I was watching the Oscars the other night with my wife and couldn’t help but feel a sense of surprise and sadness when the director for Inside Job commented during his acceptance speech that it has been 3 years since the financial crisis and not a single one of the big players at the financial institutions who likely caused the financial crisis has been held accountable. Let that sink in for a minute.
They were nice enough to take our tax dollars offered up so quickly by “American Hero” Paulson and company, and then they quickly stopped lending money to small businesses and homeowners alike. Any rookie Realtor could have negotiated a better deal with the Big Banks than these mutts did. They basically gave away our money with no strings attached. Nice job, guys.
And last year we come to find out that the Big Banks may have committed Mortgage Fraud and have generously given us yet another iconic phrase to add to our collective vocabulary to go along with derivative, mortgage-backed security, and Madoff: enter Robo Signing.
Since all real estate is local I’ll get tot he point: I’m still seeing some fallout in the Denver and Boulder real estate markets from the latest rotten gift from our banking buddies. Where I was previously seeing some first-timers jump into the market and gobble up a foreclosure or two, I’m now seeing that trend grind to a halt. Experienced investors are tentative as well. There are so many unknowns when you buy a foreclosure property that when we now add chain of title to the mix it’s just too much for some to handle.
So, thanks Big Banks. We’re basking in your generous dividends. Part of me really hopes that The Aussie has something up his sleeve for you.
The $8,000 tax credit is set to expire very soon. Buyers must be under contract by April 30, 2010.
The consensus seems to be that Congress will not renew the tax credit. I’m torn between wanting our country to pursue responsible fiscal policy and reducing the national debt, and wanting this tax credit to continue as I’ve seen first-hand the effect it’s had on the market.
Buyers I’ve been working with are quite aware of the tax credit. It remains to be seen what happens to the market after the tax credit expires.
The good news is that we’re entering the traditional busy season in real estate, so it’s likely that the tax credit expiration will not have a measurable effect on the number of contracts given that we’re entering the spring/summer strong season. Final analysis will likely have to wait until next year.
Call or email bob@realasave.com if you have any questions about the tax credit, or Boulder or Denver real estate in general.
Last Thursday, The Peloton in Boulder announced they’d be matching the $8,000 tax credit from Uncle Sam, effectively dropping their prices by $8,000. Good deal if you’re in the market for a cool Boulder condominium.
Search the available Peloton listings here, and feel free to call or email bob@realasave.com if you’d like more information, or to schedule a showing.
Like many homeowners I like to take on a good remodeling project once in a while. I recently completely demolished our master bathroom as the first step in what is likely to be a many-month project to reconfigure and update this room.
I was careful to salvage as many of the working parts of the bathroom as possible: the sinks, copper pipe, faucets, shower pan, and toilet. Why? Because Boulder County has the wonderful Center for Resource Conservation. This is a great place for construction folks and home renovators to pick up salvaged construction items. And it’s a great way for us to keep our landfills from being clogged with these usable items.
There have been so many cool real estate sites popping up in recent years (Trulia, Zillow, Redfin, etc) that it seemed as if the monsters like Realtor.com were destined for obsolescence just as soon as the average consumer started trusting the new techno sites for their real estate search. But not so fast.
The NAR announced a recent take over of Cyberhomes assets and data, and is revealing an interested long-term strategy to compete with these new kids on the block. Will it work? Maybe. Who does it benefit? See this awesome article on 1000 Watt Consulting for an in-depth analysis.
This news made me recall another incredible article/piece of news by the ever-entertaining and brilliant Notorious ROB where he discusses how a little guy (think local real estate agencies) may have suddenly delivered a potential knock-out punch to the tech-heavy real estate start-ups of the last 4 years. In a nut-shell, ROB comments that a particular local real estate company has just unveiled a new website which competes and possibly exceeds the user experience and amount of data delivered by these tech start-ups. Big deal, right? Maybe not.
One thing is for sure: it’s an interesting time to be in the real estate industry. Who will survive? I’m not sure. I know that I’m constantly amazed by some of the tech start-ups like Redfin and the now bankrupt BuySide Realty/Iggys House who receive all this VC money and ALSO offer deep discounts. How can these companies be soooo top-heavy and programmer heavy and also offer deep discounts and also survive? I don’t know. I know that the only way we’ve survived while offering deep discounts is by offering a level of service that the above discounters don’t or can’t. We’re basically offering the same service as a traditional agent, AND we offer discounts. How? Our overhead is almost non-existent, no multi-level management, no VC money, no standing staff of programmers.
But that’s not enough, is it? No, I don’t think so. I think that we also need to provide great service AND a great user experience on our website. Which brings me back to the above point made by Notorious ROB: if little guys can deliver a big, satisfying punch on their websites then what will drive people to keep using the large tech sites? The answer to that question remains to be seen, but if the age-old adage that “all real estate is local” is true (which i think it is), then the answer is: nothing. If, in the near future, there’s no significant difference between the average local agent’s site in regards to data and user experience when compared to the big non-local tech sites, then there’s really nothing but recent momentum to keep carrying new users to those tech sites. And momentum can change.
Uncle Sammy has agreed to keep his pockets open through April 30, 2010. And now, even more home buyers will be eligible to reach in and grab $8,000. Here are the details:
First-time home buyers are eligible for an $8,000 tax credit.
Current homeowners who have lived in their current home for 5 consecutive years are eligible for a $6,500 tax credit if they purchase a NEW home.
If you have bought a home previously but have not owned a home in last 3 years then you’re eligible for the $8,000 tax credit.
Income limits: $125,000 for an individual, $250,000 for a couple.
The home must be $800,000 or less and cannot be a vacation or second home.
Pretty generous overall.
I’m torn about this tax credit. I’ve come out pretty consistently in favor of the tax credit as it appears to have a direct effect on the buying habits of my Denver and Boulder clients. It’s clearly one of the issues they’re considering when making their decision to buy at this time. So expanding the tax credit will likely continue to help buyers get off the fence and jump in to home ownership if they were considering it in the first place.
But I just can’t help but to wonder what is going to happen with all of our debt in this country. Tax credits like this equal lost revenue for the Fed. God knows we’re already in hock up to our necks with China holding most of the purse strings. What happens if the Chinese decide to transition out of the US Dollar and into other currencies as suggested by this article?
Boulder County’s Septic Smart Program is an important piece of information for home-sellers to know. Am I really writing a blog piece about poop? Yup. It’s important for homeowners in Boulder County to familiarize themselves with this County website and the requirements for sale of their property.
Homeowners can enter their property address and search county records, as well as follow the 4-step process towards becoming “Septic Smart”.
These requirements went into effect back in September of 2008, so if you have a home for sale in Boulder County and you have a septic system then you should get your system inspected right away.
You don’t necessarily have to wait until you get an offer on your property, but if you have waited until that time then don’t worry. From my experience you still have plenty of time to get your Septic Smarts taken care of if you have a typical, 30-day contract time frame. The folks at the Boulder County Septic Smart Program are very helpful and accommodating.
Wow, 2009 is certainly going out with a bang. Lots and lots of contract action in the Denver/Boulder region right now in what is traditionally a very SLOW time of year.
It’s possibly a reaction to the 8k tax credit from Uncle Sam, but I don’t think so. It seems like buyers are snatching up bargain properties once they hit the magical correct list price.
It just proves that when it comes to pricing, it’s better to SET the market than to CHASE the market. Yes, it’s honestly better to be a just slightly low and to get a quick sale and/or multiple offers than it is to be over priced and to linger on the market.
The reasoning behind this is many-fold. But if you simply factor in your carrying costs, you’ll see that holding on to your property for 6 months while it lingers on the market has costs associated with it. It can easily cost a seller thousands of dollars a month, for 6 or more months, to sit on a slightly over priced property. We’re talking 10’s of thousands of dollars. Why not just drop the price to begin with and generate multiple offers over a very brief time frame (with low or no carrying costs), the result of which could be a bidding war (higher sales than list price) as well as a quick closing?
Not to mention that properties which sit on the market tend to attract low-ball offers as buyers seem to sense blood in the water.
Email bob@realasave.com for any questions about the Boulder or Denver real estate market, or if you’re interested in getting 50% of our paycheck via our Buyer Rebate Program.
ConocoPhillips is our big, new neighbor up the Denver/Boulder corridor just off of Hwy 36. You probably know that they purchased a 400++ acre campus from Storage Tec a while back, and there’s been lots of news and some considerable speculation as to what their plans are.
Well, it appears as if they’re going to use the site as the research and development center on renewable energy. Good news for this area. Even better news that over the next 20 years or so they’ll ramp things up to around 7,000 employees or more. Very nice for the real estate market, and wonderful to have this type of company in the area.
I hope this acts as a draw for other renewable energy companies in the same way that Sun Microsystems and IBM have helped give us a good foundation and big draw in the technology department.
Won’t you be my….neighbor.
Shoot me an email at bob@realasave.com if you have any Denver or Boulder real estate questions, or if you want some more info about our Colorado commission rebate program where we give you 50% of our paycheck.
Should the $8,000 tax credit be extended? Should everyone just calm down already and stop writing and talking so much about the tax credit. Yes, and yes. I’ve written about it previously, and this likely won’t be the last time.
Why?
Well, in a world of bad real estate news free money! always cheers people up. Is it the right thing to do? I’m really not sure. I know that I’ve come out in favor of it in earlier posts and I still do like the idea because I can see the effect it has had on some “on-the-fence-buyers”. Enough to get them off the fence and writing on a home.
But honestly, if an $8,000 tax credit is your only reason for buying a home,then…maybe it’s not the best idea for you right now. Home ownership is an expensive commitment, and you had better have more reason than Uncle Sam’s 8k to jump in.
