My 10 Reasons for Homeownership!

 

Good Hands?

 

I’ve been a home owner since 1977. That Palace was $33,000 back in the day. 10% Down giving me a PITI of $315/month, I felt like a king! I drove past it the other day. It made me start thinking. I’ve owned and lived in 7 homes, three with my bride. What was it that kept me in the market through “thick and thin”?

I said to myself, “I bet it would be easy to come up with my 10 Reasons for Homeownership”.  Here I go:

1. Always Knowing Where Home Is.
2. Being Part of a Community.
3. Knowing My Neighbors.
4. Making It My Own.
5. Backyard BBQs With Neighbors.
6. Knowing My Mail-person.
7. Mowing The Yard.
8. Planting A Tree.
9. Sitting On The Front Porch Feeling A Sense Of Pride!
10. Paying It Off!!

Now, a lot of homeowners will read this. What makes you stay in the market through thick and thin?

Posted in Homestead at Willows End, Homestead in the Willows, Homestead on the Parkway, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Timbers in The Pinery are the Pinnacle of Parker, Colorado!

Nestled in the most northeastern reaches of Colorado‘s Black Forest just south of Parker is Colorado’s most successful custom home community, The Timbers. In the developer’s words:  “The sights… ..the sounds… ..the serenity of woodland home sites… Just south of Denver, in Douglas County, 30 of Colorado’s most prominent home builders are creating one-of-a-kind custom masterpieces at Denver’s top selling custom home community, the Timbers at the Pinery. The unique design and craftsmanship of these homes are accentuated by extraordinary home sites featuring spectacular views, breathtaking vistas and thousands of towering ponderosa pine trees, giving residents a sense of privacy and seclusion rarely found in today’s busy world.”

Just a few blocks away, however, you can enjoy the Pinery Country Club with all the recreational outlets a suburban family could desire.  If the Pinery Country Club is not enough, nearby are Colorado Golf Club and Pradera Country Club.  More than anything, living in The Timbers allows it’s residents the ability to walk right out their front or back doors straight into a rural setting complete with numerous species of wildlife still living off the land just as they have for years.

Access to suburban employment is easy and 15 to 20 minutes away.  Working in the Denver Central Business District is still possible at twice that.  Parker, just 3-5 miles away offers any and all shopping opportunities with a cozy little vintage core with enough life to make it a destination.

Typical homes in the Timbers currently range from under $600K to over $2M.  To tour one currently for sale, click here.  9159 Scenic Pine Drive is currently listed at just over $1M.

If you are considering a Denver Suburb, you need not look any further than Parker, CO. Within Parker, for the lifestyle described above, you need look only to The Timbers, and to enjoy the best custom home value in The Timbers, look no further than 9159 Scenic Pine Drive Parker, CO 80134.

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For the Love of the Game – Elite Women’s Lacrosse 2010

 

Harvard Practice Fields

 

The Holy Trinity of any good amateur sporting event began gathering in and around Boston on Friday. Teams, parents and friends from as far as CA and as close as Harvard, the unsuspecting host campus.

At the US Team level of Women’s Lacrosse, “Fall-ball” keeps the dust at bay for most, but there is always the BUZZ! Who will travel with the U-19s to Germany this summer? Which elite player will call it quits? Which coach will blowup? Which parent clustered in the stands will have the best story? You get the idea. It’s a relatively small close knit group only separated by miles but not ideals.

Many in the stands are watching that second generation player on the field. A very small contingent are the proud third generation observer, but women’s lacrosse is just now truly writing it’s history. Dedicated young women taking the sport to the next level one sacrifice at a time.

The world stage brings a new set of nuances, opponents and venues, but this weekend BC, BU and Harvard offer a “friendly confine” for the women to hone their skills, bond and catch up on the latest of Lady Lax.

A long tough “two-a-day” Saturday closed in on a great crowd of Harvard Homeys vs. The US Women’s Elite Team in a newly completed “stadium” for just lacrosse and soccer. The cool crisp Cambridge night reminded everyone that fall is upon us!

The Harvard women clearly wanted to show well against America’s Best, but it was not to be. The US Team slowly piled on the score board until it was clearly a USA Victory!

Sunday brought a field full of future hopefuls. The US Women shared all they had with youth and high school girls all morning. An informative and healthfully good time was had by all!

Then the US Women took the field with segregated squads of 15 each against BC & BU. The games were full of energy and emotion, but once again, the US women demonstrated why they are the best in the world, and will have no true challengers until 2013 at the next World Cup.

On the flight home, the reality set in. These young women can’t go pro. It is strictly for the love of the game. Focused for years, achieving team and individual greatness through high school and then with their respective university teams their last gasp in the game is an amateur status on a World Cup Team. The purity of it is so refreshing. Their only glory is the love of the game!

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Homeownership Is a Gateway Drug!

Pride of Ownership

Homeowners are in good hands...

It’s true, Homeownership is a Gateway Drug!  As home ownership relates to a lifestyle choice, it is clearly a commodity that 70% of American‘s on the street aspire too.  As a drug, the idea of homeownership causes these aspiring individuals and families to:

  • Seek safe neighborhoods
  • Seek quality schools
  • Seek a sense of community and neighborhood pride
  • Seek access to employment
  • Seek access to “desirable” services
  • Seek to be close to quality retail sources
  • Seek access to recreation and open space
  • Vote in elections

This homeownership idea is not such a bad thing!  It has been said that homeownership in Nazi Germany dropped from our current levels of 60-70% to a low of 33% by the time Hitler was in charge.  This may sound extreme, but responsible government policy that encourages homeownership is deeply rooted.

Currently, state and federal benefits include but are not limited to:

  • Tax advantages on mortgage interest
  • Property tax deductions
  • Energy conservation credits
  • Quasi-Governmental agencies to insure home mortgages (FHA, FNMA, Freddie, VA)

For the most part, this has been responsible public policy.  It is well defines and clearly proven that crime rates and public school performance are lower and superior respectively.  Citizens worldwide aspire to homeownership.  Where we average between 65-70%, around the world, rates run as high as 80-90%.  Italy ranks the highest on a worldwide ratio.

According to the Department of Commerce:

During the height of the housing bubble in 2004 the U.S. rate of homeownership soared to 69%. While Americans enjoyed record low interest rates and some of the most relaxed credit requirements; homeownership rates climbed to record highs.

The American Dream of becoming a homeowner seemed to come true for hundreds of thousands of wishful Americans and the possibilities seemed endless. Mortgage lenders seemed almost giddy at the opportunity to place wanting American into homes of their own. As we all know now it was this open-handed approach to lending that not only shattered the dreams of hundreds of thousands of Americans, it also caused the housing market to become saturated with foreclosures.

There is a fundamental difference between a dream and an entitlement. Dreaming of becoming a homeowner is just that, a dream. The American system of reward has always been that of hard work and sacrifice, and most of all a common sense approach to all things of importance. If any of those measuring sticks are removed front he equation there is no real possibility of true success.

Exactly, responsible public policy can enhance our communities.  Correctly administered, homeownership policy can be medical relief.  Handled irresponsibly, homeownership becomes a prolific gateway drug that damages our entire economy.

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The Social Home Finding Experience!

What do you know about social media? Want to buy a home? Do your parents live in Minneapolis, but you want to buy in Austin? And to top it off, your husband travels constantly!  Email, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, FourSquare, Google, YouTube, Flikr, Blogs and more may be part of your solution.

No big deal; Social Media was made for this! Bring family, friends and your Realtor together. Lean in on everyone. Make great decisions by committee! I’m not kidding, it’s all happening right now, today on “Main St. USA.

Documents are easily stored online in sharable files, video media, images and private blog pages can document everything.  If you really want to go out of on a limb check out something called Articulated Naturality Web.  ANW will allow internet users to post pictures that can be viewed by “smart phones” from the street, but with a significant twist. With the right camera, the images can be posted so they have a vertical dimension.  This is in addition to the standard flat GPS latitude and longitude.  This means when you hold your smart phone up to the property with the right application, photos of the interior of the house will pop up with there relative height within the structure revealed.  Amazing huh?

Hotels, museums, all kinds of commercial properties and more will be employing this technology as a guide, a source of information and a new paradigm of a reality. Literally looking into something will have a completely new meaning!

So Tom, are you saying the Virtual Home Purchase is here? Yes I am, but I’m also saying, it will never be a substitute for being present to look, touch and smell that new place to call home! Did I say never? Emeril has been working on Smell-o-vision for years. It could happen!  This video will really make you think about it, and maybe even tell a friend.  Enjoy!

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“Keep Your Eyes on the Road and Your Hands Upon the Wheel”

Realtors Make a Difference

As difficult as this market has been, the depressed prices, the fear, the uncertainty and the constant change, it is still fun being a Realtor.  First and foremost, Denver is a great place to live.  Next, the Denver market area has a fantastically diverse range of towns, communities and subdivisions offering everything from intense urban density to rural distant suburbs all within just a few minutes of each other.

Knowing this Denver Real Estate Market the way that I do, I giggle to myself frequently about the undertow of Realtor bias between urban, suburban and rural locations.  As an example, I can leave my house in the suburbs and be standing in front of “Spire”, a new high-rise right downtown in just about 20 minutes.  Homestead in the Willows is truly a hidden treasure. On the other hand, I can go 20 minutes in the other direction and be standing on 5-40 acres in Keene Ranch with views ranging from Longs Peak to the north past Mt. Evans in the middle all the way to Pikes Peak to the south.  By the way, I can garner that same view from the west side of Spire.  Like I said, it is truly a great place to live.

Second, the clients that come and go over the passing of time, offer up some of the purest opportunities for the observation of the human condition.  Extravagant, middle of the road and modest buyer’s and sellers in their own way, can participate in these same market areas.  Regardless of price, buyers and sellers all want the same results in this market.  They want a good value/price in a safe community.  The wave of these people over the course of time is very exciting.  Between egos, finances and external influences, the people side of the business is not to be missed.

Third, the “Art of the Deal” is a study in mosaic art.  Being a Realtor allows one the opportunity to assemble all the pieces one step at a time until the client whether it be buyer or seller is able to look at the pieces after closing and be completely satisfied with the the artwork.

Finally, the road to a successful transaction is littered with potholes.  Without appropriate help, it is very easy to bend a wheel, damage the car or even leave the road.  A Realtor’s assistance is a sure conduit to keeping your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel!

Whether it be the locational benefits, the people factor or the strategy of the deal, being a Realtor in Denver is among the best careers in spite of the market we must work within.

Click here for just a few facts about Realtors and why clients employ us.

Posted in Centennial, Denver, Denver Residential Real Estate, Homestead at Willows End, Homestead in the Willows, Homestead on the Parkway, The Timbers just south of Parker, Welcome to the City of Centennial | Leave a comment

Riptides and the Market – What do they have in common?

Stewart R. Massey recently wrote about the stock market, and I thought it was germain to the residential market right here in Denver.  “Here on the east coast the last weeks of August and early September brought hot, humid weather. Families from the Carolinas to Maine headed to the beach to enjoy the ocean breezes and a refreshing dip in the surf. The sea looks inviting in the waning days of summer but underneath the surface lay dangerous rip currents caused by a series of hurricanes moving northward far offshore.

Markets are acting a bit like the ocean now. The tide comes in on bits of good news (“better” economic data, strong corporate earnings, encouraging policy statements) and out on discouraging news (“bad” economic data, macro concerns, the negative bias of the media). The riptide this kind of market creates is volatility. Volatility creates short‐term aversion to risk, and to equities in particular. Nobody wants to go for a swim. They are happy to stay on the beach (fixed income and cash) and wait until the danger passes.”

What does all this have to do with Residential Real Estate in Denver?  Plenty!  External influences and their unintended consequences:

  • The various tax credits over the last couple of calendar years (Basically stealing buyers from the future)
  • Interest rates (Rising and Falling)
  • Inventory (High in some neighborhoods and price ranges and down in others)
  • Jobs, jobs and jobs
  • Available buyers and unavailable buyers (Quantifiable; yes, no, maybe?)

Many years ago, let’s say prior to 1970, but certainly prior to 1960, it was not uncommon to own a house for a career or lifetime and sell it for the same or less than it was purchased for a generation before.  But, with competition in the mortgage market for borrowers, two income families and the greater mobility of employees, all of a sudden, the family residence took on a new profile.  No longer being just shelter, in this new era, the home became an investment!

Let’s pull this all together.  Shelter becomes an investment, the government insures mortgages and corporate America becomes a driving force of interstate mobility.  Friction in the market was invented.  It has changed over the years to some degree but the average home owner has come and gone on a 3-7 year rotation.  This current market may cause some change in these numbers, but you get the idea.

Now, what are the dangers in our market in Denver with all these external influences?  If interest rates rise quickly or precipitously, this will drag this market to a standstill.  On the other hand, it tax credit programs resurface, the Denver market will run shortages in a relatively short time.  With so many owners becoming tenants due to short sale, foreclosure and bankruptcy credit issues, a more liberal underwriting process would swamp the market with a new wave of buyers, and could steal these tenants back into home ownership.  What if a change was made to retirement accounts allowing homeowners to save their homes without tax penalties, etc?  Wow, would than stabilize this market or what?

Right now, corporate mobility has been significantly impacted due to market conditions.  People just can’t take that job in Houston if their home in Denver can’t be sold.

Long story short, this market is healing, but even though the surface looks calm, there are dangers lurking below the surface, just out of sight.  Like they used to say on “Hill Street Blues”, “Be Careful Out There”.

Posted in 500 tax credit?, Bottom of the market, Buying or Selling Real Estate, First Time and Repeat Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension, Free Markets, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Greenwood Village Fitness Festival

Fitness Festival

Once again the Kentwood Company participates in the 2010 Fitness Festival through the streets of Greenwood Village. This run, walk, fun run and post festival gathering continues to grow!

Sponsorship and attendance was up!  Ed McCaffrey was the opening act and started the runners.  Smoky Hill’s Marching Band was right on cue as were their Cheerleaders!  Sit back and watch the video of it all!

Posted in Denver Residential Real Estate, Greenwood Village, Homestead in the Willows, Real Estate Residential Denver, Your Colorado Bucket List | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Stars and Stripes Weekend – Boston U., Boston College and Harvard

US Women's Teams and the US Mens Team Compete in Boston

You have to be excited about a weekend in Boston in the fall with a line up of Lacrosse entertainment like this.

The World Champions keeping the torch lit with some US competition….  US Lacrosse has put together an exciting weekend of events at Harvard’s new lacrosse venue.

Pray for clear skies and great weather!  Because, all your favorite players will be there keeping the torch burning brightly in their quests for world domination again in ’13’ for the Women and in Denver in 2014 for the men.  USA, USA, USA, USA, USA… … …

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Hidden Charms Found in Centennial Neighborhood

Homestead on the Parkway Home

It feels like home!

One of the great things about Denver’s Residential Real Estate is its “Hidden Charms”. Scattered throughout the Metro Area, residential enclaves surprise the adventuresome house hunter. Denver, Lakewood, Aurora, Broomfield, Golden, Littleton, Englewood, Cherry Hills Village, Greenwood Village, Parker, Castle Rock and Morrison all enjoy their own little slices of heaven.

As Centennial matures into a safe, respected and highly accessible city, it too enjoys its own slices of residential heaven. In the early 1970s when Centennial was unincorporated Arapahoe County, some of the most respected names in residential construction sought their fame and fortune along what are now the Streets of Centennial. Writer, Sanford, Celebrity, Hallcraft, Richmond and many others staked their claims along the grids created by Arapahoe Road, Dry Creek Road, S. Holly Street and S. Quebec Street.

One community created by Sanford Homes gave residents 8 tennis courts, 3 community pools, an intertwined greenbelt system allowing kids to walk to a neighborhood elementary school and an interior core which became Willow Springs Open Space. With kids walking to Homestead Elementary School during the school year and neighborhood pools in summertime, it didn’t take long for the summer swim team to start feeding Cherry Creek High School with State Champions year in and year out. With the competitive nature of surrounding communities like Heritage Greens, Foxridge, Willow Creek, Cherry Park, Heritage Village and Heritage Place summer competition is still churning out championship swimmers 30 years later.

It takes more than a swim team to make a neighborhood however, and Homestead enjoys a diversity that really allows a ladder of ownership supporting first time buyers to “I’ve Arrived” homes to empty nest opportunities. Homestead in the Willows enjoys the benefits of a large Single Family Detached enclave, the Homestead Villages tend to be focused retirement enclaves, Sturbridge reflects the colonial townhouse rows often found in and around Boston, Olde Mill condominiums and Mill Creek paired homes offer very affordable entry points. But the jewels of Homestead, Willows End and The Parkway secretly enjoy a market fanaticism that seldom occurs.

People routinely ask, “What is it about those parkway houses?” Once you drive through and see the advantages of the access to pools and schools, the bucolic serenity of the open space, the architectural conformity, the pride of ownership and one of those sunsets, most people “shop ‘till they drop” to get into Willows End or The Parkway.

Homestead @ Willows End enjoys 17 perimeter custom home sites and 16 interior patio home style sites with a private street and 2 acres of common area that is always immaculately groomed. Tree lined white railed fences, define the enclave’s special status within the community. The abutting open space allows it to have a perception of very low density. Right next door along Homestead Parkway is Homestead on the Parkway. Not much bigger with only 45 custom home sites, The Parkway has 20 perimeter open space sites. The fact that there is only 37 perimeter sites on 120 acres of natural open space fuels the constant market demand from the surrounding community. It is not uncommon for these locations to sell by word of mouth.

Many of the current and past Parkway and Willows End owners have had 1, 2 and even three other homes in Homestead before arriving on “on the parkway”. “It’s just that type of community.” Although many of the original owners have been lost to other worlds, they always seem to be back for Christmas parties, summer BBQs and that “little slice of heaven” they once called home. It’s true what they say, “You can take the person out of Homestead, but you can’t take the Homestead out of the person”.

Posted in Centennial, Homestead at Willows End, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment