VerdeDenver

This is the third reason we are expecting a strong Market this year. RENTAL RATES:  Have you checked out rental rates for  our area lately?   A typicial 3 bedroom 2 bath bungalow in our neighborhood is renting for $2,000 - $2,500 a month or more.  At that rate it is truly cheaper to buy then to rent.  Renters who are qualify will be looking to do exactly that.

The 2nd reason the market will remain strong this year. MORE move-up buyers: A move- up buyer is someone who owns a home but wishes to sell and "move up" in price to secure a more desirable home that better meets their needs.  The bump in values last year all over Denver created a situation where "cashing out" the equity in a home is now much more attractive making that next purchase a potential reality for more people.  Platt Park is a destination move-up neighborhood.

If you need to sell, it should be a good year to do so.  Give us a call we would be happy to meet with you and provide a comprehensive market value and help you navigate the entire process.

         1) GROWTH:  Job Growth for Denver is projected to be in the top five for all cities.  Most of those jobs are expected to be in the professional and business sectors, which is the promary demographic of our neighborhood.  front range population growth is expected to be 1.7% or around 90,000 people.  More people with better jobs translates to demand for housing.

Selling In 2014? Four things to consider, this is the second.  Consider new Light fixtures.  Light fixtures can be purchased for a relatively low cost and make a dramatic difference in appearance. One more thing to consider would be to change out switch plates and even the outlets. This is a subtle change but makes your home look morte extensively updated.

   For most homes fresh paint gets the most bang for your buck.  One should aim for natural earth tones to have the broadest appeal. Paint can be especially key if your interior or exterior are looking especially tired, worn or just needs freshened up.  Keep color themes consistent throughtout your home. 

Denver area home prices rose 9.8 percent in March from a year earlier, the 15th straight month of year-over-year price gains, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index, released today.

Prices were up sharply in most other large cities as well, and economists for Douglas County-based IHS Inc. called it "the strongest [Case-Shiller report] in years."

Denver's year-over-year price rise was only a fraction under February's 9.9 percent gain, which was the city's biggest annual rise since before the Great Recession, according to data from the closely followed monthly real estate report series from S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC.

The pace of year-over-year price gains in Denver mostly has been picking up speed for several months. But Denver-area prices remain under their 2006 peak.

March's 9.8 percent year-over-year gain and February's 9.9 percent rise followed over-the-year increases of 9.2 percent in January, 8.5 percent in December and 7.8 percent in November. (See the table at the end of this article for price trends back to 2010.)

Nationwide, home prices rose 10.9 percent in March from the previous year in the 20 large metro areas followed by the Case-Shiller report, the largest year-over-year gain in nearly seven years.

The greatest gains were in Phoenix (up 22.5 percent), San Francisco (up 22.2 percent) and Las Vegas (up 20.6 percent), three markets where prices were hit harder than Denver during the recession. There were no year-over-year declines among the 20 cities; the smallest gain was in New York (up 2.6 percent).

David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said it was the third straight month that home prices rose year-over-year in all 20 cities tracked by Case-Shiller.

Some buyers are solving housing woes with prose.

They're not writing poems or romantic novels — just short notes to sellers, telling them how happy they'd be to buy their homes.

The simple gesture is paying off in today's market, where inventory is tight and bidding wars are typical.

"Money talks, but a letter gives a human element to an offer," said Michael Citron, a real estate agent in Broward and Palm Beach counties. "Sellers want to sell to a buyer who they're comfortable with and can relate to."

Cynthia Kelley fell in love with a four-bedroom home in Coral Springs, Fla., as soon as she saw the "doggy doors" and the big back yard.

But four other buyers also wanted the home. So her agent suggested she write a letter, explaining to the seller how much the home would mean to her.

"I have three golden retrievers myself and know they would be in heaven with all that fabulous space to run and play," she wrote.

Kelley, 48, included a photo of herself with the pooches and also explained that she is a reserve Army nurse who is ready to buy after enduring some financial hardships when she was called to active duty from 2005 to 2007.

"I was hoping to appeal to their personal side," Kelley said.

She submitted a strong offer, which was the most important factor, said Clayton Banks, the seller. But her note confirmed for him that she was the right buyer. The deal closed last week.

"It made us feel better about selling to her," Banks said.

Writing a letter probably is one of the easiest things buyers have to do to land a home these days, said Samantha DeBianchi, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., agent.

In some cases, they're giving sellers more time to move by allowing them to stay in the homes after the closing. Lawyers typically advise against these post-occupancy agreements, but buyers are willing because so few properties are available, agents say.

One of DeBianchi's clients had to adopt the seller's cat as part of the purchase. The client was a dog owner, but she agreed to the deal.

"This is just how it is," DeBianchi said. "Sellers are completely in control."

A letter from a buyer probably won't make a difference if the offer is considerably lower than others that the seller has received, agents say. Nor will a letter sway a lender who wants the highest price and the easiest closing possible.

But many traditional sellers feel attached to their properties and don't want to unload to just anybody, said Judy Trudel, an agent in Lighthouse Point, Fla.

"Sellers want to know the buyer will live in and enjoy the home as much as they did," Trudel said.

Heather Cameron found a quaint, three-bedroom home in Coconut Creek, Fla., but it had multiple offers.

Cameron, a fan of HGTV's "House Hunters," saw that an eager buyer on the show wrote a letter to a seller, so she figured it was worth a try.

Cameron began by complimenting the sellers on the home and explained that she and her fiance, a Fort Lauderdale police officer, hope to buy before they get bogged down in wedding plans.

She added that they want to start a family, and the home would be perfect because her sister lives in the same community.

Within hours of receiving the letter, the sellers accepted the offer.

"Everyone told us horror stories about buying a home," said Cameron, 23, an event planner. "But this was the easiest process."

Foreclosures data, from a national perspective, are indicating some encouraging trends in housing news, but those numbers vary widely from market to market. What’s really important is what is happening locally.

Nationally, there were 19% fewer completed U.S. foreclosures in February 2012 compared to February 2013 — down to 54,000 vs. 67,000 according to CoreLogic®’s recently released National Foreclosure Report for February. This was the 16th consecutive month with a year-over-year decline.

The report defines completed foreclosures as the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Comparing month over month, completed foreclosures also fell from 58,000* in January 2013 to the February level of 54,000, a decrease of 7 percent.

And while that’s good news and a step in the right direction, between the beginning of the financial crisis in September 2008, there have been approximately 4.2 million completed foreclosures across the country to date.

And, prior to the housing market decline in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 monthly nationwide between 2000 and 2006, so we still have a way to go.

However, this information is highly local and does not apply to all markets:

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in February 2013 account for almost half nationally

Florida (95,000)

California (90,000)

Michigan (73,000)

Texas (57,000)

Georgia (49,000)

The lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in February 2013 show quite a different story.

District of Columbia (96)

Hawaii (469)

North Dakota (482)

Maine (542)

West Virginia (588)

But, population obviously impacts these totals. After all, there are much fewer home owners in Maine than in California.

As a percentage of all mortgaged homes, the five states with the highest foreclosure were:

Florida (9.9 %)

New Jersey (7.2 %)

New York (5.0%)

Nevada (4.6%)

Illinois (4.5%)

In contrast, the five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were:

Wyoming (0.5%)

Alaska (0.6%)

North Dakota (0.7%)

Nebraska (0.8%)

Montana (0.9%)

Bottom line? Looking at national foreclosure statistics is like viewing a national weather forecast. Just because it’s raining in Miami doesn’t mean you should carry an umbrella in Montana.

Colorado added 10,800 payroll jobs in February, and the state's unemployment rate edged down to 7.2 percent, the lowest level in four years, the Colorado Department of Labor and Industry reported Friday.

It's the state's lowest unemployment rate since February 2009, and the eighth consecutive monthly decline in Colorado's unemployment rate. Unemployment stood at 7.3 percent in January.

A year ago, the state's jobless rate was a full percentage point higher, at 8.2 percent, according to recently revised estimates from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment in Colorado peaked at 9.1 percent in October and November 2010.

The unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted for normal job fluctuations. Unadjusted, February's jobless rate was 7.6 percent, unchanged from January.

Over the last year, total employment in the state is up 44,700, while the labor force is up 18,600 and the number of unemployed has declined by 26,200, according to estimates based on a survey of households.

The nationwide unemployment rate was 7.7 percent in February.

As for payroll jobs, Colorado's private employers added a net 10,100 jobs in February and government added 700 positions, according to a separate survey of employers. Colorado now has 2,352,900 payroll jobs, 62,800 more than a year ago.

February's payroll job gain of 10,800 follows January's rise of 7,100 jobs.

The employer survey does not count certain job categories, such as farm laborers and people who work for themselves at home.

The biggest private-sector gains in February were in professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and trade, transportation and utilities, the agency said

A trio of monthly housing reports Wednesday all paint a picture of a smoking-hot residential real estate market for metro Denver, with increasing sales prices and near-record volume of sales.

Metrolist Inc.'s March report shows a 46 percent increase in sales from February and a 20 percent increase from March 2012.

Meanwhile, CoreLogic Inc.'s home price index for metro Denver shows prices increased by 11.7 percent in February from the same month a year earlier. That’s the 13th month in a row for year-over-year price gains. That index included distressed, or REO (real estate owned), sales.

And Metrolist’s chairman, Gary Bauer, compiled historical data showing March’s 6,682 available homes for sale was the lowest the inventory level in at least 28 years, driving sale prices to near historic levels and creating a frenzied market for buyers. It was the ninth month in a row the inventory level as fallen.

“Buyer demand continues,” Bauer said. “It’s not stopping. ... The strength of the market really showed itself in March.”

There were 5,976 homes put under contract in March, according to Metrolist, up 19 percent from February and 12 percent from a year ago.

The average days on the market plunged again, 16 percent month-over-month to 67 days in March — a 35 percent decrease from March 2012.

But the average sold price statistic, $295,330, told the real story: That was up 7 percent from February and 19 percent year-over-year.

“Our brokers are seeing a strong increase in ‘flash sales,’ where homes are coming under contract within days or even hours after being put on the market,” Kirby Slunaker, CEO and president of Metrolist, said in a release.