“Sixty-four million is nothing to sneeze at,” said independent broker Gary Bauer, who released the report that also showed almost a 50 percent drop in the unsold inventory from a year earlier.

The report also showed that while sales of single-family homes priced at $1 million or more are down in April almost 30 percent from April 2011, year-to-date sales volume is higher than in 2011.

An earlier report by Kentwood Real Estate showed a similar trend, although it did not include Boulder County, but focused on the counties in the Denver area. Both reports use Metrolist data.

In April, 20 of the luxury sales were evenly divided between Boulder and Denver counties, according to Bauer. There were eight luxury home sales in Douglas County, six in Arapahoe County and two in Jefferson County. All five condo sales were in Denver.

“The luxury market is almost a mirror of the overall market,” Bauer said. “We are seeing a declining inventory for the luxury market, just like for the overall market.”

One reason that the April sales figures showed a big percentage drop, is because well-heeled buyers have been able to land excellent deals, knocking many homes out of the seven-figure category.

“Many homes that previously were listed at $1 million to $1.15 million or even $1.2 million, are now selling below $1 million,” Bauer said.

There are now only 596 single-family homes on the market, a 48.5 percent drop from the 1,157 active listings in April 2011.

One reason there is such a huge drop in unsold inventory is because owners of high-end homes are seeking options other than outright sales, Bauer said.

“Many owners who haven’t been able to get the price they want are leasing their homes for one-year or two-year options, often with the right to buy the home at the end of the lease,” Bauer said. “Each deal is a separate and unique transaction.”

Often, the listing broker is helping the owner structure the lease arrangement, he said.

In April, the average sales price of a home was $1.6 million, compared with $1.5 million a year earlier and the median sales price was $1.4 million, compared with $1.3 million in April 2011.In April 2011, 51 luxury single-family homes sold for a total dollar volume of $76.million.

In April, five condos sold for a total of $6.2 million, compared with six condos selling in April 2011 for $7.7 million.

In the first four months of the year, there have been 161 total sales for $243.1 million, compared with 156 sales for $235.9 million during the same period in 2011. There have been 148 single-family home sales so far this year for $224.4 million, compared with 143 for $218 million through April of last year. Condo sales are unchanged, with 13 sales, although the condo dollar volume this year was $18.7 million, compared with $17.9 million in the first four months of 2011.

Have a real-estate story idea or a news tip? Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com.

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Stephanie Prather

Today’s Denver-area housing market reminds 8z Real Estate broker Stephanie Prather of the 1991 to 1992 market.

Then, the market had been suffering from several years of a housing black hole. Overbuilding and a collapse in energy prices, which had been fueling the economy, crushed home values. There were so many foreclosures that HUD became Denver’s largest landlords. For many, the only light at the end of the tunnel appeared to be from a speeding train. Many believed the worst was yet to come.

Instead of a train wreck, the market quickly was back on track, with the Denver market experiencing 15 years of mostly improving home prices.

“The market has changed dramatically since December,” said Prather, a 20-year veteran of selling real estate, who specializes in the Lakewood area at 8z.

Demand increasing

“Inventory is down, buyers are out there in droves because of the low-interest rates and ever-increasing rental rates,” Prather said. “Homes are going under contract in one to three days if they are priced right for condition and location. If all is right, sellers are receiving multiple offers.”

That has led to a sense of urgency among serious buyers, she said.

“Actually, I have had a few buyers drop out of the market they became so frustrated. Buyers have to adjust to a new paradigm, when they see something they like, they have to pay full price or close to it. No more beating up sellers with low-ball offers.”

Prather said that prospective buyers need to be prepared.

“My advice is to be fully pre-approved with your lender and only look at homes of the most interest to you.” She said. “Be prepared to make an offer immediately if the home meets at least 85 percent or more of your housing needs. Buyers have to be financially ready in every way and they can win the deal.”

To illustrate the reality of today’s market, she told of a case where her buyer was in a back-up position on a purchase.

“We stayed in the game hoping the first offer would fall,” Prather said. “In the meantime, new listings were coming up on the MLS and being sent to my buyer. They called to see a new listing in the neighborhood of the back-up offer home. We saw the home within 12 hours of it going on the market; they liked it and wanted to submit an offer. I called the listing agent immediately upon exiting the home. He had received an offer that morning but the seller had not accepted it. The listing agent told me that the offer was at full price and non-contingent.”

Prather wrote a contact for $337,000, $2,000 above the asking price of $335,000. Her client also provided an extended closing, allowing the seller to find the a replacement house.

“The other agent with the offer was notified of the competing offer and for their buyer to offer their best and final,” she said. “Well, I don’t know what their best and final was, but my client won. Yeh! The buyers were thrilled.”

“My clients close”

The listing agent also was thrilled with Prather’s professionalism.

“When the listing agent received the offer he called me to thank me,” Prather recalled. “He commented to me about the years I had in the business and how it was always a pleasure to work with me. Frankly, I have heard that a lot over the years and I know it impacts deals for my clients when we are in a competitive situation. People like to work with known entities. My clients close. I take the time to set that up before we begin to shop.”

During the past two decades, Partners has sold single-family detached homes, condos and duplexes priced from $85,000 to $1.3 million.

“However, my sweet spot is the price range from $250,00 to $500,000,” she said.

This 3,253-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bath home in Lakewood is on the market for $325,000

The area that she “farms” at 8z is Westgate in South Lakewood. Westgate is bordered by Hoyt Street on the west, Yale Avenue on the south, Wadsworth Boulevard on the eat and Morrison Road on the north.

Prather gets much joy out of finding the right home for a buyer.

“Over the past 20 years I have provided services for some absolutely wonderful people,” she said. “That is what I enjoy the most, helping people find that perfect home for them. This is the biggest purchase most people make in their lifetime and they put their trust in you. I accept that huge responsibility and enjoy going to the closing table seeing them smiling and happy.”

Prather grew up in Billings, Mt. She and her first husband moved to Denver in 1969. At first, she was a teacher.

While attending Eastern Montana College in Billings, “It became clear in order to have the opportunities to move forward it was going to require a move to Seattle, Minneapolis/St Paul or Denver. I was engaged in 1969 and my husband-to-be had accepted a position with the Colorado Education Association resulting in a move to Denver.”

Initially, they rented an apartment South Clarkson Street, just north of Hampen Avenue and after six months moved into a bigger apartment in the area.

“Frankly, I don’t remember ever having a conversation about buying a home during that time,” she said.

Her husband took a job with the National Education Association in Washington, D.C. While back East, she completed her education at the University of Maryland and later accepted a job in Winchester, Va., in the mid-1970s.

Left teaching for sales

Later, she returned to Denver, and she switched from teaching to sales.

“In my humble opinion, I felt that I had to better myself every year that I taught,” Prather said. “I did just that, pushed myself harder and harder to become what I would call a “master teacher.” You know one when you see one. After six years of teaching several different levels of elementary school, I realized my effort was not financially rewarded or ever going to be rewarded based upon performance. Knowing that I was extremely motivated to advance not only in position but income, I seriously looked at a selling opportunity. You get paid for your efforts in sales.”

Before getting her real estate license, she was a sales person for the Bureau of National Affairs, selling compliance information to attorneys, safety managers, accountants, environmental specialists and others.

“These professionals need daily, weekly and monthly regulatory updates to perform their daily responsibilities,” she said. Besides Colorado, her sales territory included Kansas, Utah and Arizona.

She remarried and she and her new husband, Stuart, also were buying, updating and selling homes, typically after living with them for a period.

“After 10 years with BNA, I was at a subsidiary that was about to fail,” she said. The stress of waiting for a pink slip became too much and she quit and reassess her professional career.

“Deciding what to do next seemed clear: I no longer wanted to travel, board another plane or answer to someone else.”

A lightbulb went off in her head.

“Real estate sales came to me out of the blue — Wow, this is the perfect sales job for me. It kept me in sales with no out-of-state travel and I understood homes from the bottom up after rebuilding all the homes in years prior.”

She enrolled in the accelerated real estate program at Emily Griffith, took the real estate exam and hit the streets as a Realtor.

“I joined the real estate company of the broker who has been our Realtor over the years prior. It was absolutely right from the very beginning. I closed my first sale in 30 days. The home was in south Aurora around Chambers and Iliff. I can’t remember the exact address, but I could likely drive right up to it. It was July 1992 and the sale was a HUD property. The buyer won the bid at $87,500. This home today would likely be priced in the $175,000 to $190,000 range.”

Motorcycle mama

When not selling real estate, she likes to ride on the back of her husband’s Hog.

Her husband owned a Harley in his 20s, before she was in the picture. He sold his bike as he focused on other aspects of his life.

Prather learned that her hubby wanted to buy another Harley for a couple of years, but did not know how to broach the subject.

“One morning over breakfast, 17 years ago, he says to me, “You know Stephanie, I was thinking it might be fun to own a Harley again. How would you feel about that?” Her response took 10 seconds or less.

“That sounds really awesome! I think Harley’s are sexy!”

His eyes lit up and he was the proud owner of a new Harley Sportser in less than two weeks.

“Of course the Sportster was too small for the two of us, but he wanted to break me in,” she said. “Little did he know, I was “all in.”

Her husband bought a Low Roader and now they have an Electra Glide.

“I never wanted to ride my own, have thoroughly enjoyed being the smiling passenger on the back,” she said. He then bought a Low Rider and concluded with an Electra-Glide. Of course that Electra Glide is for the maturing adult who needs a comfortable ride and has been souped-up. It is all about speed, sound and looks.”

She said her clients are “mostly shocked,” when they learn about her love for Harleys, but they quickly get on board with it.

“Younger clients think it is really awesome,” Prather said. “Most everyone thinks it is cool. I have been able to convince a few clients in my past to buy bikes and we have ridden together.”

For more information about Stephanie, please visit this link.  To learn more about Westgate, please visit this link. An Insider’s Guide is a monthly feature of  InsideRealEstate News. 8z Real Estate is a sponsor of InsideRealEstateNews.

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The inventory of homes in the Denver area has plunged.

The trend of a plunging inventory of Denver-area homes  continued in April, as prospective home buyers had 42.5 percent fewer homes to choose from than a year earlier, according to a report released today.

The decline in inventory in April comes as more buyers are shopping for homes, driving up prices, with bidding wars becoming increasingly common.

“We continue to see tight inventory in the market, which means there about a two- to three-month of supply available,” said Kirby Slunaker, president and CEO of Metrolist. “Conditions are favorable and we continue to look for signs of improvement such as continued price appreciation.”

There were only 10,254 unsold homes on the market in April, according to reports by Metrolist and independent broker Gary Bauer, who analyzed the Metrolist data. There were 17,847 unsold homes available in April 2011. The inventory declined 0.7 percent from 10,325 houses in March.

The shortage of homes is “what I am living and breathing,” said Rey Armendariz, an 8z broker in Westminster.

“It is the biggest challenge for buyers in the market,” he said.

He said the shortage, previously confined to low-priced homes, now is “up to $1 million, or even more than that.”

He is representing one buyer looking for a home in the $800,000 range in Greenwood Village, the Cherry Hills area Denver, “and I’m even looking in Westminster now,” he said.

It is even tougher for buyers shopping for houses priced below $380,000, he said.

“They are just champing at the bit,” he said. “My advice to serious buyers right now is to have all of your financing lined up and be ready to step up the plate if you find a home that you like. You have to make a quick decision, because a lot of houses are seeing multiple offers.”

In addition to the low inventory numbers, most metrics are showing a strengthening market:

• There were 5,681 total homes place under contract in April, 19.6 percent increase from the 4,749 a year earlier and a 6.6 percent increase from March.
• There were 3,891 closings last month, a 13.5 percent increase from the 3,429 in April 2011 and 12 percent more than the 3,475 in March.
• The average price of a single-family home sold in April was $298,712, up 9.8 percent from $271,969 in April 2011 and up 5.2 percent from $284,035 in March.
• The median price of a single-family home sold in April was $249,900, up 12.64 percent from $222,00 in April 2011 and up 7.5 percent from $232,500 in March.

“While the shortage of homes is a bit of a concern, overall, the market is showing early signs of a great year,” Bauer said.

Buying off the top

He said people who are thinking of putting their homes on the market now, will benefit from more than supply and demand.

Many sales are resulting from “buying off the top,” of recent listings, while homes that have been on the market for many months are often still languishing, he said.

Bauer also said that buyers want homes in turn-key homes.

“Most buyers want to move in and go on with their lives,” Bauer said. “They aren’t interested in buying homes that need a lot of work, for the most part.”

Peter Niederman, CEO of Kentwood Real Estate, said the market is progressing the way he predicted. He said he thinks that the next S&P/Case-Shiller report, which is closely watched, will show a great improvement for the Denver area.

“As we are starting to see nice, steady price appreciation, people who might have been upside down on their loans by 5 or 6 percent might be helped significantly and will finally be able to justify putting their homes on the market. That could signal more listings.”

Historically low rates

Although mortgage rates hit an all-time low of about 3.8 percent for a 30-year, fixed-interest rate today, Niederman said they aren’t going to help that much.

“Rates have been around 4 percent for too long for an incremental drop to help much,” Niederman said. “If they had been at 8 percent and were falling, it would be a different story. Right now, we need more economic growth, not lower rates. But I do like that we are creating jobs in the Denver area and consumer confidence is up.”

Niederman said showings and open houses also are up dramatically at Kentwood and he suspects that it the case across the market.

“Showings are a leading indicator,” Niederman said. “You don’t write contracts until people have walked through houses.”

12 showing in one day – twice

Lydia Lin, owner of One Realty, twice last month had days when she showed 12 homes each day.

“Denver in an incredible market,” Lin wrote on her Facebook page.

Scott Webber, owner of Fuller Sotheby’s International Realty, agrees.

“One thing I have no doubt about, is that Denver is one of the strongest markets in the country,” Webber said.

But the speed the market has changed from a strong buyer’s market to one that is increasingly favoring sellers is mind-boggling.

“It’s unreal. It’s unreal,” Webber said.

And it may not last.

“I think we in a little bit of a unique place,” Webber said. “I think a lot of sellers have been waiting on the sidelines will now feel more comfortable about listing their homes and there will be more foreclosures coming on the market.”

Have a story idea or a tip? Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com. InsideRealEstateNews is sponsored by Universal Lending, Land Title Guarantee Co. and 8z Real Estate.

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Lane Hornung

If there is one marketing campaign that you will never see from anyone in the residential real estate industry it is: “Now is NOT the time to buy.”

The old saw that “now is the time to buy” is the jumping off point for the monthly conversation between Lane Hornung, President, CEO and Co-founder of 8z Real Estate and COhomefinder.com and John Rebchook of InsideRealEstateNews.com.

John: Lane, Do you think consumers are skeptical of brokers saying “now is a good time to buy?”

Lane: I think people are skeptical. They have grown tired of brokers saying it is always a good time to buy. It may be a good time to buy, but from a marketing standpoint, it is kind of silly to make that universal statement.

John: Given that buying a home is often the single, biggest financial decision and investment many people will make, where they are in terms of income, work-history and where they are in their lives might be more important than easily measures metrics, such as interest rates, prices and the existing supply of homes.

Lane: I think the personal situation trumps the market in almost all cases. If you don’t have a reason to buy, maybe it is not a great time to buy.

John: Not that those metrics aren’t important.

Lane: Absolutely. They are very important. On the other hand, a person might buy in what are considered less-than-optimal market conditions. You can’t make the assumption that the only motivation for purchasing a home is for financial reasons. That is an aspect of the purchase, but it is just one piece of the puzzle.

John: Assuming a person is financially qualified to sign on the dotted line, what is the single most important thing they should consider before buying?

Lane: A key component is the holding period. If someone’s holding period is seven or 10 or 15 years, they might go through a couple of different real estate cycles. Certainly, if you own a home for 15 year or more, you need not to be excessively concerned of where you are in the cycle today. Who knows? We may look back and find that historically, what we have just lived through was not that different from a typical five-to-seven year cycle, with a more pronounced down period.

John: Should there be a minimum planned holding period?

Lane: I think if you plan to live there for less than five years, you might really want to think about whether you should be buying. Or, come up with an alternative plan. You might want to bake into your equation the possibility of keeping the house as a rental property, if you expect you are going to only be in the house three or four years. You then become what I call a “collector.” That can be a really good plan. We are seeing that quite a bit.

John: Other alternatives for a planned short-term holding period?

Lane: You might consider improving the home to add-value to it. In that respect, it might be kind of an extended flip. The idea might be to fix it up in a way to make it more attractive to live there, and after the capital-gains clock clicks (after two years), sell it without having to pay any taxes. Again, that is a personal decision. Some people really like living in a home while they are fixing it up, while others would have zero-interest in doing it.

John: Of course, even though I steered you into this conversation of why it the time may not be right to always buy a home, the argument that now is truly a great time to buy is pretty compelling. After all, interest rates remain at or near historic low, the employment picture is getting better and despite the shortage of houses on the market and more frequent multiple-bids for homes, prices have yet to go through the roof. In many cases, home price are still lower than they were six years ago. What do you think, Lane?
Lane: Let me flip that around. I would tell you that I feel fairly confident in saying that now is a good time to sell. People may not realize that. Because of our acute shortage and strong demand, in some neighborhoods 60 percent to 80 percent of the homes for sale are under contract. Increasingly, our brokers are calling people who were unable to sell their home before and whose listings were withdrawn or whose listings have expired.

Maybe that should be the topic of next moth’s Q&A.

John: Thanks Lane.

A monthly conversation between Lane Hornung and John Rebchook is a feature of InsideRealEstateNews.com. Hornung is President, CEO and C0-founder of 8z Real Estate, a sponsor of InsideRealEstateNews.com. For more about Lane Hornung and 8z Real Estate, please visit this link.

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The latest Case-Shiller report shows the Denver area is far out-performing most markets in the country.

The Denver-area housing market posted its second consecutive year-over-year improvement in February, according to the closely watched Case-Shiller Index released today.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, showed that Denver gained 0.5 percent in the year ending in February, more than double the year-over-year gain of 0.2 percent in January.

Denver also out-performed the nation by a wide margin in February.

The overall drop for the 20 metropolitan statistical areas in the index fell by 3.5 percent, with a number of cities hitting new lows.

Denver was the fourth-best performing market in February,  only being bested by Phoenix, Detroit and Miami. Last Vegas suffered an 8.5 percent decline in February from February 2011. Only Atlanta, with a 17.3 percent drop, showed a bigger drop.

Lane Hornung, CEO, president and co-founder of 8z Real Estate and COhomefinder.com, said he thinks, if anything, Case-Shiller is under-estimating the strength of the Denver-area housing market.

Case-Shiller under-estimates Denver

” My suspicion is that home values are even stronger than this two-month-old Case-Shiller index indicates,” Hornung said. “The shift from a buyers’ market to a sellers’ market in many areas has been quite dramatic over the past few weeks.  Prices are moving up.”

Of the top four cities, Denver is the only one that had not been horribly beaten-up during the recent housing depression, noted Peter Niederman, CEO of the Kentwood Real Estate Co.

“Really, those three market areas that did better than Denver had been hit really hard,” Niederman said.  “People are are starting to see value in those market areas.”

Denver, by contrast, has been far more consistent and stable, Niederman and other said.

“I think Denver is the most consistent and stable market in across the nation,” Niederman said. “When Case-Shiller releases its March numbers, I think we will do even better. People will be pleasantly surprised by how well Denver does in March and April.”

Chris Mygatt president of Coldwell Banker Residential Colorado, shared Niederman’s perspective regarding how Denver stacks up against other major markets across the country.

“When you look at the three cities ahead of Denver – Miami, Phoenix and Detroit – arguably they were the toughest hit markets in the country. The only one missing is Las Vegas.

“But Denver was hardly hit compared to what other markets in the country experienced,” Mygatt continued. “To be No. 4 in the country speaks very highly of our local economy, our employment, our consumer confidence. And it speaks very highly of the desire of people in Colorado to own homes. That is great and very important to society. Home ownership builds strong communities, builds strong schools. Really, what the Case-Shiller report does is reaffirm what we have been saying and seeing in the market.”

Mygatt said that with a shortage of homes in the Denver area, home prices are starting to rise.

“I’m so pleased that homeowners have who have been suffering for so long are finally starting to get some relief,” Mygatt said. “But the improved market is even benefitting buyers. Buyers today have more stability and confidence in the market than they have for the past several years. Yes, it is more competitive when you are looking for a home. But if you are the only buyer out there, you are a nervous buyer. Now, people are recognizing a level of value and they are feeling better about their decision to purchases.”
Scott Webber, president and CEO of Fuller Sotheby’s International Realty, said the Case-Shiller reports “validates what is kind of a unique situation in Colorado and the Denver area. If anything, Case-Shiller may be under-estimating the strength of the recovery of the Denver market.”

Confluence of good news

Webber said several things are fueling the recovery.

“I have not heard many people talking about this, but we are dealing with three and four years of pent-up demand from buyers,” Webber said.

Also, buyers are still enjoying interest rates at or near historic-lows and fewer foreclosures than in the past.

“The market has largely been purged of real estate owned (REOs),” he said.

Another big piece of Denver’s increasingly strong market is the lack of construction of homes, he said.

“The inventory of new construction is non-existent,” Webber said. “Really, there are no new homes being added to the market. We have this flurry of activity and no new homes to sell, which is pretty unique. We only have 2.5 months of supply of unsold homes on the market and that is pretty incredible.”

Webber said the Denver-area market is “quickly moving from an extreme buyer’s market to a seller’s market. Obviously, that depends on the geography. The closer to the city the better and the farther away you are, the less that is true.”

In some area close to downtown multiple offers are becoming increasingly commonplace, he said.

“We had a pretty bizarre situation a couple of weeks ago,” he said. He said a home in Bonnie Brae was listed for about $800,000 and received several offers.

“One of the buyers who didn’t get it, offered the winning bidders $100,000 to assign the contract to them,” Webber said. “They didn’t accept it, because they really wanted that home and it is so hard to find homes in that price range in the area, they didn’t want to start the house-hunting process all over again.”

Independent Realtor Gary Bauer said the Case-Shiller report confirms that the “Denver market is a shining star. Everything looks good. Well-priced new listings are selling quickly. Increasingly, we’re getting reports of multiple offers. Prices are going up, but for the most part, not dramatically. Some people would like to see more price appreciation, but for a healthy market, you want to see a gradual increase in prices, not a huge spike.”

Housing hitting new lows in some markets

Nationally, the housing market was much more grim in February.

“While there might be pieces of good news in this report, such as some improvement in many annual rates of  return, February 2012 data confirm that, broadly speaking, home prices continued to decline in the early months of the year,” said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. “Nine MSAs — Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa — and both composites hit new post-crisis lows. Atlanta continued its downward spiral, posting its lowest annual rate of decline in the 20-year history of the index at a negative 17.3 percent. The 10-City Composite declined 3.6 percent and the 20-City was down 3.5 percent compared to February 2011.

“Due to delays in reporting for Mecklenburg County, we did not publish a January index level for Charlotte, N.C., last month. With this month’s report we have enough data to publish data points for both January and February. The unfortunate news is that it confirms that Charlotte is one of the cities that is still reaching new lows.

“Phoenix and Atlanta stand out this month in terms of their contrasting relative strength and weakness in the early 2012 housing market. At one end of the spectrum, we have Atlanta posting a double-digit, and lowest on record, annual rate at -17.3 percent. Atlanta has now recorded five consecutive months of double-digit negative annual rates and seven consecutive monthly declines. On the other hand, Phoenix has posted two consecutive months of positive annual rates, with its latest being 3.3 percent, and five consecutive positive monthly returns.”

MSA	Change from January 2000	January-February (non-seasonly adjusted)	1-Year Change from February
Atlanta	-16.71%	-2.5%	-17.3%
Boston	46.23%	-1.1%	-2.4%
Charlotte	8.13%	-0.4%	-1.8%
Chicago	5.39%	-2.5%	-6.9%
Cleveland	-5.86%	-1.7%	-4.4%
Dallas	12.67%	-0.0%	-1.0%
DENVER	21.81%	-0.9%	0.5%
Detroit	-31.40%	-1.3%	1.5%
Las Vegas	-10.11%	-0.4%	-8.5%
Los Angeles	59.49%	-0.8%	-5.2%
Miami	39.49%	0.6%	0.8%
Minneapolis	10.16%	-1.0%	0.4%
New York	59.58%	-0.8%	-3.0%
Phoenix	4.12%	1.2%	3.3%
Portland	29.60%	-0.3%	-3.0%
San Diego	49.07%	0.2%	-3.9%
San Francisco	24.64%	-0.7%	-4.1%
Seattle	28.99%	-0.8%	-2.9%
Tampa	23.91%	-0.2%	-2.9%
Washington, D.C.	75.74%	-0.8%	-2.3%
Composite-10	46.90%	-0.8%	-3.6%
Composite-20	34.20%	-0.8%	-3.5%

Month	How Denver ranked out of 20 MSAs	1-Year Change
January 2010	6	2.6%
February	5	3.6%
March	7	4.1%
April	8	4.4%
May	8	3.6%
June	9	1.8%
July	11	-0.1%
August	11	-1.2%
September	9	-3.1%
October	7	-1.8%
November	6	-2.5%
December	7	-2.4%
January 2011	6	-2.3%
February	5	-2.6%
March	7	-3.8%
April	6	-4.1%
May	5	-3.3%
June	3	-2.5%
July	4	-2.1%
August	3	-1.6%
September	5	-1.5%
October	4	-0.9%
November	3	-0.2%
December	2	-0.4%
January 2012	3	0.2%
February 2012	4	0.5%

Have housing news? Story ideas? Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com.

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The Inspector Closeau Trust bought the most expensive home sold in the Denver area last month.

You can bank on two things regarding the mystery buyer who bought the most expensive home in the Denver area in March – the buyer has a lot of money and a sense of humor.

According to a report released today by Kentwood Real Estate, the most expensive home that sold last month fetched $4.5 million.

Public records show that home in Cherry Hills Village was purchased by the Inspector Clouseau Trust. Inspector Jacques Closeau, of course, was the bumbling fictional French detective who always solved crimes in spite of himself, who was made famous by Peter Sellers and later by Steve Martin in the Pink Panther movies.

“I love it. It is like he is saying, “Come find me,” said Edie Marks, when told of the nom de plume used to purchase the 9,661-square-foot home with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms.  Including the basement, the home has 15,187 square feet.

Rod Buscher, the partner with John Elway on his auto dealers empire, sold this home in Cherry Hills Village for $4.5 million in March.

The home was sold by Rod Buscher, John Elway’s former partner with his automobile dealership empire, and Buscher’s wife, Melanie Ann, according to public records. They paid $4.9 million for the three-year-old home, according to records, so they took a $400,000 loss, excluding expenses such as the Realtor’s commission.

The home was sold by Joanne Ernstsen and Linda Behr of Fuller Sotheby’s International Realty. One of Behr’s clients was the buyer. A spokesman for Fuller Sotheby’s said they would not discuss the buyer. Records indicate the buyer is an executive from DaVita Corp.

That home price was 74.8 percent higher than the most expensive home to sell in March 2011, which was priced at $2.57 million, according to Kentwood.

Overall, the luxury home market in the seven-county area was strong in March.

The Kentwood report shows that 30 homes priced at $1 million sold in March, 20 percent more than 25 in March 2011. Last month’s dollar volume of $47.4 million was 25 percent higher than the $37.9 million in march 2011. The average sales price was 4.2 percent higher at just under $1.6 million. The number of days on the market fell by 21.2 percent to 145 from 184 a year earlier.

In the first quarter, buyers paid $122.5 million for 81 homes priced at $1 million or above, compared with 69 transaction for $101.645 million in the first three months of 2011, according to Kentwood. Kentwood tracked and analyzed sales in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver Douglas, Elbert and Jefferson counties. In total,  the number of transactions rose by 17.4 percent and sales volume was up 20.5 percent.

The report shows that of the 537 single-family homes priced at least $1 million, 81 of them are under contract. Nine of the 63 condos in that lofty price range are have contracts.

The Kentwood report reflects what Marks is seeing in the luxury market.

“It was an amazing month for me,” Marks said. “I’m up to $17.5 million for the year.”

She said she is seeing a number of high-end buyers coming from outside of the state and even outside of the country.

“I have one buyer who is coming from London, England,” Marks said. “He was originally from Florida, but he is coming to Colorado.”

She said she also has luxury home buyers from Texas, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Her well-heeled buyers are in oil and gas, construction, finance as well as a couple of doctors.

Marks said there are still some screaming deals out there at the top of the market, but not as many as in the past few years.

“I have one home that is priced at $5.9 million and they have over $6.9 million into it, so it can be had for a $1 million discount,” Marks said. She has another home that originally was going to be priced at $6.5 million, but the owners got divorced, and now it is priced at $3.5 million.

“But the new stuff is going fast,” Marks said. “Pretty soon all of the great deals will be gone.”

Nancy Wolfe, a broker with Fuller Sotheby’s, also is seeing the high-end market perk up.

“We are seeing more activity, more showing and more sales,” Wolfe said. “But buyers are very location-driven. Buyers are coming around for well-priced properties at the high-end.”

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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Lane Hornung

For the past few years, consumers could take their time searching for their dream home. There was no sense of urgency, as well-qualified buyers had their pick of the litter, while sellers who had to sell were at a huge disadvantage. That was then.

Today, the inventory of unsold homes in the Denver area is at a 12-year low, while contracts and closings have increased by double-digits. In March, there were only 10,325 unsold homes on the market, a 41.7 percent drop from the 17,707 a  year earlier. Contracts, meanwhile, were up 49.2 percent from March 2011.

The low inventory and strong demand is causing a sea change in the market and is a timely starting off point for the monthly conversation between Lane Hornung and John Rebchook of InsideRealEstateNews.com. Hornung is co-founder, CEO and president of 8z Real Estate and COhomefinder.com.

John: Lane, do you think a lot of consumers think the low inventory number is more real estate-agent hype than reality?

Lane: It’s a little like the boy who cried wolf. I think the public is justifiably skeptical of positions that are seem to be taken to create a sense of urgency, so there is some skepticism. That can be frustrating for the real estate professional who believes in telling it like it is.

John: While the overall supply is down that is not true across the board, is it?

Lane: Adding to the confusion is that it is still a bifurcated market. There a some price points and some geographic locations that have an acute lack of inventory. There are other price segments and geographies where there is still an unbelievable over-supply.

John: In other words, all real estate is local.

Lane: The other piece of the puzzle that complicates matters is that a lot of people glean their market data from newspaper stories based on market trends. Denver and Boulder were starting to see a shortage of homes in some price ranges when there was still a glut of homes available nationally.What is interesting now is that what clearly had been over-supply of inventory at the national level is now dropping.

John: How should a prospective buyers prepare themselves psychologically for a market where they may be out-bid?

Lane: That is a great question. What you are trying to avoid is a couple of things. No. 1, you want to try not to lose out on the home that is your best choice and the best fit. More typically, a buyer needs to be aware of the psychological pain of of being out-bid, two, three, four times or more. I say that is more typical than losing the best choice, because there are usually multiple choices to fill your housing needs. There is a real psychological and emotional cost of losing a home you wanted to buy. It’s an emotional roller coaster and not very fun. But once a buyer has gone through it a couple of times, they have a better understanding what it takes to close a deal in today’s market.

John: Another part of the psychological pain is sort of buyer’s remorse in reverse – the notion that they have already let the true deals slip through their fingers by not buying in 2010 or 2011.

Lane: One thought to keep in your mind that this market is having more of a U-shaped bottom than a short, spiking V-shaped market. We’re not talking about double-digit price increases over night. Whether you buy a home in March 2012 or August 2012, probably isn’t going to make much difference in terms of price, especially over the long-term.

John: So is there a sense of urgency among buyers?

Lane: There is certainly if for those on their third or fourth offer.

John: But how about among the non-buying public? During the go-go days, cashing on homes dominated the talk around the water cooler and at cocktail parties, even if you weren’t writing a check for a home.

Lane: That was a bubble mentality. That was a frothy market where people were motivated by a desire to flip properties as a sure-fire way to make a fortune. Today’s sense of urgency is much more grounded in reality and based on real living needs. The urgency is really methodical and not frenzied. Realtors love buyers today because they are very focused and they are very goal-oriented. They are acting from a much more solid basis.

John: Thanks, Lane.

Lane Hornung is the president, CEO and co-founder of 8z Real Estate and COhomefinder.com. 8z Real Estate is a sponsor of InsideRealEstateNews and a question-and-answer session is a monthly feature of IREN. To learn more about 8z and the neighborhoods its brokers serve, please visit this link.

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Paul Washington, executive director of Denver’s Office of Economic Development, briefly mentioned the planned development as a keynote speaker at the 2012 Colorado Real Estate & Economic Summit that drew about 1,000 people on Thursday.

The “net-zero” neighborhood would have about 800 homes on 70 acres and 200,000 feet of commercial space when it is completed, Washington said at the conference, sponsored by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and Coldwell Banker Previews International at the PPA Convention and Event Center near Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Washington said homes in the development would “produce as much energy as they use.” Washington said more details could be expected to be released in the coming weeks.

A net-zero neighborhood is one of the building blocks in Mayor Michael Hancock’s JumpStart 2012”  program to make Denver a world-class city that he unveiled in January.

One homebuilder said he thinks the new neighborhood will be at Lowry.

“That is about the size of the last parcel Lowry has left to develop and it would make a lot of sense there,” said the builder, who talked on the condition he not be identified.

Could it be Lowry?

Officials from the Lowry Redevelopment Authority did not return calls today.

The net-zero neighborhood is part of the “Sustainable Neighborhood Development” initiative in JumpStart 2012.

The plan outlines steps it needs to take to get the net-zero neighborhood off the ground:

• It need to identify and partner with a master developer on the sustainable community.
• The city would then coordinate with Denver Water, the Community Planning and Development agency, and public works to “contribute resources in design, policy and delivery.
• Coordinate all efforts to streamline development with Development Services.
• Explore possibility of a leading solar manufacturers in the Denver region to participate as a pilot study.

To put the 70-acre development into perspective, last month the first phase of a 130-acre net-zero community opened at the University of California, David, which is being heralded as the largest net-zero project in the country.

However, Denver’s could be the largest non-university net-zero community in the nation. When the Geos community was unveiled almost a decade ago in Arvada, it was described as the largest net-zero, mixed-use community moving forward in the U.S. Geos would cover 25.3 acres and 282 dwelling units.

Jeff Whiton, president and the CEO of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, said that such a community would help put Denver on the green-home building map.

“I think Denver has always been a national leader in green-building and this would be another feather in our cap,” said Whiton, an advocate of green and sustainable building for decades.

“A number of our members are already building net-zero homes,” Whiton added. “KB Homes is doing them and Gene Myers of New Town Builders and I know that Oakwood Homes has been built net-zero homes.”

Pat Hamill, president of Oakwood, said he had not heard of the net-zero neighborhood.

“I think it is a great idea, though,” Hamill said. “I hope it gets built. I’m going to be meeting with Paul Washington next week and I’ll be asking him about it.”

Myers of New Town Builders, also was thrilled with the idea.

He noted that when John Hickenlooper was mayor, he had the greenprint document that called for a number of sustainable initiatives.

“Greenprint never really made significant progress,” Myers said. “You can’t really make significant progress, unless you make these big, bold strokes. I think this would be really a bold stroke.”

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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This 7-bedroom, 9-bath home with 10,427 square feet, sold last month for $3.4 million.

The luxury home marker in the Denver is gaining momentum, according to two separate reports released today.

Edie Marks, a broker with Kentwood Real Estate, whose name has long been associated with selling high-end homes, said on Friday that the reports are telling it like it is.

“There has been a major turn around,” Marks said. “The problem that sales had been crappy and when there were sales, people were stealing them. The good news, if you can think of it that way, is that inventory is disappearing.”

Well-heeled sellers are increasingly signing on the dotted line, she said.

“For homes priced between $2 million and $2.5 million, it is the hottest I have ever seen in my lifetime,” Marks said. “Maybe from $1.5 million to $2.5 million. February was an unbelievable month. I’ve already had $15 million in sales and I had $30.4 million in all of 2011.”

A report by Kentwood Real Estate, which covered the counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Elbert and Jefferson counties, showed there were 24 single-family homes that sold last month, a 20 percent increase from the 20 sales in February 2010. The dollar volume was $36.8 million, a 31.2 percent increase from the $28.05 million in February 2011.

The average sales price was $1.53 million, a 9.3 percent increase and the most expensive home that sold was a 10,427-square-foot, 7-bedroom, 9-bathroom home in Cherry Hills that sold for $3.4 million. Records show the home was purchased by Denver Nuggets player Maybryner “Nene” Rodney Hilario, and his wife, Lauren. The home price is 47.8 percent more than the highest sales price of $2.3 million in February 2011.

In the first two months of the year, $72.6 million in homes priced at $1 million or more sold in the area, according to Kentwood, which used Metrolist data. That is 14 percent higher than the $63.74 million during the same time period of 2011. Year-to-date, the number of transactions were up 14.7 percent to 39 from 34.

Kentwood also noted that there are 495 single-family homes in that lofty price range on the market. Of those, about 70 percent are priced below $2 million. Only 21 are priced above $5 million and one of those is under contact.

Bauer’s report  includes Boulder County, in addition to the other seven counties. There were two condo sales above $1 million last month, both of them in Boulder. They sold for $2.12 million each, a sales price that equates to $829 per square foot.

For single-family homes priced at $1 million or more, 10 were in Arapahoe County, seven were in Denver, six were in Boulder, six were in Douglas County and two were in Jefferson County.

“There is still too much inventory in the luxury market, but the inventory is decreasing,” Bauer said. “The luxury market is holding its own. I thought February was very positive.”

It’s not only positive for the buyers and sellers, but for the overall economy, even though most people can’t afford homes in that price range. The average price of a single-family home sale in February was $270,821.

“It’s important for us to have activity in all parts of the market,” Bauer said.

For more details of the most expensive home that sold in February, please visit this COhomefinder.com link.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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