The Kearns Team Stapleton Real Estate News - Information On Buying And Selling Real Estate In Stapleton And Denver Colorado

Over the past several years home prices have dropped throughout the U.S., but stability is returning to many markets. Even in Denver, where prices have been pretty stable, we're seeing a shift away from a Buyers' Market towards a more balanced real estate world. Is it time to buy?

Warren Buffett, a pretty successful businessman in his own right, has been quoted as saying that he is greedy when others are scared, and scared when others are greedy. A few years ago a lot of people in real estate (buyers and sellers) were greedy - today they are scared. 

Falling Prices and Home Affordability

As prices fall Sellers suffer and buyers benefit. Of course many buyers are still afraid and continue to wait on the sidelines. Homeownership, which was moving out of reach of buyers in many areas, is becoming more and more affordable today. Maybe it's time to take the plunge? The Wall Street Journal reported this week that, 'It's Time to Buy That House.'

Interest Rates reach all-time lows

Over the past couple of weeks, the news media has been full of articles about low mortgage interest rates. Sub 4% rates for 30 year fixed rate mortgages came and went, but rates in the low 4's are still available. According to the National Association of Realtors' Housing Affordability Index, the combination of lower prices and low mortgage rates has made home ownership about as affordable as it has been in the past 40 years.

Rent vs Buy

As home prices dropped and interest rates fell, rental rates climbed. Today we're seeing many renters pay MORE per month for a home than they coudl if they purchased the same home. This is great news for landlords, but maybe it is time for tenants and potential buyers to take another look at home ownership.

Is it a good time to put your home on the market? Is it a good time to buy? Call or email The Kearns Team today, and let us put our experience to work for you. We'll help you create a personalized game plan to help meet YOUR goals in this challenging real estate market.

The Denver Post reported that the number of homes for sale in the Denver metro area was down 26.5% in September compared to a year ago. While their headline was a bit sensationalist, the question si whether this is good news or bad.

Are Sellers boycotting the real estate market?

With the media sending a fairly consistent negative message about the housing market, many Sellers have decided to sit on the sidelines and wait before putting their home on the market. The result is that home inventory is way down, and a larger than normal percentage of homes that are for sale have Sellers who 'have to sell.' 

Supply and Demand

For some areas, the reduced number of homes on the market is helping to push prices up. It's simple supply and demand. As the number of homes 'plunges' (the Denver Post's term), Buyers have fewer homes to look at and may find themselves paying more for a home. The Wall Street Journal recently published an article titled, 'it's Time to Buy That House,' citing reduced prices and historically low interest rates.

In other areas, the boycott by 'voluntary' sellers continues to press prices lower. When the market becomes dominated by distressed sales, bank owned properties, and sellers who need to move, prices fall - regardless of overall supply.

Listings are Down, but Sales are Up

The same Denver Post article quoted additional stats that showed home sales in Denver were up 12.8% in September 2011 over 2010, while prices were fairly stable.

Put it all together

So, let's summarize:  The number of homes listed in Denver is down substantially. The number of home sales in Denver is up. Denver Home prices are stable. Interest rates are extremely low. Sounds like the the balance between Buyer Market and Seller Market (or at least an even market) may be shifting.

Is it a good time to put your home on the market? Is it a good time to buy? Call or email The Kearns Team today, and let us put our experience to work for you. We'll help you create a personalized game plan to help meet YOUR goals in this challenging real estate market.

If you look, you may notice a new feature on our website today: Click To Text.

About a year ago we implemented a LiveChat feature on the website, allowing site visitors to chat with us in real time to answer real estate questions. The only donwside of this feature was that if we weren't sitting in front of the computer, the LiveChat service was more like an answering machine. In real estate we're often out of the office with clients, in closings, or meetings, so the LiveChat service wasn't as valuable to clients as we had hoped.

Recently we came up with the idea of replacing LiveChat with a click to text service to allow clients to reach us via text message even when we are out of the office. Our web developer designed the interface, and today we've launched!

We hope that our new Click to Text feature is helpful to you, our real estate clients.

We've moved!

Today is an exciting day for The Kearns Team, as we join the team at RE/MAX of Cherry Creek as Brokers and Co-Owners. After several years with RE/MAX Alliance in Denver, we made the move to RE/MAX of Cherry Creek because their business focus and philosophy blends well with ours.

RE/MAX of Cherry Creek is one of the most successful single office RE/MAX franchises in the country.  While RE/MAX Alliance is a very large and successful multi-office franchise, we feel that the single office focus at RE/MAX of Cherry Creek, and their focus on central Denver real estate, lines up better with our business and with our clients' needs.  Within the RE/MAX of Cherry Creek office we will also have access to a dedicated marketing staff and on-site mortgage and title companies.

In addition to being Realtors within RE/MAX of Cherry Creek, we are also part owners of the company.

So what does this mean for our clients?

• Continued representation by the Kearns Team, with the support of Denver's leading real estate brokerage.
• Access to on-site marketing, mortgage, and title services.
• Increased visibility for home listings within Central Denver.