The market in Denver has definitely changed in the last 6 months. I am working with several first time buyers in the $150K and under price range. Several of them are shopping in the western suburbs of Denver (Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Arvada).

The few Single Family Residences that are available on the west side are primarily Short Sale and Bank Owned. As I prepare the offers and deliver them to the listing agents I am hearing that there are many offers submitted and often they are higher than asking price. This is causing some frustration for my buyers, as you can well imagine.

Many first time home buyers are in the market right now, trying to get their transaction closed before the end of the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit; so the competition in this price range is fierce.

Watch my managing broker, Charles Roberts, discuss the changing Denver market on ABC’s Nightline http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8413830

And, Good News! This update on the possible extension of the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit:

Daily Real Estate News August 24, 2009
First-Time Buyer Tax Credit Extension Possible
Bills to extend the maximum $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, which expires Nov. 30, are pending in both the U.S. House and the Senate.Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat and chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, is co-sponsor of a bill with Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson that would raise the credit amount to a maximum of $15,000.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid of Nevada favors an extension of the current credit. He was quoted by the Las Vegas Sun saying, "It's something we can get done."
Odds are that the credit will be extended and broadened to cover all buyers next year, but the chances of the amount increasing aren’t as good, observers say.
Source: Washington Post Writers Group, Kenneth R. Harney (08/22/2009)

Lil Lively- Your Voice in Real Estate 303-746-8827

Protecting Your Memories

I had the good fortune of being introduced to Creative Connections last week. Creative Connections is a referral network of creatives and meets every Friday at 9am. www.5280cc.com.

While there I had a chance to talk with Ed Campbell who owns A Page Is Turned (www.apageisturned.com). His company is a photo preservation and restoration company. Imagine for a minute that you come home from work to find you home burnt to the ground. While it is virtually impossible to imagine that happening, it is a reality daily in this country.

Even worse, the percentage of people who lose all of their pictures in that fire or natural disaster is astronomical. In reality, how many of us take the time to put our pictures on a disk and then store that disk in a fireproof safe or safety deposit box?

Anybody???

As elementary as it sounds, take a few hours and gather your pictures and videos together and call Ed about how to make sure that you never experience a loss that cannot be recovered.

All the best,

Matt Hanson
303.204.6800

This too shall pass... the good and bad.

I help people buy and sell houses in the Denver metro area, many of which are a hundred years old or more. As I help my clients prepare to list or to move, we find some interesting things in the attics and basements of these storied homes. My recent discovery was page 11 & 12 of the Sunday Denver Post dated December 27, 1931. It was a time of high unemployment and economic anxiety. Here's a bit of the what's up two days after Christmas nearly 78 years ago:
*Pasco Santana, called the PLATTE RIVER HERMIT took residence in a cardboard house near the Sixteenth Street viaduct. With his "Back to Nature" attitude he chose this location, feeling the city dwellers were the ones missing out. "The river is my best friend, even tho it doesn't say anything and just keeps rolling along" (The neighborhood would be too crowded for Mr. Santana's liking today, even among the cardboard crowd.)
*500 SALESMEN ATTEND MEETING- Sponsored by the market development committee of the Chamber of Commerce in an effort to acquaint Denver wholesale and manufacturing firms of their "Buy-it-in this-Market" program. (Just like mama said, everything comes in style again).
*JONES OPPOSES PLAN FOR JOB RELIEF- Senator Attacks Proposal of Direct Federal Aid to Feed Needy.
*POPE APPEALS FOR UNIFICATION OF CHRISTIANS- Seeks United Front for Fight Against Unbelief and Immorality.
*BATTLE IS OPENED ON SULLIVAN LAW- A bitter attack on the recent amendment to the Sullivan law requiring all persons carrying a revolver to be fingerprinted and photographed. The National Riffle Association went on record as favoring a repeal of the Sullivan law.
*DECLINE REPORTED IN FARM MORTGAGES
*FARM WASTES TOTAL 250 MILLION TONS...and so it goes.

Business meetings, battles over government funding of social programs, religions striving to reconcile, gun control, mortgage declines. A lot has changed in America, but this makes me wonder if we're really just swimming in circles. For the readers of these pages in 1931 times were really, really tough. World War I had shown the atrocities of which modern man is capable, the economy was in the toilet, confidence in our government was shaky at best. But somehow, though those years and all that followed we have prevailed. We've taken small steps forward and "giant leaps for mankind", getting better every day. If you don't retain your sense of reason and a bit of the Pollyanna perspective, it certainly never will.
Today the Stock Market is up and the housing market is showing signs of return. Denver is rated #3 among the nation's best cities to work and Gov. Ritter announced that REpower USA was relocating their headquarters from Oregon reinforcing Denver's growth as an epicenter of renewable energy. Interest rates are low and banks are still lending to qualified buyers, there's an $8000 tax credit for first-time buyers and down payment assistance programs have revamped and restarted. But many of us are still struggling. For those experiencing job loss, soaring medical bills, upside down mortgages of a pending foreclosure, the Pollyanna attitude is surely put to the test. Focus on the good in your life, get yourself back on good footing, call in help if you need it.
Today's headlines are experienced differently by each of us. Whether you're feeling like you're headed for the cardboard box by the river, or you're looking for a home overlooking it, as a real estate consultant I can guide you through these changing times. For however the economic moment is treating you... this too shall pass.

Bank Owned Homes Sell Fast

This is a great time to be a buyer. However, getting a good deal is not like shooting fish in a barrel.
A recent article in CNN Money speaks to what I have been seeing in the Denver market for the last 6 months to a year. Several of my first time home buyers are in the up to $150,000 range. Much of what is available in this price range are short sales, and that means waiting, and waiting some more for an uncertain outcome.
The habitable bank owned homes in this range are seeing multiple offers in the first day on the market, and many of those offers are above asking price.
So, if you are looking for a great deal and you want to buy now be ready to act quickly!
Here’s the whole CNNMoney article http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/05/real_estate/buy_foreclosures_now/index.htm?postversion=2009080512

Lil Lively - Your Voice in Real Estate
Broker Associate - Your Castle Real Estate
Cell: 303-746-8827 LilLively@Gmail.com

Writer's Block

I continue to run up against writer's block and have struggled to come up with a good solution. Some days it is getting up and walking away yet other days it is turning on the IPod and listening to some great music.

I decided to write down a few of the best and would love to hear about any other suggestions.

1. Exercise - Take a walk, ride the bike, go for a run. Nothing crazy - no marathon's necessary but even a mile or two is a great start.
2. A Hobby - I am an avid golfer. If I take an hour and go hit a bucket if balls or even walk 9 holes, it clears my mind. Make sure to bring a note pad in case the block breaks while you are out there!
3. Phone a Friend - Have a friend/mentor who is willing to be a sounding board. Explain the block and what is leading to it and see if they can mention something that could take you off on a tangent and break the block.

As always, don't be frustrated. It is a part of being creative and being an artist. It is part of why we love doing what we do.

Best of luck and I would love to hear any other great methods to break the block.

Matt Hanson

Writer

303.300.8601

Today is my parent’s 71st wedding anniversary.

If they were still here Dad would say “it feels like a hundred years” with that twinkle in his eye. At which point Mom would say “Oh, Mac….”

Their life together was defined by WWII. I have hundreds of the letters that Dad wrote to Mom, pre, during and post war. As a career Navy man he was away from home most of those early years, and I believe they are the proof of “absence makes the heart grow fonder”.

I write this today with a profound gratitude for their commitment, their love, their loyalty, their curiosity, their love of music and most of all, their sense of humor.

I am blessed with a life that I love and I honor them as the source of that.

Lil Lively

303-746-8827

Lil@TopProducer.com