Where do you want to live?

I work with a lot of buyers from out of state.  One of the first questions I ask them is “where do you want to live?”, and the answer is inevitably, “we don’t know!”.  Of course, it’s my job to help them figure that out.  I empathize with them because it is difficult to quickly learn a new city before investing in a home. 

Like most cities, there are many different price ranges and types of neighborhoods on the front range (Denver/Boulder metro area).  Frontdoor.com has come up with a cool little slide show that describes the 12 basic types of neighborhoods.  Denver and Boulder have all these types of neighborhoods, minus the palm trees, and hopefully this will help some of you narrow down the lifestyle you’re looking for. 

Check it out and let me know what kind of neighborhood you want.  I’ll tell you where to get it and how affordable it can be!  http://www.frontdoor.com/news/article/373/p1

Report offers hope in housing

Denver and the surrounding areas have certainly suffered from the sub-prime mortgage fallout.  The impact differs in Denver from the national picture just as it differs from one neighborhood to another (just look at Boulder compared to any other Boulder county area). 

The data behind the bad news shows leading indicators of a recovery for Denver.  For example, in most areas the number of listings on the market are down by as much as 30% compared to a year ago, but prices on those homes are rising in most areas at least 5%.  The supply of homes on the market appears to have caught up with the demand.  That is just one indicator though.  This article from the Rocky Mountain News talk more about the others:

Denver area stronger than many others

The Denver-area housing market is looking strong compared with many other places in the country, according to a national report released Tuesday.

Only a dozen cities across the country were ranked better than the Denver-Aurora area, according to the PMI Mortgage Insurance Group’s Winter 2008 Risk Index.

LaVaughn Henry, director of U.S. economic analysis, said PMI uses a “high-faluting economic model” to judge each metropolitan area by five metrics: housing price movement, affordability, changes in local labor markets, housing supply and foreclosures.

“Denver looks pretty good in four of the five,” he said. “The positives in four of the five more than make up for your foreclosures, your one weak area.”

 

The Cost of Commuting

Have you ever wondered what all that time you spend in the car going to and from work is really worth?  In our current real estate market we are seeing an urban contraction, which is a fancy way of saying people are moving back to urban centers and close-in suburbs.  The majority of foreclosures, short sales and “deals” are found a little further out and this can be tempting for home buyers to consider a trade off; commuting for more house.

I’ve found a new tool which can take into account all the impacts that a longer commute may have on your life.  Some of these are obvious such as the cost of gas and maintenance, but have you considered how much more house you could buy with that money, or the size of your “carbon footprint”?  The picture below links to the page on my website where you can find the actual calculator.  You can download the tool for free to  put up on your own website.  As always please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!