The Brian Petrelli Team Blog

Sales of Denver condos increased year over year for the seventh straight month in January according to the Colorado Association of Realtors.

This is just more data supporting what we’ve been reporting here on market stats for the entire Denver area. The past six months have seen an increase in activity and a steep decrease in the available inventory. We’re seeing more and more reports in the media reporting these stats.

From The Colorado Division of Housing Website:

Condo and townhome sales in metro Denver and statewide increased, year over year, for the seventh month in a row in January 2012, and they increased for the second month in a row in the Pikes Peak region. According to condo and townhome sales data released by the Colorado Association of Realtors, sales increased statewide 6.4 percent in January 2012 from the same month a year earlier. They increased 8.9 percent in metro Denver over the same period. In the Pikes Peak region, January sales increased 8.5 percent. In January, there were 778 condo and townhome sales statewide. 487 of them were in metro Denver and 76 were in the Pikes Peak region.

This recent growth trend in statewide and metro Denver sales is now seen in the 12-month moving averages used to track trends in home sales. The highly-cyclical nature of home sales trends makes it difficult to track multi-year trends in home sales, so using a moving average makes it easier to identify longer-term trends. Additionally, the introduction of the homebuyer tax credits from 2008 to 2010 further complicated the picture.

If you have put off listing your home, you may want to seriously reconsider waiting. The lack of inventory in the metro Denver area is a serious concern, and the Denver condos that are priced well and in good condition are selling very quickly.

If you’d like more information on Denver condos or the Denver market in general, including how Denver foreclosures and Denver short sales have impacted the market, give our team a call at 303-817-0209.

HUD just released a new listing into the continually shrinking inventory of Lakewood townhomes. This is great news for any buyers looking in the area. The pool of available Lakewood foreclosures as well as standard resales has been decreasing for months, and this home is a great deal.

Located just west of Carmody Park, this home has 2 bedrooms and nearly 1,700 finished square feet. With a one car garage and a small fenced yard, it will be hard to find a home anywhere near this size for the price.

In addition, this home, like all Denver HUD homes, qualifies for the HUD $100 down program for owner occupants.

Lakewood Townhomes:

HUD Owned Home 1909 s kipling st lakewood 80227 $130,000.00

Beds: 2      Fin Sq Ft: 1665 Baths: 3     Year: 1983 # of Photos Avail: 5 V-tour Available:  Yes MLS #: 1070061 Listing Office: re/max professionals

Broker Remarks:  property may be eligible for fha $100 dollar down payment program! hud home sold `as is`-electronic bid only fha case #0… more… Disclosures

Give our team a call at 303-726-1874 to learn more about this home, Lakewood foreclosures or the HUD $100 down program. There are still some great deals out there, but you have to move quickly.

We’re excited to announce that Debbie Ells is bringing her expertise and knowledge to our team as our newest agent! Debbie has a wealth of knowledge on Old Littleton Neighborhoods and the surrounding areas.

Debbie is a Littleton native who graduated from Littleton High School and is an expert on all things Littleton. With her over 10 years of experience in sales, investment properties, remodeling and design, she is the authority on Old Littleton Neighborhoods.

Debbie, along with her husband and partner, started Custom Contracting Specialists, a remodeling firm concentrating on Investment properties and residential construction in 2002. This experience, coupled with real-estate sales knowledge allow her to give her clients expert advice when purchasing some of the unique older homes in the downtown Littleton area.

You can follow Debbie on her Old Littleton Homes Blog or feel free to give her a call at 303-994-0551.

One of the most popular areas for Denver condos right now is the Hilltop Denver condos area. With it’s proximity to Congress Park, City Park, several medical centers and Cherry Creek, the location of this area is hard to beat.

Our team just listed a great 2 bedroom condo in Hill top / Mayfair Condos area. Priced at just $109,900, this unit has over 800 square feet and is in great shape. For this area, this is a fantastic price for this home, and we expect it to sell quickly. If you are interested in seeing it for yourself, give our team a call at 303-726-1874.

Hilltop Denver Condos

836 dexter st denver, CO 80220 $109,900.00

Beds: 2      Fin Sq Ft: 834 Baths: 1     Year: 1959 # of Photos Avail: 5 V-tour Available:  No MLS #: 1069108 Listing Office: mb the brian petrelli team

Broker Remarks:  great condo unit in fantastic denver location! rose medical/university hospital redevelopment all around leading the way… more… Disclosures

This home is a standard resale and is not one of the many Denver short sales that are available. The owners can close on this home without waiting for bank approval, so don’t wait to schedule your private showing. Homes in the Hilltop / Mayfair condos area sell quickly!

We’re starting to see more and more banks wake up to the fact that Short Sales are much better financially for the bank than allowing a home to go to foreclosure. Our teams has seen first hand evidence of this on Denver Short sales, but it looks like some national statistics and research are finally being released that will bolster this point.

DSNews.com has an article detailing research done by McGeough Lamacchia Realty that documents this:

On average a home sold through short sale brings a 24 percent greater return than a foreclosed property, according to recent findings from McGeough Lamacchia Realty.

“This means the banks are losing an average of $43,000 for every foreclosure sale compared to what they would have made in a short sale,” said a blog post on the company’s website.

The firm reviewed prices for short sale and foreclosure sale properties in 2010 and 2011 in Boston, Phoenix, Tuscon, Southern California, and Southwest Florida.

Yes, you read that correctly: the banks are losing on average $43,000 for each foreclosure compared to a Short Sale. The obvious question then becomes, “Why don’t banks work harder at making a short sale transaction successful?”

As a REALTOR, all things being equal, I’d much rather go through the process of helping a buyer with Denver foreclosures rather than Denver Short Sales. The transaction is quicker, cleaner and has a much higher probability of actually closing for my client. 

Hopefully reports like this one will have some sway and we’ll see a whole lot more common sense from lenders.

Yeah, right.

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What a busy weekend! Our team was out showing several Denver HUD homes, including a few brand new Castle Rock Foreclosures that just hit the market. One of these foreclosures is a brand new listing just released by HUD that’s priced incredibly well and qualifies for the HUD $100 down program.

 This new listing is one of several Castle Rock Townhomes priced under $100,000. The home has over 1,200 square feet, 2 beds, 2 baths and a garage. In addition to the two stories above ground, this home also has a 595 square foot, unfinished basement. 

At this price, we expect this home to move quickly, so if you are interested, give our team a call at 303-726-1874.

HUD Owned Home 288 s oman rd castle rock 80104 $86,000.00

Beds: 2      Fin Sq Ft: 1225 Baths: 2     Year: 1994 # of Photos Avail: 5 V-tour Available:  Yes MLS #: 1069609 Listing Office: re/max professionals

Broker Remarks:  this property may be eligible for the fha $100 down payment program. ask your agent for details. this townhome is locate… more… Disclosures

 As we mentioned, this is one of just two Castle Rock townhomes that qualifies for the HUD $100 down program. This program is available to owner occupants buying Denver HUD homes as owner occupants using an FHA mortgage. Give us a call for more details:303-726-1874.

Our team can help you with all of the available Castle Rock foreclosures and Castle Rock homes for sale. Several of our team members live in Castle Rock and Douglas county and our knowledge of the area can help ensure you find the right home at the best possible price!

With the incredibly low interest rates and the limited time HUD $100 down payment program, we have several clients looking at Denver HUD homes right now.

As we’ve stated recently on this blog, the inventory for these homes is lower than normal, and if you are interested in buying one of these, or any available Denver foreclosures, you need to be ready to move quick and make strong bids. Several of our clients have lost out recently on Denver HUD homes because they came in with too low of an offer or they waited to long to make their offer.

Our team can help you with the entire HUD process and can educate you on the requirements for the HUD $100 Down payment program as well. Just give us a call at 303-726-1874 and we can get you started.

Here are a couple of the best Denver HUD homes available. If you’d like to see any of these, or more, call our team today at 303-726-1874 – Tomorrow may be too late.

HUD Owned Home 14557 e 45th ave denver 80239 $83,500.00

Beds: 3      Fin Sq Ft: 1269 Baths: 2     Year: 1982 Acres: # of Photos Avail: 5 V-tour Available:  No MLS #: 1065891 Listing Office: high mark realty

Broker Remarks:  quaint ranch-style residence with 3 bedrooms and 2 bath. well kept and clean. 2-car attached garage. firplace in living … more… Disclosures

710 stuart st denver 80204 $140,000.00

Beds: 2      Fin Sq Ft: 1492 Baths: 2     Year: 1910 Acres: # of Photos Avail: 5 V-tour Available:  Yes MLS #: 1056283 Listing Office: re/max professionals

Broker Remarks:  property may be eligible for fha $100 dollar down payment program! hud home sold `as is`-electronic bid only fha case #0… more… Disclosures

Now is certainly a great time to consider Denver Investment properties. The latest market data is showing a continued decline in vacancies and the rental rates remain on their upward trend.

Much of this has to do with the higher than normal rate of Denver HUD homes and foreclosures over the past 4 years (although those numbers have recovered drastically in the last 6 months). When someone has a foreclosure on their credit, purchasing a new home is usually not an option for 3 years. This forces the previous homeowner into the rental pool. This simply increase in demand for rentals creates the pressure on the supply of rental homes and the resulting increase in those rents.

However, all of this creates a perfect opportunity for those with the desire, and ability, to purchase Denver investment properties. While the market for fix and flip Denver homes has become much tighter and the profit margins slimmer, investors willing to buy “fix and hold” homes are having great success.

Buying Denver foreclosures at discounted prices and then fixing these homes up for renters, can be a highly profitable business – especially with the increasing rental rates we’re seeing. If you would like to talk more about this or learn more about Denver HUD homes and foreclosures, give our team a call at 303-726-1844.

From today’s Denver Post:

There is an interesting bill in the Senate that could dramatically affect Denver Short Sales. It appears 3 Senators in D.C. have proposed a law that would require a response from a lender within 75 days of the lender receiving a Short Sale request.

From DSNews.com:

The legislation, also known as the Prompt Notification of Short Sale Act, will require a written response from a lender no later than 75 days after receipt of the written request from the buyer.

The lender’s response to the buyer must specify acceptance, rejection, a counter offer, need for extension, and an estimation for when a decision will be reached. The servicer

By now, it’s almost common knowledge how long and drawn out a short sale can take. We’ve seen buyers and sellers wait on a bank for over 9 months, only to find out that the bank isn’t going to accept (and never intended to accept) the short sale offer.

In an ideal word, a shot sale would save not only the Seller and lender from a foreclosure, but would spare the neighborhood from the downward price pressure caused by a nearby foreclosure. Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world, and both the banks and the Sellers themselves, can be guilty of “gaming the system” to draw out the process for as long as possible.

While I would love to see the process for Denver short sales speed up, it seems to me that any legislation requiring a fast response from lenders will have to have a balanced approach requiring Sellers to supply their complete financial information in a timely manner.

Our team has listed many, many Denver short sales in the past, and besides the banks, the biggest obstacle we face, is Sellers who are not willing to fill out the required paperwork for the lenders. As agents, we can’t list the home without it. The banks can’t start a short sale negotiation without it. And absolutely no Buyer can purchase the home without it.

I applaud any action that can help reduce the number of Denver foreclosures, but without addressing all of the issues that slow down a short sale approval, all this law will create is more bureaucracy.

Yes, the banks deserve much of the blame in this, but everyone seems to forget that in every single short sale or foreclosure, the property owner signed an agreement with the bank promising to pay for the property. That agreement has consequences, and one of those consequences is that the bank can foreclose and they do not have to accept a short sale.

Give banks an incentive to approve short sales, and you’ll see a dramatic reduction in approval time. Make the process more difficult for banks, and you’ll see a decrease in short sale approvals and an increase in foreclosures.

If you would like to talk to our team more about Denver short sales of Denver foreclosures, give us a call at 303-726-1874.

In one of our posts last week, we mentioned Bryon Self and his over 15 years of experience helping people find rent to own homes in Denver. What we failed to mention was his area expertise and knowledge for Castle Rock and Castle Pines homes.

Bryon and his family live in the area, and his knowledge of the entire Castle Pine homes neighborhood is second to none. If you are considering moving to the area, or would like more information about the schools, parks or nearby activities, just give him a call at 303-990-9320. You can also read more about him and the area at his Castle Pines Homes blog.

Castle Pines Homes Statistics:

Based on information from Metrolist®, Inc. for the active liststings in Castle Pines as of 2-11-12. Note: This representation is based in whole or in part on content supplied by Metrolist®, Inc. Metrolist®, Inc. does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Content maintained by Metrolist®, Inc. may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.