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Denver Real Estate Blogspot

July 2006

How Do You Know You're Getting a Good Buyer's Agent?

Jul. 28, 2006
Categorized in: Buying a home...

Christine, Pat, Tony and the Boys

In answering a question on her blog, a colleague of mine, Ardell DellaLogia in Seattle, brought up the subject of the value of a Buyer's Agent. She talks about the assumption underlying the question which had to do with inspections.

I'd like to go a bit further (Ardell promises to address other issues later on her blog). 
What makes a Buyer's Agent valuable to a buyer? First, buyers can be sure they won’t be involved in a conflict of interest situation where the agent represents both the seller and the buyer. A Buyer’s Agent represents ONLY the buyer.
 
Second, a Buyer’s Agent puts all her energy, knowledge and skill into helping to find the right house at the right price for the buyer. Not that seller’s agents don’t do this with their buyer clients, but working on the selling side dilutes their expertise and skill on the buying side, and vice versa. An Exclusive Buyer’s Agent concentrates on knowing how to do the things that buyers need, and that’s their focus. They’re good at knowing the market because they see far more homes than do seller’s agents who also represent buyers. That’s what Buyer’s Agents do all day long – look at houses, estimate value, see potential problems, negotiate on behalf of buyers, shepherd the transaction through to completion with a laser-like focus on what’s best for the buyer.
 
They work with professionals who serve the needs of buyers – lenders, inspectors, insurance agents, home warranty representatives. Not that seller’s agents don’t do this too. It’s not just their focus.
 
Buyer’s Agents work daily negotiating with Seller’s Agents to get the best possible price, concessions, inspection issues resolved, and get the best timing for their buyers. That’s their focus, and working solely with buyers gives them an expertise serving buyers.
 
Here’s a story told by one of my clients, the mother of four four-year olds (yes, quadruplets!) whose husband had already moved here, she had stayed behind to sell the house which took five months, and she already had a job in Denver where she was to have started a month before she actually did -- that was the special situation.

Buying our house from out of state, our real estate selling agent back home knew exactly the type of service that we would be requiring from our buying agent in Denver so she hand chose Judith for us. I know this was a researched and unbiased choice, Judith was not even a member of the same agency. Living in another state, we were very attracted to technical services that Judith was willing to offer, including her promise to preview and photograph houses and having the photos online for me to view within hours, which she did.

One of the first points of her significant help was very early on when I had obtained a prequalification with one loan agency, Judith convinced me to at least try one other to have a comparison. This action not only gave us a better rate, but it brought to light some incorrect information on our credit report that we were able to correct in time for the loan.

The hard work, great service and personal attention that Judith showed us in the looking process gave me enough confidence to sign a contract on a house without seeing it for myself. She knew our budget and pushed hard to find something within that range. As the hunting process turned long and looked dim, she was still very honest with every house that she viewed for us, even when I was excited about something that I had viewed on the internet and she knew from our lengthy conversations and one brief meeting what to warn me about so that I would have a clear understanding of the complete package.

When Judith finally found the perfect house for our family, in the price range that we were looking for, she wasted no time helping us through the contracting procedures. This was the second house that my husband and I had purchased during our marriage. The first purchase was made when we were younger and it was very uncomplicated. That is why the obstacles that we encountered on this purchase came as a shock and stress factor at almost every turn. Judith was there to help us through all of it. We appreciated Judith's experienced advice and support through the entire month of our roller coaster contract. She helped us deal with problems that included our seller threatening to back out at every turn, handling completely unforeseen issues that came up at our inspection and getting us through many paperwork delays on our closing. We literally did not know if we would still be able to purchase the house 10 minutes past the start time of our closing appointment.

I would recommend Judith for any buyer in any special situation.
 

Could a seller’s agent have handled a complicated transaction like that? Doubtless. Would they have been successful in bringing the transaction to a successful close? Maybe. I believe that it was my expertise as an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent that provided the extra push that got the deal done.

Relocating to Denver?

Jul. 28, 2006
Categorized in: Denver Relocation
Relocating to Denver

You want to move to Denver. Maybe your company wants to transfer you, maybe you like the thought of having the mountains so close at hand, maybe you just want a change of scenery. But you don’t have a lot of time and money to invest to scour the market there. Denver real estate
  
FIRST THINGS FIRST
The first thing you can do is to find a web site that offers all the online tools you need to find a home in the Denver area, preferably a site that allows you to actually search for homes that meet your qualifications. And since you’re just beginning the process, you don’t want to have to register at a specific Realtor’s site to be able to do so. You don’t want to be pestered. You don’t even want to talk to a Realtor until you’re ready. A web site that gives you access to all the homes available on the Denver MLS is Buyers Advantage Real Estate of Metro Denver. No registration required.
 
RESEARCHING HOME LOANS
And you’d like to be able to research home loans without having to apply for a loan first. You’d like to know the current rates and loan programs available to meet your specific needs. Should you get a fixed-rate loan? Or a variable rate loan? What are the pros and cons of each? How can you avoid paying Mortgage Insurance which amounts to about one half of one percent (.005) annually? What if you need a “bridge loan” to “bridge” the time between buying a house in Denver and selling your house in your home state? Is that possible? You want information, but you don’t want to be locked into a particular lender just yet. 
 
HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE
Before you can buy your house you’ll have to have hazard insurance on your home. You want the best protection at the best rates. But if you don’t have an insurance agent who can refer you to someone in Denver, you’ll have to find an agent. You’ll have to do some research on which companies write insurance in Denver. And you may want to know which neighborhoods carry high rates so that you don’t wind up buying in a high crime area.
 
NEIGHBORHOODS AND SCHOOLS
You’d also like to be able to research neighborhoods and schools, to find out whether a particular school has a good teacher to student ratio or a theater program, or whatever your interest happens to be. You want to know how it stacks up with other school districts in the area. You want to be able to do this without having to make long distance phone calls to the school district, and you want reliable information. The Buyers Advantage Real Estate site has tons of information about Denver's neighborhoods and suburbs.
 
DENVER REAL ESTATE MARKET
Another important factor is the Denver real estate market. Is it a buyer’s market where buyers pretty much set the terms of the purchase? Or is it a seller’s market, where the seller dictates the terms? Or is in somewhere in between – neither buyer’s nor seller’s market? You want to know whether you can be in the driver’s seat, or whether you’ll have to subordinate your wants and desires to the seller’s. You want to know a good buy from a bad buy. You want information about the buying process and where you fit into it. 
 
DENVER REALTORS®
And when you do reach the point where you’re ready to call a Realtor®, who do you call? What’s the difference among Denver Realtors®? How do you locate the best Realtor® for your specific needs? What if you can’t actually tour Denver homes because you can’t get there until your actual moving date? Can you actually buy a home on the internet?
 
DENVER LENDERS
And what about a lender? After you’ve gathered all the information you need, and you’re ready to buy, do you have a lender in Denver you can rely on? Or, if you’re like most people moving to Denver, you don’t have a clue about which lender to use, and don’t know where to start in locating a good one. 
 
COORDINATING THE MOVE
But maybe one of the most difficult things to do is to coordinate your move. You need to sell your house in your home state, purchase a home in Denver, and arrange for the move, including getting your new telephone service and heat and lights set up, find a new bank, get your newspaper delivery arranged, find a new doctor, dentist, hairdresser, barber, all the things you need in your new location. How can you do all this, do it conveniently, and without taking a lot of time? 
 
WHAT NOW?
These are all great questions, common to most everyone who wants to move to Denver, and I have answers to all of them for you. Just email me or call me direct at 303-587-3509. Or go to the Buyers Advantage website for answers.
 

Real Estate Sales Slow...But Not In Denver

Jul. 26, 2006
Categorized in: Denver Market Info
Once again the report for real estate sales nationally shows a slowdown, or as one local paper put it, "Housing market shows signs of wear and tear."  Denver's market was torrid several years ago, but that hasn't been the case for awhile.  Denver real estate has been a buyer's market for at least four to five years.  Yes, inventory is high.  Sellers are having a hard time getting what they want and it's taking longer for properties to sell.  But as I've said elsewhere, a good home in a good location in good shape is going to sell quickly.  So the buyer's market is spotty.
 
Nationally the market IS slowing.  It's been torrid in much of the nation for the last five years, and now is slowing to a halt, if not screeching, at least gradually.  The national median price in June ($231,000) was only 1 percent higher than in June of 2005.  That compares with Denver's 4.1 percent increase from June 2005 to a median price for single family homes of $261,750.  The market in Denver didn't come to a screeching halt, but the rate of appreciation slowed from double digits to between 3-5% annually.
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