Month: October 2019

The answer isn’t the same for every situation.

As with every decision in life, there are pros and cons, and choosing when to sell a home is no different. There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration before deciding when to sell a home. Many homeowners believe selling a home during the fall or winter months is not a good idea and that the spring is the only time a house should be sold. This is the furthest from the truth. Certainly most real estate markets across the United States experience a “spring market rush” every year. There is no doubt that the “spring market” is a great time to be selling and buying real estate, however, the fall and winter seasons may be the best fit for you for many reasons.

Here are several reasons why choosing to sell your home now may be a better decision than waiting until the spring:

Less Competition
One way that you can tell the spring real estate market has arrived is by driving down a street in your local community. In all likelihood there will be For Sale signs up all over the neighborhood! One great reason to sell your home now and not wait until the spring market is there is sure to be less competition.  The fewer number of comparable homes for sale, the greater the probability that a buyer will look at your home.

Simply put, it’s the supply and demand theory. If there are less homes for sale, there are less homes that a potential buyer can choose from, therefore increasing the demand for your home. Not only will less competition increase the probability for showings, but it will also increase the probability that an offer will be received and you will get the maximum amount of money for your home.Search Homes for Sale

Serious Buyers Are Out There
Homes are sold and bought 365 days a year, period!  Many homeowners believe that buyers aren’t out there during the fall and winter months. This simply is not the case. Serious buyers are always out there!  Some buyers may stop their home search because it is the fall or winter, but serious buyers will continue to look at homes, no matter what time of year it is.

The fall and winter months are also a great time for a potential buyer to see what a specific neighborhood is like.  Do your neighbors have pumpkins on their front step?  Are there lots of Trick-or-Treaters wandering the neighborhood on Halloween?  Do any of your neighbors have any light displays for the holidays?  There are buyers out there who will look at these types of things when determining whether your home is in the right neighborhood for them or not.

The Best Agents Are Always Up To The Challenge
Any real estate agent who tells you that the fall or winter months are a bad time to sell is not someone you want selling your home! A great real estate agent will know how to adapt to the current season and market their listings to reflect that.  A great real estate agent can make suggestions and give some of their tips on how to sell a home during the fall or winter seasons. If a real estate agent doesn’t have any suggestions on making your home more desirable for the current season, you should be concerned about the creativity they are going to use when marketing your home.

Staging For The Holiday Season
Many sellers believe staging a home is the main reason a home sells.  While staging certainly helps sell homes, some buyers have a difficult time envisioning themselves in a home no matter what you do. However, there are some buyers who can easily be “sold” on a home because it is staged.  Simple “seasonal” staging such as adjusting the color of the decor or having an aroma in the air that is relative to the time of year can go a long way with some potential buyers and possibly be the difference between a home selling or not.

Quicker Transactions
Right now, there are fewer real estate transactions than there will be in the spring.  The fewer number of transactions means the mortgage lenders have less loans to process, attorneys have less closings to do, and home inspectors have fewer inspections to do.  All of these factors should lead to a quicker transaction and closing for all the parties involved.  One of the most frustrating things for a seller to deal with while selling their home is not getting answers in a reasonable amount of time. A quicker transaction is going to be less stress for you.

By considering all of the reasons above, you will be able to determine whether now is a good time to sell or if you should wait until the spring.

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Search all homes for Sale in Colorado.Work at West + Main Homes.Denver’s Housing Market Isn’t Crashing – It’s Changing.

The 30-year fixed-mortgage fell 8 basis points this week, averaging 3.57%, Freddie Mac reports. The lower rates are drawing out more home buyers in the fall market.

“Despite the economic slowdown due to weakening manufacturing and corporate investment, the consumer side of the economy remains on solid ground,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 50-year low in the unemployment rate combined with low mortgage rates has led to increased home buyer demand this year. Much of this strength is coming from entry-level buyers—the first-time home buyer share of the loans Freddie Mac purchased in 2019 is 46%, a two-decade high.”

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Oct. 10:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.57%, with an average 0.6 point, falling from last week’s 3.65% average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.90%.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.05%, with an average 0.5 point, falling from last week’s 3.14% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 4.29%.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.35%, with an average 0.3 point, dropping from last week’s 3.38% average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 4.07%.

Read the full article here, and if you’re thinking about buying contact me! 

In other news…

+ Thinking about doubling up households? You’re not alone!

+ Find Joy on the trails in Apex…where they have trail names that are as funny as the views are stunning

+ 3 reasons you should trick or treat if you’re house hunting!

+ Miles from Denver: This week we are exploring Steamboat Springs!

+ 1678 new listings hit the market this week, about the same as last week’s new inventory.

Let me know if you have questions about anything home or Real Estate related, if you’d like to get out and see some of the homes that are for sale, or if you are wondering what your home might be worth today.

Stacie Staub

As crews have begun making snow at three Front Range ski areas, ski season is just around the corner.

Here is a list of projected opening dates for Colorado resorts. All are subject to change, depending on weather conditions. The Know will keep this list updated until all areas are open.

Arapahoe Basin: Oct. 11

Aspen Highlands: Dec. 7

Aspen Mountain: Nov. 28

Beaver Creek: Nov. 27

Breckenridge: Nov. 8

Buttermilk: Dec. 7

Copper Mountain: Nov. 8

Crested Butte: Nov. 27

Echo Mountain: Nov. 29

Eldora: Nov. 15

Granby Ranch: Dec. 13

Hesperus: Dec. 21

Howelsen Hill: Nov. 30

Kendall Mountain: Dec. 14

Keystone: Oct. 12

Loveland: Mid-October

Monarch: Nov. 22

Powderhorn: Dec. 13

Purgatory: Nov. 23

Silverton: Dec. 26

Ski Cooper: Dec. 7

Snowmass: Nov. 28

Steamboat: Nov. 23

Sunlight: Dec. 13

Telluride: Nov. 28

Vail: Nov. 15

Winter Park: Nov. 13

Wolf Creek: Nov. 1

Updated at 1:40 p.m. on Oct. 11: Two hours after Keystone announced it would open for the season on Saturday to become “the first ski resort to open in North America,” Arapahoe Basin said it would open Friday from 3:30- 5:30 p.m.for its earliest opening since 2009.

In the wake of a significant snowstorm and cold temperatures that kicked its snowmaking operations into high-gear, Keystone will open for skiing and riding on Saturday, Oct. 12, the resort’s earliest opening since 1995.

Arapahoe Basin seems poised to open as well. There hasn’t been an announcement yet, but that area’s chief operating officer, Alan Henceroth, hinted in a blog post Friday that their opening day trail was being groomed, adding, “It’s going to be a fantastic weekend.”

At Keystone, skiers and riders will take the River Run Gondola to the summit, skiing three trails to mid mountain, then taking the Montezuma Express back to the top. At the end of the day, they will have to download on the gondola from the summit to the base.

RELATED: When all Colorado ski resorts are scheduled to open for the season

“With Keystone’s early opening, and Breckenridge’s plan to operate through Memorial Day, the two resorts will offer one of the longest ski seasons in the country, providing even more value for our Epic Pass holders,” said Jody Churich, Keystone’s new vice president and general manager. “Our mountain operations team put in a tremendous amount of hard work to get our new snowmaking system ready for Keystone’s early opening.”

A-Basin has been the first in the Front Range to open for seven of the last eight years, tying with Loveland in 2015. Wolf Creek in southern Colorado beat them both in 2011, opening on Oct. 8. Two years ago, Arapahoe Basin opened on Oct. 13.

Keystone hasn’t even attempted to open in October since 2002, conceding the battle for opening day honors to A-Basin and Loveland, but Vail Resorts significantly upgraded Keystone’s snowmaking system this year. Company officials made no secret of their desire to compete with Arapahoe Basin to get open first. The two ski areas are four miles apart.

On the other side of Loveland Pass, Loveland spokesman John Sellers said it will be a few more days before that area opens.

“With the new snow we got and the cold temperatures, we’re hoping for a productive weekend,” Sellers said. “Hopefully we will have more information early next week. Next week is not out of the realm of possibility, but we’ll have to see how the weekend goes.”

Sources: Colorado Ski Country USA, Vail Resorts. All dates subject to change

Market Reports

Homes priced between $300,000 and $499,999 have greatest buyer demand in Metro Denver. The price segments for which homebuyers have gained more negotiating power are condos priced between $750,000 and $999,999 and the single-family homes priced over $1 million.

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September ended with 2.04 months of single-family home inventory and 2.12 months of condos for sale. According to DMAR, housing inventory under five months is considered a seller’s market.

“In the Denver area, the real estate season is usually busiest from March through September,” said Jill Schafer, Chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee and Metro Denver REALTOR®. “This year, you could say we’ve been turning from an extremely fast-paced market to a slower moving, healthier one. There have been changes, but we have not shifted to a buyer’s market. Let me repeat that. We have not shifted to a buyer’s market. Sellers still hold the upper hand.”

Schafer adds, “Don’t get me wrong, we have been seeing changes. The number of price reductions has gone up. The spread between the list price and the sold price has widened. And the average days on market went up.”

The rate of housing price appreciation has slowed, but it has not reversed. Overall, while it decreased month over month, the average sold price of a home in September was still up 6.06 percent year over year and 2.52 percent year to date, $483,734 and $487,814 respectively. Year to date, the close-price to list-price ratio was at 99.31 percent in September, whereas it has been slightly over 100 percent since 2015. Furthermore, the days on market has increased 25 percent year to date from 24 days last year to 30 days.SEARCH FOR HOMES

Schafer notes that there are two segments of the housing market for which homebuyers have “a little more buying power”: condos priced between $750,000 and $999,999 and the single-family homes priced over $1 million.

On the other hand, homes priced between $300,000 and $499,999 have greatest buyer demand in Metro Denver. Andrew Abrams, DMAR Market Trends Committee member and Metro Denver REALTOR®, shares: “Months of inventory for homes priced between $300,000 and $499,999 were an astonishing 1.33 for single-family homes and 1.97 for condos. This means that if no houses hit the market in this price range, there would not be any more single-family homes to sell in 5-6 weeks and only two months for condos. This price range has the lowest months of inventory compared to all other segments of the housing market.”

Looking at the numbers, the record-high housing inventory for the month of September was in 2006 with 31,450 active listings, and 2015 represented the record low with 7,516. For comparison, September 2019 ended with 9,286 active listings.

Our monthly report also includes statistics and analyses in its supplemental “Luxury Market Report” (properties sold for $1 million or greater), “Signature Market Report” (properties sold between $750,000 and $999,999), “Premier Market Report” (properties sold between $500,000 and $749,999), and “Classic Market” (properties sold between $300,000 and $499,999). In September 2019, 177 homes sold and closed for $1 million or greater – down 23.38 percent from August and up 39.37 percent year over year. The closed dollar volume in the luxury segment year to date was $2.88 billion, up 10.73 percent from last year.

The highest-priced single-family home that sold in September was $7,200,000 representing three bedrooms, five bathrooms and 5,075 above ground square feet in Boulder. The highest-priced condo sale was $2,800,000 representing two bedrooms, three bathrooms and 3,042 above ground square feet in Denver.

“Like the sizzling hot temperatures, we had in September, the Luxury Market was hot too,” stated Brigette Modglin, DMAR Market Trends Committee member and Metro Denver REALTOR®.

Sales of single-family homes were up 32.48 percent and condo sales were up 120 percent from one year ago. Modglin adds, “Even with the extremely warm temperatures we still welcomed the fall season, which is when we start to see things slow down.”

Month over month, single-family homes in the Luxury Market had price depreciations with homes selling 96.49 percent from list-price to close-price, down 0.88 percent month over month and 0.42 percent from one year ago. Slowing down too was the single-family sales volume that fell 16.47 percent month over month but was still up year over year with an increase of 45.09 percent.

“Don’t slow down too much though,” comments Modglin. “If buyers are wanting to buy a single-family luxury home, now may be the time. With over six months of inventory for homes priced $1 million plus, we’ve moved from a balanced market slightly into a buyer’s market, and home sellers may be willing to give a little more than they did a month ago and even a year ago.”

The luxury condo market was in demand with condos selling 98.11 percent close-price to list-price, up 1.12 percent month over month and up 6.56 percent year over year. Luxury condo sales were ‘scorching hot’ according to Modglin with, year over year, 12 more condos that sold over $1 million and luxury condo sales volume up 135.07 percent.

Like a hot commodity, luxury condos weren’t taking as long to sell with only 37 average days on market, which was down 28.85 percent month over month and down 57.95 percent from one year ago when it averaged 88 days to sell. Luxury condo buyers are paying $191 more per square foot this year than last year with the price-per-square foot up 52.04 percent at $558.

Thank you to our partners at the Denver Metro Association of Realtors for compiling and providing this information.

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