Real Estate Blog
REALTOR confidence in Home Price Outlook Increases
The Decemeber 2011 REALTORS Confidence Index survey reports that an increasing number of Realtors® across our nation expect prices of single family homes to be constant or rising in the next 12 months. The December 2011 index was significantly higher than the December 2010 index. Similar predictions of a bottoming out of the residential markets have recently been available from a number of forecasting services.
Given the doom and gloom marketed over the past several years by the media, this is good information for the prospective buyer and the economy in general. While the Alma, Fairplay and Breckenridge, Colorado areas can sometimes be a bit off the national trend, we are seeing an increase in Buyer activity as the number of both vacant land and home sales continues to rise. Prices are still very favorable for Buyers, and it is a great time to buy real estate in Park County or Summit County!
Pending Home Sales in Alma, Colorado Area
As the first month of 2012 comes to a close, we find Buyer Activity in the Alma, Colorado area picking up! There are currently 15 homes Under Contract in the Park County area, which includes Alma, Fairplay, Jefferson, Como and Hartsel. This includes some Bank Owned as well as some individually owned properties, and even at least one new “spec” home that was built by a local builder. This is about twice as many as there were last year at this time!
Qualified buyers are finding good prices, favorable choices and low interest rates to be some of the selling features in this “Buyer’s Market”. Our close proximity to the Breckenridge ski area, National Forest access and Gold Medal Fishing are some of our local highlights, too!
Don’t miss this opportunity to get a great real estate deal. Pretty soon we will be talking about how values are rising and you will be kicking yourself!
Relying on a Broker
The latest National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers showed a growing trend among recent buyers.
The latest figures show that 89 percent of buyers purchased their home with the help of a real estate agent or broker. This is a sharp increase from a decade ago in 2001, when only 69 percent of buyers enlisted the help of a Broker.
Here are a few of the many reasons a Broker can be your biggest ally:
First, Brokers are licensed professionals, which means they had to complete coursework and pass an exam in order to become a Broker. They have the education and experience to help you navigate what will be one of the biggest purchases of your life.
They also have access to a wide range of properties and can guide you to those that are the best fit for you, which can save you time and energy. If you are unsure what type of property you’re interested in, a Broker can help explain the pros and cons of things such as condo life versus single-family detached living, etc. They can also ease the burden of buying by simplifying the process for you. They set up showings, drive you to appointments if needed, and help you handle the intricacies of negotiations and the complex contract process straight on through closing.
Today’s market also presents challenges that simply weren’t present or didn’t dominate the market a decade ago. Buyers are faced with some great deals, but through some complicated channels, such as short sale or foreclosure. How does one handle these sort of contracts? Your Broker will know.
According to NAR, “More than ever home buyers are relying on real estate agents and brokers to help them with their home purchase regardless of whether the home they are buying is a foreclosure, short sale, or even a FSBO sale because they need a real estate agent to help them through the process.”
Finally, buyers are unsure if now is really a good time to buy. They need to rely on someone with local market knowledge. Is this a good neighbor to invest in? Are prices still dropping in this community? How long do homes take to sell? What is the median selling price? Buyers want the best deal out there.
If you are considering entering buying a home this year, be sure to strongly consider using a real estate Broker. They could be your biggest ally.
Winter Home Maintenance Tips
Winter is in full swing in the mountains! But it is never too late to take care of your family, your real estate investment and your wallet through our cold, wintry months. Here are some tips to help you stay warm and safe!
Conserve Heat:
- Warm air rises and leaves the house through the roof, so focus your efforts on your ceilings and attics. For example, seal areas around recessed lights, the attic hatch and plumbing vents because they frequently are the main culprit in allowing warm air to escape your home. Check insulation in your attic and crawlspace, too.
- Storm windows help heat stay in and cold stay out. If you don’t have storm windows, buy a plastic film sheet kit from the hardware store. These only last one season, but they are inexpensive and will help your insulation efforts. Weather-strip all doors that lead to cold or outside areas. Make sure all windows are closed tightly and locked.
- Close curtains or shades at night to keep the warm air in, and open them during the day, especially in rooms that receive a lot of light and sun. Put some distance between you and the cold air by re-arranging your furniture away from any exterior walls. This will leave room for the air to move around better, making it warmer.
Take Care of Your Heating System:
- Remember to change your HVAC filter each month. Replacing your HVAC filters is crucial to keeping your air clean and for your heating system to run more efficiently. Filters clean out pollutants such as molds, skin cells and allergens.
- Check the gas connections, gas pressure, burner combustion and heat exchanger to ensure safety and efficiency. Improper connections are a fire hazard and a dirty burner or cracked heat exchanger causes poor burner operation.
- Have your woodstove or fireplace chimney cleaned according to manufacturer’s guidelines.
- Have carbon monoxide detectors installed within 15 feet of each bedroom if you use a woodfired stove or a fuel fired heating system or appliance.
Be Safe:
- Stock up on sidewalk salt and sand (for better traction) and apply generously to all walkways and driveways at the first sign of slick conditions.
- Check your snow shovels for cracks or other damage. Have a backup shovel just in case. (Plus it is always nice to have a spare in case someone offers to help you!) When shoveling, push the snow in front of you, if possible. If you need to lift a shovel-full of snow, pick up small amounts and lift with your legs, not your back.
Outdoor Maintenance:
- Make sure tree and shrub branches are well away from the house and windows. Ice can cause branches to break and damage your home.
- Walk around the outside of your house and do a scan. Check the foundation for small cracks or openings where mice or other pests can sneak in. Seal up any possible entrances to keep these animals out. While outside, clear any snow accumulation off gas meters and away from basement windows and your dryer exhaust vents.
- Clear snow off your deck and porches when possible. Snow turns to ice when it eventually begins to melt and then freeze again with our changing temperatures, and there is no need for this added weight out there!
Now that you are done working, go for a cross country ski or snowshoe and enjoy your home in the mountains!
Christmas in the High Country!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the High Country! Heading to Breckenridge to take a few runs on the ski mountain today, and hoping to strap the Cross Country skis on this weekend as well. Just some of the perks of living here!
Price Reduction vs. Mortgage Rate
I got an email over the weekend from Jennifer Cleary, local mortgage broker with Colorado State Bank and Trust in Frisco, Colorado. I thought it was an excellent example of how a home buyer that waits in the hopes that prices will go down farther can actually end up paying more for a house if interest rates rise even slightly.
For example, let’s say a Buyer is looking at a $300,000 home. Instead of making an offer on the home that she wants, she waits for the price to be dropped by $10,000. If, during that time period, the interest rates rose 0.75% to 6%, and if she were financing 90% of the purchase price, the amount of total payments over a 30 year mortgage would be over $35,000 more than it would have been had she purchased the home at $300,000 and locking in a 5.25% interest rate. In other words, she would have “saved” $10,o00 only to end up paying $35,000 more!
This is only a theoretical example, of course. However, in my opinion most home prices in our area are already very affordable and interst rates are still low … for now. Waiting for a home price to be reduced may end up costing you much more than you expect if rates increase even a little.
There are lots of great properties to look at and I believe it is a GREAT time to be a Buyer! I suggest that you take a look, and make an offer!
We’d love to do a quick property search for you based on your criteria, and send you the results by email so that you can review them at your leisure. It couldn’t be easier!
Jennifer Cleary, Mortgage Banker at Colorado State Bank and Trust, can be reached at 970-668-2200 or jcleary@csbt.com.
Spring is here!
Springtime in the Rockies is notorious for snow, snow and more snow! Even though the calendar says it is May, we have received a considerable amount of snow here in the high country over the last week. Arapahoe Basin is the only ski area in Colorado that is still open, and the skiing is great! But…soon the snow will melt, the mud will dry, and summer will be in full swing!
In the Alma/Fairplay area (just on the other side of the hill from Breckenridge), we are getting new listings all of the time! With so many great real estate deals available, now is a great time to secure your summer retreat and get settled before next ski season is upon us! Local lenders have financing available and interest rates are still low!
Let us know when you are planning your trip to the mountains. We would be glad to meet with you and fill you in on our real estate market.
It is a GREAT time to be a buyer!
We are excited to announce our new web site!
With as many prospective sellers and buyers these days on the internet we felt it was time to give our web site a face lift and we couldn’t be happier!
As you will see, our primary goal was to keep the user’s experience in mind with a super easy to use navigation system and icons to get you to the MLS quickly. That’s what everyone wants these days right? The ability to gather their own information on their own time and we have enabled you to do that.
In addition, we also kept in mind how we wanted to showcase our featured listings for all of our valued customers that make us successful here at Caniglia Real Estate Group. With a ‘flashy’ homepage featured listings slide show of our most current listings, as well as sub featured listings with impressive detail pages, it is extremely comprehensive how we have displayed all of our listings to give our visitors as much information as possible.
Next, we wanted the new C.R.E.G. web site to be a resource of valuable information for people considering moving to the area. So, we created a ‘Our Community’ page that has a brief description of the area as well as numerous valuable links for our schools, recreation opportunities, building departments and more to encourage visitors to keep coming back for any important information they maybe seeking.
Lastly, we also created a ‘Real Estate Blog’ where we can post any recent news that affects the real estate market and where people can keep track of everything happening as this market starts to turn around and we are showing signs of that already!
We would like to thank A.G. Creative for developing this web site for us and highly recommend them for anyone looking to create a top-notch web site. Their expertise and partnership has been invaluable in the success of this project and we are thrilled to have them as our marketing arm for our company to keep us current and up to speed with the demands of this fast changing internet.
We hope you enjoy the new site…it’s going to be a great 2011!
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