Looking for a luxury home in Denver ??

Looking for a luxury home in Denver? The average selling price for homes over $1m held at $1.58M in October, demonstrating a 1% increase from September, and an increase of 15% year-over-year (Source Denver Post).

 If you are looking to purchase in the $1m plus market, click the picture below and contact me for a private tour

RADON – BIG DEAL OR NO BIG DEAL?

 

Radon. It’s colorless, odorless, deadly … and easily addressed.

What Is Radon? It’s a naturally occurring gas. It’s given off by the decay of trace amounts of radioactive materials in almost all soils. You can’t see it, taste it or smell it.

Is Radon a Health Hazard? Yes and no. In outdoor spaces, the gas dissipates just as fast as it is produced and has almost no impact on us as we wander around the great outdoors of Colorful Colorado.

Indoors, the issue is different. As the gas builds up under the foundation of your house, it finds its way in through crawl spaces, sump pump pits and through joints and cracks in basement slabs and sub-floors. Your furnace and central AC (if you have one) tend to cause the build up to be worse as they actually create a bit of suction that draws radon out of the soil into the lowest level of your residence.

Radon can accumulate to the point that it poses an increased risk for lung cancer. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking.

How Much Is Too Much Radon? The Environmental Protection Agency has set limits for radon in dwellings and the limit is expressed in “picocuries per liter.”

What is a picocurie?

We have no idea. But those folks at the EPA think that you should have less than four of them in every liter of volume in your house. At 10 picocuries per liter, your risk of developing lung cancer over your lifetime is about the same as a person smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

How Is Radon Detected? You can easily test for radon. Do-It-Yourself testing kits can be obtained at Home Depot or Lowes for $10 to $30. You let the tester sit for at least 48 hours and send it in to a lab that will report back to you on the radon levels in your place. This works great if you are testing a home you already own.

If you are buying a property, you’ll want a more sophisticated testing method that assures no tampering. The DIY test kits can be fooled but home inspectors use a machine that has hidden, tamper-proof mechanisms to make sure the seller is not fudging the results. Those tests run $125 to $150. A bit of good news with the testing machines is that they give results on the spot as soon as the 48-hour test period is over.

How Do You Get Rid Of Radon? Radon is easy to mitigate and the mitigation methods are not expensive. Costs can run from $200 up to $1500, with $800 to $1000 being an average cost. The systems themselves are simple and reliable and require almost no maintenance. Depending on market conditions, you might be able to get the seller to pay the costs of mitigation when you are buying a home. It’s tougher to do so in our current seller’s market.

What Action Should You Take? Check out the “Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide to Radon.” It has a wealth of additional information from the EPA.

And, if you’ve never tested your house, consider getting a DIY test kit from your local big box home supplier and test your house following the instructions that come with the test kit.

Compliments : Mike Cooke, Colorado Home Realty

Up, Up and Away .....

The 1967 song entitled Up, Up and Away is a good summary of the Denver real estate market. 

The fact that the singing group, The 5th Dimension recorded it makes it even more appropriate. Denver real estate has definitely entered another dimension. It is a new and uncharted realm.

Prices? Yep - they're up. Average sale price in March was $355,462 and that is a 14.79% increase from the average sale price in March of last year. As we always say, the 12-month moving average is a better measure of true price appreciation and it indicates an 8.38% rise in prices over the last year.

Closed Transactions? Yeah - there are more of them. We had 4,522 deals close in March versus 4,077 closed in March of 2014. That is an increase of almost 11%.

Inventory? Even it is up a bit from the previous month. There were 5,288 properties on the market at the end of March, which is a tad higher than the 4,910 that were on the market at the end of February.

What does it all mean? Prices are moving up nicely. Plus, lots of buyers are being successful at finding the place they want despite the relatively low inventory.

Click on the links below for more details on market trends for both:

• Single Family Homes March 2015
• Multi Family Homes March 2015

Want a report like this for your little corner of Denver?Give me a call and we can send you a report with detailed stats on the market in your zip code. 

Julie Reddington

720 226 4168

(c) Mike Cooke, Colorado Home Realty

How to successfully get moved in the current Denver Real Estate Market

Lots in the press at the moment about the current market here in Denver.  Don't let what you hear put you off.  I have all the tricks to get you moved successfully!

Julie Reddington - 720 226 4168

Wrap Up And Welcome 2015!

Its certainly going to be a chilly one, but a trip to Denver this New Year's Eve will not leave you cold! From the zoo, to parties and balls, to spectacular fireworks, Denver covers every member of the family.

http://www.denver.org/things-to-do/denver-holiday-events/denver-new-years-eve/

I wish you a fun and safe New Year's Eve and a very Happy New Year!

The Myth Of The Winter Slump

Here is a piece of conventional wisdom about real estate: It is slow in the winter. The holidays are busy. People are preoccupied with other things. No one is thinking about real estate.

Not so fast.

The stats tell a different story. If we look at the winter months of late December thru late March, it is not uncommon for 20% of the yearly sales to occur during this season versus the spring, summer and fall periods.

The supposed winter lull in real estate activity turns out to be more myth than reality. The truth is that each season of the year offers both opportunities and challenges. There is no perfect time to buy or sell and there is no time that is horrible either.

All of this is good news if you need to sell or buy a home in the next three months. You can be successful at wrapping up a winter real estate deal.

Let’s think about the situation for buyers first. While there are a lot of closings that happen during the winter selling season, it is true that there are fewer properties on the market during this time frame. It makes finding the place you want a little more problematic.

What can be different and favorable for buyers is that winter sellers tend to be serious and motivated. We don’t have a lot of discretionary sellers during the winter. Some sellers who have been overpriced make price adjustments and get very serious about consummating a sale. All things being equal, you can negotiate more aggressively.

The situation for sellers is not all that dissimilar. There are fewer buyers floating around but also fewer sellers with whom you must compete. In addition, the buyers that are active at this time of year are often people with deadlines. Something is driving them to take time during a busy season of the year to get out there and find a home. It is a good time of year for sellers to reevaluate just a bit and make a small price adjustment that will attract the attention of the serious buyers.

Myths die hard. The winter IS as good a time for doing real estate as any other time of year.

 

(c) Colorado Home Realty

Should You "For Sale By Owner"?

The article, "5 Reasons You Shouldn't For Sale by Owner,"

makes some interesting points about the disadvantages that arise when an owner sells a house without the help of an agent. However, a couple comments are in order.

Like most articles we see on this topic, the author cites studies that show that houses sold directly by an owner typically sell for substantially less money -- exactly 20% less in this case. The study that allegedly shows this is not referenced.

  

While it is true that For-Sale-by-Owner (FSBO) houses sell for less money than those with an agent involved, the differential is not nearly that large. Our own in-house studies show that For Sales By Owner properties in metro Denver typically sell for prices that are 4% to 6% less than the sale prices of houses sold where an agent is involved.

  

This differential is substantial and significant. Most agents charge sellers a fee in that range. Bottom-line: It turns out that most owners that sell without an agent end up doing all the work themselves, but don't put any more money in their pocket for their effort.  They are out their time and don't have any more money to show for it.

  

One of the reasons that By Owner properties sell for less money is because of Items #2 and #3 in the article. Through Multiple Listing Services, networking with other agents and internet agreements, real estate agents get much more exposure for a given property. Increased exposure means greater likelihood of finding a better and more motivated buyer than is found with limited exposure as a For-Sale-by-Owner seller. 

Be sure to read Item #1 in the article. It makes an excellent point that many By Owner property owners do not consider. 

Landscaping "Gifts" As Winter Sets In

Everyone knows to winterize sprinkler systems when cold temperatures arrive.

However, did you know that your landscaping could benefit also from some winterization and tender loving care during the winter?

It is worth spending some time and effort on your landscaping. We did a recent blog post about the fact that landscaping can contribute greatly to your property value – you can check it out here: Landscaping Improvements Protect Property Values.

Since landscaping can be an important feature in both the value and enjoyment you get from your home, we interviewed retired Master Gardner Jackie Burghardt to get some tips. She gave us some great tips on how to take special care of your landscaping during the winter season.

Here is the list:

Rake leaves from lawns and out of plant and shrub beds. Leaves left on the grass promote mold growth. Letting leaves remain in planting beds give a place for plant pests to over-winter. When spring comes, they attack your budding and blooming plants with a vengeance.

Do any of your trees need attention by a tree trimming company? Get it done during the winter. Prices are cheaper as winter begins because the arborists are not as busy as they are in the spring, summer and fall.

Think about planting bulbs. The beginning of winter is the time to plant tulip, hyacinth, crocus and daffodil bulbs if you want these plants to be part of your spring and summer landscaping in 2015.
Conversely, think about digging up bulbs. Dig up canna lily and dahlia bulbs after the first freeze, when the leaves turn black. Put them in sphagnum moss in a bag in the garage. The bulbs of these species won’t survive the winter in the ground but they will survive when stored properly in the garage. Replant them when spring arrives.

If we have two to three weeks with no moisture and the daytime high gets up to 42 degrees or more, give plants and trees some water. Use a soaker at a low flow rate so that is can soak into the cold ground.

Water lawns once or twice during the winter using a garden hose when temps are in the 40s. It will help them come back faster in the spring.

Follow these simple recommendations and your landscaping will reward you with health and color when spring arrives. It will increase your enjoyment of your property and will reward you financially if you are thinking about putting your house on the market next year.

Courtesy of Mike Cooke of Colorado Home Realty. (c)