another strong indicator that the market is much healthier than 6 months ago.
Deals are tough to keep together. Real estate agents are working 10 times harder to get transactions to closings. Things seem to come apart at inspection and appraisal much more often than they used to.
Sellers - consider pre-inspecting their home before putting it on the market. Then, get the major safety and habitability issues taken care of before a buyer makes an offer.
Buyers - ask to see the sold comparables in the neighborhood surrounding the house you want to make an offer on. That way, you can make an educated offer and avoid appraisal issues.
Now is the time to jump in - you could be looking back over your shoulder in a year or two and wish you had gotten off the fence. Rates are surely going to continue to rise through the end of the year. We still have a great combination of low prices and low rates - a combination that will wind down as the recession ends.
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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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