Rental-home vacancies drop to 7-year low

Article Launched: 06/12/2008 10:31:53 AM MDT from Denver Post

The vacancy rate in for-rent condos, single-family homes and other small properties dropped to its lowest point since 2001, according to a survey released today.

The vacancy rate was 2.7 percent for the first quarter, according to the report prepared for the Colorado Division of Housing.

The lowest overall vacancy rates were in Douglas and Arapahoe counties, at 1.1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.

Average rents increased to $985 during the first quarter, up from $966 during the fourth quarter of 2007 and $937 during the first quarter last year.

Rents were highest in Douglas County at $1,385 and lowest in Denver County at $965.

If you have a comment you would like to make call Gary 303-901-5592

This is an article in the Denver Post.  It is not too late to become a successful real estate investor. 

Metro home sales, prices climb in May
By Margaret Jackson
The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 06/05/2008 02:19:11 PM MDT

Sales and prices for existing homes in the Denver metro area were up in May compared with the previous month — but still significantly lower than the same time last year.

The number of homes sold last month was 4,664, up 9.4 percent compared with April, according to a report issued today. But the number of homes sold was down 8.2 percent compared with the same month last year.

The median price for single-family homes rose 1.8 percent from April to $226,500. That’s still 9.8 percent less than the same period a year ago, when the median price was $251,155.

Median prices for condos were up 10 percent May compared with the previous month but down 4.5 percent from last year’s $155,000.

email me at gary@legalwiz.com and I can show you how to use your money or your credit to become a successful real estate investor. It is not too late.

I get several call a week from homeowners freaking out because their mortgage payments are increasing.

Most of the time they are not aware that their mortgage is an adjustable rate mortgage that was fixed for only 3 or 5 years.  This was the most popular loan available a few years ago.  Mortgage brokers sold this loan because they, as well as the homeowners, anticipated rates would go down and property values would go up.  They anticipated being able to refinance into a more permanent loan.

As we all know this didn’t happen.  So what do you do.  The first item of business is to look at a copy of your promissory note you recieved at closing.  Yes, you did get a copy.  Contact the lender for a copy.  Look to see when it comes due and what are the terms.

Typically terms are 3,5, 7 or 10 years.  They can adjust 1%, 2% or as much as 5% every six months but typically every year.  I have been getting calls from homeowners that their mortgage payments are going up as much as $500 per month.  If you are one of the unlucky ones you may have an Option ARM with four payment options.  Unfortunatly most borrowers with loan paid the minimum payment. The loan has negative amortization each month.  What does this mean?  It means that your loan balance goes up every month.  You owe more than you initally borrowed.

What are your options?

I know several lenders are taking a pro-active approach.  They are sending homeowners letters offering to reset their mortgage to a fixed rate.  If you receive one of these letters don’t ingore it.  I know Countrywide is resetting the mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage.  Call your lender and ask if they would give you a fixed rate mortgage for a 30 year term.  You can also refinance into a fixed rate.

You can call me and I can help you with this porcess

 303-901-5592

“Count your blessings and not your problems; remember amateurs built the Ark; professionals built the Titanic”

What happened to Americans.

I could write about all the stats regarding the housing market, the high price of food and oil.  However, I thought I would write about something on the philosophical side.

It seems that the world doesn’t like us “ugly” Americans.  We are paying the price.  It costs more for a barrel of oil than it did 30 years ago for one month’s groceries.

The housing market has tanked so bad that the media wants you to believe your house will not be there tomorrow and if it is it will be worthless.  Look at those unfortunate people in Windsor, Colorado.  Act of God or is it some evil real estate market mad scientist that created global warming, just to purchase real estate at a discount?

Everything goes in cycles.  I have been in this business more than 30 years and have experienced 3 three cycles.  The first one, I was so young, I told people that real estate never goes down; this was in the 70’s.  Wow- was I niave.  During the second cycle I moved from Denver, my home, to Texas believing that the grass was greener.  It may have been greener but it is definitely harder to mow; this being in the 80’s.  When I left Texas, oil was at $50 per barrel; oh the good old days.  The 90’s were the good times with dot com IPO’s going through the roof and making everyone a gazillionaire.  Real estate was increasing at double digit inflation with money flowing everywhere, you could own 3 and 4 homes with no money and no verifiable income.  Remember the mantra; if you had a pulse you could get a mortgage.

So what happened?

This is why the title of this blog.  Who do we really blame and give thanks.  We give it to ourselves.  We created this mess and we must get out of it.  The rest of the world envies us yet, when the chips are down who do they come to for help.  Tthey snub their noses at us when we need help.    

It amazes me that when our real estate market was hot, every large hedge fund and bank in the world was purchasing real estate to buld their portfolios.  Now that we are having a bit of a hiccup they blame us for their problems and say that we are greedy; not business savvy.

Every morning when you wake up have the birds stopped singing.  Have the trees stopped swaying in the wind; except those of you experiencing a tornado.  We get up everyday and have much to be thankful for.

 Remember life is cycical.  What goes up must come down and vice versa.  This is what makes life of this earth worth living.

I know that the real estate market is coming back.  Do you know how you can be certain.  Read the newspaper and listen to the news reports.  Every story is not about the real estate market.  It is not about some poor soul that lost his or her house because they couldn’t make the payments.  This is old news.  The are focused on the election.  Who is and who is not going to be the next fall guy or gall when our inflation goes rampant again.

Go to bed this evening and give thanks.  Give thanks that the only news we discuss is either politics or religion, not a terrorist that blew up your neighbors house that you just left after enjoying your Memorial Day picnic there. 

No matter what the media would like you to believe.  This is America; we trust each other to do the right thing, so that when we get up tomorrow morning our house is standing, our children are safe to walk to school, we can say hello to our neighbors without getting shot (most of the time). 

Remember this; in four years this real estate cycle will be but a memory about how you shoulda, coulda, woulda, bought that house in foreclosure because it was so cheap.

Now is the time to trust in yourself, go out help a neighbor.  Buy their house. 

From Denver Post:

Fewer homes were on the market in Denver last month than in March 2007, some possible good news for the local housing market. 
Of 28 major metro areas in the country, Denver was among only five with a year-over-year decline in such inventory, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. 
The drop wasn’t huge, 3.5 percent. But it ranked Denver third after Boston, which was down 10.9 percent and Dallas, down 4.4 percent. Atlanta and Chicago had smaller declines. 

According to a recent report, 40% of Americans making $100k or more a year plan on buying up real estate bargains in 2008

http://realestate.yahoo.com/info/news/realty-viewpoint-wealthy-take-advantage-of-homebuying-opportunities;_ylt=AhTvjXqb06DZ2lVa2g2Cz5KkF7kF

What do the wealthy know that the poor do not?  Simple, they know when to take advantage of opportunity!

The Denver Post -

The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority will receive a $1.5 million federal grant to increase foreclosure-prevention counseling services across the state.

The money will help the CHFA and 12 other housing-counseling agencies hire and train counselors. Funds will also help promote Colorado’s Foreclosure Hotline (877-601- HOPE), launched in 2006.

The grant comes from the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program, approved by Congress last year. The CHFA was one of 115 award recipients nationwide and received the seventh-largest of the 32 awards.

The Denver Post Reports that the metro area had the ninth-highest foreclosure rate in the nation last year, an analysis of foreclosure activity in the country’s largest 100 metropolitan areas shows.

The Denver area saw foreclosures jump 27.79 percent to 49,519 filings on 26,632 properties.

Detroit led the nation in foreclosures with 4.9 percent of households in some stage of foreclosure in 2007 — 4.8 times the national average, according to the study released Wednesday by mortgage research company RealtyTrac Inc.

33.8% Increase in January, compared with December, in houses under contract

6% Increase in January, compared with a year earlier, in houses under contract

Lower mortgage rates brought out metro-area homebuyers in January, raising hopes that a surge in contracts last month will reverse declining sales.

http://www.denverpost.com/economy/ci_8201336

The Denver Business Journal reported an article last week about foreclosure investors, quoting “you know who”:

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/02/04/story10.html?b=1202101200%5e1584991&surround=etf