Jim Theye

There is nothing unlucky about the number 13, as far as Kentwood City Properties is concerned.

Kentwood City Properties recently celebrated its 13th anniversary. The company, one of three offices that are part of Kentwood Real Estate, has about 50 brokers.

Kentwood City Properties is co-owned by managing broker Jim Theye, broker associate Dee Chirafis and Peter Niederman, CEO of Kentwood Real Estate

“We opened our original office 13 years ago with about eight brokers,” Theye said.  “We now have 50 of the top-producing real estate professionals in metro Denver.  Our premier location at the corner of 17th and Wynkoop is right across the street from Union Station where there is a wealth of activity and a truly remarkable setting from which to help buyers, sellers and developers.  Clients can find an array of new, renovated, and historic homes in a variety of styles, sizes and price ranges among our many listings.  The lifestyle in and around downtown Denver is exciting, and homeowners can leave their cars at home and commute via bicycle to work or to shopping and dining destinations.  It’s very rewarding to serve this robust market.”

Kentwood City Properties is thriving in what has been a tough market for the past few years,  Niederman noted.

“Over the past few years, we have experienced a challenging market that has brought out the best in our dedicated agents to remain at the top of our game,” Niederman said. “Kentwood City Properties and its leading agents have achieved some lofty goals and the anniversary celebration was a well-deserved break from the highly competitive real estate business.”

Fore more information, please visit: Kentwood City Properties.

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

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Brokers from Kentwood City Properties prepare for a Denver B-cycle tour of properties.

Kentwood City Properties recently was named the 2011 “Most Creative” sponsoring member of Denver Bike Sharing, a Denver-based, non-profit corporation that owns and operates Denver B-cycle to promote health, quality of life, and preservation of the environment in Denver.

Kentwood City Properties has also received the “Bicycle-Friendly Business of the Month” award from Bike Denver, a bicycle advocacy organization that works to promote bicycling in the Mile High City. The “Most Creative Sponsor” designation was presented to Dee Chirafisi, Broker Associate and co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, at Denver Bike Sharing’s sponsor appreciation breakfast last December at the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce.

“We do property tours every Tuesday, and several of our agents ride their bikes rather than drive,” said Chirafisi. “We have purchased memberships to Denver Bike Sharing along with helmets featuring our company’s logo. We use bikes in our ads, have bikes in our office windows, and we have given Denver Bike Sharing memberships as closing gifts for people who buy a residence near a B-cycle station. We really try to be creative with the bikes throughout our marketing efforts to promote the initiative. It’s about the lifestyle, the convenience, and the environmental and health benefits. Denver Bike Sharing’s mission simply makes sense and we are proud to be part of it.”

Kentwood City Properties also hosts neighborhood property tours and encourages people to ride bikes to open houses. In addition, Chirafisi recently hosted a LoDo women’s group tour for 35 women, some of which had not been on a bicycle in years.

“Sponsoring the B-cycle program is good for Kentwood’s waistline and bottom line,” said John Hayden, a Broker Associate at Kentwood City Properties and chairman of the Mayor’s B-cycle initiative. “A number of our employees now bicycle to work. If a business that is traditionally dependent on cars, such as real estate, can integrate bicycling and B-cycles into its business, then so can other leading companies. It’s actually faster getting around downtown Denver on a B-cycle than it is to drive for many people.”

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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“We’re excited that Kentwood City Properties stepped up to help support Denver B-cycle and biking,” said Parry Burnap, Executive Director of Denver Bike Sharing, the non-profit that owns and operates the Denver B-cycle system. “Not only are they a valuable sponsor, but they are also promoting an increase of daily activity, saving money and reducing unhealthy air toxics and carbon emissions.”

Included in the two-year sponsorship:

• 20 branded B-cycles with Kentwood City Properties’ logo placed on the baskets.
• 70 memberships for Kentwood City Properties’ employees.
• 70 helmets for Kentwood City Properties’ employees.
• Four demo cards for Kentwood City Properties’ realtors to use for showing properties.
• Online, social media and newsletter listing.
• B-cycle display in Kentwood City Properties.
• Special event participation.

Two-wheel home touring

“We are thrilled to have created this partnership between Denver B-cycle and Kentwood City Properties,” said Dee Chirafisi, founding partner of Kentwood City Properties. “Our employees, brokers and clients will have the opportunity to commute and see real estate on two wheels rather than four wheels…on a B-cycle! Our company is very supportive of the bike sharing. We will be launching some fun events this coming spring in and around Downtown, so watch for the Kentwood City Properties’ bikes on the streets. It is also very important for us to promote the health and well being of our brokers, employees, clients and the environment – B-cycle is our latest step toward that goal.”

37 sponsor

Kentwood City Properties is one of the 37 sponsors and partners of Denver B-cycle, which includes Kaiser Permanente as presenting sponsor. Kentwood City Properties and the other sponsors help lay a stable foundation for success of bike sharing in Denver.

“Touring properties via B-cycle is fun,” said John Hayden, Broker Associate of Kentwood City Properties. “When people buy a home they are making an important choice about how they want to live. For buyers in Denver that choice often involves a desire to be healthy. Denver’s active population is one of our City’s greatest assets. Kentwood City Properties is partnering with Denver B-cycle because our brokers understand the value of living a healthy, sustainable life.”

Launched on April 22, 2010, Denver B-cycle reached 102,981 rides by midnight on December 5, after less than seven months of operation. Designed to help Denver residents and visitors increase their daily activity, save money and reduce carbon emissions, Denver B-cycle launched as the first large-scale citywide public bike sharing system in the nation. The system currently has 500 B-cycles located at 50 B-cycle stations.

Denver B-cycle offers residents and visitors an alternative form of public transportation, which supports the City’s Greenprint Climate Action Plan, the Strategic Transportation Plan and the Living Streets Initiative. It is integrated into the larger multi-modal transportation system, including buses and the light rail. This multi-modal approach, along with over 358 miles of bike routes/trails and 300 days of sunshine, makes Denver the perfect city to launch a bike sharing system, the group contends.

For more information:  http://denver.bcycle.com or http://kentwoodcity.com.

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The report released today by independent broker Gary Bauer, who basis his monthly report on Metrolist data, showed there were 3,645 homes placed under contract in September, compared with 5,228 in September 2009. Under contracts were down 8.1 percent from August, when there were 3,966.

In the first nine months of the year there were 38,814 homes placed under contract, compared with 44,791 in the first three quarters of 2009, an 11.1 percent drop.

Closings off 23.1 percent

Closings, by contrast, did not show such a big drop off.

Last month, there were 2,958 home closings, a 23.1 percent drop from the 3,846 in September 2009, and a 3.9 percent drop from the 3,979 in August. In the first nine months, there were 30,286 closings, a 4 percent drop from the 31,554 during the same time period last year.

Downturn reflects season, economy

“I expected September to be slow,” Bauer said. “The economy and seasonality reigned. The economy is soft and consumer confidence is low. The consumer is focused on today and not really looking at tomorrow. In my words, they are hunkering down.” Other outside factors impacting the local Denver-area market include the mid-term elections, less than a month away, and the national unemployment rate released today, which was unchanged at 9.6 percent.

He expects the market to remain sluggish for the remainder of the year. “There is no light at the end of the tunnel,” Bauer said.

On the other hand, mortgage rates are at record lows, averaging about 4.25 percent for a 30-year-fixed loan and 3.75 percent for a 15-year mortgage. “They are just amazing,” Bauer said.

Despite the record-low mortgage rates and affordable housing prices, there is no urgency in the market, said Xenia Matteson, a broker with RE/MAX Alliance Central.

Still, borrowers will bite, if the home is priced at the market, she said.

“It’s a beauty contest and a price war,” Matteson said. “This is not the time to try to test the market.”

Price homes to sell

For example, she said she previewed more than a dozen large homes before putting a home in Littleton on the market for $1.2 million, and quickly had a contract, since it was priced right. At the other end of the spectrum, she also quickly sold a home for $165,000 at Pecos Street and West 36th Avenue in northwest Denver.

Meanwhile, the average and median-prices of homes sold and closed last month rose from September 2009, but are down from August. The mix of homes can impact the prices, especially on a month-to-month basis.

The average price of a single-family home was $290,025 in September, down 1.8 percent from $295,516 in August, but up 5.7 percent from $274,433 in September 2009. Year-to-date, the average price of a home closed was $282,416, up more than 7 percent from $263,518 in the first nine months of 2009.

The median price of a single-family home was $230,000, compared with $225,000 in September 2009 and $239,900 in August.

Inventory rising

And the number of unsold homes on the market rose 17.6 percent to 23,332 (including pending sales) from 19,834 in September 2009. However, if pending sales aren’t included, the number of unsold homes on the market last month fell to 22,800, which is still 15.3 percent more active listings on the market compared with a year earlier. The inventory of unsold homes was largely unchanged from August.

Overall, showings are down and “it has been a quieter than normal summer,” Matteson said. “But there are a lot of opportunities out there with short sales and foreclosures. There is no tax-credit deadline anymore for first-time home buyers, but there are deals out there for buyers who are patient. But if someone wants to sell their home, they have to check out the competition and price it right.”

Dave DeElana, a broker with Coldwell Banker, said he represents a number of clients who have moved out-of-state, many of them to the Washington, D.C, area to take jobs with the Department of Defense and other government agencies. Their Denver-area are sitting vacant.

“It could be a long winter,” DeElana said.

Not even super-low mortgage rates are convincing people to sign on the dotted line.

“I think that interest rates can only drive the public interest to a certain degree,” DeElana said. “Job uncertainty has a greater impact by far.”

He said clients unable to sell their homes who have left the Denver area either are renting homes out-of-state, or have moved in with family.

“If they can’t sell their homes, I’ve advised some of them to take their homes off the market around Thanksgiving and before the Christmas holidays,” DeElana said. “The number of people who are going to buy homes at that time are pretty slim. And those people who are looking to buy homes during the holiday season are really looking for bargain-basement prices.”

Bucking the trend

But Dee Chirafisi, co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, said she is surprised that the market is as gloomy as the overall numbers show, because her company had a good September.

“I would say that we had a very strong September with over $31 million in closed sales,” said Chirafisi, whose company focuses on downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.

“This is a very strong month and I think we are bucking the trend because if our diversity in price ranges and neighborhoods and property types,” which included single family homes, condos and commercial properties.

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Liz Richards can be your tour guide this Sunday.

Think of it is a mini-parade of homes.

“But way more cool,” said Liz Richards, a broker with Kentwood City Properties. “But you know I love infill development.”

Richards, along with fellow City Properties broker, Deviree Vallejo, and the company’s co-owner, Dee Chirafisi. will showcase eight northwest Denver properties with 13 units from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday. It is the third consecutive year of the Highland Home Tour. (For more details about the tour, please visit the link at the bottom of this story.)

Deviree Vallejo will be showcasing homes in NW Denver this Sunday.

Together, the units are listed for a total of more than $5 million. They range in price from $339,000 to more than $1 million. The units are spread in three main neighborhoods: LoHi in the Highland area; West Highland; and Sloan’s Lake.

“The great thing is that if you just want to stay in the Highland Square area, for example, there are several places very close to each other,” Vallejo said. “Every unit has a map, so it’s an easy drive if you want to visit all of them.”

All of the developments are less than three miles from each other, according to calculations by InsideRealEstateNews.

NW Denver housing hot

Northwest Denver has remained one of the strongest sub-markets in the area, the brokers say. It also is one of the few neighborhoods where you can drive around and still find a number of spec homes – often in the $600,000 range – being built on many blocks.

“Things are moving,” said Richards. “This is been my best first-quarter ever. I’m tracking to have my best year ever. Part of is that a lot of Realtors have left the business. All the amateurs are getting out. And sellers are finally listening to their Realtors on pricing. I still see a lot of things that are over-priced, but if you want it to sell, you have to price it to the market.”

Richards said that her typical sale this year is probably in the high $300,000s. “The average price has gone down, but I’m selling more units,” she said.

Tax credit front-loaded market

Vallejo said that she is experiencing the same type of activity.

“Knock on wood,” Vallejo said. “But I am worried that this year is going to be front-loaded, because of the tax credits (which require homes to be placed under contract by today and closed by June 30.) But we are seeing tons of demand. Part of it is the tax credits and part of it is pent-up demand, because the economy was just so bad last year, a lot of people weren’t confident about buying or selling a home. That seems to be changing.”

Although the weather forecast isn’t great for Sunday, both Richards and Vallejo are anticipating several hundred people may attend the tour.

“One really neat thing is that we are showcasing homes from several different developers,” Vallejo said. “Each one has a different ‘wow’ factor. For some, it might be a third-story deck, with fantastic views. For others, it might be kitchens with really high quality appliances and great lighting. Some are super-modern, while others are more of a combination of contemporary with a softer, more classic look.”

Richards said that one person might decide to buy a unit from the tour.

“That what our experience was at our previous tours,” she said. “It’s all a numbers game. A lot of times it is hard to quantify, though. Someone might see a unit on the tour, come back and look at other homes in the area, and make their decision sometime down the road. I just think that energy begets energy. And these tours create a lot of positive energy.”

For more information, please visit Highland Home Tour.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

http://www.highlandhometour.com/

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Dee "almost-50" received the surprise of her life on Sunday night.

Well played, Margaret Jackson!

Well played, Jim Theye!

Jackson, the real estate reporter for the Denver Post, and Theye, Dee Chirafisi’s husband and c0-owner of Kentwood City Properties, conspired to throw a surprise birthday bash for Dee’s upcoming 50th on Sunday night. (For an earlier blog about Dee’s birthday, please visit this blog.) About 70 people – including developers Susan Powers and Jerry Glick, and the Post’s Penny Parker and Westword’s Patricia Calhoun, attended the surprise party in the basement of TAG restaurant, 1441 Larimer St.

Sneaky friend, husband

This is how the caper went down.

About a month ago, Jackson, in league with Theye, suggested to Dee that they have dinner together before Dee turns 50 on March 28. Dee suggested they turn it into a “spa day,” so they pampered themselves  with massages and manicures at the Ritz Carlton Denver, as well stopping for a couple of glasses of wines at Vita Restaurant, 1575 Boulder St., in the Highland neighborhood, before taking the elevator down to TAG’s basement.

Before they arrived, a number of people wondered if they could pull it off, because so many people were in on the secret.

Clearly, by the stunned expression on her face, as well as the tears running down her cheeks,  everyone know that she had not suspected a thing.

They pulled it off, even though Dee noted that she had probably been in contact within every single person in the room in the past week or so.

History may repeat itself for the Aries in 2060.

“I hope to see you all again at my 100th birthday,” Dee said.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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Mary Rae gave Dee Chirafisi her start in real estate. Now, Mary Rae works for Dee's company, Kentwood City Properties.

Watch Dee and Mary Rae: Dee and Mary Rae Video

When Dee Chirafisi  decided she would dip her toe into the world of real estate in 1993, she interviewed with a number of brokerage companies.

During her interview with Mary Rae, who already had more than 20 years in the business and was one of the top Realtors in the Denver area, Mary asked her the date of her birthday.

“March 28th,” Dee answered.

“That’s my birthday, too,” Mary Rae responded.

“I think that is why she hired me,” Dee, who was last year’s top broker and is the co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, said, while the two met at a $799,000 condo at 1411 Wynkoop St., which Dee is listing. In fact, Dee said that if someone like her – with a freshly minted real estate license, and a plan to work part-time  - came to her for a job today, she wouldn’t hire her. (For the record, Dee only worked part time for one month, before she realized it was a full-time calling.)

After selling her namesake firm, Mary Rae joined Kentwood City Properties about a dozen years ago.

Mary Rae, Dee back together

It’s never been awkward working for her former employee.

“I just revel in Dee’s successes,” said Mary Rae.

And they share more than a birthday, separated by 20 years. (Dee turns 50, while Mary Rae is turning 70.)

Despite the stereotype of women never admitting their ages, neither have any problem about being upfront about how many candles to place on their cake.

“Everyone knows, anyway,” said Dee, an avid runner.

“I only think about my age once a year,” Mary Rae said. “I don’t feel like I’m 70.”

Passion for real estate

And they both frequently use the word “passion” to discuss their profession. They both still get excited about finding the right person for the home, and when listing a home, helping sellers get the highest price,  despite a market that is as challenging as this one.

Challenging. Now that’s an understatement.

Mary Rae says that last year was the toughest she has seen since she left the oil business as a “Girl Friday” to two  wildcatters, to “join this crazy world of real estate,” in 1973. She was drawn to the business to save a historic home, and was told that a good way she could do that was to become a Realtor. Two years later, she started her own firm.

“I thought the ’80s was a real humdoozle,” Mary Rae said, while enjoying the sun on a recent balmy Friday. “But last year was something else. There was no one who wasn’t impacted by the economy last year. In some ways, I think that brought people closer; we all shared in the pain. No one was left untouched. It seems like it is a baptism of fire every decade.”

Dee said the market is showing more life this year than last, as especially at the high-end.

“The toughest thing of selling a unit like this one, is getting financing,” Dee said. “I just came back from meeting with (a major lender) to try to find ways to try to help buyers. It’s especially hard because this building is 80 percent commercial, and there are new rules making it tougher to get loans on a mixed-use project like this one. Of course, that was not an issue when they started developing it.”

So far, 13 of the 22 units have been sold, with buyers ranging from a couple of single professionals, a real estate developer with a 9-year-old, a doctor, and a couple with a home in Summit County, who use their condo when they come downtown. Coincidentally, two people who previously were neighbors in Country Club sold their big homes to move to the development along Cherry Creek and a short walk from the Pepsi Center and the Denver Performing Arts Center, but didn’t know they had bought in the same building until they met at a mixer for the new residents.

As far as Mary Rae working for her former employee, there has never been any awkwardness.

“I revel in Dee’s success,” Mary Rae said.

Realtors more important than ever

Dee said that the biggest change she has seen since she began her career was the advent and reliance of technology.

“But I actually think we’re going to see some backlash to technology,” Dee said. “People think that they have so much information at their fingertips that they don’t need brokers anymore. Then they find out that the information they find on the Internet is often two months out of date. Or, they have so much information they are just overwhelmed, and they need someone to help them make sense of it.”

Mary Rae couldn’t agree more.

“I don’t think that Realtors are going away; if anything, I think we’re going to be more important than ever,” Mary Rae said.

For an earlier Q&A with Dee, please visit this link.

These two top brokers at Kentwood City Properties both were born on March 28, - 20 years apart. They're shown in a condo Dee is listing at 1411 Wynkoop St.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

Related Posts:

• Kentwood City Properties – 13 and going strong
• Kentwood City Properties honored for bike sharing
• Dee part of luxury home network
• Million-dollar homes show life; most sales still below $300,000
• Architectural tour on tap