They liked it, and decided they might make an offer.  Being savvy buyers, they asked me to give them an analysis of other properties that had recently sold around the listing they were considering.

I also pulled the history of the listing, and we found that the house had been on the market for 10 months, with two different real estate brokers.  I called the current broker and asked him a few of the usual questions, when do the sellers want to close, is there anything we need to know, etc.

Then came the shocker.  The broker said, “I’d suggest your buyers not low ball the price, these sellers don’t have to sell.”

Wow! They’ve endured showings for 10 months, kept the house in show-ready condition, and expected their broker(s) to work hard on the marketing.  You almost wonder if that For Sale sign means anything?

I’ve heard sellers tell me this same thing in listing appointments, “I don’t have to sell, so I won’t take anything less than my price.”

Sellers Beware! You may not sell your house if this is your attitude.  Don’t expect a professional broker to come in armed with her analysis and years of experience, only to tell her you’ll decide the price.  Pricing is not an exact science, and it’s definitely a collaborative effort with sellers’ motivation factored in, but don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.  Pay attention to the data if you really DO want to sell your house.

There are times when the initial analysis needs adjustment based on the ever moving barometer of closed sales, and the broker doesn’t always nail it the first time.  In certain instances an initial market analysis might actually be a little high, and downward adjustments are warranted.  If the seller and the broker can collaborate based on a new analysis, it will be a much better working relationship than one based on a seller dictating the price without credence to the market.  If the price is low, you’ll know by the bidding war that ensues.  If the price is right, you’ll sell quickly without a lot of drama.

Buyers won’t offer you what you need.  They won’t offer you what you put into it.  They won’t offer you what you owe.  They’ll offer you what their own analysis suggests is a realistic price – less some negotiating factor.  Buyers don’t walk in and over pay because you have your house on the market and you’re a nice, deserving person. In fact, you’re reinforcing their decision to go make an offer on the competition.

Sellers – if you don’t have to sell, then your house isn’t really “on the market.” Save yourself months of grief and frustration. Save me and my buyers some time, please. Thank you.

Gretchen Faber works with buyers and sellers in Metro Denver’s luxury home market, as well as in-town neighborhoods, new construction and corporate relocations.  Check out all the Metro Denver listings at www.GretchensDenver.com.

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.

The inventory of homes for sale in Metro Denver is nearly 40% below this time last year.  It’s so low, that I can remember a time when it was almost triple what it is now.

What this will most likely do is accelerate the pace of home sales. With less on the market, it should take less time to sell your house.

Eventually, the quicker sales pace will result in increasing prices.  This is always location and neighborhood specific.  The snapshot is city-wide, but prices, days on market and appreciation will vary block by block.

With less than 11,000 properties on the market in the entire city, buyers are feeling a little like they don’t have much to choose from.

The number of sold properties has increased over November and from a year ago, while prices are up just a bit.  Watch the first few months of the year to see inventory increase – it has to, and prices to increase as well.

Happy New Year Denver!

Gretchen Faber, LifeStyle Denver author, is a local Denver real estate broker.  Contact Gretchen for information on Denver area real estate.

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.

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.

This new city isn’t as large as NYC or LA, but it’s big enough to offer you the company of over 2 million residents metro-wide, all the major professional sports, plenty of arts and culture and great restaurants for foodies. Added to that, a fun outdoorsy lifestyle.

Now imagine that you begin your home search in this city, only to learn that there are a little over 12,000 properties to choose from.  That’s the entire inventory – from suburban ranches to downtown highrise condos.  That’s it.  12,634 homes in every price point, neighborhood and housing style.

Here’s how this phenomenon is currently affecting people in Denver:

1. Buyers feel like they’re circling around the same old inventory over and over.  When something new comes on the market, if it’s in tip top showing condition and priced well, it’s gone in a matter of days.
2. Sellers are feeling the tide turning and aren’t as willing to negotiate as they once were.  This is understandable when the Seller has a new listing just on the market, Pottery Barn cute and priced aggressively.  But Sellers who won’t look at offers when their house has been on the market for many months or who have had more than one offer and keep waiting for them to go up isn’t facing the reality of their particular piece of property.  With inventory and prices this low, Sellers need to understand that Buyers will wait for new properties to come on the market rather that do what they perceive as anathema – overpay.
3. Many buyers are deciding to push their price range up a little at their high end.  They can’t find what they want and reason that with rates remaining incredibly low, they may as well push at the edges of their comfort level.
4. This seems to signal a change in consumer confidence.  If Buyers are willing to push a bit toward the top of their price range, they must have a sense that prices will not dramatically fall any further.

Denver’s residential real estate inventory is over 36% below where it was last year, and close to 11% below last month.  some of this is seasonal, but that’s not all of it.  The Sellers who don’t have to sell have decided to take themselves out of the market.  For sure, there will be an increase in inventory after January 1st.  But thinking back to the days when we had over 28,000 properties on the market in Metro Denver illustrates just how remarkable this is.

The sold prices have a floor under them now, and are even up about 3% since last month.  The days on market are coming down, close to 10% below last year.  So houses are selling faster than they have been the past three years.

This month has been a busy one.  It will be interesting to see if more buyers come out of the woodwork when the new listings hit the market next month.

Gretchen Faber, LifeStyle Denver author, is a local Denver real estate broker.  Contact Gretchen for information on Denver area real estate.

This report reflects September 2011 housing sales.  Year over year prices in Denver were down, with a 1.5% decline.  September 2011 prices were also down a little over August.  The Case Shiller Report lags by 2 months, and this is a snapshot of where we were 60 days ago.

Denver has been consistently ranked in the top 5 housing markets, and with our low inventory that should remain the case in future months.

The decline in prices is most likely a combination of the typical seasonal slow down, a market rush on homes priced around $200,000 and a continued ongoing adjustment to market conditions.

The MLS figures for November sales will be issued in about a week.  It will be interesting to see how the MLS – with more relevant Denver numbers – reports the November sales.  That will be an indicator of where Case Shiller will be ranking the city in about 60 days.

Gretchen Faber, LifeStyle Denver author, is a local Denver real estate broker.  Contact Gretchen for information on Denver area real estate.

If you’re moving into the Mile High City, there are a few things you may find helpful as you pull up stakes and head to the Rocky Mountains.

1. Denver isn’t actually in the mountains. During college, one of my friends from home commented, “Wow!  You must be in good shape to ride your bike in Denver!”  It took a minute to realize she was under the impression I was riding over mountain passes.  I explained that Denver is on the Plains, and suggested she come visit – maybe branch out from Santa Barbara.
2. We do have traffic, but it’s not as bad as Chicago or LA. It will be worse during rush hour and definitely bad when the snow is heavy.  Then the sun comes out and melts it all away (and creates our wicked pot holes.)  If you want to keep your drive a certain time frame, use Map Quest or Google Maps.  They’re both pretty accurate, but won’t account for rush hour or snow.
3. We have great public schools, great private schools, and our population is among the most educated in the nation. For school information go to the Great Schools website as a start.  Always visit the school and meet the Principal and staff.  Don’t choose based on web sites.  That’s just a good place to begin.  Like looking for houses on the internet.  You’ll still need to visit, see it, smell it and look around.
4. We name a lot of places “Cherry.” There is “Cherry Creek” (meaning Cherry Creek North and the Cherry Creek Shopping Center,) Cherry Creek Schools (down south by the Cherry Creek Reservoir,) Cherry Hills and finally there’s actually a Cherry Creek, with the Cherry Creek bike path along it that connects Cherry Creek Reservoir and Cherry Creek North.  Confused?  Come out to Denver and I’ll show you around.
5. Westword and 5280 Magazines will fill you in on local flavor. 5280 is known for publishing annual editions on the Best Doctors, Best Neighborhoods and Best Restaurants.  Westword is irreverent and edgy and publishes interesting exposes on Denver misadventures.  We used to wait expectantly every spring for the annual summer concert edition.

There is so much more to know about Denver, but this gives you a start.  Don’t be afraid to explore, we have many terrific neighborhoods and there’s something for everyone, except for a beach.  Well, maybe you could call the dirt at edge of Cherry Creek Reservoir a beach… never mind.

Gretchen Faber, LifeStyle Denver author, is a local Denver real estate broker.  Contact Gretchen for information on Denver area real estate.

Denver’s rental vacancy rate is unusually low, and as an investor this home would make an excellent rental property.  The location is stellar.

Updated kitchen & bath, bright, sunny rooms and a lovely yard. Enjoy summer evenings on your front porch. Wood and travertine tile floors add elegance. The finished basement with recessed lighting adds amazing space for a family room or office. Just steps to restaurants, coffee & ice cream shops.

Priced at just $274,000.  Click the contact button above to schedule a showing.  The full property web site can be viewed at www.GretchensDenver.com.

The Denver Post

According to their study, Denver continues to outpace most other regional cities for Economic Power, Earning Power, Brain Power and Innovation Attractiveness.

It’s been our hope, here in Denver, that the Innovation Attractiveness will help fuel employment, but apparently we’re lagging in jobs creation.  We rank 6th out of the 10 for job creation and 5th for housing affordability.

I spent two days last week with a lovely family who are being moved to Denver from Houston with the oil and gas industry.  They were a little glassy eyed with sticker shock in terms of housing affordability.  However, one plus in Denver’s column is our relatively low property taxes.

A close friend also works in oil and gas, and she predicts that the Niobrara oil field could hasten job creation in the metro area.  And Denver’s housing affordability rankings have actually improved during the recession.  The housing decline and foreclosure crisis hit Denver earlier than most of the U.S., meaning we’ve come down to settle along the bottom.

One very interesting statistic in the Post’s article is the productivity of Denver’s workforce.  Our GDP per-capita is $56,706 and ranks second behind only Seattle with a per-capita GDP of $60,859.  This should attract businesses looking to relocate or expand.  The average U.S. per-capita GDP is $11,149, meaning we have a highly productive workforce in metro Denver.

Jobs and employment are key, and they appear to be lagging based on the Post’s study.  With such strong fundamentals in place, jobs should surely follow.

Gretchen Faber, LifeStyle Denver author, is a local Denver real estate broker.  Contact Gretchen for information on Denver area real estate.  She can’t find you a job, but she can definitely find you a house!