Mike's Firelight Blog

Firelight Real Estate Conditions for 2008

2009-01-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

For the first time since I began tracking Firelight's real estate trends in 2003 we saw a DEPRECIATION of average real estate prices in Firelight!

While sold home prices were down an average of 3.6% for the year, that's still better than the average -4.6% for all of Highlands Ranch. The average sold price of all 81 homes reported sold in 2008 was $311,348 with an average 60 days on market.

More information on 24 specific models within Firelight can be seen on my exclusive spreadsheet.

December issue of Smoke Signals

2009-01-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

The December 2008 issue of my bi-monthly newsletter for Firelight residents is available as a PDF here: Smoke Signals - December 2008.

October issue of Smoke Signals

2008-10-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

The October 2008 issue of my bi-monthly newsletter for Firelight residents is available as a PDF here: Smoke Signals - October 2008.

New Listing

2008-10-03T14:40:00.001-07:00

10674 Cherrybrook Circle
Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
This incredibly-well maintained Shea Cascade model with a corner-lot location is just waiting for you to call it home. Just steps from parks, trails and schools you’ll love everything this home has to offer from the oversized bathtub in the master bathroom to the spacious family room with media center and gas fireplace.

August issue of Smoke Signals

2008-08-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

The August 2008 issue of my bi-monthly newsletter for Firelight residents is available as a PDF here: Smoke Signals - August 2008.

June issue of Smoke Signals

2008-08-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

The June 2008 issue of my bi-monthly newsletter for Firelight residents is available as a PDF here: Smoke Signals - June 2008

April issue of Smoke Signals

2008-04-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

The April 2008 issue of my bi-monthly newsletter for Firelight residents is being delivered to your door right now but if you would like an advanced or digital copy, here it is:
Smoke Signals - April 2008

20 Firelight Homes Sold YTD

2008-04-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

Firelight is lagging compared to last years figures but not much. As of today there have been 20 reported sold homes according the MetroList, Inc. (The Denver area MLS system). At this point last year there were 26 homes sold.

And while average appreciation is still down 5.8 percent for the year, the days on market is down as well to just 61 days.

The summer months are coming and we tend to see improvement that time of year but the old mantra still rings true...you must price your home accordingly for the market if you want it to sell.

Job growth is good!

2008-03-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

There's a statistic floating around somewhere out there that says that on average, when a company relocates workers to a new city, half of those people buy homes. I don't know where the other half end up living, but this announcement today could mean a potential of at least 250 new buyers to the south side of Denver, including Highlands Ranch and Fightlight!

Schwab to bring 500 jobs

February issue of Smoke Signals

2008-02-22T09:56:00.000-08:00

The February issue of my bi-monthly newsletter for Firelight residents is being delivered to your door right now but if you would like an advanced or digital copy, here it is:
Smoke Signals - February 2008

This issue includes graphs of Firelight's real estate market activity over the past three years. I'm setting up an email list if you would like to receive this newsletter every other month as well. Just send me your email address and you'll be added to the distribution.

Beware the Certified Deed Scam

2008-01-16T11:34:00.000-08:00

There is a new scam going around that I wanted to alert you to. It's called the "Certified Deed Scam," and here's how it works:

You receive an official looking letter in the mail from the "U.S. Government Federal Citizen Information Center," recommending that you have a certified deed on record, then pointing out that what you receive at closing (when you bought your home) is only a copy of the deed and not a certified copy. The company offers to provide you with a certified copy of your deed if you mail them a check for $69.50.

Fact is you don't need a certified copy of the deed unless an attorney tells you to get one for some reason, and if that happens you can get one at your county office for around $7.

This isn't an entirely new scam as I've run across reports of it going back almost three years, but I read about it in the newspaper last week and then actually received one of the letters in the mail on Friday. It's not illegal what they are doing, but a certified copy simply isn't necessary.
(more information at http://www.newsome.org/2005/10/ridiculous-offer.shtml)

I suspect there are people who fall for the scam, but hopefully now you'll know not to.

10575 Wildhurst Circle

2007-12-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

STEAL OF THE YEAR!

This home was one of Berkeley's original award-winning Larkspur model homes in Firelight. It was sold fully furnished in February,2006 for a net price of $368,600. Great custom colors and upgrades throughout like granite coutertops, built-in shelves and desk, 42" maple cabinets, tile bathrooms, a professionally built deck overlooking outstanding mountain views and more.

The owners listed the home (without furnishings) a year later for $375,000 and made multiple price reductions all the way to $335,000 and eventually withdrew the listing in May, 2007.

But now it's back on the market for just $279,900!

I'm not sure if it's bank owned, but it's advertised that it's been "winterized" and the buyer would have to pay for utilities to be turned back on then off again after inspection. (Then back on again after purchasing). It was also previously listed as "subject to short payoff".

The only possible negative issue with the home that I know of is it backs to Poston Parkway, which might cause some unwanted street noise, but it's not as bad as backing to a street like Wildcat Reserve Pkwy and you get the mountain views!

The home is 2,121 square feet, 3 bedrooms upstairs, 2 full bathrooms upstairs and a half-bath on the main floor.

It's listed by Westfall & Company Marketing but if you are interested in this home, I certainly would be happy to arrange a showing for you. Give me a call at 303-887-4275 and take advantage of this outstanding opportunity!

Can you believe it?!

2007-12-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

Firelight is still positive!
With 11 months of data, Firelight on average is doing very well compared to the overall Denver housing market.

2007
Total homes sold YTD = 91
Total appreciation YTD = 2.7%
Average sales price = $324,888
Average days on market = 67 days

We are on target to equal last years total sales (101 homes) and do it with a slightly higher average sales price and in a slightly lower average number of days on market!

Don't believe the media hype that the housing market is in free fall. Firelight continues to sell and while it might not be as good as in 2005, if you price your home correctly for the current market, you can sell too!

Banks have no one to blame but themselves

2007-11-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

Foreclosures aplenty and who is to blame? My answer is without question, it's the banks fault.

Banks (i.e. lenders) gave people money to buy homes without regard to the buyers true ability to repay. They looked the other way just for the opportunity to get some money from the buyer without considering they may never get paid back.

But now, with so many bank-owned properties on the market, banks are doing it to themselves again by not working very hard to sell a home before it goes to foreclosure.

Here's teh scenario. Buyer likes a home that's about to go into foreclosure. Buyer makes a reasonable offer to buy the home. Buyer submits a contract with all the proper legal jargon around it, including dates for closing and a reply to the offer.

Next step? The banks need to review the offer and make a reply! Seems simple does it not? But I keep hearing and have experienced banks taking up to 40 days just to reply to the offer! 40 days!!! The banks usually claim that they are so backlogged that they can't reply very quickly. It takes about 2 minutes to review an offer, and another 1 minute to compose an email reply. That's 3 minutes. Therefore, a bank employee should be able to process 20 offers per hour if it were their only job. But few banks have a dedicated person who does this and instead, they make that person handle the foreclosure process.

They sure could prevent a great many more foreclosures if they would just get off their asses and take what they can get. It saves time AND money in the long run as well as in the short term.

Where are we today?

2007-10-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

The average days-on-market for sold homes in Firelight over the past two months is 41 and the average price per finished square foot of those homes is $150.24 on a total of 15 homes sold in that time period.

To compare that to the same two month time period in 2006, there were 18 homes sold with an average days-on-market of 55 days and at an average price per finished square foot of $148.57.

Looking at the total year-to-date comparisons, at this point in 2006 the average days-on-market was 62 days with 86 homes sold. In 2007 the average days-on-market is 67 days with 78 homes sold and average appreciation for those 78 homes is just 1.7 percent whereas the total average appreciation for all of 2006 was 4 percent.

Signs of a Real Estate Recovery?

2007-09-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

Compared to August 2006, we actually had an increase in the number of properties sold in Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Parker, Castle Rock and the rest of Douglas County! The Highlands Ranch / Lone Tree area saw a year-to-year increase of 4.3 percent and the Parker area increased a whopping 12.4 percent!

Year-to-date, the Highlands Ranch / Lone tree area is only down 2 transactions from 2006 with 258 total transactions through the month of August.

It's hard to belive with all the negative news regarding mortgages and foreclosures but perhaps...just perhaps...we've hit bottom and are seeing the first signs of a true recovery for 2008.

Get your complimentary 2007 football magnet

2007-08-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Football season is nearly upon us and there's no better way to keep on top of the action then by having a 2007 magnetic football schedule featuring the game schedules of the Denver Broncos, CU Buffaloes, and CSU Rams!

Get yours now by sending me an email with your name and address and I'll mail one out to you right away!

Firelight Sales Stats through July

2007-08-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

As of August 8, 2007 there have been 64 reported real estate sales in Firelight for an average sales price of $319,265...a 1.1% appreciation over the 2006 average! Curious how your model of home is selling? Check out my exclusive report.

So many ways to market a home...

2007-08-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

and yet so few real estate agents embrace it!

I just returned from the Inman Real Estate Connect 2007 conference in San Francisco where the topic of discusion was technology in real estate. I returned with pages of notes and several great new ideas for marketing myself and my listings! I already promote my listings on hundreds of websites, perhaps more than any other Realtor in town, but it's always good to learn more.

The Internet has and continues to change the way we buy and sell real estate and unless it's your business to know how, you probably wouldn't find such a conference very useful, but hopefully your realtor would.

3070 Redhaven Way

2007-07-12T12:46:00.001-07:00

This Berkeley Larkspur home is less than two years old, backs and sides to the greenbelt and features granite slab countertops, stainless steel appliances, word floors, maple cabinets, and much, much more! Priced at $355,000.

Proper Home Staging

2007-06-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Take a moment to watch this ~5 minute video from the Today show to learn a bit about staging your home. One part that is very interesting is the speakers opinion on how important it is to have furniture in the home as opposed to having an empty home.

I've been learning a lot about proper home staging lately because in the difficult selling market that we have today, a properly staged home is more important than ever. Contact me if you would like help with staging your home.

Greenbelt Attraction

2007-05-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

It's not for everyone but backing to a greenbelt is attractive to many home buyer regardless of the market. You may have to put up with people walking behind your home all the time, which means if you have dogs they might frequently bark and of course people can see right into your home if the window blinds aren't drawn reducing your feeling of privacy, but to many backing to a greenbelt is a better alternative to backing to another home.

Homes that back to the greenbelt in Firelight tend to sell better than other homes that back to another house. Case in point, 10709 Evondale St. This Shea Shenandoah model was listed last summer by yours truly. Unfortunately, the sellers had three dogs and would only accept showings if they were home to take the dogs out. That meant they turned down around 60 showings! And despite that obstacle, we still secured a purchase offer for a reasonable amount, but the sellers did not accept it and eventually the home went into foreclosure and became a lender owned property.

Well the home came back on the market on May 2, this time as a lender-owned home priced at $255,150 and it went under contract in just 6 days! This model, in good condition (without the reminders of the dogs), should sell for $265,000 or more but because the bank simply wants to recoup the majority of their sunk/lost expenses, it came on with an attractive price that would be more appropriate for a home that did not back to the greenbelt. Assuming the home was not brought up to good condition, the price is a reflection of the location, proving once again that backing to a greenbelt helps a home sell.

100% financing is gone

2007-05-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

On April 1, 2007 I received a couple of emails from lenders that I've worked with in the past. One said that 100% financing won't be happening any more. The other said, "don't believe what you've heard, we still do 100% financing".

Well now it's time to pay the piper. Those mortgage brokers that did 100% financing are now finding that they can't close because the underwriter and/or the investor (the person with the money) changed their minds in the middle of the month and require a lot more documentation and investigation, which causes the home purchase to not close when it's scheduled. I suspect that mortgage brokers are quickly going to realize that 100% isn't worth their time any more.

How does that affect you? Well there are hundreds of homes in Firelight that attract buyers who want to do a 100% loan (usually in the form of an 80/20 loan). If you get an offer to buy your home from someone like that, I'd be REAL careful and expect that if it ever gets to closing that it won't be on time. This can seriously mess up your purchase of the next home. I'm advising clients not to accept offers where the buyer is financing 100% of the loan. It's just not worth the risk and stress.

This of course means that it'll take longer for your home to sell, and that leads to more homes on the market (i.e. more competition), which leads to lower home prices.

In other words, thanks to all of the recent foreclosures, the real estate market will--in my opinion--suffer for the rest of the year if not longer.

Former Models Sell Well

2007-04-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

When Firelight was first started in 1999-2000, it was a different market. Buyers were inticed to purchase new homes at pre-construction prices and in exchange they got to pick out the upgrades they desired in the home. Resale homes were selling quickly and easily and for more money. Most original buyers purchased their new Firelight home based on what they saw in a model home, which of course was furnished and decorated professionally. Eventually the builders sold the model homes and now that the buyers of those model homes are looking to sell, it seems that the models are selling at prices above the average sold price for the model in the rest of the neighborhood.

Case in point, 2932 Woodbriar Dr. was the original Shea Cascade model home. In 2006 the average sold price for the Cascade model was just $248,454 and the highest price that any Cascade had ever sold for was $265,000. On April 19 this former model home sold for a new record price of $267,500 and in just 12 days on market!

In today's buyers market, buyers can choose from a wide selection of home, but a house that offers above average condition and location will still fetch an above average price. Take that into consideration if you are thinking about listing your home for sale.

Location, location, location

2007-04-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

How many residents in Firelight paid a premium for the lot where their home is built? The answer is most of them. At least the original owners did. When Firelight first began to sell homes, it was 1999-2000 and the real estate market was HOT HOT HOT! For many people (myself included) the only way to buy a home was to buy a new home at "pre-construction" prices because the resale homes in Highlands Ranch were asking and getting more money that we could afford at the time. The builder knew this and in turn charged lot premiums. There are homes in Finisterra where the lot premium exceeded $100k...you can probably figure out which homes those are, one of them recently resold for $1.3 Million.

But here's the rub. In today's market, builders are frequently waiving the lot premium if your just buy the home. They, like many sellers today, will do anything to get a home sold. And that bodes bad news for the original owners in Firelight that paid a lot premium because you will probably not be recouping that cost when you go to sell your home now.

And then there are those folks who paid for "mountain views" because the home backed to Poston - a not-so-busy road at the time. People paid $5000-$20,000 to back to that street and now if they try to sell, they tend to hear from many potential buyers, "We don't want to back to that street." It can be frustrating, but there are ways to market a home to overcome that objection.

If you want to know more about overcoming objections with location, contact me and I'll give you some ideas.