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

Two great new homes, just listed for sale in Stapleton!

3465 Willow Street, Denver CO 80238
offered for $469,999 

This beautiful home from New Town Builders is located less than a block from Stapleton's 80 acre Central Park.

It features three bedrooms upstairs (including a huge Master Suite), and kitchen, great room, dining room, and study on the main floor. 

For more photos, please visit our virtual tour. To schedule a private tour of this home, please contact The Kearns Team at 303.331.4500.

3367 Xanthia Street, Denver CO 80238
offered for $825,000

Truly one of the finest homes in Stapleton, this Court Home from the Infinity Home Collection sits between Stapleton's Central Park and a neighborhood pocket park.

In addition to the impeccable custom upgrades and gourmet kitchen, this home features 5 bedrooms (three with private baths) and a finished basement with family/media room.

For more photos, please visit our virtual tour. To schedule a private tour of this home, please contact The Kearns Team at 303.331.4500.

Apparently 8-10 inches of snow is enough to create havoc at United Parcel Service in Denver.

A Christmas Week snowstorm which delivered 8-10 inches of snow in Denver (more in some areas, less in others) on December 22 has delayed delivery of 50,000 packages until after Christmas. Packages which were scheduled for delivery on Thursday and Friday were instead re-routed to the UPS center in Commerce City. Customers who called UPS were told to go to the center to pick up their packages, as UPS would not attempt redelivery until Tuesday December 27.

I write from personal experience - I was one of the customers who was supposed to receive a package on Friday, only to have my delivery status updated to read, 'Emergency conditions beyond UPS' control.' I called Friday night, and after 30 minutes on hold was told to go to the center to pick up my package on Saturday. When I arrived there at 10:30 Saturday morning, the line of customers (over 300 by some news reports) already snaked around the building and waits were reported at over 2 hours.

As the day went on, UPS's problems only grew. The lines got longer, and the wait was said to exceed 3 hours. Perhaps one problem is the crazy layout of the UPS facility on Commerce City, where the huge warehouse sits across the street from the customer service office. This creates a need for employees to run back and forth from the customer service office to the warehouse to look for packages. According to Denver's Channel 7 News, police were called to the scene mid-afternoon after employees were harassed by customers.

Calling UPS at their 800-PICK-UPS number didn't help. I was personally told that I, 'need to understand that there was an emergency situation in Denver which caused the delay.' When I asked the agent for an explanation of the emergency, I was told that they didn't have that information. Later I was told that it was 'a blizzard on Friday' - the snow actually tapered off early Thursday, and both FedEx and USPS were able to make deliveries to my house.

I really do feel sorry for the font-line UPS employees who bore the brunt of customer frustrations today, but I have no sympathy for the company which had no idea of how to deal with the situation. It tends to snow in Denver in December. Packages get delayed. A company like UPS, which undoubtedly receives a large percentage of their annual revenue from December deliveries, needs to be better prepared - and better able to communicate to their customers.

Related News Reports:

• Denver Post: Hundreds wait for backlogged packages at UPS center in Commerce City
• Channel 7 (ABC) News:  Irate Customers Demand UPS Packages
• 9 News (NBC):  UPS says 50,000 packages delayed by Denver weather

It probably won't come as a shock, but a recent survey by HomeGain reports that 76% of home sellers believe their home is worth more than their real estate agent recommended. This comes despite other surveys which indicate that consumers expect home prices will be flat or down in the next 12 months.

While sellers believe their homes are under priced, 68% of home buyers believe that homes are over priced - and 32% said homes are overpriced by at least 10%. Perhaps some of this discrepancy is based on the availability of 'questionable' pricing data from online sources such as Zillow.

“Homeowners and real estate professionals appear to be in sync regarding the direction of home prices. Home buyers and sellers, however, continue to remain apart as to home valuations with the vast majority of homeowners thinking their homes are worth more than their agents and the market are telling them,” said Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain.

HomeGain's 4th Quarter 2011 Home Value Survey included responses from Over 400 real estate agents and brokers and over 2,000 homeowners.

Locally, we've seen most prices rise slightly after being stable for the past year or so. Stapleton homes priced below $400,000 have been selling well, while those above $500,000 have been slow to sell. We've seen an increasing number of sellers 'boycott' the market, declining to sell until they believe that prices are higher. This has led to a lack of overall inventory... and the laws of supply and demand have begun to benefit patient sellers.

On Sunday, the Denver Post reported that under a new state House district map, endorsed by former Mayor Wellington Webb, Stapleton would be split and fall into two different districts. Webb is the Vice-Chairman of the Colorado Reapportionment Commission

Under the proposed map, Stapleton homes south of E 28th Ave and east of Central Park Boulevard (roughly the 'Southend' neighborhood plus additional houses to the north) would shift into House District 8, currently represented by Rep. Beth McCann. The balance of Stapleton residences would remain in House District 7, represented by Rep. Angela Williams. According to the article, Webb reportedly said that, '...the move was sone in order to protect 'African American influence' in House District 7.'

Interestingly, both of Rep. Williams challengers (both withe males) in the last primary election live in the area to be moved out of her district. It could be worse: under a Republican sponsored map, Stapleton would have been divided among three different districts.

So, is this a big deal? With a proposed build-out of 12,000 homes and over 30,000 residents it is unlikely that a completed Stapleton would have remained within a single district.