Free Credit Score is Good Karma
January 22nd, 2012 categories: Real Estate News
If you’re interested in knowing your credit score, get your once-yearly credit score free from the three major credit-rating agencies.
Trans Union, Equifax and Experian will provide you a free credit score through the Annual Credit Report site. I’ve found the site to be a bit clunky, but if you have some time, you can work your way through it.
When you’re getting ready to buy your next house, a good credit score is vital. Not only a good score, but an excellent one. If you’ve already received your free reports from the ratings agencies, or if you’d like an easier way to access your score more frequently, then sign up for your free credit score at CreditKarma.com.
Credit Karma offers free credit reports and free credit monitoring. Most banks and other web sites charge a monthly fee for this service, but the cost of using Credit Karma is enduring a few ads on their page. Warning, some of those ads will be targeted to you based on your score and other information you provide.
Keep track of your credit and credit score. It’s a valuable commodity when you need to borrow money. Just remember that there is good borrowing (real estate) and bad borrowing (credit cards) and your score will definitely reflect what type of borrower you are.
Gretchen Faber is a Denver real estate broker with over 16 years of local real estate knowledge and experience. Contact Gretchen to discuss local real estate questions, or check out GretchensDenver.com to search for local homes for sale.
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Denver is THE Top Real Estate City for 2012
January 15th, 2012 categories: Real Estate News
Have you seen this recent news report about Denver real estate?
Denver is cited as the number one city to invest in real estate by Greg Rand of Own America.
Watch the clip as Greg covers the metrics that influenced his decision:
- Lifestyle and livability
- Relatively low unemployment as compared with the national average
- In-migration of people relocating to Denver
- A foreclosure rate that is half the national average
- A young population
- Low cost of living
- Fresh air
- 9 Fortune 500 companies and growing
Denver isn’t a secret any longer. The city is no longer a “cow town,” although you can attend the National Western Stock Show once a year to see cows and wear your boots.
We have a world famous art scene, great restaurants, bike trails and parks. Oh, and the mountains out back.
Come visit, and plan to stay. You’ll want to make your home in Denver!
Are you relocating to Denver? Check out area homes for sale on my GretchensDenver real estate web site. Contact me if you’re visiting and want to look for your next home.
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October 2011 Case Shiller Shows Strength in Denver Home Values
December 28th, 2011 categories: Real Estate News
The S & P Case Shiller Home Price Indices were published yesterday for the period ending October 2011.
Seasonally adjusted home prices, from September to October were up .5%. Denver lagged only Phoenix in terms of non-seasonally adjusted figures at a drop of .2%. Phoenix was the single city in positive territory, non-seasonally adjusted September to October.
Overall, the national market was down 1.2% for the 20 City composite used by Case Shiller. Denver continues to outpace the country, and the gap is closing on price decreases.
The city-wide inventory continues to be at record lows, meaning there are currently buyers competing for properties. This will result in price increases, however slight the average may be, in the first half of 2012. Real estate is neighborhood specific, so some areas could increase quite a bit while others lag.
Denver is considered one of the healthier U.S. housing markets. We don’t have a history of trending up in rapid fashion, or crashing spectacularly. This newest Case Shiller report reflects the typical pacing of our Denver housing market.
Have a wonderful 2012! If it includes buying or selling a home in Denver, check out www.GretchensDenver.com. Gretchen Faber’s real estate web site for property searches and relocation information.
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Denver Among Top 10 Healthiest Housing Markets
November 21st, 2011 categories: Real Estate News
Recently, Builder Magazine listed Denver as among the top 10 healthiest housing markets in their “Healthiest Housing Markets: Mid-2011 Update.”
We’ve been experiencing such low vacancy rates for rentals, that much of what’s driving home sales is investor interest. Investors are willing to take a risk on our market and are snapping up good rentals. With investors getting back in, more buyers will feel confident in the coming months.
Builder Magazine says permits for new construction look to double in 2012 and Denver has added 20,000 jobs this year. Our foreclosure crisis hit much earlier than much of the nation, and we’ve seen a large decline in foreclosure numbers.
Add to that, several large corporations have chosen to locate their headquarters in the Denver Metro area, including, DaVita, Arrow Electronics and Vestas. The announcement last week that the Niobrara Oil Field could contain 1.5 billion barrels of oil fueled speculation that growth will continue in our oil and gas industry (no pun intended).
The Denver real estate market is humming, and will continue to gain steam in 2012.
Gretchen Faber, LifeStyle Denver author, is a local Denver real estate broker. Contact Gretchen about listing your Denver area home for sale or looking for that perfect Denver home.
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Know Your Denver Zoning When Buying Property
November 14th, 2011 categories: Life In Denver, Real Estate News
Denver’s zoning code was entirely revamped last year, changing dramatically how areas are zoned, what is considered appropriate for new development and even changing the “code” attached to each parcel.
If you’ve been considering buying a property within the City of Denver, and you plan to do work to the property, then you should pay close attention to the zoning.
Get the code for all of Denver’s parcels at the Denver Zoning Code site, and stay informed of the construction and building process as well.
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HouseLogic Answers Your Home Maintenence & Renovation Questions
November 12th, 2011 categories: Real Estate News
Have you ever wondered how often you need to clean your gutters? Or how to winterize sprinklers?
The HouseLogic site provides a terrific resource for home maintenance questions. You’ll find resources for calculating the net benefit of some home improvement projects, for going green at home and for landscaping and gardening.
Create a profile, and you can build a home improvement plan for the future, get ideas from professionals and share pictures of your projects. If you’re house obsessed, or just in the middle of a renovation, you should check out this site.
Today on the site there are articles about the costs of adding a fireplace, with pretty pictures of different styles and assessments of cost efficiency. It’s fireplace season in Denver, and adding a fireplace can add value as well as enjoyment on cold, winter days.
HouseLogic just celebrated its 2 year birthday. If you haven’t stopped by the site in those two years, you should! 19 million people are actively using the site. It’s house logical!
Improving your Denver home definitely adds value. Denver buyers prefer tasteful updates, and pay attention to decorating trends that lean to the more conservative. Check out photos of Denver homes for sale at GretchensDenver.com. Compare those to what you find on HouseLogic, and then let me know if you’re interested in hunting for your next Denver home.
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Denver Real Estate Statistics | October 2011
November 8th, 2011 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
Sellers – this is not the winter you want to take your house off the market for the holidays.
The Denver metro area inventory is the lowest it’s been this entire millennium. Buyers are searching for homes and sellers are holding back. This level of inventory is about half what it was in the busy times.
If you’re getting your house ready to sell, get it ready now. And get it on the market. The weekly sales rate of 5.62 percent in October, was almost 44 percent higher than the weekly sales rate in October 2010.
Sales were up 12% from October 2010. Days on Market were down from September and year over year, reflecting the buyer demand for good properties.
And finally, prices are down too. Counter intuitive when there are such low interest rates and correspondingly low inventory. The reason prices show a decrease is the trend toward lower priced home sales. The “mix” of properties that are closing are bulking up around $200,000-$400,000. Mid-priced homes and high end homes are still taking longer to sell, and those sellers are still finding themselves reducing prices.
This is shaping up to be a “not normal” winter in Denver. Let’s hope the snow is in the mountains, the sun is in the city and real estate is hot.
Look at pretty pictures of homes for sale at www.gretchensdenver.com.
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Mortgage Modification Help in Denver This Weekend
June 10th, 2011 categories: Real Estate News
From today through Monday, June 13th, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America is at the Colorado Convention Center.
Stop by the convention center between 8 am and 8 pm if you’re a Denver area homeowner and need financial relief by modifying your mortgage. NACA is on a multi-city tour they’re calling the “Save the Dream Tour” in an effort to help troubled homeowners save their dream of owning a home and making their payments. Their web site provides more information.
Meanwhile, blame is being laid on the doorsteps of three of the largest mortgage originators for failure to help enter troubled homeowners in the Federal foreclosure-prevention program. Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America have been the hardest to deal with from a real estate perspective in terms of cooperation with short sales. Their response times are getting better, but it’s still a mystifying and frustrating experience to deal with these lenders. It’s not a surprise that they’re being called to the mat for doing little to assist borrowers who are close to losing their homes.
The banks’ systems are terrible, their staff is overworked and not invested in each individual borrower. It seems as if the homeowner isn’t a person in crisis, just another file on the desk. Real estate agents have been howling about the issues in dealing with the banks to get borrower modifications or short sales approved for a couple of years. Now, the Administration is echoing the concerns.
While the banks are no doubt hamstrung by the veiled “investors” in the background (when the loan has been sold, and the bank is only servicing it,) they need to be more transparent about the process. They should also disclose investors’ willingness to negotiate and whether there is insurance on the loan that makes it beneficial for the lender to just let a foreclosure proceed. No doubt, the Federal foreclosure-prevention program is a bureaucratic nightmare for the banks to deal with, but these lending institutions were a large enough lobby to have a voice in the conversation when the program was crafted. Now they need to get out there, like NACA is, and help homeowners stay in their homes. It’s beneficial for cities and neighborhoods – home ownership is an important part of the American lexicon.
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Denver Real Estate – Double Dip, Single Dip?
May 31st, 2011 categories: Real Estate News
Today’s S & P Case Shiller Report proved interesting to more than just real estate junkies. The highly-watched, monthly index of housing prices showed a double dip housing recession in many U.S. housing markets.
Denver bucked the trend. Barely. We’re not in a double dip – this month. At least not with this most recent report (showing data from March 2011.) Denver prices were down 3.8% over March of 2010. In February 2009, our low point, prices had fallen 5.7% over the prior year.
The S & P Case Shiller is a composite index of 20 MSA’s (Metropolitan Statistical Areas.) There are thousands of cities, towns and neighborhoods that are not factored into this report. Real estate is so specific, that your neighborhood could be up 2-5% from the low, and it could be down 50% from the high. These reports are informative because they give you a gauge of where Denver (or your area) fares against other cities.
The Case Shiller is two months behind, and our MLS usually publishes their data by the 10th day of the following month. That also gives us a good, broad spectrum assessment of the market, but again isn’t specific to your neighborhood.
It will be interesting to see how Denver stacks up in the next Case Shiller. We’ll have to wait until the last Tuesday of June to see if we remain ahead of the “double dip.”
This is a great time to be a Buyer! Don’t miss out on terrific housing affordability. Check out available homes at www.GretchensDenver.com – Gretchen Faber’s Denver housing web site.
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Are the real estate doldrums behind Denver?
January 16th, 2011 categories: Real Estate News
Denver real estate is like Denver weather, changeable, unpredictable, and not like anywhere else in the country.
Today’s forecast was for sunshine, temperatures in the high-50’s and slush everywhere. The bitter cold and snow of last Sunday and Monday are past, the famed Denver sunshin
e is back. Denver’s forecast is for more sunshine tomorrow. Get out to one of Denver’s famed parks this week. Cheesman Park has a great view of Downtown, Washington Park has two lakes and City Park is next to the Denver Zoo.
If you’re heading out to the Stock Show this week, look around. You may see more smiles on more faces. Consumer confidence in Denver is on the upswing, and the recent Emerging Trends in Real Estate report echos what we’re seeing here “on the ground.”
Denver’s real estate forecast is sunny too.
Inside Real Estate News, by John Rebchook, reported that by strengthening Denver’s core and adding to the light rail system, Denver is well-positioned to weather the storm. Denver boosters have always touted the quality of life here, but it’s apparent that more and more people are catching on that the quality of life is terrific and the economy is relatively stable. In the report, Denver received a green light and the report goes on to say that our area has stabilized.
Colorado is still wrestling with lack of employment, foreclosures and a stall in new homebuilding, but Denver is poised to have a terrific January for real estate.
January 2011 may post declines in year-over-year from 2010, but don’t think that’s a trend. Remember that in January last year there was a frenzy of tax credit purchasing. 2011 is poised to be a more “normal” year, with a slow steady start and building from there.
Rates have begun their creep. Historically great rates are still to be had – but the guarantee of a rate in the 4’s is elusive at best. Expect to lock in the 5’s now, and rates will probably stay there throughout the year.
Sellers – get your house sold now before increasing rates erode your buyer’s purchasing power.
Buyers – buy now before you’ll find you’re buying less house for the money. Not only will increasing mortgage rates affect your purchasing power, so will home prices. They’re poised to stay flat or even increase.
2011 will be an interesting year, to be sure! At least in Denver, we’ll have guaranteed 300 days of sunshine. We’ve already had 12 sunny days this year.
Look for homes in Denver at www.gretchensdenver.com. Your one-stop shop for homes, neighborhood and relocation information.
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