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.
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:
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.
I recently wrote a bit about the new Boulder house size regulations and how an organization called Leave My Home Alone has formed to oppose the recently enacted rule.
I do hope this organization has some luck in their endeavors. That said, I wanted to acknowledge the spirit of the rule in regards to keeping so called “McMansions” from sprouting up all over Boulder. I understand the good intentions of the rule. I do. And even though I don’t agree with it, I do think that the City Council had good intentions when drafting it.
The main issue I have with the rule is that it was enacted by a small group of 5 City Councilmen, and was not put to a vote to Boulder residents. Boulder is home to some pretty bright folks, and I’m certain they have the brain power to digest the details and decide for themselves.
In the land of the broke, the one-nickle man is king. Let me start by stating the obvious: I may be wrong. My opinion doesn’t really mean anything. It’s just my opinion. And I’m not brilliant, just average intelligence at best. But it seems painfully obvious to me that if you encourage a new round of first-time home buyers to jump in to the real estate game when they don’t even have enough for a down payment, then you’re just asking for trouble.
This is pretty much what the current administration is doing by creating this “fake” bond market. I’ve mentioned earlier how the housing collapse took this bond market with it. It just disappeared…there was no longer a bond market where investors bought and sold mortgage-backed securities. Makes sense, right? If those securities are worthless, then who is going to buy them. Well, you are. And me. We are buying them.
The Federal Government is jumping back into the mortgage security game and plans on buying up Fannie and Freddie assets backed by state bonds in order to finance loans to first time home buyers. Part of program also helps people with BAD loans get refinancing. I’m not opposed to that at all, in fact that seems like a good idea to me. If you can take someone from an arm loan that adjusted to 12% to a fixed loan at 5% and they can avoid foreclosure, then great! I’m all for it.
My problem with this program is that it appears that we haven’t learned anything from our recent mistakes. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone could afford a home? Sure, that sounds really nice. Maybe even Utopian. But is that that case? Should we be messing around like this and continuing to encourage home ownership to people who just can’t afford it? What’s wrong with renting and saving for a down payment? I’m NOT talking about saving for a 20% down payment, no. The current FHA minimum down payment is only 3.5%. Just three and a half percent. That’s $7,000 down for a $200,000 home. Doesn’t it seem reasonable to expect a potential home owner to come up with 3.5%? And if they can’t, then that’s ok. It doesn’t mean your a bad person if you need to rent for a while in order to SAVE up that 3.5%. I’ve rented for more of my adult life than I’ve owned a home. I’m a decent guy, not some sort of miscreant.
Rent does not equal Bad. Ownership does not equal good. Let your reality dictate whether you rent or own. RESPONSIBLE home ownership is a great thing. Responsible renting is also a good thing, especially if it affords you the opportunity to SAVE some money.
Real-a-Save is a full-service, licensed Colorado real estate company. We offer services to both buyers and sellers.
We feel it’s very important for home buyers to have someone on their side when negotiating a contract, and so we offer exclusive Buyer’s Agency. Many buyers just want to be left alone at the start of their home search- and that’s fine. The Internet has certainly put a ton of information at the savvy buyer’s feet. But when you are ready to look at a home, or if you have some questions about a particular property, then that is the time to give us a call and let us help.
It’s best for buyers not to simply start calling random real estate agents and asking questions. The listing agent is trying to sell that lovely Denver condo that you fell in love with. And his/her job and loyalty is clearly on the side of the seller. So it seems wise that you have someone on your side.
Let us be on your side. No only will you be hiring a local Realtor with tons of experience, but you’ll also receive significant savings from our Colorado Commission rebate program. We basically split our paycheck for you. Sound too good to be true? Well, the US Department of Justice supports companies like Real-a-Save. Just take a look at what the US DOJ has to say about rebate real estate companies like ours.
For more information about our commission rebate program and how you can receive 50% of our commission, you can email bob@realasave.com, or simply go to our website at www.realasave.com and join the scores of Denver/Boulder real estate consumers who have taken advantage of the great savings we offer.
So far, Real-a-Save has been providing services in the Denver and Boulder real estate markets, with the occasional deal in Colorado Springs, Summit County, and Fort Collins. But we have received some interest from agents in other states who would like to bring this concept to consumers in their area.
It seems inevitable that the real estate industry will undergo some serious changes over the coming years. I believe that the economic crisis will have a lasting effect on consumers in this country. People seem much more focused on saving money wherever possible. From groceries to gasoline to real estate fees. Our business seems poised to grow in this new economy.
When consumers are given the choice of two relatively similar products where one of those products offers significant savings, which one will they choose? There really is no difference between the services offered by a traditional Realtor and the services offered by Real-a-Save. Sure, we don’t hold open houses for our sellers. And yes, we ask our buyers to do some of the initial searching on their own. But that’s it. We offer an incredible level of service while simultaneously saving consumers thousands of dollars.
Let us know if you’d like to see Real-a-Save in your city or state. Email bob@realasave.com with requests or questions.
The real estate industry is unique in many ways- not all of them good. For example: why are the words “savings”, and “discount” regarding with such disdain in this industry? It seems that almost every other industry rewards the savings monsters within it with great success. Think Walmart, Costco, or any of a number of low-fee stock trading sites like Scottrade, E-trade, etc.
But in the real estate industry companies which give discounts, or operate with reduced-fee models are often ridiculed or labeled as companies which are doomed to failure. “You get what you pay for!”, is a refrain we in the discount real estate industry hear from those in the traditional, full-fee real estate companies. This implies that savings and poor service go hand in hand. Really? Just take one look at the glowing testimonials on this page and you’ll have to think again. Is it so shocking to traditional real estate agents that someone who offers savings to his clients might also take pride in providing excellent service?
This is not a foreign concept to us at Real-a-Save. Full-service, big savings. It’s a simple business model that is working quite well, thank you.
Visitors to the Real-a-Save website can very easily search for Denver homes for sale in close proximity to their school of choice by using the Sketch-a-Map feature. Simply open up the search page and look at the lower left portion of the screen for the Sketch-a-Map icon. This is a tool we’ve developed which allows visitors to draw boundaries right on our map. You can even save multiple “sketches”, each with unique boundaries, in your “Saved Searches” area of the website. Once you draw and save a search, our system will search for new listings in your saved search each morning and will email you when a home pops up on the Denver or Boulder real estate market which fits your criteria. Pretty cool, right? Give it a try here. And remember that Real-a-Save is the Front Range’s best choice for saving money in your next real estate transaction.
