Greenfield Subdivision, Colorado - Real Estate Market Statistics - February through April, 2008

The Greenfield neighborhood is located in Centennial, Colorado.  The area is very close to the Southlands shopping district and E470.  Children living in the neighborhood attend excellent Cherry Creek Schools, including Rolling Hills Elementary, Falcon Creek Middle School and Grandview High School.  The most recent real estate statistics for this area are as follows:

During the past 90 days (February 29 - April 29, 2008):

9 homes sold in Greenfield (7 more are currently Under Contract)

Average net sold price was $342,732 (ranged from $231,500 to $550,000)

Total Days on Market average was 85

These 7 homes sold for 97.77% of their list price and 91.3% of their original asking price

Average net price per square foot was $132

Last year during this same period (2/29/07-4/29/07), 5 home sold in Greenfield at an average net sold price of $334,220 - with an average Days on Market of 55, and average net price per square foot of $142.

Beware Home Rental Scams on Craigslist

My colleague Erin, owns a rental property.  Last fall, she advertised it on Craigslist and found a renter.  Just recently, she received three phone calls from good Samaritans alerting her to the fact that someone was using her property information in a scam.  After quickly looking into it…..sure enough, Erin had her very own, real-live Nigerian scammer.

It turns out that this con artist had somehow retrieved or saved Erin’s original ad text, along with her pictures, and posted an ad on the site.  It even included the property address.  However, the email address belonged to the scammer.  The good Samaritans who had responded to the ad were immediately sure it was a scam.  All three of them Googled the property address, found Erin’s phone number and alerted her to the problem.

Here is the response they received when in quiring about the rental:

Hello,
Thanks for your response regarding your interest in having my apartment for rent.The apartment is much available for now.I want you to know that I am the owner of this building situated at XXX Malaya Way, Centennial Denver .But i am now presently in West Africa for my Hopitals Project prayer crusade with my wife and we have the keys right here with us.I will like to inform you that it was due to my transfer that makes us to leave the house and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a resposible person that can take very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at the time and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own.So for now,We are here in West Africa,NIGERIA our new house and also with the keys of the house,we are trying to look for an agent that we can give this document before we left but could not see and we are as well as dont want our house to be used any how in our absent that is why we took it along with us here.We are only willing to give the apartment out to a lovely and caring family only, so if you know you cannot give the apartment the neatness it deserves please don't contact me.But if you promise to always take good care of the apartment,get back to me on how you could take care of our house or perhaps experience you have in rentiong home.Hope you are okay with the monthly price of $1000 with hydro,heat laundry facilities,air-condition and the security deposit is $300.i look forward to hearing from you ASAP so that i can forward you an application to fill out and discuss on how to get the house for rent,also are you ready to rent it now or when?pet is allow
Thanks,
Await your reply

 
Erin immediately notified Craigslist and had the ad removed.  She then worked with one of the good Samaritans to see what would happen if he continued to show interest.  He emailed back and forth and eventually agreed to rent the home, sight unseen.  The culmination of the scam was a request for him to send the deposit via Western Union to Nigeria and they would ‘mail’ him the keys.  He actually received a name and address in Nigeria.  Here’s the text of the last email:

Thanks again for the mail,well you can move in as soon as possible if you want to but right now the house is available all you need is to make the security deposit so that you can be the lucky person for the house okay,below is the payment info

Do send the payment from any Money Gram or Western Union Store close to you. Make it out in the name of my Personal Assistant and forward the payment info to me. As soon as I get it I will commence with sending the keys to you.the names to make the payment with are-

 
NAME---------------------FELIX  IKECHUKWU
STREET------------------78 ROAD, ST PAUL CHURCH OF THE LORD AVENUE
CITY------------------------LAGOS
COUNTRY----------------NIGERIA
TEXT QUESTION?--------WHO IS LORD
ANSWER-----------------JESUS
 
Thanks and God bless you.

Of course, Erin realized that there was no way to catch them in another country, but was worried that someone might actually be desperate enough to fall for the scam, send the money, and show up at the house as the ‘new renter’.  The only thing she figured she could do was to notify the current renters and file a police report.  Once the ad was removed, the calls stopped and nothing else happened.

We just wanted to share this as a warning to anyone out there looking for a rental.  If something seems fishy, it probably is.  Do some research, use Google, and please do not send money to anyone in Nigeria…..ever!

Your 2008 Tax Rebate: Our Financial Experts Weigh In

As most of you probably know, last week the President signed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. Among other provisions, the package will pay $600 to most individual taxpayers and $1,200 to married taxpayers filing joint returns, as long as they are below income caps of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples. There is also a $300 per child tax credit. So, a typical family of four will be receiving a rebate check for $1,800 around May or June of this year. If you are wondering about how this will apply to you, the IRS just posted a new FAQ section on it's website about the rebate program.

Of course, the government is hoping that each one of us goes out and spends it on U.S. products and services to give the economy a pick-up. I’m sure most people will probably not have ANY trouble figuring out what to do with their check. A quick vacation, a new laptop, car repairs, new clothes, or even just everyday expenses could easily eat up one’s check quickly. But, there may be some of you that will spend a little more time thinking about how you can make the most positive impact on your financial situation. Even though we are not talking about a huge sum of money, we decided to ask a couple of our favorite financial professionals for their opinions about ‘smart’ ways to spend the Rebate of ‘08.

Lynne Lehr-Buck, CPA and Founder of IntraScope Accounting Solutions, LLC:

1. First, retire as much high interest debt as you can.
2. Stash it in a retirement or college savings (529) account
3. Have some fun and de-stress! Take a vacation, get a massage, do whatever will relieve the unhealthy stress of everyday life.

Rich Maves, Certified Financial Planner:

1. If you have debt – this should be #1 priority
2. If you have no debt, put the money into an investment
3. Finally, if you absolutely must spend it, look at those involuntary expenses that you know will be coming soon (such as an appliance that may need replacing, or other home/auto repairs and maintenance)

Jonathan Mather, Senior Mortgage Planner, Clarion Mortgage Capital:

1. If you are looking to purchase a home, put the refund in the bank to use for your down payment.
2. If you have a home, retire credit card debt. The interest you pay on consumer cards is much more expensive than the returns you could hope to get by investing it first.
3. If you do not have much in debt, invest it in real estate or stocks.

We at The Bibeau Group would be thrilled to see everyone give at least a portion of this unexpected windfall to the cause or charity of their choice. However, if you are thinking in terms of buying or selling a home, our recommendations would be…

Home Buyer:

• Save the check to be used as down payment or closing costs
• Save for after your move for those expenses such as paint, décor, furniture, etc.

Home Seller:

• If your home could use some professional staging (confer with your Realtor about this), it would be a great investment.
• Do some fix-ups on your own….paint, re-carpet, landscaping, new appliances
• Come up with a unique buyer incentive…maybe purchase and include a big HDTV, a top of the line gas grill on your deck or patio, or simply just put it towards paying some of the buyer’s expenses.

Feeling Like You Can't Keep Up in Business or in Life?

"Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce."

I ran across this quote while looking for something else today, and I love it.  It says an awful lot in very few words and really goes along with the importance of keeping a positive attitude about your life and work.  Have a disappointing event happen today?  First, figure out what you can learn from it and then.......just BOUNCE BACK into your plan!

Mortgage Q&A: The Economics of Mortgages

Many potential home buyers have been a bit confused lately about everything going on in the mortgage industry.  In an effort to assist our clients and other readers, we are beginning a series of blog articles that focus on mortgage education.

For this article, we interviewed one of our trusted Denver mortgage professionals, Jonathan Mather of Clarion Mortgage Capital.

Q: Did the Fed just cut mortgage rates? 

A: According to many of the calls we have been receiving, there are many people out there who think this is the case.  However, over the last few rate cuts in this Fed cycle, the mortgage rates have actually gone up after a Fed Funds Rate Cut.

 
Q: So what is going on here and why the difference?

A: Let me first lay a little groundwork in the economics of mortgages. Mortgage rates are based off bond sales prices and yields, not the Fed as commonly believed.  These bonds are sold as MBS’s, Mortgage Backed Securities and are sold in the bond market in large pools.  I can explain more about MBS pricing later. 

Bonds are debt securities which require the borrower to pay back a specific amount of principal and interest at a specific date. Bonds are widely seen as safer instruments of investment than stocks(more on this later) The rates are determined by the yield of the bond.

Q: What is the yield?

A: Simply put it is the expected return to the purchaser of the bond.  The price and yield are inversely related; as the price goes up, the yield goes down.  Interest rates are based on the yield of these mortgage backed bonds

Inflation is not good for bonds, which is why rates rose last fall when the Fed was concerned about inflation. Inflation is when too many dollars are chasing the same goods and services; i.e. bidding up the price.  This erodes the value of a fixed instrument like a bond because; they have a guaranteed payout at maturity. 

Q: What determines MBS pricing?

A:  MBS pricing is affected by several market factors.  The large Government Sponsored Entities(GSE); Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae sell the majority of high quality MBS pools in the US.  As said before, these are viewed as relatively safe investments because of the implied backing (explicit for Ginnie) of the US Government.  Some of the main pricing components are: 

1. Capital Flows: money flows to safer investments when the stock market or economy is doing poorly- hence the rates dropped when the stock market tanked in late January.
2. Economic Data- Obviously this is linked to capital flows, bad news is good for rates.  Fed Rate cuts were seen as market centered rather than economy centered
3. Foreign Exchange rates; foreign demand for U.S. bonds fluctuates with exchange rates making our bonds more and less attractive to investors. 

The recent Fed rate cuts have been viewed as market centered; to keep the stock market happy.  It is widely believed that the Dow would be 1000 points or so lower without the recent cuts.  Traders believe this would have a deepening effect of the psychological impact of a recession/slowdown. 

A: The bottom line for potential mortgage borrowers is to be ready!  If you call up a lender for the first time on the day that rates are good, you might miss out.   The best way to do this is to work with a Mortgage Planning Specialist; an experienced lender who can look at where you are and where you want to be, then work up a plan with you to get there. Check your credit and apply early.  This will give us time to fix up any credit issues that you may not have known about.  Loan level price adjustments are having a huge effect on borrowers with so-so scores or reserves.  If we sit down early, we can work up a plan and say: let's keep an eye out for this rate, when we can get it... pull the trigger.  If we get all of the ducks lined up in advance, there are less chances for surprises.

Broomfield, Colorado Real Estate: Popular Dillon Model in Anthem

Wendy Bibeau | The Bibeau Group / Keller Williams Realty | 303-808-0239 2913 Promontory Loop, Broomfield, CO Check out this sought-after Dillon model! 4 Bdrm Single Family House offered at $410,000 Year Built 2007 Sq Footage 2,518 Bedrooms 4 Bathrooms 2 full, 1 partial Floors 2 Parking 3 Car garage Lot Size 9,689 sqft HOA/Maint $82 per month DESCRIPTION Visit this wonderful home to see for yourself why buyers have been searching for this Dillon model. This beautiful two-story home, built in 2007, includes many luxurious upgrades and the finest of architectural details throughout. Beautiful hardwood and tile floors, upgraded light fixtures, surround sound, and a beautiful kitchen with oversized cherry cabinets, stainless appliances and Corian countertops enhance and complement the versatile and spacious floorplan. You will have plenty of room for entertaining, relaxing, and spending time with your family and friends. see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES Central heat Fireplace Hardwood floor Tile floor Family room Bonus/Rec room Dining room Breakfast nook Dishwasher Refrigerator Stove/Oven Microwave Stainless steel appliances Basement Washer Dryer Laundry area - inside Balcony, Deck, or Patio Yard OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES Corian countertops Upgraded light fixtures Unique architectural details Main floor laundry Overhead walkway to private master suite Trex deck Spacious loft New 30,000 square foot Rec Center coming soon! Close to walking trails ADDITIONAL PHOTOS Seller contact info: Wendy Bibeau The Bibeau Group / Keller Williams Realty 303-808-0239 For sale by agent/broker Equal Opportunity Housing Posted: Jan 25, 2008, 1:33pm PST