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Archive for February 2008
February 28th, 2008
Leap Day
February 29, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Hop on over to Denver Zoo to help the zoo and other zoos across the nation kick off The Year of the Frog at Denver Zoo’s Leap Day. Learn about local frogs and other amphibians during this day long celebration, get up close and personal while meeting some of Denver Zoo’s local resident frogs and learn what you can do to help solve the amphibian crisis in your own backyard. Activities free with admission.
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February 21st, 2008
Well, we found a renter for our house - the cute little ranch that we may be a tiny bit upside down in because we finished the basement while we were living in it and did a bunch of other upgrades, and then decided to move to a bigger place. I posted a few pics on Craigslist and got over 30 very interested responses! The first lady that cam to see it was fantastic, and she is going to be very happy living there, I know it!
I am so, so glad that we decided to feel out the rental market before selling while prices are low - I honestly was out of the loop as far as rentals were concerned in that area - and we are almost able to cover our mortgage even with the hike in interest rate that we had to take last year with our refi, in order to get my Grandpa, who co-signed on the house for us a few years ago, off the deed so that he would not have to stress over it.
But I have been wondering - should we do another no-cost refi and try to lower the payments even further so that we don’t have any monthly cost to keep the house on top of the rent that we receive? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Mortgage News, Real Estate News | 1 Comment »
February 19th, 2008
Mortgage applications rose 12% last week - yay! People are out there buying, and selling, and the market is warming up along with this beautiful Colorado day (59 degrees and not a cloud in the sky!)
This from Realty Times…
Money for home purchases right now is cheap, no question. And we all know housing prices are lower this year than they were last — sometimes by 10 and 15 percent or more, depending on local market conditions.
So a 12 percent jump in purchase applications could be a significant development … or just a fleeting statistical fluke. We’ll keep you up to date on it.
Another potentially important factor looking forward: The federal economic stimulus package signed into law this week opens the door to more affordable home purchases in some of the hardest-hit, high cost markets in California, New England, Florida and the Mid- Atlantic states.
Rather than being stuck with expensive “jumbo” loans — with rates of one to two percent above standard — buyers will now be able to take out mortgages with lower rates, even if the loan amounts go to nearly $730,000.
Those new “budget-priced” jumbos will be available not only through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose lower capital costs get passed onto borrowers, but also through the FHA, whose capital costs are even lower.
There’s a hitch, though: These special jumbo deals will only be available this calendar year. They disappear December 31st.
Buyers and sellers who want to benefit from this part of the stimulus package need to get into the game fairly soon.
Who knows? Maybe the economic stimulus package — which most people think of in terms of tax rebate checks — just might bring some heat and energy to the housing market, just in time for Spring.
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February 15th, 2008
Welcome to this fantastic 3 bedroom, 2 bath, fully updated Bungalow in sought-after Berkeley. Perfect hardwood floors, new windows, large kitchen with eat-in, newly finished basement, large wood deck and landscaped yard. Great closets with organizers. Newer paint. This home is right out of Pottery Barn, and is the best in the area!
$309,900
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February 13th, 2008
This is so smart - I really like the idea of intergenerational housing developments - so that grandparents can live close enough to be convenient, but still independently so that everyone has their own space when they need it.
I’ve been trying to get my grandparents to move back to the Denver Metro area for a while now. I think it would be so nice to have them around the corner rather than a 3-hour drive away. I want my kids to be able to hang out with them on a really regular basis, not just get dressed up to go to grandma’s only on Christmas Eve and Easter!
This article in today’s USA Today tells me I’m not the only one…
These “multigenerational” communities stop short of putting several generations under one roof, the way many families lived in earlier times. Instead, they build close but separate sections for active adults, families and younger couples: one-story houses and golf courses down the street from larger, single-family homes near playgrounds and schools.
“They are close but not too close,” says Jimmy Dundon, 38, of his in-laws. “It’s easier getting together for Sunday dinners, birthdays and holidays. … It’s much easier for babysitting.”
The emerging niche for home buyers and builders has roots from long ago.
“This is historically how we lived 200 years ago or even 100 years ago,” says Sherry Ahrentzen, an architectural researcher at Arizona State University. “It’s just sort of coming back because of demographics, the transportation crunch and taking care of kids.”
Germany, a nation like many others in Europe struggling with an aging population and low fertility, has turned to multigenerational developments to help support the elderly. Older people live next to young families who are not necessarily related to them. The two groups often help each other out.
In the USA, longer life spans and delayed childbirth create more multigenerational families. Housing for them is particularly popular with large subdivision developers who appeal to more affluent buyers.
Pulte Homes’ Del Webb, a developer best known for its “Sun City” communities for people 55 and older, has launched “Anthem” communities for all ages in Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. It also is building parts of similar housing clusters in North Carolina and Florida. Anthem at Merrill Ranch, southeast of Phoenix, is the first such development to include a Sun City section.
“Living closer to your loved ones, your family, your parents, your sisters, your aunts and uncles has been more important since 9/11, frankly,” says Jacque Petroulakis, a public affairs director for Pulte Homes and Del Webb.
Read the whole article here.
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February 12th, 2008
Interesting reports on both sides of the news today. On www.MSNBC.com the lead story is about Project Lifeline, a program being adopted by the major lenders to help homeowners who are facing foreclosure:
The Bush administration, trying to deal with a worsening housing slump, announced a new initiative Tuesday aimed at helping homeowners about to lose their homes. For qualified homeowners, it will put the foreclosure process on hold for 30 days.
Dubbed “Project Lifeline,” the new program will be available to people who have taken out all types of mortgages, not just the high-cost subprime loans that have been the focus on previous relief efforts.
The program was put together by six of the nation’s largest financial institutions, which service almost 50 percent of the nation’s mortgages — Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo.
These lenders say they will contact homeowners who are 90 or more days overdue on their monthly mortgage payments. They will be given the opportunity to put the foreclosure process on pause for 30 days while the lenders try to work out a way to make the mortgage more affordable to the homeowner.
“Project Lifeline is a valuable response, literally a lifeline, for people on the brink of the final steps in foreclosure,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, said at a joint news conference with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
He said the goal was to provide a temporary pause in the foreclosure process “long enough to find a way out” by allowing homeowners and lenders to negotiate a more affordable mortgage.
(Read the rest here.)
But will most homeowners accept the help - or walk away?
In today’s Inman News, there is a great article about the shocking number of homeowners who are taking the easy way out of a mortgage by simply mailing the keys back to the lender and moving on:
The evidence is still anecdotal, but news media have begun to report that some homeowners have decided to walk away from their homes just because they have no equity and, consequently, don’t want to make their mortgage payments even though they could afford to do so.
Not long ago, foreclosure was viewed as a shameful outcome of severe financial difficulties, but today, some homeowners seem almost proud of their decision to ditch their home and their mortgage payments. Consider Stephanie Valdez, a homeowner in Stockton, Calif., who told a “60 Minutes” correspondent that she and her husband saw no point in making the payments on their house because it was no longer worth as much as they had paid to buy it.
Such behavior isn’t new, of course. Homeowners in the last real estate down cycle also signed over the deeds to their homes to their lenders in lieu of a protracted foreclosure process. But today, this so-called “deed-in-lieu” has become so much a part of the landscape that a new term, “jingle-mail,” has been coined to describe those envelopes of house keys mailed back to lenders.
What’s changed in this cycle, however, is that the negative consequences for walk-away homeowners have become so minimal that the decision to ditch a burdensome home and oversized mortgage seems to make a strange kind of good economic sense.
Not only the social stigma, but also the financial pain of foreclosure has diminished. Landlords reportedly have put out the welcome mat for former homeowners despite their impaired credit. Everyone seems to acknowledge that even a foreclosure will drop off a credit report in a matter of a few years, and that then these walk-away homeowners will be ready and able to get new mortgages and purchase new homes. Expect them to do so just in time for the next upturn in the housing cycle.
In non-recourse states, lenders can’t pursue former homeowners for unpaid mortgage debt after foreclosure. And now that much of this forgiven debt can be excluded from taxable income, those who walk-away from a mortgage often can avoid the federal income tax liability as well. Not even the all-mighty Internal Revenue Service can touch these folks.
Meanwhile, the homeowners can avoid the risk of more negative equity and eliminate the cost of owning and maintaining their home from their household budget. And since the property now belongs to an institution rather than another family, why not strip the fixtures and sell them for cash on your way out of town? (Read a recent AP report of a California homeowner caught doing this.)
I myself bought a house at the wrong time - at the top of the market right before the downturn. I’ve now refinanced a couple of times and am renting it out for less than my mortgage - I might be a bit upside-down, but I wouldn’t think of walking away from it!
If you are facing foreclosure, please look into these options for help before you join the crowd paying top-price for rent. The market will come back. It always does. Or, if you are going to jump ship and are looking for a little ranch to rent, let me know, because I’m holding onto mine.
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February 12th, 2008
Thanks to everyone who came out for some free pancakes and information on Saturday! Snooze was packed, and we considered the event a great success, though we are afraid that some people were scared away by the crowd.
So, next month’s event will be even better, with more experts on hand to answer all of your questions, including How to search for the right home, which neighborhoods have great investment opportunities, how to choose projects which will add to the future value of your property, the best ways to finance, and more!
Stay tuned for location information - we are planning on the Second Saturday in March for our next event! To register now, go to www.denverhomebuyerhappyhour.com
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February 11th, 2008
If you have had a home improvement project on the back burner because you need to hire someone to do some or all of the work, now may be the time to go for it — this is in today’s USA Today:
As more people struggle to pay their mortgage and fewer take out home-equity loans, many homeowners have cut back their spending on remodeling kitchens, replacing windows and other improvement projects.
Two out of three homeowners who had planned an improvement project this year said they would wait until the market stabilizes, and about 11% said they were abandoning the idea of a project this year, according to an e-mail survey with 2,100 responses from homeowners in 11 metro areas.
The survey by the Zoomerang research firm, while not a random sample of homeowners, offers anecdotal evidence of the jitters about the housing recession. And it matches industry figures. The remodeling industry, with annual sales of about $280 billion, is expected to see a 2.6% annual rate of decline through autumn, the Joint Center for Housing Studies says. Freddie Mac says Americans pulled out only $38 billion in cash from their homes in the fourth quarter last year, about half the amount for that period in 2006.
As property values drop in many areas, some homeowners are finding it harder to refinance their mortgages and take out cash to finish the basement. Falling home prices can also reduce the money that a homeowner stands to recoup on a project.
“We are telling homeowners who want to sell in the next couple of years to do repairs or improvements to make the house look good, but not to spend a lot of money on a bathroom or kitchen,” said Ron Phipps of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I.
A swimming pool can cost $50,000 to put in, for example, but it may add only $10,000 to the property’s value even in a normal market, Phipps says.
Still, homeowners with access to cash have bargaining power. With construction plunging in many parts of the country, contractors are “hungry right now,” Phipps says, and will do remodeling at cut-rate prices.
Lower interest rates are also easing the strain on homeowners who can afford a project, says Craig Smith of ServiceMagic.com, which screens remodeling contractors. He says traffic on the site was down in January, especially for big-ticket jobs, but rose about 10% after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates.
Dean Herriges of Urban Herriges & Sons, a Milwaukee remodeling firm, says his business is “a little weaker” than last year “but healthy.” He says he’s still getting calls from baby boomers who have the money and the home equity for a new kitchen, although even they are asking more questions about prices.
One trend Herriges sees: “We are not finding as many younger people,” who often don’t have much home equity or savings.
If you are planning an improvement project and plan to stay in your house for a few more years, remember those projects that offer the highest return - Kitchens and Bathrooms! It might be time to finally lose that light blue countertop or mustard-colored fridge…
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February 7th, 2008
Hearty Party
Saturday, February 9th, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
It is BIG RED FUN Month at the Children’s Museum of Denver and we are partying heart-y!! Hearty Party and Clifford the Big Red Dog are back for another year of special StoryTimes, Clifford “Meet and Greets”, and tons of BIG RED FUN! On Saturday, February 9th, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., children and their grownups can spend the day at the Children’s Museum of Denver mixing love potions, constructing their own mini love bots and Valentine’s cards, and getting to know Clifford the Big Red Dog!
Schedule of Events
| 10 a.m. |
Clifford Meet and Greet |
| 11 a.m. |
Clifford Story Time |
| 12 p.m. |
Clifford Meet and Greet |
| 12 p.m. |
Kudzidza African Drums |
| 1 p.m.. |
Clifford Story Time with Firehouse Animal Health Center |
| 2 p.m. |
Clifford Meet and Greet |
| 2 p.m. |
Mimus the mime |
| 3 p.m. |
Big Red Ants program |
| 3 p.m. |
Clifford Meet and Greet |
| 4 p.m. |
Clifford Meet and Greet |
On-going Activities
· Love Potion mixing
· Create Your Own Valentine Cards
· Big Red Roses
· Love Bot Construction
· Red Sand Play
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Mark your calendars!
Saturday, March 22nd, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Denver’s favorite springtime festival is back at the Children’s Museum! Bunny Trail EggVenture is educational, exciting, and so much fun! Visit “eggsploration stations,” filled with egg-dyeing, special animal visitors, arts and crafts, stories, music, candy and the Big Bunny of course! Plus, jump and jam with music, movement, puppets, and a little magic at Mr. Shine’s performance, Calling All Bunnies!
Bunny Trail EggVenture is in a safe, non-competitive environment where young children can engage in some energetic playing, learning, and exploring!
For a full schedule of events, go to www.mychildsmuseum.org. |
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February 6th, 2008
Haven’t registered yet? Go to www.denverhomebuyerhappyhour.com and join us for Free Brunch, Drink Specials, and tons of information about local real estate, trends, the latest mortgage programs and even credit rehab!
What a great way to feel educated and informed while downing a mimosa!!
Questions? More info? Contact me!
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