This is great news!

From the Denver Post:

May foreclosure filings dropped to their lowest level in 18 months in Colorado, a sign that homeowners may be getting more leeway to repay or restructure their loans.

New filings in metropolitan Colorado counties fell to 2,633 in May, a 17.7 percent decline from the same month last year, according to the state Division of Housing.

Denver, Douglas, Larimer and Weld counties saw the steepest drops from last year, while Mesa County recorded a slight increase in new foreclosures.

You Can Search All Denver Foreclosured Homes here or all Denver Hud Homes here.

This home is an amazing deal.

Built in 1999, this 4 bed, 3 bath home is located just north of I-70 and west of Pena Blvd. Priced at $129,500, it will be hard to find a better deal in this location. We have our in house short sale specialist working on this now and expect a lender approval shortly.

At this price, this Montbello Denver Home will not last long.

5284 fairplay st
denver 80239

$129,500.00

You can see all Denver Homes for Sale and Denver HUD homes for sale on our website.

Our sellers have just reduced the price on this fantastic Capitol Hill, Denver Home.

At almost 2,500 square feet, this 3 bed, 3 bath home has all the upgrades and shows amazing. With hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, 2 furnaces and more. Take a look at the virtual tours and see what this great Denver neighborhood has to offer!

401 s kearney st
denver 80224

$437,000.00

There is a big change coming this month, so if you or someone you know is buying a home or refinancing, pay attention.We've just been informed that in addition to pulling your credit score during the application phase of a mortgage, lenders will now be pulling your credit score the day of or day before closing as well. This means that if you even applied for a new line of credit, credit card, etc, your score new mortgage could be in jeopardy. It's very common for a buyer to be days away from closing and decide to go to the furniture store or electronics store to start shopping for the new home. If you open a new line of credit and it impacts your score or even your debt ratios, your closing could fall through.Even if your lender tells you that everything looks great, just wait until you close before you by that new sofa!

 

This is fantastic news, but not unexpected. We've seen this data trending upward for 5 months now (this is after 36 straight months of price declines). It will be interesting to see what happens next month when the data post-tax credit comes in.

Here's the key comments from the article (read it all here):

For the fifth month in a row, home prices in the Denver area showed a year-over-year increase in March, and prices also rose slightly between February and March, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index.

The closely-watched report from Standard & Poor’s shows average metro-Denver home prices rising 4.1 percent in the 12 months ending March 31. Out of 20 U.S. cities covered in the Case-Shiller report, Denver was one of 12 that showed a year-over-year increase in prices.

The 4.1 percent rise was Denver's largest year-over-year price increase of the last five months. Denver prices climbed 3.6 percent in February from a year earlier, 2.6 percent in January, 1.2 percent in December 2009 and 0.5 percent in November 2009.

November 2009’s rise was the first year-over-year home price increase in the Denver area since November 2006, according to a Denver Business Journal analysis of Case-Shiller data. Between those months, Denver had 36 straight months of year-over-year price declines.

As recently as early 2009, Denver was showing year-over-year home price declines of 5 percent or more, peaking at a 5.7 percent drop in February 2009.

As far as month-over-month changes, the Denver area saw a 0.6 percent rise in prices in March over the previous month. That followed a 0.8 percent month-over-month decline in prices in February as well as monthly drops in every previous month since September 2009. Before that, prices rose month over month for six straight months.

Read more: Denver home prices up 4.1% from 2009, Case-Shiller Index shows - Denver Business Journal

Some encourageing news from the Denver Business Journal Today:

Denver-area short sales of homes down 18% in Q1

This is certainly good news. Based on what we've seen in the market, this trend looks to continue; a slow, slow, upward trend in home prices.

 From the Denver Business Journal:

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home-Price Index for the 10-City and 20-City Composite reported no change and a slight decline of 0.7 percent respectively, while Denver’s home price index rose 2.6 percent between January 2009 and January 2010. Las Vegas’ index dropped 17.4 percent over the last year, while San Francisco’s shot up 9.0 percent. Sales trends vary wildly throughout the nation, making it so important to know the trends in an area before making any decisions about buying or selling real estate. 

Not only does the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index illustrate how different the various areas are performing, sales data from our own Denver Metrolist shows that as well.  We used the Metrolist to research the change in average sales price for Colorado zip codes from February 2009 to February 2010. We found the top 50 zip codes with at least 20 sales that experienced the greatest increase in average sold price. The chart in the newsletter below lists some of those top zip codes and the change in their average sold prices (more are listed on page 2). If you’d like to know how your zip code has preformed over the last year, please call or email me.

 

According to this article by the Denver Business Journal (link below), Denver home prices are up for 4th straight. Obviously this is great news.

This report coresponds to what we've been seeing with our active clients. As the Denver HUD Homes and Foreclosures continue to diminsh, prices continue to rise.

Key except from this article:

For the fourth month in a row, home prices in the Denver area showed a year-over-year increase in February in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index, despite a month-over-month decline.

The closely-watched report from Standard & Poor’s showed metro-Denver home prices rising 3.6 percent between February 2009 and February 2010. Out of 20 U.S. cities in the Case-Shiller report, released Tuesday, Denver was one of nine that showed a year-over-year increase in prices.

Read more: Denver home prices up for 4th straight month, Case-Shiller Index shows - Denver Business Journal:

The Denver Business Journal is reportying that Denver Home Prices are up for a third straight month. This is inline with what we've been seeing and reporting across the Denver Metro area.

According to the report, Denver is one of 9 closely watched U.S. cities experiencing a year over year increase. Obviously, this is fantastic news.

We're seeing a very slow increase in home prices as Denver Foreclosures and HUD home inventory start to taper off.

Read the entire article here.

 

Metro Area Home Searches:
Homes for sale Aurora colorado, Homes for sale Arvada colorado, Homes for sale Castle Rock colorado, Homes for sale Centennial colorado, Homes for sale Denver colorado, Homes for sale Englewood colorado, Homes for sale Golden colorado, Homes for sale Highlands Ranch colorado, Homes for sale Lakewood colorado, Homes for sale Littleton colorado Homes for sale Parker colorado, Homes for sale Thornton colorado, Homes for sale Westminster colorado,

The Denevr Real Estate Market continues to improve. Housing inventory continues to fall and home prices are increasing (slowly) year over year.

Foreclosures and Bank Owned Homes are forecasted to pick up this month and begin a decline in April. If you are still considering a HUD or bank owned home, now is the time to act.

 Click the newsletter below to read all of the market stats.

Metro Area Foreclosure and HUD House Searches:
Aurora Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Arvada Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Castle Rock Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Centennial Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Denver Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Englewood Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Golden Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Highlands Ranch Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Lakewood Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Littleton Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Parker Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Thornton Foreclosures and HUD Homes, Westminster Foreclosures and HUD Homes
Metro Area Foreclosure and HUD Condo and Townhome Searches:
Aurora Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Arvada Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Castle Rock Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Centennial Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Denver Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Englewood Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Golden Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Highlands Ranch Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Lakewood Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Littleton Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Parker Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Thornton Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes, Westminster Foreclosures and HUD Condos and Townhomes

Click on Image for Full Newletter

From the Denver Business Journal:

Housing starts up 8.9% in West, 2.8% nationwide; new permits also jump

Housing construction starts in the Western states, including Colorado, rose 8.9 percent in January from the previous month but fell 11.6 percent from January 2009, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Wednesday.

Excluding apartments and condos, the 13 Western states saw a sharp 21.7 percent year-over-year rise in January 2010 in the start of construction for single-family homes as well as a 5.2 percent rise from December 2009.

Housing construction permits also jumped in the Western states in January, both from the previous month and the prior year.

Read it all

BODY { FONT-FAMILY:Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE:12pt } P { FONT-FAMILY:Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE:12pt } DIV { FONT-FAMILY:Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE:12pt } TD { FONT-FAMILY:Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE:12pt } This is Big News!

STEP 1:
Attend a FREE First-Time Home Buyer Class*
Must attend a CHFA approved class in person.

STEP 2:
Complete a loan application with one of our Approved Lenders
Lender must submit Shadow Package to DCHP.

STEP 3:
Meet with DCHP to determine eligibility
Checklist – guidelines/qualifications

STEP 4:
Choose a Real Estate Agent and select your home in Douglas County

STEP 5:
Close the home purchase transaction and
MOVE IN!

The downpayment assistance is in the form of a second mortgage.  Payments begin immediately and the funds may only be used for downpayment, no closing cost assistance.  Borrowers have a choice of either (a) a 15 year loan term which will carry an interest rate of three percent below the 10-year Treasury Index (but no lower than a 1% interest rate), or (b) a 30 year loan term which will carry an interest rate of one percent below the 10-year Treasury Index (but no lower than a 3% interest rate).

Hi All-

I wanted to let you all in on the details of a scam that has been going on with Craigslist. It has been happening for about a year, but has really stepped up lately.

Here's what happens:

1. The Scammer finds a good property listing for sale on the MLS
2. They list the home as a rental on Craigslist using the Agent's name but with a different email address
3. They list the monthly rental amount at about half of what the normal rent would be in the property's area  
4. This low rent catches the attention of potential renters and in an attempt to beat out other renters at this great deal, many people rush to send these "Landlords" their security deposit and first month's rent as fast as possible
   
5. These "Landlords" only accept the payment by Western Union and commonly use the cover story of being missionaries overseas

Here's how to protect yourself:

1. If a deal sounds too good to be true - it is. (We had a $240,000 home that was advertised by these Scammers for $900/month in rent) 
2. When you see a listing, first Search the web for the property address. If it is listed for sale on another website, call the agent at a phone number listed somewhere besides Craigslist (the agent's website for example) to verify the property is truly for rent.
3. Unless you meet the owner or landlord personally at the home, be very cautious.

 

From The Denver Business Journal:

Colorado foreclosure sales down 4% in 2009

There were 20,437 home foreclosures completed in Colorado in 2009, down 4.1 percent from 2008's total and down 18.4 percent from the peak year of 2007, the state's Division of Housing reported Thursday.

Also:

The percentage of new filings leading to a conclusion short of a foreclosure sale -- including a refinance, loan modification or short sale -- was 37 percent in 2007, but by 2009 it had risen to 56 percent, the report said.

Read it all here

From The Denver Business Journal:

HUD grants $29M to Denver in stimulus foreclosure help

 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $29.3 million in stimulus dollars to the Denver area to help with home foreclosure recovery, HUD said Thursday.

Most of the funds — $18.99 million — will go to the City and County of Denver’s Office of Economic Development, and the remaining $10.26 million will be used by Chicanos Por La Causa Inc.

“The city’s foreclosure recovery efforts will see a significant boost thanks to this increase in funding,” Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said in a statement.

Read it all Here

 
Metro Area Condo Searches:
Aurora Condos and Townhomes, Arvada Condos and Townhomes, Castle Rock Condos and Townhomes, Centennial Condos and Townhomes, Denver Condos and Townhomes, Englewood Condos and Townhomes, Golden Condos and Townhomes, Highlands Ranch Condos and Townhomes, Lakewood Condos and Townhomes, Parker Condos and Townhomes, Thornton Condos and Townhomes, Westminster Condos and Townhomes,

 

December Market Statistics: Denver and Dallas lead the nation again in home prices

Click Here for The Latest Housing Market Stats and Data

 

 

From The Denver Post:

Denver homebuilders seeing signs of a turnaround

 Builders in the Denver market were selling on average one home per community per month during the third quarter, said Jay Peterson, regional manager for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. That's up from 0.7 homes a month during the same period last year.

Peterson also noted that cancellations are down 40 percent year-over-year.

"It shows more of a serious and intent buyer," he said.

Richmond American Homes reported 197 orders for new homes in Colorado in the third quarter, compared with 105 during the same time last year, said Zane DeHerrera, spokesman for MDC Holdings-Richmond American Homes.

"Back in the third quarter of '08, the capital markets froze," DeHerrera said. "That really impacted consumer confidence and slowed down lending tremendously."

Factors contributing to the increased activity include the first-time-homebuyer tax credit — which was recently expanded to include buyers who have owned their homes for at least five years — low interest rates and fewer existing homes on the market.

"We're definitely in the first stages of a real-estate recovery as it relates to residential," said Pat Hamill, president of Oakwood Homes. "We're starting to see values stabilize, inventories drop and people starting to feel good that this is the right time to buy because pricing has dropped significantly."