WOW – Percentage of List Price at 99.9%

One of our listings: 146 Sandy Hollow Trail Franktown, CO 80116

WOW – Percent of homeowners who got their list price or better in May was 99.9%. Median sales price was up 12.7% at $310,000 for single family homes in Colorado. Get the latest stats at: http://ow.ly/OmEJo

5 Safest Places in Colorado.

When deciding where to live, safety is a top priority. Our team at ValuePenguin has analyzed the most recent FBI Crime Report to determine the safety of cities in Colorado. These 81 cities ranged in a crime score from 42 to 5,423, with an average of 1,525. In the expansive state known for its section of the grand Rocky Mountains, smaller turned out to be safer. Each member of our five safest places, while not completely immune from crime, enjoys the quiet of a population lower than 8,000 residents. Capital Denver, by contrast, with its approximately 650,000 people, ranked third-to-last in our crime score, which took into account both the amount of violent and property-related crimes per 100,000 people.

Dacono, Fort Lupton, Rocky Ford, Eaton and Yuma have an average crime score of 178, 88 percent lower than their typical peer in Colorado. All of these places have populations of less than 8,000. With some of the state’s lowest total violent crime rates, these five are the safest places in Colorado.

Read more at: http://ow.ly/NNacT

Down Payment Assistance – Easy

Studies show that 70% of Americans don’t know that there are down payment and closing cost programs available in every community. The Colorado REALTOR® Down Payment Program is a free tool that helps you discover down payment programs that fit your personal situation. Check it out at www.coloradorealtors.com/down-payment-program/

Metro home prices maintain steady growth

Metro home prices maintain steady growth in the first quarter, however homeowners are hesitant to move-up and sell because they aren’t confident they’ll find another home to buy. This trend—in addition to subpar homebuilding activity—is leading to the ongoing inventory shortages and subsequent run-up in prices seen in many markets. Learn more http://ow.ly/NbHnk

The Squeeze on Renters

The squeeze on renters – Denver area is up over the past 5 years 24.17%. The gap between rental costs and household income in many metro areas is widening to unsustainable levels in many parts of the country, and the situation could worsen unless new home construction meaningfully rises. See the visualization here: http://ow.ly/MFtGl

Pending home sales in March continued to Rise

WASHINGTON (April 29, 2015) — Pending home sales in March continued their recent momentum, rising for the third straight month and remaining at their highest level since June 2013, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, climbed 1.1 percent to 108.6 in March from an upward revision of 107.4 in February and is now 11.1 percent above March 2014 (97.7). The index has now increased year-over-year for seven consecutive months and is at its highest level since June 2013 (109.4).

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says contract signings picked up in March as more buyers than usual entered this year’s competitive spring market. “Demand appears to be stronger in several parts of the country, especially in metro areas that have seen solid job gains and firmer economic growth over the past year,” he said. “While contract activity being up convincingly compared to a year ago is certainly good news, the increased number of traditional buyers who appear to be replacing investors paying in cash is even better news¹. It indicates this year’s activity is being driven by more long-term homeowners.”

Read more at:  http://ow.ly/MhZfD

Early Spring Lawn Care

Early Spring Lawn Care – Snow has pounded lawns this winter with ridiculous sub-zero temperatures and record snowfalls. So don’t be surprised if parts of your lawn — especially in low-lying areas — are dead on arrival in spring.

“Snow acts like a cover, but ice is bad for turf,” says Chris Lemcke, technical director of Weed Man USA lawn care. “Ice freezes plant cells and crushes blades and leads to death.”

Freeze-thaw-freeze conditions are even worse for turf roots, which can become brittle and die.  Road salt also is bad for lawns. The turf near streets and along driveways and paths may need resuscitation or replacement when spring grass should be greening up.

Dead or Sleeping?

When snow and ice melt, your late-winter turf starts awakening from hibernation and changes from brown grass to green; if your lawn died, it won’t change color.

The best way to see if your lawn is dead or sleeping is to tug the brown areas. If the turf comes up easily, the roots have failed and the grass is dead. If there’s resistance, then there’s hope.

How to Bring Lawns Back

When is the right time to bury your dead lawn — grass, roots, clinging soil — in a compost pile and start growing new grass?

• After the last chance of frost

• When night temperatures top 35 degrees

• When soil temps reach 50-65 degrees

Dead patches of lawn are easy to pull up because no roots bind the turf to the soil. Cut around dead areas with a spade, then yank up the patch.

Then it’s time to reseed.

1.  Scatter seed on soil and lightly rake it in.

2.  Water daily with a light mist for 15 minutes to keep soil moist. If the soil dries out, seed will not germinate.

3.  When seed germinates, water deeply.

4.  Feed young blades a high-phosphorous fertilizer.

5.  Let grass grow at least 3 inches before its first cut.

If you can afford sod — 8-30 cents/sq. ft. compared with $28 for a 5-pound bag of seed that’ll cover 2,000 sq. ft. — Lemcke recommends laying sod on dead patches instead of seeding. Sod is more forgiving when it comes to watering and resists weeds better than seed.

An Ounce of Prevention

You can’t control the weather, but you can mitigate winter’s affect on your lawn.

• Add topsoil to low areas of your yard to reduce the impact of ice. Then reseed or sod.

• If you notice dead turf where you piled shoveled snow, spread out your snow pile next year.

• To reduce salt damage, apply deicers after you shovel snow, so salt doesn’t seep into your grass. Also, use calcium chloride-based deicers, which do less damage than sodium chloride-based salts.

Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/lawns/lawn-care-maintenance/#ixzz3Y4huSPNO

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Pending Home Sales in February Up

Pending home sales in February increased to their highest level since June 2013 as sizeable gains in the Midwest and West offset smaller declines in the Northeast and South, according to the National Association of Realtors^®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,  a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 3.1 percent to 106.9 in February from a slight downward revision of 103.7 in January and is now 12.0 percent above February 2014 (95.4). The index is at its highest level since June 2013 (109.4), has increased year-over-year for six consecutive months and is above 100 – considered an average level of activity – for the 10^th consecutive month.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says demand appears to be strengthening as we head into the spring buying season. “Pending sales showed solid gains last month, driven by a steadily-improving labor market, mortgage rates hovering around 4 percent and the likelihood of more renters looking to hedge against increasing rents,” he said. “These factors bode well for the prospect of an uptick in sales in coming months. However, the underlying obstacle – especially for first-time buyers – continues to be the depressed level of homes available for sale.”

According to NAR’s monthly Realtors^® Confidence Index, the percent share of first-time buyers increased slightly for the first time in February since November 2014, up to 29 percent from 28 percent in January.

“Several markets remain highly-competitive due to supply pressures, and Realtors^® are reporting severe shortages of move-in ready and available properties in lower price ranges,” adds Yun. “The return of first-time buyers this year will depend on how quickly inventory shows up in the market.”

The PHSI in the Northeast fell 2.3 percent to 81.7 in February, but is 4.1 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index leaped 11.6 percent to 110.4 in February, and is now 13.8 percent above February 2014.

Pending home sales in the South decreased 1.4 percent to an index of 120.2 in February, but is still 10.8 percent above last February. The index in the West climbed 6.6 percent in February to 102.1 (highest since June 2013 at 111.4) and is now 18.3 percent above a year ago.

Total existing-homes sales in 2015 are forecast to be around 5.25 million, an increase of 6.4 percent from 2014. The national median existing-home price for all of this year is expected to increase around 5.6 percent. In 2014, existing-home sales declined 2.9 percent and prices rose 5.7 percent.

The National Association of Realtors^®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Closing costs are often 2 to 5 percent o

Closing costs are often 2 to 5 percent of the total purchase price of a home, and those extra costs are coming as a surprise to many young adult buyers, finds a new survey. What’s more, more than one-third of potential home owners – across all age brackets – say they’re “not very” or “not at all” aware of closing costs. http://ow.ly/KNWxw