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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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’s Economic Growth Strong by Some Measures
November 27th, 2011 categories: Market Trends
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 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!
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Denver Colorado Real Estate Statistics | May 2011
June 9th, 2011 categories: Market Trends
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 March indicated a potential “double dip” housing recession, the Denver real estate market is truly hanging in there.
Sellers are realistically pricing their homes, Buyers are taking advantage of the drop in interest rates to incredible lows, and more investors are entering the market and snapping up properties for their portfolios.
Inventory continues to fall, which is one reason prices are steady, even rising. Buyers aren’t finding as many homes to choose from, so the great ones are going fast. The number of days on market fell nearly 3% from April. Days on market were dramatically less a year ago, perhaps an overhang from the tax credit frenzy that was wrapping up at the end of April 2010.
The Denver real estate market may be contracting in terms of number of available listings, it’s not contracting based on the buyers making offers on homes. With a 23% increase in under contract properties, we should see the number of June closings rise considerably. Stay tuned!
Consider an investment property. With prices and rates at an all time low, it’s a great time to buy a rental. Search Gretchen Faber’s web site at www.GretchensDenver.com.
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Denver Colorado Real Estate | February 2011 Market Statistics
March 22nd, 2011 categories: Market Trends
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 down. Not dramatically, but the 4% reduction since January and 2% since February 2010 is enough to cause Sellers to pause before pricing their home.
What’s selling in this Spring market is homes that are extremely competitively priced. The new listings are getting a ton of showings because of low inventories in some neighborhoods, but the stale listings are languishing.
Average Days on Market is rising. That’s a little unusual with the low levels of inventory compared with past years. Inventory is over 8% lower than this time last year! When it takes longer to sell, prices are negatively impacted.
We need to clean out our old inventory. Sellers should get their homes in perfect showing condition and priced to sell. It’s the only way. Crossing your fingers and waiting it out for appreciation to catch up is not a realistic game plan.
Buyers – when making an offer ask your broker to analyze the past 6 months sales in your neighborhood for similar homes. Make your offer based on the reality of the market and not based on your need to get a better deal than your friend did. Depending on where the home is priced when you make the offer, you may need to low ball and you may need to offer closer to list price.
This is the time to pay attention to the market signs. No more crossed fingers and wishful thinking. This is reality. A new reality. There is a market. Where are you going to fall in that market?
Check out all of Denver’s available properties at Gretchen Faber’s real estate web site – www.GretchensDenver.com.
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Top 5 Reasons Why Home Sellers Need to Position Themselves for 1st Place
January 30th, 2011 categories: Selling Strategies
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.” That’s so yesterday. Don’t waste your time or your Broker’s time. The Buyers out there are too savvy. They won’t “just make an offer.” Too many Sellers still haven’t realized how important positioning is, and how competitive the market is right now. Regardless of a renewed sense of consumer confidence, there will not be a marked appreciation on your house for quite awhile.
2. When rates do begin to rise, and they have been over the past two weeks, Buyers’ purchase power will begin to erode. That means the pool of potential customers for the product you’re selling will get smaller. Your house is on the market – it’s a product. It should appeal to the largest number of potential purchasers as possible. And it should either be a phenomenal deal, or be updated to current taste and style. Don’t underestimate the feedback if you hear the price is too high. That might be a reflection that rates are impacting Buyers and their willingness to make an offer on a property they view as average – either for reasons of pricing or condition, or both.
3. There is an unseen pent-up inventory of homes waiting to hit the market. More inventory will translate into more competition and eroding or flat prices. Sell now, before you’re competing against the Seriously Delinquent, Pre-Foreclosures and Bank-Owned Properties (REO Inventory.) A recent Core Logic study shows how much inventory threatens to come on the market throughout the U.S. in coming months.
4. Don’t think distressed sales won’t affect your price. Should appraisers attempt to use like-kind sales? Yes, they should. But when short sales and foreclosures begin to dominate they will affect pricing throughout the market. In the high-end, we’re seeing more and more short sales, more and more bank-owned properties. Everyone has been affected by the Great Recession – get your home sold if that’s your goal. Listen to what your Broker tells you about price and condition. Your Broker is your consultant. She (or he) is there to help you.
5. It’s time to keep emotion out of it. That’s hard, I know. If I were selling my home today, I would want the highest price possible. But the price in your mind is not usually the price a house sells for. Do you truly want to sell your house now? Isn’t that why you’ve gone to the effort of readying it for the market, making it available to Buyers, and hiring a Broker? Be a savvy Seller, one who can brag to your friends that you sold quickly in a really tough market. Don’t be the Seller with multiple price reductions and months and months on the market. You will lose in the end. Be the Seller who sells – the entire reason you’ve placed your home for SALE!
Visit www.GretchensDenver.com. Gretchen Faber’s Denver Real Estate web site with local resources, homes for sale, and terrific presentations of the top properties in Denver.
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A New Generation Of Homebuyers is on the Scene! Part 1
November 12th, 2010 categories: Real Estate News
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 Gen Y and saying they won’t aspire to be home owners like Baby Boomers have. The sentiment is that these young adults are more mobile, more transient and scared away from the burdens of a mortgage by the economic crisis. This was an interesting perspective, but not in tune with my own experience. I’m currently working with two young couples who are buying their first home and sold another young couple their first home a few months ago.
As I was listening to the analysis of future home buying trends, I remembered Timothy Leary’s “turn on, tune in and drop out.” I remembered my parents taking me on peace marches. I remembered the hordes of people living in parks in San Francisco. I thought, “Bet those kids scared the sh.. out of a few real estate brokers back in the day.”
Then those Leary followers got married, had babies and found out they might be able to trust someone over 30. And they bought homes.
Several of us were in the airport discussing the premise that Gen Y won’t be home buyers. We were reminiscing about our own youthful days hitchhiking across Europe and putting off college for a year to work or travel around in trailers. We talked about how much older we were when we first married and had babies as compared with our parents. And we speculated whether this theory that Gen Y won’t buy into buying a house will prove true in 10 years. We were all boomers (with one Gen X) so we didn’t have a Gen Y to ask. Our Gen X representative said he thinks they’ll buy homes because they need a place for all of their stuff. He said they like stuff, tech stuff, but stuff nonetheless.
A little while later, an adorable young women reached out to me and said, “excuse me…”
The rest of this story will be continued in part 2!
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Denver, Colorado – Stability in Home Prices Predicted
January 18th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
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, and you see what a great time is is to get off the fence if you want to buy property in Denver. Denver housing is picking up steam in a massive way. Our office’s showings are way up. Just on my own listings (click LifeStyle Listings to see them all) I’ve had more showings in the past week than in the prior three months.
If you’re waiting for home prices to fall, just consider that a 1% change in rates (from the 6’s we had a few months ago to the 4’s and 5’s now) can drastically reduce your payment, more than if prices were to drop a little further in the coming months.
My childhood home of Riverside, California didn’t fare so well in the report. They are among the top 3 areas where prices are most likely to drop. I’m glad I live in Denver now.
Denver real estate appears to be a better investment than nearly everything else besides gold. Maybe it will turn into gold if you hold onto it long enough. Stay tuned here to find out more!
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Denver, Colorado Gets a Real Estate High Five in Wall Street Journal
December 2nd, 2008 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
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 interesting article, “The Future For Home Prices.” The author, James Hagerty, discusses where home prices will trend in the future, and whether a home should be considered a sound investment. Hagerty’s research suggest that prices will remain flat in some areas, trend down some more in others, and trend a bit up in a few. Overall, we won’t see double digit appreciation again in the near (or probably far) future.
Does this mean that people won’t be buying houses? Is there no longer a market for homes like there’s no longer a market for railroad stocks?
Here’s the piece that many people seem to be missing, something I’ve told my clients for years when they asked me if that
property they wanted to offer on would make a “good investment.” Houses are where people live, have families, celebrate and mourn. Houses are not simply an investment like a stock or a bond. If you’re buying your primary residence then you should plan to stay there awhile if possible, if you’re looking to own rental properties make sure they cash flow and are in a strong resale area.
Sure, we all hope not to lose money on our home, and we even want to see a gain. We will see a gain over time, and while it may barely out pace inflation now that the “bubble” has burst, we’ll still have lived there. And if you’ve borrowed on a sensible mortgage that you can afford you’ve actually had the additional benefit of leverage. You’ll receive any upside increase on the total amount of the value of the home while only paying on the amount borrowed. That’s why it’s best not to take out a 100% loan unless your financial adviser sees reason why you should, why it’s best to get that sensible loan that fits your financial picture.
Just like in stocks, the loss isn’t realized until the investment is sold. If your home is worth less than you paid for it, hopefully you can hold on, make the payments and stay there until it comes back. You’re at least living there. Enjoy the laughter around the Christmas tree or Hanukkah bush. Those memories are important and this too, shall pass.
We’re cautiously optimistic here in Denver, and in fact, in today’s WSJ article Denver is mentioned as a city to watch:
“Among metro areas that Mr. Rosen expects to do well in the long run are Albuquerque, N.M.; Boise, Idaho; Salt Lake City; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo. He says those places generally offer “urban vitality” and “easy access to outdoor activities” combined with affordable housing and good job-growth prospects from modern industries, such as biotechnology.”
Denver real estate has been counter cyclical for as long as I’ve lived here – 26 years. We’ll be the canary in the coal mine signaling a recovery. But remember that real estate is local one city’s boom may not be seen in another and one recovery may not signal them all. If you don’t have a mortgage you can afford and you can’t hold out until our Colorado recovery is gaining steam, then talk to the people at the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline. They can be an invaluable resource.
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Denver Economics – Real Estate Market and Current Trends – part 4
November 6th, 2008 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
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 hear from David Mandarich, President & COO of Richmond American Homes.
Mandarich opened with the bold exclamation “Now is a better time, the best time to buy a house!!!! Let’s get excited! I’m so glad that I live in Denver, so proud to be part of this community.”
“What we experienced in 2005 & 2006 from local builders is a lot of overbuilding. We saw an interesting phenomenon during this time. Speculators. People were no longer viewing a home as a place to live but rather looked at it as an opportunity.”
He continued, “Here we all are in 2008 with a hangover from the party of buying and speculating in 2004 and 2005. We are living through that foreclosure process. You have a lot foreclosures in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and other markets. Why did this happen? Real estate values went down. In California, if you bought a home in some areas of California in 2005, the average home was priced around $550-$600K. Today that house is worth $350,000. People don’t have motivation to stay in those houses anymore.”
Mandarich also stated, “We are in Denver and glad to be here. Denver has a great story, different than most cities in America. Other markets like California and Arizona feed into Denver.”
Mandarich furthermore questioned, “What trends are we seeing in new houses? We are seeing across the country, people today are looking at a house more as a home than as an investment. Today the average square footage is smaller across the country than it is in Denver. Today’s average sales price for Denver is in the $300’s. Other places, is around $200-$240K. That’s one of the challenges that we have in Denver.”
“Richmond American is soon coming out with a product of single family detached homes in the $200’s. Recently, in Denver, the only way to get into a lower priced home was to buy an attached product. We’re adjusting to that.”
“Negative press has really hurt our consumers,” he stated. “Once that disappears, we’ll have a healthy market in Denver. There will be a void to fill because many builders left town. The real challenge in housing is that most of the banks don’t want to lend money to home builders. A lot of the big national banks have a moratorium and do not make loans to home builders . The banks have seen a lot of credit defaults where they have had to take properties back. For some smaller home builders, it is very hard in the Denver market to get a construction loan. Banks are concerned about lending to home builders. ”
“What does all of this mean for consumers,” he shouted. “Now has never been a better time to buy a new home in Denver!”
For more information about Gretchen Faber’s real estate listings, or the Denver real estate market visit www.gretchensdenver.com. This comprehensive real estate web site includes all available idx listings in Denver as well as state-of-the-art mapping and search software. Also included is relocation information for those people looking to relocate to the Denver area.
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