Denver Named One of the Best Places to Buy a Home…Now!

Forbes Magazine released this week its “In Depth: Best Cities to Buy a Home” feature in which the magazine highlights cities with the best real estate deals. Click here to access the article: http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/22/cities-deals-home-lifestyle-real-estate-home-buying.html. Among other large cities, Denver was listed with the magazine noting that “While the majority of the nation’s housing markets are still working toward a bottom, some cities are boasting fundamentals that make them good places to buy a home now.” In addition to Denver, Los Angeles, Boston, Phoenix and San Diego were listed.

To determine which cities feature the best real estate deals, the magazine “looked at three sets of data in the March 2009 RPX Monthly Housing Market Report, distributed by Radar Logic Incorporated, a New York-based derivatives firm. It looks at the market fundamentals in the country’s 25 most populated metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs or metros), geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget used by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics. First, we examined the number of ZIP codes with 25% of the area's sales to determine those in which activity is most evenly distributed. Next, we examined increase and decrease in price per square footage to determine where market value is the highest. Last, we looked at transaction rates in each city to determine where the housing markets are most active. We scored each city by category, and then combined the scores to determine the final ranking.”

Here’s what the article reported:

“1. Denver, Colo.
PPSF Increase or Decrease
March 2009 vs. Feb. 2009: 5.7%
Transaction Increase or Decrease
March 2009 vs. March 2008: -8.4%
Percentage of ZIP Codes with 25% of Sales: 25%”

Also this week, the National Association of Realtors released its existing home sales report which noted that existing home sales rose for the second straight month in May, signaling low prices and incentives are attracting buyers.

NAR says existing home sales, including single family homes, condos and coops rose 2.4 percent in May. It was the first back-to-back monthly gain in existing home sales since September 2005.

Sales of existing homes rose for the second straight month in May, signaling low prices and incentives are attracting buyers.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun had this to say, “Historically low mortgage rates clearly drew buyers into the market, and housing remains very affordable even with a recent uptick in rates. First time buyers are also being drawn off the sidelines by the $8,000 tax credit which is helping to absorb inventory.”

The numbers could be even better if it weren’t for poor appraisals. While pending sales of existing homes—those with signed contracts but not closed—indicate stronger activity, some contracts are falling through from faulty valuations that keep buyers from getting a loan, said Yun.

Locally we made some great headlines this week, especially with the Denver Business Journal’s story headlined “Home prices in mountain states up 1.3% outpacing nation.”

The article reported, “Housing prices in Colorado and other mountain states rose 1.3 percent in April from the previous month, the biggest increase of any region of the nation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported Tuesday.”

And with that great news in tow, let’s take a look at this week in real estate:

• Boulder/Longmont—The Boulder/Broomfield county markets continue to show a drop in new listings, with numbers down about 20% from the week before. Sales, however have shown a slight increase this week, about 2%. A quick check of price reductions in the area show 572 so far this month in Broomfield and Boulder counties! Expired listings only totaled 47 and that includes the last day of May. Great new stats for our side: If you sold a house under $750,000 with CBRB in Boulder county this year compared to the rest of the MLS, you averaged 13 fewer days before contract and $7989 more in your pocket! Our Longmont office reports buyers seem to be confused these days. Some are waiting for interest rates to drop and some are waiting for prices to drop. News that the housing market is local seems to be getting out but it might be adding to the overall confusion in the market. First time buyers are the main thrust of our sales. We have had some higher priced homes sell but homes under $250,000 are still selling fast. Now is a great time to get into the investor market. Investors are not looking to "flip" the homes but are looking for the longer term. The rental market is strong in Longmont. Summer weather has finally arrived, making it pleasant to show homes in the evenings.
• Evergreen/Conifer—Our Evergreen office reported we had a total of five new listings for the week. Seven listings went under contract and one buyer went under contract. There was one multiple offer situation for a $208,000 SFH in Wheat Ridge. One listing went under contract in five days after only two showings, a $425,000 SFH in Evergreen. We had a total of 81 showings during the week which is close to normal level for peak season. The majority of activity occurred in three different price points, $200,000 to $250,000 (mostly first time buyers and investors), $300,000 to $350,000 and some recent strong activity in the $500,000 to $750,000 range. Our Conifer office reports we had four listings go under contract during the week, one of which was a bank REO. One buyer went under contract during the week. There were a total of 42 showings for the week and activity continues to improve.
• Denver Central—Housing inventory continues to drop in the Denver area and for the fourth consecutive month homes sold in the metro area went for less than $200,000 and 28% were in the $200,000 to $300,000 range with those under $200,00 selling very quickly.
• Devonshire—Showings have been very consistent this week. There is a definite feeling of increased activity and lots of contracts being written and accepted. Appraisal issues are still rampant, with multiple appraisals being asked for at the last minute before closing. We are advising Agents to write contracts with 45 day closings where possible to allow for a smooth transaction. Buyers are excited to get into their new homes and open houses are busy in many areas. Activity may slow down a bit with the 4th of July upon us.
• Douglas County—Our Southwest Metro office reports we had another week of great showings. Father's Day was our only slow day. We had six properties with multiple contracts and our Agents are finding they are competing with multiple offers on properties they are writing on for their buyers. Open houses were slow this past weekend however floor was very good. Two Agents picked up buyers from their floor calls. We are still seeing very good activity on homes priced under $350,000. We have lots of buyers wanting to take advantage of the $8000.00 tax credit and I believe that the interest rates going up has also helped get buyers off the fence.
• El Paso County—No information reported.
• Larimer County—Our Fort Collins/Loveland office reports things are looking good in the Northern Colorado real estate market. We are seeing homes moving pretty quickly that are priced at market and multiple offers on short sale and bank owned properties that are priced 5-10% below market. Summer began on Sunday and inventory has increased this week as the summer selling season starts to collect steam. First time home buyers are still the primary home shoppers in the market and are gobbling up the lower priced inventory in search of the American dream. Appraisals are still an issue as Agents, lenders and appraisers learn to work together within the confines of the HVCC. It is still an amazing time to buy and interest rates are still near the lowest they've been in the last 50 years.
• North Metro—Activity abounds in the North Metro area. We have put 53 homes on the market this month so far. Average days on market is less than 60 when the property is well priced. The average sales price is around $273,000. The upper end market (million plus) continues to show slow movement unless the home is located in a new build subdivision. Numerous floor calls are coming into the office on our listings and appointments from these calls are increasing. We're beginning to experience buyer calls on floor looking for homes in the $600,000+ range. Relocation buyers are also abundant & increasing in our area. We continue to see a lot of short sale situations.
• Parker—After two very busy weeks, activity has slowed down slightly. The listing inventory specifically in the lower to mid price range keeps decreasing steadily which indicates that the trend for declining values could reverse soon. The upper end market (above $600,000) is still very slow and it will take a while to recover. Agents are very busy staying in touch and keeping clients informed about current market conditions while their business is up year over year!
• Southeast Metro—Traffic continues to increase at our listings. Multiple offer situations are almost a guaranteed with properties priced below $250,000. Luxury properties are also seeing increased traffic and we currently have nine luxury homes under contract. Our success story of the week: One of our Agents had a listing for three years that went under contract and closed in June!
• West Lakewood—Numerous sales are having appraisal problems. Closed short sales and bank owned properties are affecting the appraised prices. We are seeing increased activity in the above $400,000 price range.

One potential challenge that may begin affecting our market is the rise in interest rates. I came across this CNNMoney.com article which explains why interest rates are on the rise: http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/19/news/economy/higher_inflation.fortune/index.htm. At this point, what we are seeing is the recent uptick is causing many fence sitting buyers to get off the fence and get in the market and in all likelihood that is a very good idea. We probably won’t see interest rates as low as they have been for at least another 20-30 years.

I also recently sat down with our friends at Coldwell Banker Mortgage to discuss interest rates, the future and what we can expect and based on that conversation, I will be focusing my July edition of Reality Check on this very subject.

Watch for it after the 4th of July holiday.

Until then, make it a great week.

Chris Mygatt
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Colorado

Reinvigorating the Housing Market…And Loveland Is One of the Nation’s Best Places to Live!

This week there were some exciting change of events going on with the government. Realogy (Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s parent company) President Richard Smith met with legislators regarding a positive development for the real estate industry. Specifically, the Business Roundtable (an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. corporations)— of which Richard is the chair—issued a set of recommendations for the White House and Congress that are aimed at jump starting the housing market in order to stimulate a broader economic recovery.

The Business Roundtable’s recommendations are as follows:

· Keep mortgage interest rates at historically low levels (below 5 percent) for at least one year;
· Expand the current First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit incentive from the lesser of 10 percent of the purchase price of the home or $8,000 to a higher limit of either 10 percent or $15,000 for all homebuyers, remove the income restrictions and include all primary residence purchases for one full year;
· Conduct a thorough review of current foreclosure mitigation and loan-modification programs in light of rising loan-modification re-default rates;
· Make permanent the current temporary conforming loan limits; and
· Continue to review and strengthen government efforts already underway to review and refine mortgage lending practices.

We believe targeted, demand-side solutions—such as the ones Business Roundtable is recommending—will provide a critical next step for a housing recovery that will help create jobs and boost the economy as a whole. To obtain a copy of the Business Roundtable press release and its Housing Working Group’s detailed recommendations, click here. To read an article that appeared in today’s online edition of The Wall Street Journal containing an interview about the Business Roundtable’s recommendations and why they are crucial to jumpstarting the housing market, click here.

Please understand that the legislative process is often a long and winding road that is hard to predict, but at some point in the future, we expect to call on you to make your voices heard in support of any new legislation in Congress that would advance these recommendations. We will communicate with you as these legislative opportunities occur—but for now, just know that we appreciate your support and are proud to be part of this initiative.

In other news this week, RealtyTrac released its foreclosure findings with positive news that foreclosure filings dipped 6% in May compared with April. But the news wasn’t all positive as the number is still 18% above this time last year. Essentially one in ever 398 homes receive a foreclosure filing last month.

Here in Colorado, the picture is a bit brighter than the nation as a whole. We are ranked No. 8 out of 50 states in foreclosure filings with 4,876 total filings or one in ever 436 households. Our numbers, however, are on the decline with a decline from April 2009 to May 2009 earning an 11.3% drop and from May 2008 t o May 2009 earning a 15% decline. For a complete look at the USA Today story that ran on the figures, click here: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-06-10-may-home-foreclosures_N.htm#chart.

Now let’s take a look at this week in real estate:

• Boulder/Longmont—Our Boulder office reports after pausing to take a break during the last week of May, both sales and listings jumped by over 20% in the Boulder County market last week. This was fueled by tremendous activity in the under $225,000 price range. Numerous Agents reported having to write several offers for first time buyers because of multiple offer situations. Getting appraisals done on time still remains a problem. Inventory on lower priced homes continues to shrink dramatically even with the uptick in listings overall. The Longmont office reported showings increased 13% week over week. It was a steady increase with showings up each day of the week. Part of the buyer pool is made up of financially prudent individuals who did not over extend themselves during the "give-away" period. They are now seeing the selling of existing home and the purchase of the new home as one transaction. They are seeing that the percentage of loss is outweighed by the percentage of gain with the new purchase. Appraisals are a big hurdle in any transaction right now. The are coming in very conservative.
• Evergreen/Conifer—Our Evergreen office reports we had a total of six new listings for the week. Only one listing went under contract. Also, one buyer went under contract on new construction along the Hwy. 285 corridor. Property listed @ $799,000. Sales activity has slowed, which may be the normal seasonal slowdown from mid-May to mid-June. We had a total of 88 showings during the week; close to normal levels for peak season. The majority of activity in two different price points, $200,00 to $250,000 for first time buyers, investors and the $500,000 to $700,000 range. We had four new listings during the week totaling $1,200,000. Four listings went under contract including one short sale and one buyer went under contract. We had 33 showings for the week. The majority of the showings were in the $300,000 to $400,000 range, with good activity in the $400,000 to $500,000 range.
• Denver Central—For the fourth consecutive month we have seen an increase in the number of existing homes sold. In the month of May 42% of the homes sold went for less than $200,000 and 28% were in the $200,000 to $300,000 range. Inventory continues to drop and we had 20,734 unsold homes in the month of May 09 which is a drop of 21.3% compared to May 2008. First time home buyers are taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit.
• Devonshire—Although the weather has not been the best, market activity is great. Showings are up and activity at some open houses indicates that buyers are out there! We had some visitors at open houses talking about the fact that they are looking at houses to decide if it is the right time to get their own homes on the market. We are seeing houses that are priced competitively going under contract quickly. Lenders are bogged down right now so it is taking a little longer to get to the closing table. Appraisals are slow to come in as the work load for appraisers is heavy. We are optimistic that we'll have a strong summer selling season.
• Douglas County—Our Southwest Metro office reported showings have really increased this past week. Our open houses were very successful. Several Agents picked up buyers and three potential listings. We had two Agents who converted their floor calls and wrote offers for them. We are seeing listings that are priced right receiving offers after only 1-3 days on the market. Agents are also reporting that there is an increased interest in the $8,000 credit. We are seeing properties over $400,000 not seeing as much activity as those below this price range. Our mortgage rep continues approving buyers which is a good sign. Agents are feeling that the market is starting to turn little by little.
• El Paso County—Colorado Springs reports our listings have slowed considerably but sales remain steady. The under $250,000 remains the hot market for buyers with an average time on market of less than 30 days. High end properties slowed the past month as did showings in the high end. Employment reports uneasy as several shopping centers have reported worst sales quarter ever. Agents have slowed their jumping around from office to office and board number of active agents continues to drop.
• Larimer County—Our Fort Collins/Loveland office reports showing activity is going through the roof! We had nearly 90 more showings this week than the prior week. Our listings going under contract nearly doubled from the previous week. Many sellers who have found themselves over priced have dramatically reduced their prices to reflect market value and this has begun drawing more buyers into the market. Interest rates are climbing and are above 5% and are approaching 5.5% very quickly. Most lenders think that we will hit 6% by the end of the summer. If you are looking to take advantage of the low, low rate you had better do it soon. I think the days of the low 5s and high 4s for interest rates are behind us. Plus, check out my reference below regarding Loveland!
• North Metro—No information reported.
• Parker—For the third month in a row, we see a trend that after it being very busy last week, the first week of the month slows down a little. However, after that, activity picks up right away and our sales and showings have increased by high numbers. Just like last week, we are seeing multiple offers and a bidding process on power priced listings in all price ranges.
• Southeast Metro—No information reported.
• West Lakewood—Our Agents are very busy listing and selling property. There are very few bank owned listings entering our inventory. Short sale listings are still quite predominate. It's obvious that consumers are gaining confidence.

Finally, I’d like to leave you with this great news. Loveland, CO was this week named one of the United States best places to live in 2009, based on U.S. News’ look at areas with strong economies, low living costs and plenty of fun things to do.

Here’s what the article had to say about Loveland:

Located just outside the breathtaking Rocky Mountain National Park, Loveland, Colo., is considered the "Gateway to the Rockies." But while it has 27 public parks and nearly 16 miles of recreation trails, it's Loveland's affection for man-made beauty that sets this community of 56,000 residents apart.

Thanks to its Art in Public Places program, more than 300 pieces of sculpture and two-dimensional works are on display throughout the community. And with a 2008 median home sale price of $186,000, the area's real estate market is relatively affordable.

Loveland has also achieved acclaim for its Valentine remailing program, in which 200,000 cards are sent to the city to receive a special cachet stamp. "We've got a waiting list of over 50 people that are waiting to be stampers," says Kathryn Roth of the Loveland Chamber of Commerce.

It’s just a great reminder of why we call this special place home.

I did want to let you all know that I will take a brief hiatus from Weekly Market Watch next week but will return the following week with another robust edition.

Until next week,
Make it a great one,

Chris Mygatt
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Colorado

Showing Activity In the Entry Level and Mid-Level Markets Continues to Rise…For the Entry Level Buyer, Are Bidding Wars Back?

Now that school is almost out, we’re finding many families are starting to look at homes in anticipation of getting settled prior to next school year. Showing activity, in many markets, has increased considerably.

Sellers are now getting their homes on the market and, in general, seem to be quite knowledgeable regarding staging and pricing. The homes in the entry-level market, for the most part, are moving well if they are in good condition and fairly and competitively priced. Several Agents whose clients’ listings are in the entry level market are reporting that they have had buyers lose out on homes in bidding wars. Could they be back? The competition for well priced homes in good condition is heating up and we are seeing multiple offer situations in most of our first time home buyer markets.

Though we have seen sporadic increases in the upper end market, it is still relatively slow on showings and closings but we do anticipate that that sector will loosen somewhat if the economic news continues to show some stabilization and an upswing.

Before I get into the week’s top news, what I would like to share is that LORE Magazine and The Wall Street Journal this week released their Top 400 list. You may view it online at http://online.wsj.com/ad/top400-articlecontinued.html. Many of our own Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage colleagues we’re recognized within this coveted ranking and for that—along with all of their hard work and dedication—I salute them.

The most notable news this week was The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) release of is Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 29, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 658.7, a decrease of 16.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 786.0 one week earlier but was 14.4% higher than the same week a year ago. This increase is due, largely in part to the first time home buyer market which, as we know, has been vastly stimulated by a triple threat combination of low interest rates, the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit and increased affordability. Together these incentives are finally getting buyers in the first time home buyer market off the fence and into the market which—once we get through the large number of REOs on the market—we should finally start to see some price stabilization.

But for those of you who are waiting for your homes to come back to their pre-recession values, be prepared to wait. A recent study that I read notes that real estate is now as affordable as its has been in the past 38 years (this of course relates to median homes when compared to median mortgage rates and incomes).

The fact is, the peak of unaffordability was in 2006, when an average family in the United States needed to spend 44% of their income to purchase an average single family home. Today, housing affordability in the United States is up to 73%. This means 73% of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2009 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,000.

A couple of other interesting articles of note this week:

- RISMedia’s First Time Home Buyers Grabbing Houses and Tax Credit (http://rismedia.com/2009-06-03/first-time-home-buyers-grabbing-houses-and-tax-credit/)
- Realty Times Multifamily Builder Confidence Up From Record Lows; Interest From Prospective Renters and Buyers Rises (http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20090603_confidenceup.htm)
- Realtor.org Pending Home Sales Up For Three Months in a Row (http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2009/06/phs_up)

Now, let’s take a look at this week in real estate:

• Boulder/Longmont—Our Boulder office reports Boulder county has been pretty steady for the last two weeks, despite a slight slowdown over the Memorial Day weekend. The large jump in both sales and listings that started the second week in May has continued. Agents continue to report tremendous activity in the first time buyer market with multiple offers on properties under $200,000 being very common, especially short sales. We're seeing more and more lender problems-deadlines missed, late and inaccurate appraisals and poor communications, so we are urging Agents to leave more time for closings. One agent reported a new listing (with future purchase) solely because he got a Facebook page! Our Longmont office reports we had a nice rebound on our showing activity for the last week. The number of homes under contract is holding steady. We have all heard the great news about the Denver area being one of the first areas to rebound. This news will help with confidence in our market. First time buyers are helping to make the rebound possible and Longmont has a good inventory for those buyers.
• Evergreen/Conifer—Our Evergreen office reports we had two new listings during the week for a total of 17 for the month, totaling $7,500,000. Four listings went under contract including one for $2,200,000 in Evergreen. There were a total of 19 homes under contract for the month. Showing activity showed some improvement following the holiday weekend. There were sixty-four showings for a total of 324 for the month. We continue to experience an excessive number of contracts that fall due to a combination of factors including lender and appraisal issues and inspection problems. Our Conifer office reports we had one new listing during the week for a total of eight for the month totaling $1,200,000. Three listings went under contract including one bank owned. A total of eleven homes under contract for the month. Showing activity showed some improvement following the holiday weekend; 33 showinngs for the week for a total of 226 for the month.
• Denver Central—Inventory continues to drop in the Denver area. We have several neighborhoods that continue to see some appreciation in home values. The Denver area is recovering a lot faster than other parts of the country this past week. The Today show talked about Denver being the #1 city for real estate recovery in the country.
• Devonshire—The summer season has definitely arrive at Devonshire. The children are about to be out of school and parents are looking at homes in anticipation of getting settled prior to next school year. Showing activity has increased considerably. Sellers are now getting their homes on the market & are quite knowledgeable regarding staging and pricing. The homes below the $400,000 price point are moving well if they are in good condition & fairly priced. We are still seeing the upper end of the market is still slow on showings and closings but anticipate that that sector will loosen somewhat if the economic news continues to show some stabilization/upswing. Really great activity at open houses and with the warm weather we anticipate a very busy weekend.
• Douglas County—Our Southwest Metro office reported our showings have picked up this past week. We had three listings that sold in 1 to 2 days of hitting the market. We had six properties with multiple offers. Our mortgage rep approved 10 buyers in one day. The feeling is that the buyers are now ready to buy and ready to write offers. Open houses were great last week and we had several Agents pick up buyers from their open houses. We're very excited to see that the activity is moving in the right direction. Our listing inventory is also starting to increase as sellers are ready to sell and I believe they are starting to feel good about our market.
• El Paso County—Colorado Springs reports the buyer market remains busy and inventory is not being replaced as fast a sales are going. The under $250,000 range remains very hot. Rumor is that Hewlett/Packard may be returning to the area. Appraisals are coming in very low and not flexible on comps. Several small lenders have closed & several local banks have cut back on available programs.
• Larimer County—Our Fort Collins/Loveland office reports homes are moving, and moving quickly at the lower price points. Several Agents have had buyers lose out on homes in bidding wars. The competition for well priced homes in good condition is heating up and we are seeing multiple offer situations. Most of this activity is in the $300,000 and under price point. A recent report for the SE part of Fort Collins revealed there are currently 14 homes on the market between $249,000 and $275,000 and of those homes, eleven of them are under contract. Inventory is stabilizing after the May boom but with graduations and primary schools getting out we expect to see a slight bump in the next two weeks.
• North Metro—The average price range of our new listings continues to be around $250,000. There was an increase in the number of homes under contract in the past week. Our Previews market is moving slowly. Our office continues to lead the market in number of listings and sales in Westminster, Broomfield and Commerce City. Many Agents from this office are preparing for their Neighborhood Garage Sales. They will be holding these sales in at least ten communities around the Westminster/Broomfield area.
• Parker—We had a very active last week of the month. We continue our trend of fast moving listings that are priced aggressively in the lower to mid market. The high end market is still down almost 50% and it will take some time to recover. Some of the neighborhoods are already stable in value and more should soon follow. The time may be running out soon to get those special deals.
• Southeast Metro—It's not a buyer's market in desirable neighborhoods! The competition for homes in good condition in several desirable neighborhoods is fierce! One of our brokers wrote 25 offers for different clients in one week and was involved in multiple offer situations with every property. Open house activity is off the charts! One of our listings had 27 visitors last Saturday and fifteen visitors in one hour on Sunday.
• West Lakewood—Sellers know that even though they feel they sold their homes at fair market value, the appraisal may come in below contract price. At this point buyers and sellers are back in a negotiating position. The market under $250,000 is very, very active. The number of properties under contract is steadily increasing.

I’d like to leave you with this. It is an excerpt of an article I found online that I think really should get us all thinking. As I visit our offices, what I hear from most is that things are changing and I think many of us agree—at least as far as the housing market is concerned—it seems we are on the path to recovery. Having said that, there are some buyers and sellers out there who continue to wait. For those of you (and you know who you are), please read on:

“…If you're a buyer, buy because you love what you're buying. Buy because the lifestyle you're looking to live can more easily be accomplished with the purchase than without. If you're selling, sell because you want to sell. Sell because you need to sell. Sell because your neighbor is driving you crazy. Sell because the house you've always had your eye on just hit the market. Sell to move up in the market. Sell to downsize. Sell to liquidate, but if you really want to sell, just sell already. If you're waiting to sell until markets rebound, please realize that doesn't mean to list in October. That means you'll be listing several years down the road, and the reason you were planning on selling in the first place might not exist at that magical time in the future. None of us are promised today, let alone tomorrow. Let alone 6 years from now when you can possibly sell your home for 15% more money.

If you're in no hurry to sell, do your neighbors a favor and take your home off the open market. If you're wanting to sell, be realistic in your asking price and aggressive in your hunt for a buyer. If you're a buyer, John Burns seems to be telling you that it's a pretty good time to buy. I'm telling you it's a good time to buy, and my reasons are not the same as Mr. Burns'. Buy because you want to. Buy because you can. Buy because you know the purchase will make you look like a real estate savant 15 years from now. Welcome to 2009 and the new rules of real estate. Sell low, hopefully buy lower.”

And with that, I’ll bid you adieux.

Until next week,
Make it a great one,


Chris Mygatt
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Colorado