Call me at (970) 418-0183for a FREE home buying or selling consultation
Today, I’d like to take a minute and look back on the real estate market for 2017. 2017 was definitely a recovery year for real estate. Prices continue to go up in every single area, from Summit County to Vail to Beaver Creek.
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Prices continue to go up in every single area.
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Check out the links below for specific details on each area:
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Next year, we are excited to introduce you to new businesses so you can get to know some of our local business owners. Look for that in our next blog post. In the meantime, have a happy holiday season and we will talk to you next year!
Call me at (970) 418-0183for a FREE home buying or selling consultation
We wanted to reach out to all of our past clients and wish you an amazing holiday season!
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We wish you an amazing holiday season!
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Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away, and we’re continuing our tradition of offering a free apple or pumpkin pie to any of our past clients here in town. We will order the pies from the local bakery and we would love to see you and say hello. Stop by the Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving (November 21 and November 22) for your pie. We would love a chance to catch up. Have a happy holiday season! We are so grateful for all of you, and your family and friends that you’ve referred to us over the years. As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any real estate questions. We look forward to seeing you!
Call me at (970) 418-0183for a FREE home buying or selling consultation
Today I’m going to introduce Doug Sullivan, one of our lenders who has a new product that is really great for people who are purchasing a home with cash and would like to cash out. Typically that takes several months, but thanks to Doug, there is a new program available. His mortgage tip comes with regards to delayed financing. Standard mortgage guidelines for doing a cash-out refinance require the homeowner to wait six months after they close, but he has a program that allows people to do that right away.
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Standard mortgage guidelines for doing a cash-out refinance require the homeowner to wait six months after they close.
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There are a couple examples of how this helped past clients of his: For the first example, he had a client who was wanting a loan but was in a position to pay cash. What they did was write the contract as cash. The reason for this is that they were competing with a lot of other offers, and that allowed the seller to take their contract because of the cash position and the fact that they could close within two weeks. After they closed, Doug applied the mortgage, and within 30 days they had the financing that they wanted. The second example was a client who was interested in a property that was not habitable by lending terms because there was a plumbing issue. So they paid cash, closed, did the repair, and then we did our financing and got them in place 45 days after closing—they took advantage of today’s low rates. If you have questions about this program or any other mortgage program, please give us a call. We’d be happy to help you.
Call me at (970) 418-0183for a FREE home buying or selling consultation
We’ve been with Century 21 Gold for nearly 10 years, but it was time for a change. We are so excited about our new venture as Resort Real Estate Experts! Over the next couple of months, we’ll introduce you to a lot of new features on our website. We’ll also have a grand opening at our new office in Edwards, Colorado. If you’re in town and you see one of our new bright pink open house signs, stop in and say hello. Plus, if you have any ideas or topics you would like to learn more about in our next video, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!
Call me at (970) 418-0183for a FREE home buying or selling consultation
What’s happening in the East Vail and Summit County real estate market? Properties coming on the market right now have come down a bit in price. Yesterday, there were 31 price reductions. Buyers are ready to buy, but properties need to be priced correctly in order to sell. That said, homes priced under $500,000 tend to sell in less than a week. Homes between $500,000 and $1 million are selling in under two months. However, homes over $1 million are selling slower, since that is where we have the majority of our inventory. There are also fewer buyers in that price range.
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Homes priced under $500,000 are selling in less than a week!
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If you are thinking of buying or selling a home, reach out to us and make sure that we have your housing criteria set up correctly. Homes are selling quickly, and it’s important that we match your motivation to our motivation. If you want to buy quickly, for example, we want to be able to get in touch with you as soon as possible. If you don’t want to buy for another year or so, we want to check in with you every couple months to touch base. We also have a couple of exciting new properties that will be on the market. There are two brand-new duplexes that will come on the East Vail market in the next couple of weeks at $2 million. If you are interested, let someone on our team know and we will send you as much information as we can, including 3-D tours. We also have a couple of condos in the $350,000 price range. Those will sell quickly, so get in touch with us soon if you are interested. As always, if you have any other real estate questions, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!
Call me at (970) 418-0183for a FREE home buying or selling consultation
Thank goodness that the winds have shifted and we are finally getting some rain in Summit County. The fire last week was frightening. Anytime you see flames in the mountains, it’s pretty scary. Although parts of Breckenridge were evacuated, everyone is back home safe now and the fire is out. We were lucky that the winds shifted and the rains came. Thanks to everyone who had a hand in helping control and put out that nasty fire.
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The wind has shifted.
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As far as the real estate market is concerned, our inventory is finally starting to pick up. The average days on market remains extremely low. If you’re looking to buy a home up here, give us a call, text, or email now so we can start aggressively searching for a home for you. Even if you’re out of town, we can FaceTime or Skype you in to take a look at any homes. There are quite a few that have recently come on the market. If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out and give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
It's hard to believe that we're heading into summer, which means the first half of the year in real estate activity is already behind us. So what's been going on in the Summit County market?
Just like the last few months, inventory has been low, demand has been high, and we see that continuing. However, we've seen an uptick in listings. For example, in Frisco our average for the last three months has been 13, and now we're at about 15, and we're seeing that across the county. That's great news for homebuyers.
The average sales price over the last six months was $725,000, which is up from this time last year. The average number of days a listing spends on the market has fallen too. The median days on market for homes priced under $400,000 is about seven, and as you go up in price, it also increases, but only by a day.
For the first half of the year, the overall average days on market was 52. We're seeing that go up just in the last month to about 65. I think we're seeing sellers coming on higher and higher with list prices and buyers are resisting a little bit. Basically, buyers are looking to buy, but they aren't willing to overpay.
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Sale prices and the number of new listings are both up.
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The other price range that has been interesting to me is $2.6 million to $2.8 million where the average days on market was just three. When people see houses they like, they're buying them quickly.
If you have any questions about a specific area or you're thinking of buying or selling a home in our market, give me a call or send me an email soon. I'd love to hear from you!
Although the question of when the best time to buy is a complex question, I’ve got some information to share with you today that shows why May and June specifically are good times to buy a home in this market.
The ski season is mostly over now, which means we are going to start to see homes come off of the rental market and into the purchasing market. Inventory is finally increasing for home buyers, giving them many more options than they had just a few months ago. Interest rates are continuing to stay fairly low as well, and with fewer rentals it is much easier to see properties.
If you were here in the winter and wanted to see properties, it was probably difficult for you since so many of them were rented out. Those properties are vacant now, though.
Another reason to act timely if you want to secure a good deal is because once a property sells, the next similar property that comes on the market will be listed for $10,000 or $15,000 more. We recently saw a wilderness condo come on the market for $305,000 and sell within a few days. The next similar condo that came on the market was listed at $320,000. With inventory so low, that’s how quickly prices are going up.
If you’re thinking about buying a home, reach out to us. We can make sure you’re alerted to the properties that match the criteria you are looking for as soon as they come on the market. If you can’t make it out here to see them in person, we can even set you up with a pair of VR goggles so you can take a 3-D home tour. We do these for every one of our listings and if you haven’t taken a VR tour yet, it’s something you need to do. Reach out to us and we’ll send you a pair of goggles.
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We’re happy to send a pair of these VR goggles your way.
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If you have any other questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
There are a lot of spring events coming up all over the Rocky Mountains. We want to tell you about a few of our favorites today. The second annual Brew-Ski is coming up on March 11th in Frisco. It’s a cross-country ski race, with prizes for the best costumes and an after party hosted by some local breweries.
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The Brew-Ski is coming up on March 11th!
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Breckenridge Spring Fever starts on March 18th. Every weekend they will have live music, both in town and on the mountain. There are several ski competitions, as well as plenty of other events in town for those of you who aren’t skiers. There is a parade in Keystone every weekend, complete with astounding fireworks. You’ll also find a lot of music here, as well as a bunch of different events for the kids. Copper Sensation is going to be held on April 15th and 16th. There will be music at the base of the mountain and some fun pond skimming going on. If you’ve never gone pond skimming, it’s basically where we let our inner daredevil loose and see if we can skip across a body of water on skis. There is also a great Easter egg hunt down here that is always a good way to end the ski season.
If you have any questions for us or want more information about any of these events, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.
What's going on in our local market? The current quarter looks a lot like the fourth quarter of last year. Here's what that means to you as someone looking to buy or sell a home this year.
I wanted to stop by with a quick update on what's going on in the market so far in the first quarter of 2017. I've also got some tips for homebuyers on how to win the home they want. So far in 2017, the first month looks like the last quarter of last year: home prices have started to go up a bit and inventory is still at an all-time low. In other words, we're still in a seller's market. The average price for single-family homes ranges from $1.2 million in Keystone to $1.8 million in Frisco. The average number of days on market in this area is still in the 170 to 200 range. The price range for condos and townhomes is in the $400,000 to $500,000 price range with the average days on market closer to 50. That number is a lot lower for properties that are priced right. So how can you win as a homebuyer? Now is still a great time to buy a home because money is so cheap. To be the best buyer when competing against other buyers, you want to be pre-approved for a mortgage. Getting pre-approved means you provided a lender with two years of tax information, pay stubs, and everything you'd need as if you were under contract. When you write an offer, being pre-approved shows the seller that you're serious.
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Now is still a great time to buy a home because money is so cheap.
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Properties under $500,000 are selling extremely quickly, so it's more important than ever. If you have any questions about our market or making an offer on a home, give us a call or send us an email. We'd love to help you!
Recently, we gave you a few tips about how to prepare your home for the market if you want to sell in the next year. You can see the full post here. Today, we want to focus on another important aspect of preparing your home for the market: the pre-inspection. We recommend ordering a pre-inspection about a month before selling your home. Hire a home inspector to take a look at your home so that you know about any issues before listing your property. When homeowners order a pre-inspection and offer a home warranty, buyers feel safe. They feel that the home has been well taken care of and that it’s move-in ready.
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A pre-inspection gives confidence to potential buyers.
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When you get the report back from the home inspector, make sure that you fix the smaller items on the list. We recommend that you fix anything that costs less than $500, like adjusting a leaky faucet or putting a GFCI in your kitchen. If there are problems with some big ticket items in your home, give us a call and we can help you out. Recently, one of our clients got their home pre-inspected and the inspector told them that the roof needed to be replaced. It was at the end of its life expectancy and would have cost $10,000 to $15,000 to replace. The sellers did not want to fix the roof. Instead, they took care of all the little nitpicky things the inspector found and disclosed that the roof needed to be fixed to everyone who looked at the home. They also offered a home warranty. They wound up getting a wonderful offer, and when the buyers ordered their own home inspection, the only issue they found was the roof, which they already knew about. That made the buyers happy and the sellers were able to move on to their next home. As you can see, a pre-inspection is a great way to make potential buyers feel at ease. If you have any questions, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!
What can you do to get the most return on investment from your home sale? There are many things you can do to plan ahead, but today, we’ll discuss decluttering.
If you are planning on selling your house in the next year, what are some things that you should do inside and outside of your home to get the best return on your investment?
There are many things that you will need to do to prepare your home for the market.
First of all, you should always think about how your home will present itself. Make sure that your home is clean, fresh, and decluttered.
Whether you have a small home or a large home, there are always things that you can take off of the shelves or off of the walls. Every home seller has some decluttering to do. I recommend going room by room and looking for things that you can remove.
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Every home seller has some decluttering to do.
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If you’re not selling your home for another year, don’t worry about taking your personal photos down quite yet. However, when you are closer to listing, you should take those personal photos down because they can be very distracting for buyers.
For example, I recently went on a listing appointment. The client had a picture of his daughter up, and his daughter was wearing the exact same wedding dress that I wore 20 years ago. As a professional, I know better, but I was so excited to see the dress that I was completely distracted!
You need to remove items that will distract buyers from your home. At most, you can leave three items on any countertop or surface. If you have a beautiful night stand, make sure that there are only one or two items on there so that people focus on how big the room is. You want buyers to envision how they will live in your home.
So, declutter your home and make sure it is completely clean. Check the windows and the wood around the windowsills; sometimes, you may need to sand or stain those areas. Prepare the house for the next buyer to move in.
I’ll go over a few more tips on preparing your home for the market in future videos. If you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you!
