03/04/2025 WOW! Things Move Fast!

Posted on March 4, 2025 by Dee & Tom Cryer

As we turn into the cul-de-sac of Q12025, it certainly has not been boring. I’m predicting more fireworks before the show is over. We had ten years of rough seas in the ’60s. I’d say we had another 10 years of rough seas in the ’70s. The ’80s were very rough economically. The ’90s fooled a lot of us, but eventually grew into the DotComm bust late in the decade. The early part of the 2000s were very wild with the “greatest recession since the great depression” toward the end as it was told. The 2K Teens offered all kinds of challenges. Now into the ’20s, we face a dramatic course of change. No body can predict the outcome.

There are opposing opinions on everything. Rates going up? Rates going down? Tariffs pushing inflation higher? Tariffs will force our trading partners to play fair?

Only in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead will we know. I can, however, tell you what happened last week, and where our inventory is trending with accuracy for next week. So let’s dive right in!

Denver Market Watch

New Listing
1514: A big jump in weekly listings this week; up almost 500 Active SFR Listings.
Coming Soon
291; This is a big jump here too, so more to come!
Back On Market
266
Price Increase
99
Price Decrease
1604; Still struggling with getting right the first time.
Pending
1223: A strong week, but not keeping up with New Listings.
Withdrawn
136
Leased
78
Closed
1173: This will be the first time this year when I have reported over 1,000 Closed Listings in one week.
Expired
535: This is a new high this year. Sellers looking to “go another direction”.

All in all, a good week for demand but an even better week for supply. Score this one for the buyers out there. Time to get off the couch!

What has happened to the Total Supply of Active Single Family Listings?

The chart shows a flattening of total new active listings at 6,377 properties. This compares with 5,380 last year at this time. We have more supply, but it is nowhere near previous highs, but it will give buyers more choices. We are still waiting on lower interest rates, aren’t we? On all levels, we have buyers, sellers, and investors watching and waiting to see what will happen with rates. If you know, you might have a leg up on the rest of us. As the saying goes, “Marry your home and neighborhood, but date your rate, because you can always refinance later on.”

Here’s my prediction. Trump’s First Hundred Days will NOT be mellow, but rates will slowly work their way back to near 6% levels. Inventory in Denver will slowly increase as the supply outpaces demand in the short term. By fall, it will be the same story as 2024: not enough supply going into the winter months. We can handle this; no problem!

If you are on the fence, let’s talk about your plans for 2025 now, not later. Failure to plan is a plan for failure. We’ll be there for you every step of the way. We have buyers coming into the market, we have sellers going live on the market, and we can offer real-world, battle-tested strategies that have stood the test of time. An hour of your time with us can send you down the right path.

In the meantime, you can always catch up with us at TheCryerTeam@Kentwood.com.

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02/18/2025 Spring 2025 The Cryer Team

Posted on February 18, 2025 by Dee & Tom Cryer

There are so many variables associated with a residential real estate market. First and foremost are income and interest rates. Next, there are the supply and demand factors. Finally, there are locational characteristics in the greatest and least demand. On top of all this is the expression, “Everything is relative”.

Denver continues to attract well-paying employment, but it is at a much slower pace than the last 5 years’ average. On top of that, interest rates have not been our friends for the last couple of years. We have a significant homeowner population with a sub 3.5% mortgage, and there is little compunction to move. Additionally, the Denver market has seen an increase in inventory, but this increase has not been significant to cause depreciation. Demand has remained relatively consistent, the there is no question rates have slowed this demand somewhat. Finally, we have found the desirability of certain neighborhoods and submarkets to be much stronger that others with this growth in inventory.

If you are a Buyer, get “Full Credit Approval” from a lender with strong market acceptance. Get your finances in perfect order. Have funds liquid at a moment’s notice. Have your submarket defined. This will allow you to move decisively without fear. This will make you a much better buyer than the “C” students in the back row.

If you will be a Seller this spring season, you better get your ducks in a row. Time is wasting. Decluttered, Spit Shine Clean, Repairs Done, and First Impressions Addressed. You better have a plan if your home sells quickly. Where are you going to live? If you are planning on being a buyer in this market, I direct your attention to the previous paragraph.

Now, let’s see what happened in Denver this week.

Denver Market Watch
New Listing (1291) This is a good seasonal number but not something that’s going to explode the inventory.
Coming Soon (240) Pretty typical…
Back On Market (231) We are seeing a consistent tend of deals crashing.
Price Increase (101)
Price Decrease (1569) This is really shameful. Getting the price right from the start serves everyone involved.
Pending (1168) Not a bad week. When this number is keeping up with new listings the market is doing OK.
Withdrawn (135)
Leased (0)
Closed (705) This is not a good sign. This number should be accelerating toward 800-900 by now, but it is not.
Expired (272)

Total Active Listings

Bouncing around 6,000 Active single-family residential Listings has been somewhat stable for the last 4-6 weeks. If we see this trend continue, we will enjoy a nice balance into the spring and summer marketing season. Should we see it drop or continue to grow, our market will drift into a shortage or an oversupply.

As always, we will keep you posted. We look forward to your interest in MyTownCryer every week…tc

TheCryerTeam@Kentwood.com

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02/11/2025 What makes a strong residential market?

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Dee & Tom Cryer

The question above used to be easy. It is much more complex these days. Demographics have changed. Some are becoming buyers later in life, and some are not selling, so they are staying longer. Some are committed to an urban lifestyle, and others a suburban lifestyle.

I have examined this question from all sides. Here’s what I’ve learned. Neighborhoods with a “draw” handle the swings in market conditions better than others. A draw can be anything from a coffee shop to a neighborhood pool, but the strongest communities tend to have a positive layering effect.

For example, a suburban community with a neighborhood elementary school, open space, pools, tennis courts, trails, and a well-administered HOA can survive just about any market conditions. In most scenarios, it does better than communities without these features.

On the other hand, an urban neighborhood might thrive under a completely different set of characteristics. It still needs that “draw”, but the draw might be walkability to shops, restaurants, and gathering places, if you will. In some cases, the draw might be somewhat esoteric. A nice library, unique recreational amenities like a dog park, or even a park with all sorts of outlets.

Either way, neighborhoods are defined by their residents. Like we always say, “Find your neighborhood, and then find your house. You can’t fix your community, but you can fix your house.”

Denver Market Watch
New Listing (1193): This is on the same trajectory as last week.
Coming Soon (215)
Back On Market (235)
Price Increase (89)
Price Decrease (1129): We are still seeing an overpriced market. Buyers are flexing their muscles.
Pending (1222): This is a nice weekly number, commensurate with last week’s. Buyers are learning the ropes on rates and terms.
Withdrawn (118)
Leased (0)
Closed (681): This was another slow week. I’m still hoping it is a hangover from the last week of December which was a holiday week. Anecdotally, we are experiencing an uptick in traffic and contract activity.
Expired (233)

We are still experiencing a market where the best and brightest move to the front of the line and become closed transactions. A seller can no longer put their home on the market with deficiencies. Buyers are critical of deferred maintenance, site characteristics, and appeal factors. These are some of the price reductions.

Now lets look at the broader market of Active Single Family Listings.

With 5,951 Active Listings right now, this is about 1,100 listings ahead of last year at the same time. This is still a nominal increase, and it will not plunge the Denver Market into the abyss. This market would enjoy a slight decrease in 30-year interest rates. Inventory would fall, and the completion would return.

Today’s wisdom: If you are a buyer, you must be vigilant, eyes open, and ears to the ground. You must have all your pre-buyer steps completed. You must be ready to give up a weekend mountain trip to the homebuyer process.

If you are a seller, get your house in order. Take it one step at a time, and complete everything on your list. Come to the market “Parade Ready”. Don’t give a buyer a reason to walk on by. Be the “A” student in the front row with no flaws.

We can help you every step of the way; thecryerteam@kentwood.com

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02/04/2025 Continuing Education

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Dee & Tom Cryer

Did you know Realtors and Licencees in Colorado are required to obtain 24 hours of continuing education every three years? Each year, there is a “mandatory” 4-hour course licensees must complete.

Today, I will be completing my 2025 “mandatory” course in person. Our board has very nice classroom-style facilities, so it is not the hardship I find in most classroom setups. Still, it is 4 hours inside with limited movement. I will get by!

This week, our MLS System is reporting all kinds of fresh data, so let’s dive right in.

Denver Market Watch
New Listing (1205) This is a growing number since the year started. Little by little, buyers are getting more choices!
Coming Soon (145)
Back On Market (204)
Price Increase (198)
Price Decrease (1412) This number is growing too. Apparently, we are not very good at pricing.
Pending (1151) Not a bad week. This will create strong closing numbers in March.
Withdrawn (128)
Leased (0)
Closed (795) Better than last week, but still coming out of the holiday season and the cold beginning weeks of January has not helped the closing numbers.
Expired (461) Sellers just letting go. Will these become “Coming Soon” active listings?

As we can observe above, the Denver Metro Market is coming to life. Showing activity and contract activity have really improved too.

Now, let’s move on to the number of Active Listings. This is the heartbeat of the market. What are the numbers this week?

The number of Active Listings is slightly higher than last year, but it’s lower than last week. With just 5,795 Active SFR listings in the 11-county metro area, we will be going into the last of winter in very good shape for sellers. List your property now!

We have 4-active listings right now. We have several others in the planning phase. Let us know what you want, we often have a match. Due to the relative dearth of active listings in our most sought-after communities, Kentwood has an in-house pipeline to your dream home.

As always, you can reach us at TheCryerTeam@Kentwood.com

Keep tuning in, we’ll be back again next week…tc

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01/28/2025 #January #TheFutureHomeDesigns

Posted on January 28, 2025 by Dee & Tom Cryer

Can you believe it? January is already gone, Bam, gone! 1/12th Gone! This makes me think about the future.

Dee and I have been showing a buyer new homes. After looking closely, we did not observed really significant changes in new home construction, design, and/or features. I will say, however, nothing is really “Wowing Us”. We did not see a single drone-port. How will our groceries be delivered? We did not tour a single new home garage with a pre-wire for an electric car. No clean water treatment solutions, no crack free concrete, and no lifetime roof solutions. Energy solutions were few and far between. Long story short, we are building a new generation of homes, but we are certainly nowhere near the Jetsons’ lifestyle.

So, what happened last week with numbers in our MLS System?

Denver Market Watch
New Listing (1138) Considerable increase here. Buyers need to come out and start looking again.
Coming Soon (184) No change here.
Back On Market (222)
Price Increase (106)
Price Decrease (992) This is a nice decrease. Maybe we are getting smarter?
Pending (1103) A nice number here.
Withdrawn (124)
Leased (0)
Closed (646) This data is coming from the Christmas and New Year’s week in December.
Expired (260) This has slowed a bit. Let’s see what happens moving forward.

Jumping right into the Active Inventory an increase of 200 Active Listings over last week.

With just under 200 Active Listings over the last week. Sellers are not being called out into the market yet. Maybe when it warms up a little, and the snow melts sellers will become more active? We will be watching this closely. As fast as 2025 is moving, we are constantly running with this market to keep up. Please tune in next week, and we will be sharing even more.

Don’t forget, you can always reach us at: TheCryerTeam@Kentwood.com

DMAR Historical Graph Listings and Sales 2008-CurrentDownload
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01/21/2025 #FarOut #Groovy #Stoked

Posted on January 21, 2025 by Dee & Tom Cryer

It is crazy how language changes. I love employing “Far Out” to acknowledge gratitude like, “Thank You.” Today, I used Far Out in conversation with a somewhat younger Autotech working on our car. He had never heard the expression before. I thought back, and realized he had been deprived of life in the 1970s. I wonder what colloquialisms I am missing out on now being an out of touch Boomer. Language changes.

And so, too, does our Denver Metro Residential Market. Let’s take a look.

New Listing (1048) This is a pretty good week for inventory. With temperatures mostly in single digits, this is a strong appearance by sellers!
Coming Soon (193)
Back On Market (176)
Price Increase (180)
Price Decrease (893) A carry-over from 2024, we just can’t seem to get it right the first time.
Pending (1025) A pretty strong week keeping up with new inventory. A very nice healthy sign.
Withdrawn (111)
Leased (0)
Closed (600) Somewhat disturbing here, but remember, this represents what went pending/under contract 30 days ago. That was Christmas Week.
Expired (267) This number keeps falling as we move into 2025.

Overall, not a bad week all things considered, but I will be expecting the number of closings to climb as we move into February.

Now, let’s take a look at the supply side of things. The Total Active Listing right now is 5,841. This is just slightly up from last week, which was 5,749. We will be tracking this closely in the coming weeks and throughout the year. Should we start to see 6 months supply or more, values will start to suffer. We are closing in on this market-wide; outlying areas are already past it, but close-in areas are under it. Our tracking will be very telling in the weeks and months ahead.

In closing today, let’s take solace in the good surrounding our market. First, at 7% interest rates, we still have a market, and it is quite healthy. Second, Colorado has seen its population growth taper off, and we still have a healthy market. Finally, as reported by our MLS System, we have a few more data points leading into 2025.

What to Watch in 2025

“As we move into 2025, the Denver metro area housing market appears well-positioned to offer expanded opportunities for buyers. With a larger pool of active listings and steady home prices, potential homeowners will benefit from greater choices, particularly in key counties like Denver and Arapahoe. Meanwhile, rental inventory constraints may continue to drive interest in purchasing, creating a dynamic and engaging market landscape. Stay tuned to REcolorado for the latest updates and insights as we navigate the year ahead together.“

Let’s keep in touch: TheCryerTeam@Kentwood.com

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01/14/2025 #Greenland #Canada #Colorado

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Dee & Tom Cryer

As Bob Dylan sings, “...the times, they are a-changin‘”. What if you fell asleep, and then you woke up, and the US had become the largest land mass of any country in the world. These days, stranger things could happen. For me, however, right now, private ownership of real estate in Greenland does not exist. So, forget that summer cabin on the coast!

Now, Canada is a different story. I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. The US could benefit Canada, and Canada could benefit the US. Interesting, isn’t it? All that King and Queen of England stuff would cause me some dis-consternation, but they’d get over it, I think…

But seriously, folks, Colorado is front and center right now. The national news has not been the best. I believe the pendulum will swing in a positive direction. In the meantime, we see both at the state level and the local level positive population growth and job growth. I believe this will continue, and I believe, we will see our diverse residents working together. Always the optimist, I continue to see healthy residential markets near the Central Business District, in our distant suburbs, and everywhere in between. Appropriate pricing, positive reaction to feedback, and constant communication will continue to be the most significant factors in every transaction.

What’s happening in the Denver SFR MLS this week?

New Listing (1082) A slight bump over last week, but this will not give buyers the choices they want!
Coming Soon (157)
Back On Market (231) If these listings are arriving as a result of the post-holiday withdrawals, hopefully, they will have a better price and appeal.
Price Increase (153)
Price Decrease (1264)
Pending (987) This number has grown from last week, and I would expect it to be over 1,000 by next week.
Withdrawn (133)
Leased (0)
Closed (654) A very, very slow week. This number would populate from transactions in early to mid-December 2024, so it is probably in line with expectations.
Expired (314) Will these be coming back with a new Listing Broker? These could add to the supply very quickly!

With the number of active listings bouncing around between 4,000 to 6,000, buyers still return home with the properties they want to buy hiding from them. Note to Sellers, with interest rates hovering right now around 7%, this is no time to test the upper limit of a property’s market acceptance. Buyers always want last years prices, and sellers will always want next year’s prices. This market requires a bit more nuance when pricing to hit the market target.

Not unlike weeks past, the number of active listings continues the curve toward lower numbers of listings, this will change in the next few weeks. Look for the line on the right hand side of this graph to turn up as soon as next week!

Today, we have a market with 5,749 Active SFR Listings. This is just +/- 200 more than last week. I expect a pretty large jump by the end of January. Stay tuned for a review of my 2025 Crystal Ball. It hasn’t let me down so far this year. Hahaha…

In the meantime, I will repeat my closing remarks from last week. Dee and I have several new listings coming up this month and into the first quarter of 2025. We also have several active buyers not finding their dream home. Let’s connect and make it happen for you in 2025.

TheCryerTeam@Kentwood.com

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01/07/2025 What We Know and What We Don’t

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Dee & Tom Cryer

Good Morning Everyone,

Do you have one year of experience 20 times, or do you have 20 years of experience?

Let’s look at Denver’s SFR Market quickly:

January 2015 to the end of December 2024, the total number of active SFRs in the Denver Metro MLS system was; 4,092, 4,005, 3,687, 3,370, 4,552, 3,800, 1,718, 1,796, 4,335, 4,828, 5,598. We are starting 2025 with more inventory than we’ve had in the last 10 years. This sounds terrible, but when compared to 2008 through 2012, 5,598 is nothing to worry about, but it is important. Whenever buyers have more choices, the balance swings toward a buyers’ market. When observed graphically, the market challenge of oversupply is not nearly as commanding as first thought. The substantial drop in inventory in the last couple of months in 2024 lead us toward a more favorable balance.

We can not call this current level of inventory an oversupply, but we will watch this closely throughout 2025..

As for 2025, Dee has some terrific listings coming up in Q125. Let us know what’s on your list. We can find it for you…

TheCryerTeam@Kentwood.com

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Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Dee & Tom Cryer

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15quE6nW55/?mibextid=WC7FNe

And, to all a good night…

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12/17/2024 Christmas Good Tidings So Long 2024

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Dee & Tom Cryer

This will be our last post of #2024. It has been a great year for us. We were blessed with Louie James Cryer in October. #5 Grandchild, it never gets old. Two sixes, two threes, and now a less than one. This will make it a very special Christmas when we get together.

As for 2024, we had many headwinds. We had higher rates than buyers like. We had the election. We had wars, we had urban crisis, and we had slowing job growth along the front-range. In spite of the headwinds, we had a listing over $3M and a buyer over $3M. On the other end, we had a buyer at $425K in new construction. Finally, we had a seller of a one bedroom condo at $240K. So, we covered the gambit this year, and a fine year it was.

What happened this week in our MLS report? Let’s take a look.

Denver Market Watch
New Listing (620) This is a low count, but typical of this season.
Coming Soon (34)
Back On Market (164)
Price Increase (89)
Price Decrease (1128)
Pending (909) Not a bad week for this season, but not anywhere near a strong week during mid-year.
Withdrawn (203)
Leased (0)
Closed (893) Not a bad week, more than expected. This could be a start for 2025!
Expired (504)

Overall, this is not a bad week. 2025 has some momentum based on this. Of course, we have to wait and see, but it will not be long now. In just a few weeks, we will understand how things will be going for 2025.

Let’s delve right into how Active Listings look for year-end.

The graph’s rounding of total active listings is clear and as predicted a few months ago. Today, we are reporting just 7,353 total active listings. We haven’t seen a number this low since April 2024.

My prediction is well supported. We will have more buyers than sellers during the first quarter of 2025. Rates will keep the market calm as we settle into a new President. My guess on rates will keep them above 5.5% for the duration of 2025, but over 6% is more likely.

In the meantime, Dee is already building the 2025 pipeline of buyers and sellers. If you are looking for something special, she may already have it waiting for you!

Contact TheCryerTeam@Kentwood.com

May God bless you and your family in the coming year, and may Santa deliver on that special wish, Merry Christmas…tc

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