dannyandjen's corner

Snow Mold... how to cure it.

2007-03-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

With all the snow we received in Denver, we have something unique this year... snow mold. It is brown rings in your grass. This is a virus that can cause some serious damage to your lawn if you don't treat it soon.
Simply use a leaf rake to collect the dead-infected areas. Gather them up and dispose of them.
For more info, check out one of these websites:
http://www.nutrilawn.com/snowmold.htm
http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/prints/snowmoldsprint.html

Bigger home... not so fast.

2007-02-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Lenders are closing their doors, and new lenders are not popping up as fast. Why? Because the government has finally stepped in to monitor lenders. The lenders are now required to be licensed and have background checks. Buying a house can still be painless, but getting in over your head will be harder.
The government is tired of the foreclosures and homeowners are too. Now, the buyer will be getting into a loan they can afford today and will still be able to afford two or three years from now.
FHA loans will be popular again in the future and the adjustable rate mortgages will be disappearing. This is a good thing. We surely don’t ever want to get someone into a house they can’t afford today or tomorrow.

7 Mortgage plans to choice from.

2006-05-26T15:11:00.000-06:00

Here is a breakdown of 7 different types of mortgages and there payments based on a $240,000 loan. 30 year Fixed Rate: Currently a 6.7% interest rate, and your payment would be $1,544. 30 year Interest Only: Currently 7.5% interest rate, and your payment would be $1,350. 15 year Fixed Rate: Currently a 6.22% interest rate, and your payments would be $2,052. 1 Year ARM: Currently a 5.71% interest rate, and your payments would be $1,387. 3 Year Hybrid ARM: Currently a 6.31% interest rate, and your payments would be $1,476. Option ARM: Currently a 1% interest rate, and your payments would be $772. 50 year Loan: Currently a 7% interest rate, and your payments would be $1,402. If you want to discuss these loans more, please contact us at 720.373.2669.

Spring Cleaning

2006-05-23T16:27:00.000-06:00

The spring cleaning time is a good time to do a lot of house matenience around the home. It allows you to keep you home up, which is important two ways. One, if and when you put your home on the market, having those little things done around the house will make your home show so much better and will make it easier to get an offer. A dirty home, worn out home does not show as well and makes it harder to sell. Another nice thing, if you do the spring cleaning you will be able to enjoy those nice things about your home instead of the new buyer only enjoying them.

Over 29,000 homes to choose from!

2006-05-09T09:56:00.000-06:00

Last year at this time there were 24,360 homes on the market. This month there are 29,045 homes on the Denver Metro Real Estate market. What does this mean? There is A LOT of competition. This is good for a buyer, where one owner might not take your offer, but the guy next door might. As a seller, it is not so good. You will see lower offers from buyers and you might not get as much as you were hoping for.

higher interest rates still good

2006-05-03T13:21:00.000-06:00

Yes, interest rates are going up. Yes, they are higher than they have been in the past 4 years. But rates are still good. They are not where they were 6 years ago or even back in the 1980's. Can you imagine if you had a 11% interest rate from 1980's? At 7% on a $250,000 loan, your payment would be $1,663. With a 11% interest rate that payment would be $2,381!!! So if you are thinking about buying, don't hesitate. Do it now before the rates get higher.

Marketing your home... WEBSITES?

2006-04-27T10:02:00.000-06:00

In today's real estate market, the best Realtors are seeing the light and are beginning to use tomorrow's technology. This means websites, blackberries, wireless laptops, digital phones, etc. etc. etc. With these new things, people are getting away from print material. Jen and I use over 22 websites to market our homes. This includes Google, Realtor.com, Craigslist and many others top websites. We have 6 of our own websites and are working on 2 more as we speak. In New York City, agents that are not up on today's technology are getting fired. If they can't give a client information right then on the spot with the latest means, the buyer/seller moves on to someone who can.

Lower Commissions

2006-04-25T15:26:00.000-06:00

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Jen and I have taken over many listings in the past few years. Those sellers were unhappy with the service they received from another agent, either they felt the agents weren't doing enough to market their home, or most likely, they never heard from their agent after they took the listing. Jen and I try to make it a point to be in touch with our sellers as much as possible. We almost always give feedback from a previous showing ASAP, unless we can not get in touch with the showing agent. (Believe it or not, sometimes agents don't call us back or never answer their phone.) Most importantly, Jen and I put in all of our listing contracts, if you are not happy with our service, you can cancel at any point.

Going to sell? But you don't know when...

2006-04-20T16:04:00.000-06:00

Here are a few tips if you are thinking about selling in the future, but you don't know quite when that will be.

1. Take outside pictureS of your home in case you have to sell during the winter and the grass is dead. Pictures are the main marketing tool in selling your home. That will determine if buyers even want to look at it. Take LOTS of pictureS! (from different angles)

2. Maintain the property. Get some cosmetic items done before the buyers start coming. You do NOT want the buyers to be distracted by things they shouldn't be.

3. De-clutter... This goes back to the buyers not being pre-occupied by unnecessary items. Less is better in the real estate world. The more of the house the buyers can see and the bigger it looks, the better your chances of selling quicker.

Bubble bursting article on MSN.com

2006-04-13T13:55:00.000-06:00

Here is part of an article I found on line at MSN.com. I hope this is not true...

Gollis has been big on Denver for some time, seeing it as a market that went through a rough time -- it lost thousands of telecom jobs a few years back -- but it is returning to a level state. The market has caught the attention of national builders in recent years, there is major construction underway and the Stapleton Airport redevelopment is one of the largest projects of its kind in the nation. Yet the NAR reports that in a year when the vast majority of markets showed double-digit increases in appreciation, Denver's rate was 4.4%, and Local Market Monitor reports that it hasn't been above 5% since 2001. The good folks at Fortune predict that for the next couple of years, Denver's rate of appreciation won't see half that number.

To read more of this article, go here: http://realestate.msn.com/buying/Articlebankrate.aspx?cp-documentid=421682&GT1=8012

Homes, Homes, go away…

2006-04-11T13:00:00.000-06:00

The number of unsold homes on the market continues to rise in the Denver area. As of last Friday the 7th of April, active resale homes were up 18% from a year ago at 27,309 (23,848 in 2005). That is also up 7% from February 2006. I think the biggest problem we are having are sellers not accepting contingent offers and buyers not willing to make contingent offers. If the ball doesn’t start rolling somewhere, the cycle will never begin. Buyers and sellers need to start working together to make this market move!

Owning vs. Renting

2006-04-07T09:12:00.000-06:00

Did you know that you can almost pay the same amount in a monthly mortgage payment as you can pay in a months rent? You might pay a little more a month to own a home, but in the end (filing your taxes) you will be ahead. This happens when you take the taxes breaks you gain from owning a home. You are also building equity when you own a home and could have more than just your security deposit when you sell you home.

Appreciation rate in Denver

2006-04-04T09:23:00.000-06:00

The worst was Bennett with a –58% median price drop in the past year. The best was Nederland with a 26.7% increase in median price. Golden followed with a 25.6% increase in the past year and Littleton with a 25.3% increase. To see what other areas/zip codes did, go to www.dqnews.com/ZIPCO.shtm. You can also see other cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas or Chicago.

Denver Metro Home Stats

2006-03-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

This time last year, there were 21,730 homes on the market. Right now, there are 25,484 homes on the market. Ironically the average home price is up from $291,000 last February to $305,000 this month. As for condo/townhomes, the average price is down from $186,000 last February to $175,000 this month. This is a buyer’s market, but with interest rates on the rise, the time to act is now!

30 year loan can be a 21 year loan

2006-03-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

The stats show if you make an extra $100 payment per month towards your principal, you can knock NINE YEARS off the loan. Basically, you are reducing the amount of interest on your loan every year. Now your payment will not decrease every year, that will stay the same, but your amount owed will decline. If you are planning on being in your home for a while (more than 10 years) I highly recommend this technique.

$20 million Listing

2006-02-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

The highest price listing in the United States and probably the world is in Florida. It is a “fixer-upper” Donald Trump bought, at a bankruptcy auction last year, for a mere $41.35 million. .

The most expensive listing in the Denver Metro area is in Cherry Hills for $20 million. It is a 22,591 sq.ft. home that sits on 3 acres and has a 5,311 sq.ft. basement. The highest priced listing in Colorado is listed in Aspen. It’s a 14,300 sq.ft. home that surrounded by 200 acres listed for $35 million.

To see the home in Cherry Hills go to http://www.dannyandjen.com and click on SEARCH FOR HOMES. Then put 309607 in the QUICK SEARCH AREA on the upper right side of the page.

Interest Rates on the Rise?

2006-01-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Today’s interest rates two years ago, we were at 5%. Last year we were at 5.5%. A month ago, we were at 6.5% and today we're at 6.25%. The rates will be pretty stable for another few months, but by June or July I can see them climbing to the high 6’s. If you still have time to refinance if you are in an ARM loan, or just have a bad rate. If you want to buy, now is the time to do it in Denver with the rates low and the interest rates low. Don’t miss out!

Is there a bubble?

2006-01-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

USA Today asked 1,001 people if they felt the housing market was overvalued, just right, or undervalued. 73% said it was overvalued, 19% said it was just right and 5% said it was under. Now, it doesn’t say where these people lived, but if you did a nationwide survey, I think you would get those answers. If you did a Denver survey, I think those percentages would be different. I do not think Denver is overvalued, I think it is just right and you are not going to see a bubble bursting here in Denver. California, yes a bubble will burst. Arizona, no, I think they are stable. New York City, yes, I think a bubble will burst. Denver, no, they are stable.

Stock Market to crash today?

2006-01-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and read “Wall Street braces for tough day”. News that Intel and Yahoo did not meet their expectations for 2005. GOOD NEWS! I did not invest in the stock market! It is just another reason I put my money in real estate. My uncle, who is pretty wealthy and puts money everywhere, stocks, bonds, real estate, business, said the only place he has not lost money in all the years he has invested, was real estate. I hope if you do invest in the stock market, your day doesn’t turn out as bad as they make it seem.

Appreciation in Denver

2006-01-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

I read an article in the USA TODAY that stated home prices are growing in almost every metro area in the United States. Of course the Denver area has an N/A behind it for the percent change since 2004. However, I still believe it is increasing. The Denver market is slowly growing, around 3% per year, where as Phoenix has increased 55% in a year, and Los Angeles is at 22% (which is down from where is was the past two years). It could be worse, one could live in Elmira, New York which has decreased –5.5% since last year. Overall, Denver is due for a rebound in the next year or two where I will expect to see bigger increases around the 10% mark.

“You’re Fired!”

2005-12-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

I Went and watched the “Donald” in Chicago, it was a very interesting. Donald Trump, Anthony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki spoke at the Learning Annex. It was a very motivating experience. I think Anthony Robbins was the best, while Jamie and Jen like Robert Kiyosaki the best. In the end I think we all agree that to be successful in what ever you do, you have to get off your butt and just do it! If you want it bad enough you have to devote the time and effort to getting it done. Donald was fun to watch, but not motivating. He told stories most of the time about past experiences. It was the cliff notes of his books. The same seminar is coming to Denver next spring. Let me know if you'd like to go. I think I'm going to go again.

To invest or not to invest…

2005-10-28T10:35:00.000-06:00

Do we buy investment property? Yes. Jen and I don’t know the stock market, and I know I will never make the PGA tour, plus our numbers are never picked in the Powerball. So, we have to buy investment property. We own five properties. One in Tucson, one in Denver, one in Thornton, one in Keystone and our house in Erie. We try to spread our investments out, not all in the same place. We looked into the California market, but think that market can only go one way, down. Now we have adjusted our sights towards Austin, Texas. I think that market is going to be the next hot area. A city you can still buy a nice size home, 2 car garage, for under $200,000. I would like to buy more sooner than later, but the other decision maker has not been convinced yet. I might have to persuade her with chocolate.