The Denver Metro Area inventory of homes for sale has hit another low this month. We are at 12,100 homes and condos for sale. We haven’t had this little of inventory since the early 1990s.
Graph by Jan Bowland, The Berkshire Group, Realtors
As you look at the graph, there are a couple red bars indicating that there is a buyers market…80202 is primarily made up of Condos, so this really isn’t a buyers market, there just aren’t any Single Family Residences. The other two look like there might be some opportunities for Buyers.
Opportunity for Sellers: The trend is that people think they need to put their houses on the market in the spring because that is when people start looking. My experience this past 6 months is that people are ready, they are looking, they have lost out on a few great houses because they just couldn’t make a quick decision, so a house that is in great condition and has an individual seller (not a bank or short sales) is in high demand, they are selling quickly and have multiple offers. Sellers, don’t wait until the spring, there are buyers out there right now just waiting for you to put you place on the market. The average days on the market for the City and County of Denver is 84 days.
Buyers, when your guts tells you it is THE house, make the offer, do not hesitate. If for some reason it isn’t THE house, something will go wrong during the process and stop the sale. Trust your instinct and in this Denver housing market do not over think your decision and miss out on a great house. As long as you follow the contract and your dates, remember it is really hard to loose your earnest money, click here for a refresher on how to keep your earnest money safe.
The media and other Real Estate predictors are telling us we are expecting another slight downturn before we go back up, but remember when they are saying this they are talking about the country as a whole, Denver is experiencing a different scenario. Most communities across the country still have WAY too many houses on the market.
If you would like a market analysis on your property, email or call me.
Living Denver,
Thanks Jan Bowland, with The Berkshire Group, for compiling the data and creating the chart!
Click on the chart to make it larger.
A couple of things stand out when I took my first glance at this chart:
1. There are more “Seller’s Markets” than “Balanced or Buyer’s Markets” in the Denver Real Estate Market!
2. Only 97 Days on the Market
3. If we took out the distressed properties I wonder how much lower the days on market would be and I wonder how much lower the inventory would be! Why do I care? Because there are many buyers who do not want to wait months to hear from a bank and then wonder if they will ever be able to move in, they want to work with people who also want to move.
4. If you are thinking of selling, this is the time to start preparing. I will be doing a series on what to do to get your house sold in this market in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned. With hardly any competition, it is a great time to sell!
We are at an 11 year low in the Denver Metro Area housing inventory (15,794), we have less than half of the homes on the market than we did at our highest point in July 2006 when we had 31,989 units!
Remember this chart reflects the City and County of Denver and it is Residential units and does not include Condominium units. If you are interested in what is happening in your neighborhood (Denver or any of the surrounding neighborhoods), I’d be happy to run the numbers for you.
I’m looking forwarding to hearing from you!
Living Denver,
Am I going to lose my earnest money? This is a question that is asked by every buyer almost every buyer I have ever worked for. The basic answer is:
No. If you follow the dates and deadlines in the contract.
Yes. If you DO NOT follow the dates and deadlines in the contract.
It is as simple as that. The Colorado contract allows for at least 3 ways for a buyer to back out of a contract and your earnest money will be returned to you per the agreement. There are a few more, but to keep it simple because every offer is different and because every transaction is different, these are the three you need to know whether you are a buyer or a seller.
- Inspection Notice Deadline and Inspection Resolution Deadline. When you (Buyer) made the offer you presumably had a date to have your inspection done and have inspection items requested to be fixed/replaced and submitted to the seller, this needs to be done on or before the date written in the contract. If you don’t want anything fixed because it is too expensive, or too many things were found and you just feel like this isn’t the house, this is where you back out. No explanation needed. Your agent will know what to do to pull you out of the contract and request the return of the earnest. If you do send a request and the seller doesn’t agree or send a resolution by the Resolution Deadline, you can back out here, as well.
- Appraisal Deadline is another important date. If the house doesn’t appraise for what you are willing to pay, whether you are a cash buyer or a buyer with a loan, you can back out here based on the fact the house isn’t worth the price you and the seller agreed to. The bank will not loan if the house is worth less, as per the appraisal, and if you are cash another reason to make sure you have an outside opinion of the value of the house.
- Loan Conditions Deadline. If you have passed the first two and think everything is fine you find yourself without a job you won’t qualify for the loan, therefore, you cannot pass the loan conditions set forth by the lender. If the interest rate changes too much and the payment is no longer affordable, this is another potential way to back out.
It is important that you keep in mind that every transaction is different, that you need to communicate with your agent and your lender and your lender and agent need to communicate to protect you, whether you are the buyer or the seller.
These are not the only three ways to back out of a contract and receive your earnest money back, but they are the most used deadlines. Be sure when you are working with a Real Estate Professional that they understand the contract, and remember in the State of Colorado, you can hire an attorney at any point in time during the transaction.
You can call me and know that YOU are in capable hands, who loves to negotiate on YOUR behalf and will represent YOU in the purchase and sale of YOUR next home.
