Life Style Denver by Gretchen Faber

Free Credit Score is Good Karma

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...Continue Reading!

October 2011 Case Shiller Shows Strength in Denver Home Values

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...Continue Reading!

Denver’s Economic Growth Strong by Some Measures

The Denver Post published a story this morning based upon research comparing Denver to 9 other U.S. cities. 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...Continue Reading!

Denver Colorado Real Estate Statistics | May 2011

We're finally comparing Denver real estate sales this year with the time after the tax credit ended last year (for under contract properties.) The number of homes under contract jumped 23% from May of 2010.  This is the first month in 2011 where we're not comparing under contract data to the tax credit time of 2010. The average sale price for both single family and condo are up over 3%, reflecting stability in the market.  While the recent Case Shiller numbers for...Continue Reading!

Denver Colorado Real Estate | February 2011 Market Statistics

Prices are down.  The February market statistics are plain. Last year, when prices were down it was because lower end homes were selling. The "mix" of homes was skewing to starter homes, reflecting a "reduction" in prices. The past few months, we've actually seen a firming up of the high end in Denver (although there is still about 5 years' of inventory in Cherry Hills Village.)  With luxury homes rebounding, the reduction in prices can only mean one thing. Prices have come...Continue Reading!

Top 5 Reasons Why Home Sellers Need to Position Themselves for 1st Place

There are many reasons to position your home to be the next in line to sell.  Here are the top 5: 1. You've put your house on the market.  That means it's time to sell! You've decided to move for a variety of reasons.  Maybe a job transfer, maybe a move up or down, maybe a tightening mortgage payment.  Regardless, Sellers can't rely on the old theory, "I'll just put it on the market and see what I get." ...Continue Reading!

A New Generation Of Homebuyers is on the Scene! Part 1

I traveled to New Orleans last week to attend the largest real estate conference in the U.S. The National Association of Realtors annual convention had 20,000 in attendance this year. This is always an interesting event.  I meet brokers from around the globe and throughout the U.S.  Talk this year was about the latest tech tools, virtual vs. traditional brokerage, short sales and foreclosures - and whether the next generation of adults will value home ownership. There were several experts citing statistics about...Continue Reading!

Denver, Colorado – Stability in Home Prices Predicted

The PMI Mortgage Insurance Company, located in Northern California, issued their quarterly "Market Risk  Index" this week. Denver, Colorado is listed among 10 U.S. cities as those posing minimal risk of housing prices being lower in two years than they are today.  This report doesn't make assertions as to whether housing prices will rise, but it's a good bet that stable or rising prices are more likely in our future than lower prices are. Combine this news with historically low mortgage rates,...Continue Reading!

Denver, Colorado Gets a Real Estate High Five in Wall Street Journal

So the U.S. is in a recession. I got that important text message to my BlackBerry yesterday from the NY Times while I was sitting in a meeting. I was flabbergasted, couldn't believe it. Actually, I've been helping real estate brokers in my office and sellers whose properties I have listed weather this recession since about December 2007. Surprise - the official pundits tell us the recession started in.... December 2007. In today's Wall Street Journal I found an...Continue Reading!

Denver Economics – Real Estate Market and Current Trends – part 4

Last week, The Kentwood Companies sponsored a real estate and economic forum for our agents and clients. The speakers were nationally recognized experts in their respective fields, and had some extremely interesting comments to make about the U.S. economy, the Denver, Colorado economy and real estate trends. Over 1,000 people attended, and the local media were there as well. I've been presenting to you the highlights from each speaker, but am writing one at a time. In this final article, we...Continue Reading!