While there has been much debate here among Denver real estate brokers about the cost of the credit, there is no doubt that this move will help to continue to stimulate the recovering real estate market.

Homebuyers will now have two tax credits available. The original $8,000 for first time buyers - actually for buyers who haven’t owned a home in the previous 3 years.  As well as a second credit available to current homeowners of $6,500.  To be eligible, buyers must have lived in their current home for 5 out of the past 8 years.

The income limits for eligibility will increase to $125,000 for a single buyer and $225,000 for married couples.  The maximum home purchase price will be $800,000.

The newest version was passed out of the House and the Senate today, and the bill sits on President Obama’s desk, waiting for his signature.

While the bill might be waiting overnight - don’t you wait!  Get on my home search site and start house hunting.  We can find you a terrific home and you’ll get your tax credit as soon as you file!

Share This

After a 4 1/2 day marathon of 56 houses, we kind of narrowed it down to two possibilities. These buyers are looking in a fairly significant price point.  Not uber high-end, but enough to buy a very nice home in a very nice location.

Theirs is the price point that’s slow in Denver, and now we’ve seen everything on the market.  Either the homes were location compromised, floor plan challenged or way over priced. There are two homes they would consider, if they were appropriately priced.  As it stands, after a detailed market analysis, both houses are more than $100,000 off the mark.  The sellers feel they’re “in the right” and their agents have said if we wrote an offer, we’d be unreasonably low.

So we’re back to square 1.  If you know of a house coming on the market, or a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) that we could take a look at, please contact me.  We’re looking in Cherry Hills Village, Greenwood Village and Littleton.  Preferably under $1,000,000 with 4 bedrooms plus a study and a nice-sized lot.

Thanks for your assistance. They need the keys to their new house soon!

Share This

With inventory naturally shrinking as we round into fourth quarter, Buyers are left with choosing a currently available home or waiting to see what might come on the market in coming months.  It’s not likely that many new properties will be listed from Halloween through the new year, and many buyers are faced with choosing between buying a home they’ve seen or waiting until after the first of the year when inventory will begin to build.

Prices are up slightly from August, and up nearly 5% since last year.   From August to September 2008 our average price went down 14%, and it kept trending down for months.  We’ve now begun an upward swing just when our market typically begins to cool a little.

We’re likely in for a fairly quiet winter, but not likely to see prices precipitously dropping.  By early 2010, we should be well into recovery and buyers will benefit from new inventory.

The big kicker will be mortgage rates, and if (when) they begin to rise, they will rise quickly.  That could put a damper on buyers’ purchasing power.  If you’re a home buyer, you may not have as much to choose from today, but you know that prices and rates are still low.

Based on the increasing average price trend and shrinking days on the market, you can’t know for sure how long you’ll be on this side of low rates and low prices.

Share This

My answer? “It depends.”

Some brokers and sellers request 3% some request 10%.  Earnest money requests/requirements are entered in the MLS, so your Buyer Agent can tell you what the sellers have requested.  3% is more the norm for mid-priced homes, 10% is extremely high. However, for high end homes, closer to 10% isn’t too unusual.

What the sellers request and what the buyers provide are not always the same amount. When you prepare an offer for a property, consider how motivated you are, how strong you want to appear as buyers and how much money you want to risk.

Keep in mind that your earnest money is not at risk if you legitimately terminate the contract on inspection, appraisal or loan conditions. Make sure your broker and lender are keeping tabs on those dates.

Colorado is a very easy state to contract for purchase. We have state-mandated contracts that all real estate brokers are required to use. We close properties “at the table” in the offices of a title company (not in escrow.)

Earnest money is meant to show good faith on the buyer’s part.  Plan to deposit enough to show you’re serious, but not more than you could stand to lose in the event of a default.

Looking to buy in Denver? www.GretchensDenver.com gives you access to nearly all listed properties plus the ability to map them! Bookmark the site today!

Share This

Mortgage rates track with the bond market, and not the Fed Funds Rate, however, conventional wisdom suggests that the Federal Reserve governors feel that inflation isn’t yet a risk, and that rates should remain low to keep the recovery moving forward.

With rates low for, “an extended period,” there should be no doubt in buyers’ minds that now is a good time to buy.  When rates begin to rise, which may be as early as the beginning of next year, they will probably rise rapidly.

Your buying power will be quickly eroded if the rates go up even 1% and they will likely end up quite a bit higher than they are today.  I remember buying my first house and assuming a 9% loan - we thought that was great relative to where rates had been!

Get into you lender’s office soon and find out what you could pre-qualify for. You may be surprised, and this is a great opportunity to take advantage of low housing prices.

Share This

Gretchen Faber earned her real estate license in 1996 and was among the original brokers at The Kentwood Company at Cherry Creek in 1998. She has served in numerous positions with the DBR, including chairman of the organization’s International Roundtable, and member of the India Ambassador Trade Missions planning committee, grievance committee, and board of directors. Faber is a Certified International Property Specialist, a trustee of the Metro Denver Realtor Foundation, a member of the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) board of directors, and she is a Colorado Association of Realtors and NAR approved course instructor.

“Gretchen is much more than a top-producing broker and outstanding manager,” said Peter Niederman, chief operating officer of The Kentwood Companies. “She is one of the most ethical, professional and seasoned brokers in the industry. Gretchen is among the most trusted and admired real estate agents in metro Denver and her accomplishments are impressive by any standard. We are extremely proud of her and there is no one more deserving of the Realtor of the Year honor. We are fortunate to have her as a member of the Kentwood family. On behalf of our owners, managers, staff, and broker associates, I wish to extend a sincere ‘congratulations’ to a very deserving award recipient and friend.”

Faber’s community involvement is extensive. She is a sponsor and participant in Camp Experience, a member of Women for Women International, and has served on the silent auction committee for the Children’s Hospital Foundation. Past activities have included membership in World Trade Center Denver, chairman of Kentwood’s Adopt-a-Family committee, Center for Hearing, Speech and Language fundraising committee, and the Junior League of Denver.

Faber became managing broker of Kentwood’s Cherry Creek office in 2006. She is responsible for recruiting, supervising new and current broker associates, and directing a staff of seven while providing support for nearly 70 top-producing broker associates. Faber earned her B.A. and MBA degrees from the University of Denver and has served as adjunct instructor at the Community College of Denver. She is known for her expertise in relocation, international real estate, foreign national clients, and Denver’s most desirable and historic neighborhoods. Faber has traveled with broker associate Julie Hummel to India to learn and to assist Indian colleagues as they struggled to build a real estate profession based on the prototype of the NAR.

The DBR’s 121st Inaugural Celebration was hosted by Vic Lombardi of CBS4 Sports. The “Baseball Formal Event” included dinner and cocktails, a live performance by Robert Johnson of the 17th Street All-Stars, installation of new DBR president Mark Trenka, and much more.

Share This

Real Estate in Denver is certainly showing a definite trend in the amount of inventory available. Month after month this year, we’ve experienced a depletion in homes for sale.  In August, we’re at a low we haven’t seen since at least 2004, (my reporting doesn’t go back any further than 1/05.) There are only 3 months in these past 5 years where our inventory was less than today’s 20,225 and that was December 2008 with 19,600 available properties, Jan’09 with 19,748 and February ‘09 20,059.  I would call that a normal seasonal adjustment, as well as an adjustment to the immediate economic cliff we’d just fallen off.

Today’s low inventory is more than just a seasonal slow-down for the winter. It’s still 90 degrees here, and I had 45 people through an open house last weekend.

And look how many condos went under contract this past month!  Up nearly 5% from July.  That’s a reflection of most condos’ price-points being lower than single family, and condos are great starter homes for many people.

We have a number of contributing factors:

• Pent-up demand. Buyers are off the fence.
• Rates are still at historical lows.
• Great looking and well-priced houses are selling pretty quickly (average days-on-market is only 3 months.)
• Denver’s economy is beginning to pick up steam. The City and County of Denver has to balance a difficult budget, as does the state, but overall in-migration is on an upswing.
• Investors are swooping in and buying up property.

While our average price is down from this year’s high in June of $258,000, it’s the mix of properties that are selling which is skewing this number low.  Homes priced from $100,000 to $300,000 are getting multiple bids, making it increasingly difficult for first-time home buyers to compete.  Homes priced from $300,000 to $500,000 are taking a little longer, but are still in that sweet spot of a likely sale.  Homes above $500,000 and especially over $1,000,000 are taking much longer and homes in the very high-end are competing against several years’ worth of inventory.

The take-away this month?  If you’re thinking about buying a home soon, better get looking right away.  Not only is the first-time home buyer tax credit set to expire at the end of November, but with fall and winter upon us soon, we’ll probably not see inventory (and your choice of houses) increase until after the first of the year.

Sellers? Your take-away is to continue to react to what the market is telling you. If you’ve been on the market more than 30 days and/or 30 showings then you need to adjust.  What’s your feedback telling you?  How do you compare with the houses currently on the market and most-importantly with the homes that sold while yours has been on the market? If you’re not willing to remodel the kitchen, replace the carpet or finish the basement then you need to adjust the price. If you’re in a compromised location like a busy street, you haven’t quantified that enough yet.  And if you’re not getting any showings and no feedback, then you need to drastically reduce the price until feet begin walking through the door.  If you aren’t willing or able to, then your house isn’t really on the market yet so consider taking it off (if you can) and waiting a little longer for better timing.

Share This

She’s only half exaggerating. Her two passed away a few years ago, and with a traveling job and two young children, she’s decided to hold off on adopting another.

I married a cat person, and since my dogs were also long departed, it made no sense to add more chaos into our blended family.  Actually, my husband is an animal person in general, he just so happened to have cats when we met.

Last year, I was taking my son to the sporting goods store for a few things, and we noticed a doggie adoption clinic going on next door in the parking lot. It was the weekend of Hurricane Ike, and most of the dogs had been brought up from Texas.  I told Joe that we could go say hi and give the dogs some love, but we wouldn’t be taking one home.

One took us home.

Duke was the cutest, and saddest dog I’ve ever seen. He reeked of depression and desperation. He looked up at us with his big brown eyes and said, “Get me the hell out of here.”  The other dogs were doing flips and handstands to get the attention of anyone willing to take a chance on them. Duke was laying in his cage with his back to it all and didn’t move a muscle, even with flies crawling on his face.  Joe said, “Mom, I like this one!”  So did I.

I called my husband and he said, “Where are you and what’s all that noise?”  I asked him to come see if he liked this dog named Duke who needed a home immediately. He declined coming over, suggesting that if he came we’d be taking them all home.  His only questions was, “Does he look like he can run with me?”

Duke has been in our family for one year now, and I think my husband loves him more than he does me!  We all love Duke, he gets loads of attention, lots of exercise and he’s totally come out of his shell.  He’s truly the best dog we’ve ever had. He walks off leash and would never run, he stays in our yard, he listens, he plays well with all other dogs and never tries to get into a pecking order battle and he gets protective when he needs to.

We’ve entered Duke into the Cutest Dog Competition as a way to bring attention to rescue dogs.  While I love full-bred dogs, for sure, I think this mutt is king. We had him DNA tested and he turns out to be a Golden Retriever/Shar Pei mix.

Please go to Duke Faber’s site for the cutest dog and vote for him every day this week. The voting started yesterday and ends on Saturday 9/12.  There’s another dog way ahead, so we need to get out the vote!  You can vote once per day for the same dog, and they’ll ask you to register first with your email so they can tell that the voting is fair.

So help out needy animals and vote for Duke!

Share This

Colorado is a “table closing” state, and our contract expressly states that the buyer must attend the closing with all moneys and documents.  This means that if a closing is at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday, as this broker’s closing was, the buyer and the buyer’s lender must perform under the terms of the contract at 4 p.m.

This lender had a lackadaisical attitude, ignored the new HERA/HOEPA regulations and essentially didn’t do his job.  He was told on August 23rd that there was a slight change in the final figures, but he failed to disclose the change to the buyer.

Under the new regulations, any change upward to the buyer’s APR (over 1/8%) must be disclosed in writing to that buyer and the closing can’t happen until 3 days after the disclosure is made.

The loan broker did not disclose the resulting change in APR to the buyer until yesterday, the day of the closing. Actually, it was the second date for the closing, since this lender also didn’t order the appraisal on time (another story.)

Real Estate Buyers - Caution!

You are at risk to lose your earnest money in Colorado if you aren’t prepared to close at the date and time the closing is scheduled in the contract.  In this case, the earnest money was $8,000.  You lender and your real estate broker must be watching out for you and advising you. How could you possibly keep up with the changes in our industry?  It’s obvious that many lenders and real estate brokers aren’t even keeping up.  If the real estate broker in this instance had been on top of her game, she would have hounded the loan broker to get his disclosures out.

Her managing broker is helping her out, and using this as a “teaching moment” by paying the sellers’ damages. This equates to their loan per diem until the closing and various other pro-rations and charges. He’s a good broker and stepped up to the plate immediately because he understood that we must not stand in the way of a buyer and seller finalizing the transaction, or risk our clients’ earnest money.  I’m sure he’ll also go after that lender for leaving him hanging in the wind like that.

This added level of complexity makes it more essential than ever that you hire a professional and seasoned real estate broker and that you listen when they tell you what to look for in your lender.

Don’t leave your earnest money to chance.

Share This

I find that there are a lot of homes for sale that aren’t really, “on the market.”

What do I mean by that?  Ask yourself, “how many showings have I had this month?” “Am I reacting to the feedback I’m getting?” “Am I even getting feedback?”

Are you taking a defensive posture with your broker? Are you thinking of moving on to your second, or even third broker?  Chances are, it’s not your broker - it’s denial.  We all have moments of denial, maybe I should call it exuberant optimism, in case you feel insulted that I say the “d” word about you and your beautiful house.  But there comes a time to wake up and smell the coffee and make the tough decisions.

Step 1 - Decide if you’re committed to listening to the feedback.  The feedback from the brokers showing your home and from your own broker.  I typically use 30 days and/or 30 showings as a benchmark.  If you don’t have an offer after that many bona fide buyers have walked through the house something needs to change.  If 30 days have gone by and your house isn’t being shown, then something needs to change.  Of course, there are instances when there just aren’t any buyers in the market your house falls into, and then perhaps making changes won’t result in much. However, too many sellers think that’s the case for them, and they agree to make only slight changes. The slight change doesn’t introduce the house to a new market, but it gives the seller a change to say to his broker, “see, I told you there just weren’t buyers out there.” or “You aren’t marketing the house enough, and that’s why there aren’t buyers.”  A $3,000 price change is nothing.  As, Larry Kendall, the guru of real estate says, “Remember, no amount of marketing will overcome poor pricing.”

Step 2 - Ask your broker for an absorption rate positioning study.  Most brokers know how to calculate the absorption rate for their cities and neighborhoods. Have you seen that from yours?  It’s an analysis that will give you a very good idea how many months of supply you have in your market. Currently in Denver, we have about 5 months supply in the lower price ranges. This is a good number and indicates market stability. Conventional wisdom says anything over 6-7 months show signs of a weak market.  In our high end market we have about 7 years supply. That is most definitely a weak segment of the market.  It’s not enough to know the absorption rate. You want to know how you are positioned against the competition.  Take the sales rate (absorption rate) and divide by the number of properties currently on the market (including yours.)  This will give you your odds of selling this month.  If your odds are low, then you need to work hard to rise to the top of the heap.  Lower the price so you look the most competitive, consider remodeling, staging, planting flowers, painting. Anything you can do to come out in the top houses.

Step 3 - Calculate your “walking away money.”  Sellers are fond of telling us they, “need this amount of money out of my house.” They say they need it for their next house, to pay off debt, or so they don’t have to bring money to the table. Some sellers become shortsighted and reject an offer or don’t negotiate hard enough because of this perceived bottom line.  The thing they forget to figure into the calculation is carrying costs.  In some cases, houses are selling fast and they might be confident that they will get another buyer right away. But if it took you months to get the first offer, it might take months to get another.  And usually the second offer is worse than the first one was.  Remember to figure in your monthly carrying costs along with your loan and expenses to get to your “walking away money.” This might make that offer seem a little more appealing.

Step 4 - Keep your house clean.  That seems pretty obvious, right?  I guess it’s not, or some people have very different ideas of what clean is.  I walked into a house today with the worst cat odor in the basement you can imagine.  Putrid was my thought. My buyer covered her nose and ran back upstairs. If you live in an area that has a Pottery Barn or a Crate & Barrel, just go walk through those stores for an hour.  I’m not suggesting that your decorating style has to be the ubiquitous Pottery Barn style.  I am suggesting that while your house is on the market it needs to become a model home. Sometimes uncomfortably so.  Hopefully, it’s only for a short while, but think about it as not your house anymore.

Step 5 - Have a crucial conversation with your Broker.  The stakes are high and you want to sell your house.  Agree to become a partnership.  If your broker is exposing the house, and if you’re getting feedback that something needs to change, then you need to do your part.  The two of you should lay out a calendar.  In this calendar put your broker’s responsibilities in one color - the dates of ads, when it’s posted online, dates of open houses, etc.  In another color, put your own responsibilities. This is a two way street, Mr. Seller, it’s not all on your broker’s shoulders.  Your responsibility is to react to the feedback without getting emotional or defensive.  Don’t say, “they don’t know what they’re talking about, it would only take a few thousand dollars to finish the basement and they could do it the way they want it.” If buyers are passing your house by for finished basements then you have two choices - reduce the price or finish the basement. You choose, but do something.  Defensiveness and sneering at “stupid feedback” will not sell your house.

Houses are selling, in all price points.  The houses that sell the fastest have the most motivated sellers.  Get your house at the front of the line - be proactive not reactive.

Thanks to Larry Kendall, of The Group in Fort Collins, for sharing his wisdom about absorption rate positioning and calculating walking away money.

Want to search for Denver Homes for Sale?  Click the link at the top of my page and enter into the best site in Denver for an immediate home search.  You can search by neighborhood, by map area or by price!

Share This