No. That’s not a typo. Everyone knows that LEAD is bad for the environment, which is why we got it out of gasoline. Did you know, however, that an LED (lightbulb) is good for both the environment and your pocket book? You want to get LEDs out of the store and into your light fixtures. LED stands for “light emitting diode”. LED technology has …
Everyone knows to winterize sprinkler systems when cold temperatures arrive. However, did you know that your landscaping could benefit also from some winterization and tender loving care during the winter? It is worth spending some time and effort on your landscaping. We did a recent blog post about the fact that landscaping can contribute greatly to your property value – …
“Inman Connect” is a semi-annual national conference for real estate agents. At the most recent gathering in June of this year, held in the beautiful city by the bay (San Francisco), we heard a lot of discussion about the luxury home market. What is a luxury home? Are different strategies required when you are buying and selling in this market segment? Is …
Solar energy is HOT, pun intended. It’s getting lots of attention these days. Solar is also COOL! A bit of a status symbol & statement to the world that you are “going green”. We’re big fans of solar, in theory. We’re sure that 100 years from now the world will largely run on solar power. It’s the wave of the future. However, it may not …
What Does a Good Agent Do For You? You’ve probably never heard of “disintermediation” unless (1) You’re an economist, (2) A complete nerd or (3) You attended the big Inman real estate agent convention in San Francisco earlier this year. We learned about it through option 3 with maybe a dash of option 2 thrown in. Disintermediation is when intermediaries are cut out of …
One of our agents got an interesting email from a client a couple weeks after closing on a home: “Thanks for all your work on our house purchase – much appreciated! We are particularly grateful in this case that you kept after us to see the drawbacks of the property on [particular street name] even after we were under contract …
Why does the public think of real estate agents as salespeople? Why does the industry think of itself that way? I suppose it is because we imagine that real estate agents sell houses in the same way that car dealers sell cars. In contrast, we don’t think of lawyers or doctors or accountants as salespeople. Why? When it comes right …
There are some truths that everyone knows: (1) You don’t tug on superman’s cape. (2) You don’t spit into the wind. (3) Denver real estate prices are moving up strongly due to the low inventory of homes on the market. By now, everyone except Rip Van Winkle has heard a lot of news about Truth #3. So we won’t dwell …
Inventory is low … blah, blah, blah. Home prices are rising rapidly … blah, blah, blah. This is the news you’re probably hearing about the current real estate market in metro Denver. We’ve commented on these well-known trends ourselves over the last few months. Here is another current market trend that has received less attention: fewer sales have occurred so …
Real estate prices may continue to go up. They may retreat. However, you don’t have to be the victim of market whims. There are strategies you can employ to protect your property value. Our favorite strategy is landscaping. Why? Landscaping is unlike any other improvements that you do to your property. Improvements like new kitchens or window coverings get dated …
The metro Denver real estate market is a story of ups and downs. Both the ups and the downs are good, for the most part. What’s Up? Prices are up. The average price of single-family homes closed in May 2014 was $370,918 and the 12-month average (June 2013 to May 2014) was $341,464, an increase of 10.72% and 8.63% …
We’ve commented favorably in the past on the Trulia calculator that helps you understand the true costs of buying versus renting a home. Now the New York Times (NYT) has weighed in with their version of the rent/buy calculator. Bottom line: Second versus, same as the first. The NYT calculator gives a similar answer as Trulia. Buying beats renting by a wide margin …