In an effort to help my clients understand the real estate market, which is changing constantly, I send them statistics and updates on a weekly basis.  It helps people make decisions that move them toward their goals with real estate.

I decided it would be a good idea to let you, cohomesgateway readers, in on this information as well.  You may not be in the Colorado Springs market, or you may be just browsing the web trying to decide if the time is right to buy or sell, andyou may find this information useful.  I’m happy to elaborate on any points if you want to contact me directly.

So what is going on with Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak Region real estate?  Teller County was hit hard when gas prices rose to $4 a gallon levels.  All of a sudden the drive into Colorado Springs to work while living in the mountains seemed like a huge investment of resources so people working in the Springs have been choosing to buy homes closer to their work.  The mountains have an appeal for many though, so gas prices dropping by 2/3rds will probably help that area once again.  There are always buyers who want the mountain and smaller community life in Woodland Park, Divide, Florissant, and other mountain towns.  After all, it’s closer to the ski resorts!

In Colorado Springs and points east, we have hit a low in sales over the past 4 years.  Less than 500 homes sold in November and again in December, 2008.  This is a time of year when we would expect sales to be closer to 600-700 per month.  This has caused a lot of sellers to abandon the market and sit on the sidelines, thus reducing inventory 15% since June, which is an excellent step towards market recovery.  This is not the time for sellers to “play real estate”.  There are no profits to be had and real estate professionals are not inclined to let sellers test the market with their limited marketing funds in this tough market.  Sellers have to be motivated to sell and understand that means competing with 34% of sales going to foreclosures and short sale properties locally.  Price is the key because the bargain shoppers are those in the real estate market, just as they are in the malls looking for the after Christmas steals.  Weren’t you there?  I was.

The median price for the Pikes Peak MLS has stayed in a 20% range over the past 4 years with the high being $225,000 in mid-2006 and the low $187,000 for November, 2008.  We never had the go-go market of other areas such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Florida, but sales happened a lot more quickly from 2004-2006 than they are now.  We have 10 months of inventory without anything new coming on the market, even with a reduction in inventory since June, 2008 of 15%.

Only homeowners who are 100% committed to selling should have their homes on the market now and the more limited inventory will help us move to a seller’s market as the economy improves.  Nothing ever stays the same.  A change will come and buyers who sat on the sidelines fearfully while prices and rates are low will be scrambling to make attractive offers on the most desirable properties to encourage sellers to take their offer over others.  The best homes always sell.  It’s just a matter of what buyers will willingly pay because the biggest fear is to overpay.  Too many people have experienced that in rising markets and are now looking at being part of that 34% of distressed sales.  Or 70-80% distressed sales as is happening in other markets.

So what’s a person to do?  If you are considering buying, but thinking about renting, look at your goals.  How long do you plan to be in the house?  Can you still save money and pay a mortgage?  Remember that the tax breaks of owning a home are a form of savings over renting.  If this is a 2nd home or investment purchase, can you withstand vacancies or managing multiple mortgages if your income changed?  Would owning real estate make you sleep better or worse?  If you think renting is better, have you considered the 6-12 months of rent you would be throwing away to pay someone else’s mortgage?  Have you saved money for a down payment, for home repairs, for an emergency fund?  Have you tried setting aside the difference between your current rent/mortgage payment and the new payment amount for a few months to see if it fits (the side effect is you are saving your down payment!)?  Would you be comfortable and still have money for fun activities or would you be house poor?

I could fill a book with questions to ask yourself, but you get the picture.  Make sure you have goals.  Seek the help of experts.  Then have fun making a purchase or selling and moving to the next town or bigger or newer home that you desire.  There are some great deals out there.  It’s a fun process.  Make the right decisions so you can enjoy it and smile when those new keys are put in your hand.  You’ll know you are taking the right step!

Check out the new street maps on Google.  This map location happens to be for a home I’m putting on the market on Friday, 11/28.  These new maps give buyers an even better idea about homes they want to see before they turn on their car. What a time and gas saver!

Check out this map:
View Larger Map

Here’s another good video if you want to learn more about where we’re going in the real estate market.  Okay, so it’s a competitor speaking, but this is an equal opportunity blog.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=289004&cl=10728866&src=finance&ch=1316259

Perhaps you haven’t seen the articles by Smart Money and Forbes that put Colorado Springs in the top 10 cities to rebound the quickest from the national real estate malaise.  Yes, it is true that during 2008 a lot more homes are going unsold than are sold and for those that are selling it is taking longer than even a year ago, but many would-be sellers ARE finding renters when their homes don’t sell. 2008 hasn’t been a great time to put your home on the market if you DON’T have to sell, but it looks like we may be turning the corner in Colorado.

I’ve attached 2 links to KOAA so that you can get the latest local news.  For those buyers who are sitting on the sidelines or who are putting in offers way too low for sellers to accept, your window of opportunity may be closing.  As we all know, increased demand causes prices to go up.  Inventory is being reduced now, so when the local market turns around, it will probably do so in a way that makes sellers and homeowners very happy as their equity increases because of demand.  Everyone gets their turn for a good deal as markets change.

Click on the link below for the video.  The second link takes you to the KOAA website.

 http://static.koaa.zope.net/includes/video/480×400_zope.swf?id=x1949200974 

 http://www.koaa.com/news/

I subscribe to a number of real estate related websites and came across a good article on RISMedia today.  Are you sitting back waiting for the economy to improve so that you can pounce on a house once you feel the waters are safe?  Are you prepared to do this?  Have you talked with a lender to make sure you can act when you find the right house?

Read this article and learn what is new that you may not be aware of.  Could any of this affect you?  Be prepared and all your dreams CAN come true!

Wow!  I just finished listening to the latest webinar in the library and it has some tips to help just about everyone.  Did you know that you should freeze credit bureau accounts for minors and the deceased so that their accounts aren’t at risk for identity theft?  Did you know when you co-sign a loan that the amount of the debt is on your credit bureau file also so it is added to debt you have when applying for a mortgage or other credit?  Did you know just one late payment of 30 days or more can impact your credit score by as much as 100 points?  Do you know how a short sale affects your credit?  Taking time to listen to the new webinar is worth it!  Learn ways to keep your FICO score as high as possible.  800+ is possible when you pay attention to managing your credit.

Are you sitting at your desk or at your home computer working on something else and like to multi-task?  Listen to this helpful webinar and learn more about using credit wisely and understanding your credit score by viewing our latest webinar.   Access information for all archived webinars to date can be found on the webinar library page.

Another wild week, with volatility in the stock market and not much news about the real estate market because it’s a lot more boring right now.  The upcoming election is front and center and comments from the peanut gallery I frequent are that we are ready to be done with political commercials!

Interest rates popped up this past week, so for some their immediate home buying opportunity is gone.  But by watching the markets we know nothing stays the same for very long.  If you have a lender relationship, stay in close touch so they can let you know when rates are where you need them to be in order to buy or refinance.  You can’t lock a rate until you have a home you want to purchase, so when you find that house with the help of an expert in your area, make sure you get a pre-approval letter from your lender so you can act quickly and possibly get help from the seller to buy your rate down if necessary.  When you work with professionals, they can advise you on the best path for your situation.  If you don’t know who is professional in the real estate and lending industries in your area, get a recommendation from someone you trust.  You never know what is possible until you take action.

The private banking system has done it’s job since the Great Depression, but the international potential for bank dominoes to keep falling prompted the federal government to take an ownership stake in 9 large banks as part of the bailout.  That means you and I will own a stake in these banks as citizens of the USA.  The banks involved initially are Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo.  These banks have agreed to limit top executive compensation and golden parachutes as part of their participation.  The federal government will also guarantee loans between banks to help create more liquidity.  This is turn should free up money to allow businesses to continue to borrow, help home purchasers secure loans, and inject credit where needed in our economy.  This action won’t create a quick fix, but should help keep the financial sector stable as we plow our way through a recession in coming months and hopefully help keep it from becoming a deep recession. 

Last week in the stock market was a lesson in fear.  This week things don’t seem so bad since the market was up over 900 points on Monday, a one day record unmatched in this century or the last.  Today was pretty non-eventful.  So what does the stock market have to do with real estate?  The stock market drop since the high in October, 2007 has caused the evaporation of trillions of dollars in assets.  Starting in 2006, home equity that homeowners thought would be there for them to borrow against evaporated as well.  Both are long term investments, but we seem to have forgotten that.  The go go market of the past decade in both the stock market and real estate was the only market some people knew.  So people acted as if their homes were bank accounts.  They are finding out very painfully that they weren’t.

 Some lenders and credit card companies took advantage of the “we want it now” mentality that has permeated our culture during this time.  Credit was easy; way too easy to get.  Without financial discipline and boundaries on spending, a lot of people got into trouble.  That’s the other side of the financial equation: greed.  Unfortunately when it comes to money, the two controlling emotions are fear and greed.  What’s the answer?  For some people, the next few years will not be pleasant as they try to dig out from under foreclosure and possibly bankruptcy.  If they are not careful, the mindset that got them there in the first place will put them back there again.  Unbelievably, the credit card companies still will give bankrupt consumers credit cards so “they can create a credit history again”.  Of course, in the meantime, the consumer gets to pay very high interest rates and the credit card companies continue to make a profit.  Everyone else is left holding the bag as the federal government tries to fix all the mistakes made by congress, companies, and consumers alike. 

Although it may not be sexy and showy, being a responsible consumer and working from a spending plan is the fastest way to creating wealth and homeownership that is manageable.  It’s a proven statistic that homeowners create a lot of wealth for themselves (when they do it right) that renters will never see because they are paying their landlord’s mortgage, not their own.  Yes, doing it right is really boring and consumers may have to wait to buy their first home until they have a down payment, stellar FICO scores, and steady income.  They may have to buy a used car instead of a new one.  Their first home may be 20 years old and not as big as they like.  But if people take a measured approach to purchasing the largest asset they will most likely ever have, they will have fun in the process and be comfortable with the outcome instead of living in fear that they may lose that asset.

Have you ever heard the term house poor?  Don’t let your house own you.  Be able to live in your own home and still have money for stuff for the house and for doing the things you enjoy.  If you are unsure how to get there, take a trip to the local library and check out some books on buying homes.  Not the get rich quick flipping houses books, but the realistic books showing you how to take planned steps to homeownership.  Also look for classes in your community that help you understand the process.  The resources are there.  All you have to do is look for them.  And look for professionals to help you.  A reputable realtor and lender are your first line of defense.  Get referrals from people who had a great experience buying.  Buying a house should be a lot of fun and this is an excellent market for the buyer who is prepared to do it right.  Fantastic opportunities are everywhere.  Make sure you have planned well to be able to take advantage of the opportunities before taking that step.