Interest Rates Dipping

I can not believe how low interest rates have gotten over the last week. I don’t get to read much about the rates and I definitely don’t do anything with people’s financials or financing. That being said, I couldn’t help but notice all of the articles meant to catch my wandering eye this past week about interest rates dipping. Taglines like, “lowest interest rates since 1952″ and “interest rates in the 3% range” have caught my eye. All of these are special cases, but they do make an impression. The difference in payment is quite substantial with even just a 1% difference in interest rate. Learn more about interest rates and financing options by calling me or any of the lenders that I recommend.

New Restaurant Deluxe

I have been dying to try this new restaurant Deluxe on South Broadway. When it first opened, I called and they were booked for 2 months or something crazy. (its the size of a shoebox). But finally I was able to convince my cousins that had just bought a home that we should try it. Funny side note, Deluxe and the bar next door, Delite look the exact same from the front. We sat for 10 minutes being rather un-impressed with the atmosphere of Deluxe (we thought it seemed like a cool bar but not a cool restaurant) only to find that we were in the wrong side. Great food, good service and good Mojitos. We tried a lot of differnt foods including appetizers and desserts. Only for the blog of course

Short strange story

Opened a door to a property to find a dead squirrel on the floor right in front of the door. Not to be detered I went in to see where the animal got in (open window etc…) Nothing, I couldn’t find one entry point. Could the animal have gotten in through the door?

Can a new phone change your life?

I was a Blackberry man…. man was I a Blackberry man. 3 years, its like my best relationship ever. I’m hard on phones and I had 4 Blackberry’s in 3 years. But I am now an Android fan. I just got the new EVO from Sprint and have to say…. LOVE IT. With in one hour it did more than my Blackberry did in 3/4 years. It uploaded all my contacts from everywhere, computers, sites, old phone, databases (everywhere). It located me on all of my social networking sites. It synced with my computers(what a concept), and it generally has the fasted internet I have ever had on a computer. So, can a phone change your life. 7 days in and I am hooked. Look for me at Android AA.

My travel in asia…

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The beginning

I have started this blog simply to entertain, educate, and to keep a pulse on how the public views the real estate market. I am sure this will evolve as I see how people react to my thoughts. I also want this to be a forum for people to ask any questions about concerns they may have about the real estate market. Every market is different and is broken up into many complex sub markets. If you keep this in mind, often there is no right or wrong answer about what is happening in the market. Most of the ups and downs are based on trends. These trends can be as simple as supply and demand indicators, meaning how many homes sold in a given time period compared to how many homes are currently listed for sale. Or, they can be very complex with many factors, such as, how many 30-40 year olds with incomes between 100-150,000 are currently buying ranch style homes in South East Aurora in the first 10 days of a given month.

Not only do these trends change quickly but the technology seems to be changing at a pace that is hard to keep up with even for a mid to late twenty something person. Computers are out dated by the time I buy them. Cell phones need updates every month and by the time I actually understand how to keep track of my 700+ numbers I should be buying a new phone just to have the latest technology so I don’t seem outdated when I meet with clients. And don’t even get me started with the power cords associated with these new devices. I have decided I will not buy a new phone(the same brand even) because I would have to buy 5 new power cords. Arghhhh. What a racket.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. I would be happy to speak to anyone about their particular market or explain to any potential buyer what is currently happening in an area they are interested in possibly listening. For example… Let’s say a client would like to buy a $100,000 condo in Downtown. Immediately, I would have a reaction about the validity of the clients true ability to grasp what is happening in the Denver market. Somewhere, somehow someone told them that $100,000 would buy them a property in downtown Denver. This will immediately take a quite substantial back peddle because I know that I will in educator mode (not a bad thing, I actually would rather educate someone than have to change their mind because they bought a property 15 years ago and expect the market to still be the same). So, we start by not immediately gasping in horror and hanging up on them, but rather instead LISTENING so that you can send them listings that truly match their criteria. Listening is a gift, if you don’t have it, real estate may not be the best profession for you. If you listen well, it will be much easier to understand what the client really wants, not what you think they should want. It did take me years to understand that it is about them, not about me… even when they are begging for my opinion in hopes that it will sway their opinion about a particular property. Better to let them talk and for you to pick up on the trigger words associated with them actually finding the property that is the best fit.

When I send listings to clients I always ask them to first evaluate them on whether I truly heard their wants and needs correctly. If not, better that we change the search now then waste their time later. Often this works out well, but I should say that almost everyone changes their mind at some point in the search. Most people find it difficult to have a complete idea from internet pictures and pages of homes. I TOTALLY understand this. I am a visual person and 10 pictures on a computer screen can be the best pictures taken at the best angles. Remember this: site unseen homes is not in vocabulary.

Well this is the first entry and I could talk for hours about different subjects but I promise I will try and divide up my thoughts in a manageable way. So, hang in there and feel free to comment or ask questions. I don’t want to be alone out here.

Work in progress:

First login successful. Please understand this is a total work in progress and I will be adding more very soon.