Legacy Real Estate Brokers (www.discovercoloradorealetstae.com) is featured in the business section of the Rocky Mountain News today. Tom Reed and Bill Brown are the broker / owners of Legacy Real Estate and they provide insight in this article into the current forcolsure market in Denver, Colorado. This are mixed up and as John Rebchook of Rocky Mountain News says, “Foreclosures Going Once…”

The front of the article reads:

“Real estate broker Tom Reed and a group of investors have earmarked about $500,000 to spend on foreclosed homes being sold at two real estate auctions.

About 300 Colorado homes will be going on the auction block, an attempt by lenders to cull the growing stockpile of foreclosed homes in the state and metro area.”

For the rest of the article click here to go to Rocky Mountain News

(By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News - August 3, 2007)

Colorado Real Estate For Sale | Multi Listing Services (MLS) Reconstituted

From Connecticut to California, the drumbeat of consolidation continues to rattle multiple listing services. It involves consolidation and cooperation between many different listing services. These moves will help Realtor’s like Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. to cross many boundaries and offer a wider range of real estate services to our clients and consumers as a whole.
Colorado’s Brokers need access to more information as a whole to educate there buyers. Properties, subdivisions and cities on borders of the current MLS set up will see the most benefit . They will be seen by both MLS boards and see more traffic.

More and more MLSs are hooking up to give their subscribers easier access to increased data at less cost. Thirty percent of REALTORS® and MLS executives who responded to the Center for REALTOR® Technology’s 2007 MLS Technology Survey reported that their service had merged with one or more MLSs. That’s up from 15 percent the previous year. Another 38 percent reported that their MLS was considering consolidation.
Colorado will be merging the Denver MLS and IRES the Northern Colorado MLS by February 2008. The
Pikes Peak board has also been contacted to come on line with the merged northern boards. This project is still in the works. In the 1980s and ’90s, local MLSs merged to form regional MLSs. Now, regional MLSs are merging to form mega MLSs as their subscribers clamor for even greater efficiency. In early 2007, all but a handful of the MLSs in Connecticut morphed into a statewide MLS. Since then, Connecticut MLS executives have heard from individuals in other states including Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, who want to learn more about the Connecticut model.

Economics is driving much of the change. As market growth blurs boundaries between previously distinct regions, brokers can be forced to join two or more MLSs to access the listings they need to serve clients. That means paying additional fees, following separate rules, and learning different formats. As technical barriers to merging or sharing data fade, consolidation is an appealing antidote for many. However, some MLS owners, whether brokers or real estate associations, remain reluctant to surrender the control and revenue that MLS ownership provides. All of these moves are doing what’s right for the consumer and will allow many real estate firms like Legacy Real Estate Brokers, Inc. to offer a wider breath of services which means more access ultimately to you the consumer, which is great news in today’s real estate market.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in Denver Colorado. You can visit there website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com

Real Estate Marketplace | Colorado is a buyers market!

Denver Skyline

This is a great buyer’s market in Denver and surrounding metro regions with plenty of homes on the market to choose from. If you are the market to purchase a home in the Denver metro market now is an excellent time. Prices are rising, but slow right now. The median price for a single-family home in May was $251,155. In June it had risen 4.72% to $263,000. Last year this time the median price was $261,750 for a 4.78% rise in 2007. The average for June was $304,055. A big factor in rising prices is the high number of high-priced luxury homes selling for 900k and up. In this market sector we have been on a steady incline. Basically what this means to a buyer is housing values are rising but at a much slower pace then in past markets.

* Average days on market for single-family homes have dropped to 94 in June from a high of 125 in February. This varies in different parts of the metro area. As has been true throughout Denver’s slower market, good homes, locations and conditions are being purchased quickly. While overpriced homes and homes in need of repair still sit on the market for longer periods of time. Days on market for condos are higher, showing the difficulty of selling condos in a buyer’s market.

Sellers were more realistic in June in terms of list price. One factor is maybe agents are more able to convince sellers to list their homes closer to market value than they had been in past months. While growth during the first half of the year is lower than in the past, the strength in the mining, health care, natural resources, and tourism sectors may make improvements possible in the future. A cloud over the economy continues to be the low number of new housing starts leading to a lessening number of jobs in the construction sector. There fore these factors continue to add up to a strong buyers market which may have the potential to change in the near future.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in Denver Colorado. You can visit their website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com.

Colorado Real Estate | Real Estate Professionals

Buying and selling Colorado real estate is a major decision and we at Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. feel that a professional Realtor like the ones who work for our company are a very integral part in the success of your real estate transactions. If you are looking for a different size home, relocating due to a job change or for personal life changing reasons like retirement, selling and buying real estate can be a major challenge and we stress the importance of using a real estate professional.

According to NAR (National Association of Realtors) in a recently published report they indicated that 85 percent of the people who used real estate agents in 2007 had far more success in successfully completing their real estate transactions then the smaller percentage who sold their home without the help of a qualified professional. The statistics say that most individuals between the age of 45-64 have bought or sold three to four homes in their lifetime and have had the most success with these transactions by utilizing the sales, marketing and neighborhood experience of a qualified local Realtor.

We at Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. pride ourselves on stellar customer service throughout the real estate transaction process and have been rewarded with over 50 percent of our business coming from repeat customers or referrals from our current client data base. Finding a real estate professional can be as easy as asking friends and family which agent they used and how satisfied they were with their experience.

Most real estate clients prefer to use a professional Realtor for many common reasons. Realtors can provide a large range of services that normally entail handling the entire real estate sales process. Professional Realtors have the sales and marketing tools to help you for often far less money then one would expect. They have access to local and national property databases like the Denver Metrolist, which can greatly assist one throughout the home search process. Many real estate professionals have large databases with local real estate associations, which they can utilize to help sell your home and get access to new listings to purchase from amongst the many Realtor only resources available.

The real estate business is very competitive with over a million Realtors serving buyers and sellers throughout the country. What is unique about this profession is we share vital information and marketing and sales techniques which are not available to the general public. We at Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. constantly experiment with different business sales models and cater to a very wide range of consumer needs, interests and preferences. Placing a high premium on customer satisfaction, getting access to state of the art real estate search tools and tapping into an expert in the local market are just some of the many reasons we encourage our clients and prospects to utilize the knowledge and advice of their local real estate experts.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in
Denver Colorado. You can visit there website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com

New home sales | Sales up Prices Down
Sales pace missed forecast to show increase as builders cut prices in effort to cut inventories.

Some price reductions in the real estate market helped give new home sales an lift in July, according to a recently released government report. This was good news about the state of the down housing market because forecasters had expected a loss in this sector

.New home sales rose 2.8 percent to an annual rate of 870,000 from a revised 846,000 rate in June, the Commerce Department reported. Most well respected economists had been looking for sales to fall to a rate of about 825,000, a level that would have been close to a seven-year low.

Home builders have been worried about a surplus in the housing market so they reacted by cutting prices of new homes. It appears this move helped lower the average new home sold price to $300,000 down more then 3.4 percent from just one year ago.Recent sales prices have been hurt by a large supply of homes on the market but the latest report started to show some progress chipping away at the surplus.

The government estimated there was over a seven month supply of homes in June, but that slipped to a six month supply in the latest reports. The average time that a completed home sat on the market moved higher in the latest report, though, to 6.1 months from 5.9 in June.The report’s price readings probably don’t capture all the downward pressure on prices.

In the latest survey by the National Association of Home Builders, about three-quarters of builders reported offering extras such as paying for closing costs or adding features for free to boost demand.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in Denver Colorado. You can visit their website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com.

Denver Colorado Real Estate | Denver Lofts For Sale

Denver lofts located mostly in the Lo-Do (lower downtown) region of the city are all the rage and the hottest thing in housing right now in the metro area. After a recent discussion with my client who is buying a loft reminded me of why I used to live downtown and a better understanding of why these are the desired properties right now. They are located near the central entertainment and restaurant districts of the sixteenth street mall. There is easy access to I-25 and I-70 making it accessible to get out of town for a weekend get away or to a large variety of corporate job locations. These are the most upscale, modern and spacious living residences for some of the cities young, hip property owners. That said, there are definitely pros and cons to loft living, and home buyers should be aware of this to decide what type of home is right for their particular living situation.

The architectural qualities of loft living are one of the things people love about these properties because of the large amount of interior open space. The usually expansive open windows offer amazing views and wonderful bright open atmospheres. Exposed bricks and beams offer a rustic, eclectic feel and add to the charm and character. The ceilings are high and the space is expansive. Loft owners can work in one part of the house but still have easy accessibility to all areas of their living space.

Think of these properties as artsy, open living with large walls to hang pictures, paintings and interesting art pieces. The space can offer so many choices from an art studio to a dance floor for large gatherings and parties.

There are some drawbacks to these large open areas for example they often lack the privacy a more separated home type would offer. While room dividers create affective visual privacy, sound can travel easily in such open spaces. If you have children, or often have house guests, you might want to look for a loft with separate bedrooms. Some people have chosen to hang things from their ceilings to create barriers, a way to disperse sound and prevent it from echoing across the house. Rugs on the floors have a similar sound-calming affect, and can also help to add warmth.

Climate control can be a problem especially during the cold winter months when heat rises and dissipates leaving a large heating bill and a cold living environment With high ceilings an option is to add a ceiling fan to help push the heat down exactly where you want it in your living space. One solution is having large area rugs to keep your feet from getting cold in a home that typically has wood or cement flooring. One more way to keep the cold from bother you is to look for a loft with a mezzanine, a sort of loft within a loft. Usually, a mezzanine is a way of having a private bedroom in a loft, offering a second floor to your open space. Because it is higher up and therefore closer to the ceiling, heat won’t be lost as easily as it will on the lower floor. Convenient, maybe not, but there’s lots of reasons a loft is worth it, if you value them.

A bonus is the passive solar heating created by the large windows. Look for a loft facing south to maximize this to your best advantage. Warning, you’ll need blinds for the summer months, but in winter the sun’s warmth will be an added bonus. The extra sunlight also can help to reduce your overall heating bill by allowing you to turn off light and let the natural light pour in through your large windows.

The opportunities for doing custom interior decorating abound in a loft, because they are usually sold with very little finishing detail. So you have the chance to finish the place just how you want it, or leaving it open to appreciate the true loft feel. Either way, if loft living is something you think you’d enjoy, there are a lot to choose from in the Lo-Do area of Downtown Metro Denver.

Lo-Do Loft Denver

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in Denver Colorado. You can visit their website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com.

 

Find Your Colorado Home | Location, Location, Location…

We have all the heard the real estate adage: “location, location, location” used when talking about finding the right real estate to purchase. It couldn’t be truer than when you’re choosing a property to make your home.

You may come into an area like Denver where all the lawns are neatly trimmed, the houses are immaculate, and there aren’t a lot of junk cars or trash evident. It looks like an upscale, clean, tidy neighborhood, but there could be some underlying crime that you are unaware of so take the time and check out where your family will be living. It is always prudent to visit these neighborhoods on different days and times like in the evening when you can see what type of community exists after dark. Some homeowners have made the mistake of making several visits to a neighborhood at the same time of day rather than coming back in the evening, on weekends, and during school time hours to see how the area changes. Observing the neighborhood and the people who live and work in the area will give you a better understanding of whether it’s a fit for you and your family.

However, not all neighborhoods that appear to be well-kept are really safe. When you’re considering buying a home in a neighborhood that you may not know much about it’s important to learn about the area first rather than just basing your decision of the area on the way the neighborhood looks. Talk to local residents, visit the neighborhood parks, schools and churches for instance to get a better feel for the culture and the people who could be your future neighbors. Of course, your real estate agent can help you learn a lot of details about the neighborhood, future planned developments, and schools, but you’ll find taking a few extra precautionary steps of your own will help to ensure a sound investment decision.

A good suggestion is to visit the local town hall or police station and ask a lot of informational questions like, we are thinking of moving into the area; can you tell me anything about crime, if it does exist here, and what kind of incidences have occurred recently?

The type of crime is going to dictate what type of criminal activity is going on and what type of questionable characters might be coming into the neighborhood and posing a threat or danger to the safety of your family.

Safety isn’t necessarily crime. Safety could be traffic issues; how your kids are going to get to school. Most parents before they buy a home will consider things such as how far away the school is and what kind of transportation exists? What is the geography around the school like? Do they have school crosswalks and crossing guards? Is there bus service? How many streets do your kids have to cross in order to get to school or to the neighborhood bus stop?

Whether or not you have children, investigating the school system and traffic issues are important as a thriving school district can be an indication of an area that will continue to rise in property values. Of course, being too close to the school and boxed in by traffic jams can hurt the resale value of your home but this is rarely a negative issue.

There are a few more sources that can provide assistance in learning about the neighborhood.

Go have dinner at one of the restaurants in the area. You can strike up conversations with some of the patrons in that restaurant, talk to neighbors and storekeepers.

Here are some more helpful suggestions to use when house hunting:

• Talk to local business owners. Even if they don’t live in the area, they will have some insight about the neighborhood and people living there.
• Check with the area’s city council and planning department.
• Find out about owner-occupancy. Your agent is a good source for this kind of information. Ask about rental values — even if you plan to live in the home. Often tenants don’t have the same pride of homeownership that owners do; thus properties are not always kept up.
• Check landscaping at major commercial developments; is it kept up?
• Visit the local facilities such as malls, movie theaters, etc. Frequently these will be hang-outs for school-aged children and a good place to get an idea about the neighborhood kids.
• Drive the neighborhood and see if there are a lot of home remodeling projects going on. If so, it likely means homeowners are planning to stick around and are willing to invest more in their homes because they like the neighborhood.

The more time you spend studying the location the less likely you are to discover something you really dislike about the neighborhood after you have bought the home. Use a local Denver real estate agent and spend some time researching your future home location and you will find it will be time well spent once you have found the home of your dreams.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in Denver Colorado. You can visit their website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com.

Colorado Real Estate Investing | Colorado Homes For Sale

Anyone can begin investing with very little experience even a novice can make smart decisions and earn extra income through investing in Colorado real estate . There are many people who have an interest but cannot find sufficient education in real estate investing. Many people do not get involved in real estate investing because they feel they need more experience then necessary. People have been trained to think that formal education is needed for something you plan to make into a career. Formal education is not essential to be successful in Colorado real estate , get started today and you will find you may reap the rewards of even limited education.

There are plenty of resources available including utilizing friends and neighbors who have started investing on their own and learning from their experiences and sharing their investment tips. Also using a seasoned real estate professional to help you better understand the market along with their partnerships with contractors, inspectors and loan officers is another great way to get started. Most of the investors who have become successful did so through trial and error and learned from theirs and others experiences. Of course you don’t want to send precious time and money going though this kind of process when there is education in real estate investing available. Similarly, you don’t have to go through a stringent education process to learn what you need to know to be successful.Some of the unconventional methods of education in real estate investing have created the most successful people in the real estate investing area.

You’d be surprised at just how much you can learn from a website, video, books and again speaking with a local expert who can share their years of experience and expertise. This kind of material is written by people who have experience in real estate investing and is comparable to any education in real estate investing you would get from a school, university, or even a training seminar.The real estate investing process is such that anyone with a capacity and willingness to learn can grasp the theories that surround the business. Why would anyone spend hard earned dollars on formal education in real estate investing, when they can spend considerably less on other methods of education and utilize the many free resources available in today’s market? In real estate transactions neither the buyers nor the sellers are concerned about what kind of diploma or certification you have for dealing with real estate. This is not to say that you should be worried about getting education in real estate investing at all. Instead, it is further reasoning that you should not place extreme emphasis on getting a formal education in real estate investing.

As someone who has had years of experience in the business we at Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. would love to help you find and enhance your knowledge to become a life long investor and satisfied client.Not only are the people you work with on real estate transactions not phased by your level of education in real estate investing, they, themselves, most likely do not have a university level of training in the area. If the people you work with are not concerned about your education in real estate investing, neither do they have this education themselves, it should be less important for you to have a formal education in real estate investing.Self-education along with expert assistance from your Realtor can make real estate investing fun and most importantly profitable. You will receive a greater return on investing when you educate yourself than had you spent thousands of dollars for a training or seminar. You can easily educate yourself by reading books and websites on the subject. There is a great amount of knowledge out there, it is up to you to locate and use it. With other investment vehicles like the stock market showing sometimes-inconsistent returns, investing in real estate is a great way to diversify your assets and create additional income for you and your families’ future. Talk to your local Realtor to get started and enhance what they teach you with as much literature and information you can find to become a successful real estate investor particularly in today’s buyers market.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in Denver Colorado. You can visit there website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com

Aurora Homes For Sale | The Aurora Economic Development Council

Known locally as the AEDC they are charged with keeping business booming throughout the city, and the future looks as bright as a Fourth of July sky in Aurora, Colorado. Last year the AEDC helped more than 150 businesses explore Aurora and redesign their websites and marketing plans to promote community outreach and growth, according to its annual report.

AEDC also created 1,200 jobs in 2006 in Aurora, according to the organization. The council also works to keep the companies and jobs Aurora already has in the city and took credit for retaining almost 300 jobs last year.

AEDC has been a strong partner with the city in recruiting new primary employers and retaining existing employers and also assisting businesses in their efforts to expand in Aurora, and I think they’ve been very successful in strengthening economic vitality in Aurora. AEDC met or surpassed all of its own goals in 2006.

Local officials have said Aurora is poised to continue it’s economic expansion with the right resources, including a helpful city government, available land and an established base of diverse businesses. This includes a vast array of real estate values available throughout this divers metro area city.

Big things are on the horizon such as the High Pointe hotel and conference center and the development surrounding the Fitzsimons campus. The recent move of the Anschutz Medical Center and other prominent businesses

AEDC plans to continue its work with bioscience companies moving into the area, as well as advocate for a new interchange at East Colfax Avenue and Interstate 225, Mitchell said. By 2010, more than 15,000 workers will pour into the campus daily, according to the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority. Once the area is fully developed, 32,000 employees will come to clock in each day.

AEDC has not announced the date and location of the third annual A-List event, a large gathering of business and community leaders that has been held at Lowry in the past. Keep your ears open to more new and exciting developments in and around Aurora, Colorado.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in Denver Colorado. You can visit their website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com.

Colorado Homes for Sale | Homes go Green in Colorado

In real estate; green is today’s new word of the day for everything from nontoxic construction materials zeroscape landscaping to energy-efficient heating systems. Some Realtors are beefing up their eco-friendly credentials through courses offered by Eco Broker International an online training organization founded five years ago by a former official of the U.S. Department of Energy. To date, 1,800 practitioners have become certified. EcoBroker, located in Evergreen, Colo., is also recruiting real estate companies to become affiliates, which (identifies them as enviro-conscious. Meanwhile, companies are springing up everywhere offering a course on green building basics for real estate practitioners, home inspectors, appraisers, and mortgage professionals.

On the construction front, the U. S. Green Building Council has created a groundbreaking but voluntary rating system based on nationally accepted standards. The National Association of Home Builders offers green building classes and will introduce a Certified Green Professional designation in February of this year.

With more than 120 million homes in the United States, 2 million new homes being built each year going green will make a significant change in our environment and change the way we look at real estate. From our experience in Colorado alone there have been huge increases in the demand for real estate that complies with the Green Building standards. We each have to do our effort to conserve all the resources we can for future generations.
According to the US Dept of Energy- the residential sector accounts for 22% of the total energy in the US and 74% of the water consumed. 21% of Carbon Dioxide emissions are by the residential markets the real estate industry represents.

We ask our clients would they care more about Energy Tax Credits or Energy Efficient Mortgages? A tax credit can provide significant savings. It reduces the amount of income tax you have to pay. Unlike a deduction, which reduces the amount of income subject to tax, a tax credit directly reduces the tax itself. The final rules and forms to clarify which products and services qualify for the tax credits will be developed by The Internal Revenue Service this year and we will keep everyone posted on what develops.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in
Denver Colorado. You can visit there website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com