Karl Lueders Sells Another Home in LoHi... Tejon Square

Sitting at the closing table for my Highlands Ranch buyer, I was killing time with the buyer’s lender, lamenting (bitching and moaning, actually) how low Denver real estate’s inventory was, and how few condos and townhomes were available for sale downtown and in the Highlands. I would call other top Denver agents, but I was coming up empty for this buyer. Coincidentally, the lender happened to know quite a few people at Tejon Square and suggested I contact a couple of owners who had been considering selling their places.

It didn’t happen overnight, but a couple of letters and a few phone calls later, my buyer bought a hot property in Denver’s best neighborhood without waiting for the property to come on the market.

Karl Lueders is an experienced residential real estate agent who goes the extra mile for his clients. Find out more about Karl or listen to his past clients and find out why the best service comes from the best Denver real estate agents. Call Karl at 720-971-8267 or dial Karl up on LinkedIn.

On September 18, 2012, the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) will hold a public hearing to address the Community Planning and Development‘s proposal to change the process in which LPC reviews landmark designation applications.

Some of these proposed changes are administrative in nature, such as raising the fee for non-owner applicants to potentially designate certain historic structures (plus raise the buy-in). A more notable proposal, however, will require each application be sponsored by three people who either own or live in the City or County of Denver. This revision is likely in response to the current liberty that allows any Denver resident or property owner to submit a landmark designation application on any property in the city. There have been recent well-publicized accounts of this occurring, where the applications have allegedly been filed by non-owners to slow or stop potential development of certain Denver properties that did not have landmark designation protection.

There are several other proposals within the Community Planning and Development’s draft. If you live in one of Denver’s 50 historic neighborhoods, you should read the above proposal and consider attending the meeting on September 18, 2012, at 1 pm in Room 4.F.G in the Webb Building, 201 W. Colfax.

Owning a home in one of Denver’s landmark neighborhoods carries an additional responsibility from those that don’t, and as a homeowner or resident, you need to be aware of the policies that govern those areas.

Karl Lueders is a residential Realtor with Kentwood Real Estate. He has intimate working knowledge of the LPC and what it takes to make home improvements within those neighborhoods. Please give Karl a call if you have questions about whether you live in a historic area, are considering buying in a historic area or plan to make improvements to your home. You can reach him at 720-971-8267. You can also follow him on Twitter or find him on LinkedIn.

Read about the benefits of landmark designations by visiting Historic Denver.

Credit listing agents who know not to overprice homes and cave in to the temptation of testing the market. Buyers are more savvy than ever, and for every Denver house that sells in a day, there are two like it getting no love at all.

Karl Lueders Closed This Lohi Loft in 2 weeks. Cash. That doesn't suck.

This amazing loft in the original LoHi corridor of 15th Street sold twice, actually. After 10 showings in a day, the sellers received a full-price offer, but the buyers backed out once they understood the complexities of home ownership and maintaining such a large condo.

A week later, Karl Lueders and his seller drew another offer – cash, this time – and closed the property faster than had the original offer stuck around. True, LoHi is one of Denver’s – not to mention the country’s hottest neighborhoods – but Denver condos have been struggling for years. And while this was a cash deal, banks are finding creative ways to lend money to good borrowers.

Updates on more condos, like 2441 Broadway #206, which sold last month, are coming. Along with yet another Lohi sale and even properties out of town!

Karl Lueders is a residential Realtor with The Kentwood Company. You can “find” him on LinkedIn, Twitter or G+. The phone method works well, too. 720-971-8267. And email: karl@denverrealestate.com.

Karl Lueders Presents 2441 Broadway #206 - Another Condo Sold... Quickly.

What also helped Lueders and his sellers was the ability of BBVA Compass to create a loan product that give buyers the opportunity to become primary residents in condos, giving these great buildings a chance to reclaim a greater percentage of owner-occupancy and the ability to be recognized by FHA as a viable condo building.

Undoubtedly, Denver’s real estate surge has been fueled by recent news items, as well as the low inventory, but as we just told one client looking to relocate from Idaho: Denver has three things totally buzzing right now: city life, outdoor life and the economy.

Don’t hesitate to contact Karl Lueders or his friends over at Denver Condo Help to find out how you can not only list your condo, but sell it to a qualified buyer who can actually close!

Karl Lueders is a residential Realtor with The Kentwood Company at Cherry Creek. He can be reached at 720.971.8267, email, Twitter or G+.

The much-predicted foreclosure wave that was expected to dump more homes onto the market has not materialized. Fewer borrowers are entering default, and banks are better managing the properties they do have on their books.
The inventory problem has been exacerbated by the plunge in home prices since the go-go years. Many people who bought at the top of the cycle are so deeply underwater, they can’t get the price they need to sell and are therefore not bothering to put their homes on the market.

 

On the other hand, if you plan to break even or come out ahead on your house when you sell it, things couldn’t be better in Denver real estate. Hell, Denver condos are selling… quickly. Stupid negative equity.

Actually, it’s negative equity that helped create this amazing over-demand climate in today’s Denver real estate market. Inventory across the country is at 2006 lows, which has essentially created a market where fairly-priced homes are receiving multiple offers (more on this later). But it ain’t 2006. There are plenty of sellers out there who think the market has actually rebounded and are trying to gouge well-educated buyers into overpaying. You can spot those homes on the market; they’ve been listed for longer than 30 days and haven’t reduced their prices yet.

But real estate isn’t fair; it’s not designed that way. It’s an organic process – on micro and macro levels – that went toxic after Wall Street monetized it. If you bought at the height of the market, you aren’t fired up about the proposition that all this demand isn’t creating a spike in values to recover your paper losses. It’s doubtful that even if this breakneck pace of home sales continues into next year, it’ll be a while before price follow.

the Kentwood Company has been enjoying record sales volume through the first half of 2012, and there is no evidence that this market is tapering off anytime soon. But if low inventory is a result of homeowners refusing to take a loss on their home, it stands to reason that the only houses on the market are those sellers who either have to sell or expect to make money in the process. But once this positive equity inventory shrivels up, it’ll be even harder to find good homes to buy in 2013 unless you plan to work the bank angles.

Who has the most to gain from the frantic market? Homeowners that don’t want to sell because they’re afraid they won’t break even on their home. There is enough demand to create bidding wars on properties – especially in good neighborhoods – where the return of your initial investment is more likely now than ever before.

Call your local Realtor – if you’re in Denver, your local Realtor is Karl Lueders – to find out what your home is worth. And, as much as I hate to say it, you might be able to “get” a little more than you thought.

Karl Lueders is a residential Realtor with The Kentwood Company at Cherry Creek. He can be reached at 720.971.8267, email, Twitter or G+.

Dial into Denver’s hottest neighborhood from this amazing LoHi loft! 2 bedrooms (w/master suite on the main level), 2 bathrooms, washer/dryer in unit, open kitchen and ceilings the way a city loft should be! The only deck in LoHi with better views of the city and mountains is at Linger, but yours is private with plenty of room to entertain just as well! No more parking next to your neighbors; this unit comes with a private 2-car garage and entry into the building. Extra large storage unit, central AC, end unit, island kitchen, tons of closet space, in-unit storage and built-in cabinets. Check out the crowd at Forest Room 5 from your living room windows, get a sandwich from Jays or Masterpiece or go to Cellar for amazing wine and antipasti. And those are only the hot spots on your block. Go a little further and youre at Lola, Vita, Shangri-la, Little Man, the list goes on. The Overlook is also FHA approved so we welcome low down-payment buyers! Get here quick!

Karl Lueders Presents 3111 W 28th... Just Sold!

The buyers have already installed a bathroom in the basement, central AC, underground sprinklers and expanded the master bedroom! And that’s how you build equity in a house.

The rule of thumb these days is that if you’re interested in buying a house, so is someone else. So, it pays to work with a Realtor that has extensive relationships with other brokers around town so they know when houses are coming on the market… before your competition does. I guess I wouldn’t have written that last sentence if I didn’t think I was that guy.

Karl Lueders Presents 10629 Wildhurst. Just Sold!

This is an amazing, well-kept 4-bedroom two-story home, with views of the mountains from the bedroom. Built in 2003, the seller of this home kept the house and the landscaping in show condition, much to the delight of my buyer!

All for less than $300,000. Not surprisingly, my buyer had to compete with other buyers for this house, as is the case with metro Denver real estate this year. However, prices are holding steady and there is even increasing real estate values in neighborhoods you wouldn’t believe.

This is a great home for an amazing client!

Karl Lueders is a residential Realtor with The Kentwood Company at Cherry Creek. He can be reached at 720.971.8267, email, Twitter or G+.

“Relax pal. First lesson in business is don’t get emotional about stocks – it clouds your judgement.”

- G. Gekko

“If you’re buying a house to make money, then don’t buy a house.”

- Karl Lueders

The era of irrational real estate exuberance officially ended somewhere around early 2009, just a few months after the big “crash.” It happened when a random couple found the house in which they wanted to make babies, plant flowers and host handfuls of Thanksgivings. They turned to one another, squealing in delight, but then squared up their Realtor and asked, “How much do you think we can make on this one?”

I still get that question on an infrequent basis. I feign deafness to see if they’re sincere enough to ask again. If forced upon to answer, I usually go with the above quote. (No, I’m not Gordon Gekko.) It sucks, because we want everyone to own a good home that will make money, but I think we also forget that the public doesn’t always know the score with real estate. Many are still looking to buy their principal residence with an expectation of profit, rather than buying it with their heart. Which is how it should be.

I have a good perspective on the past and why people still want to believe that real estate is a sure thing. I made 16% on my first house in less than 18 months. Of course, that was back in Chicago in 1998, but people tend to remember the % and not the year. I wasn’t in the business back then and had no clue what we were getting into. We just wanted to stop paying rent. We loved our condo but we loved it even more when we sold it and moved to Denver with some tall stacks. Those stacks disappeared pretty quickly when we started looking at homes in Denver and realized we were making a lateral move from Chicago. Go figure.

Nevertheless, we looked smart because we got lucky. But I was that friend/neighbor that did get lucky and everybody wanted in on the trade-up. Yet once people started trying to act smart, we ended up with a fiasco like sub-prime loans, default credit swaps and NINJA loans. Then the s**t hit the fan across the country. Lots of places are beginning to recover, but the skid marks still appear prominently on many map searches of Nevada and Florida.

Some buyers still want an assurance that they’ll be able to sell their house for more than what they paid for it. Just so you know, you can get better predictability by putting your down payment on red (or black; just stay away from wheels with two green zeros) than which way the real estate market is headed. Real estate is not a financial investment; it’s a lifestyle investment. Homes are supposed to pull at your heartstrings, not appear as a ledger statement. (That is, unless, you happen to be buying an investment property, you’ve done research, and know the cash-flow thresholds. Another day for that.)

Sure, you need to be able to afford what the heart wants, and the heart might not know why you need a radon test, but that’s why you have good Realtors and lenders with realistic lending guidelines. And yes, it’s a huge financial decision. But don’t confuse financial decision with a financial opportunity. If you buy a home with the hopes of making money, you are allowed to blame yourself if/when that doesn’t happen. The days of time equity are gone.

But if you buy a home to raise kids, tend a garden and paint the walls bright orange because you can, then yes, that’s exactly why you buy a house. You buy a condo because you’re ready for the tax advantages of home ownership but don’t want to mow a lawn. That’s how you do.

And don’t forget, people like me are here to help you find your dream home for the best possible price. Good lenders are here to get you the best terms to make that dream affordable. If you want emotional detachment, buy a stock.

Karl Lueders is a residential Realtor with The Kentwood Company at Cherry Creek. He can be reached at 720.971.8267, email, Twitter or G+.

Update: it didn’t sell! Two lenders (who shall remain lame) didn’t do any due diligence in terms of condo financing, something we’ve been harping on because this deal went south, and the poor buyer lost all her will to be a homeowner.

Well, we’ve learned quite a bit about condo financing and this isn’t going to happen on Karl Lueders’ watch again!! Check out this video and let us know if this isn’t the best value in the hippest part of Denver. Same low price; same great views next to the best bakery in town. Free smells at Sugar Bakeshop!

PS – A word about calling a neighborhood hip. Hipsters have to live or be in an area for it to be hip. LoHi is awesome, but I don’t think hipsters can afford to live there anymore.

Karl Lueders is a residential Realtor with The Kentwood Company at Cherry Creek. He can be reached at 720.971.8267, email, Twitter or G+.