Joetta’s Neighborhood Newsletter

Hello, Friends & Neighbors!

Now we approach the holiday season, some with anticipation and some with trepidation. My hope for each of you is that, regardless of circumstances you find yourself in that may not be all you desire, you find the joy of true Thanksgiving. Every year, I find myself simplifying a little more, and enjoying a lot more. May you be blessed in all your comings and goings!

Input from Readers

Here’s a cute tip from Amanda: According to the American Baby magazine, November 2009. (americanbaby.com) The U.S. Post Office can help you with your child's "letter to Santa".  They say, "Write a letter as if you were Santa Claus. Put it in a stamped envelope addressed to your child.  Mail that by December 15th in a stamped, larger envelope to North Pole Holiday Cancellation, Postmaster, 4141 Postmark Dr. Anchorage, AK 99530-9998.  Your letter will arrive with a 'North Pole' postmark!"

Susan sent me a great money-saving tip for groceries:  The Friday Store, which sells ‘discount’ groceries, is located at 5635 Newland Way in
 Arvada. Discount grocery stores sell products that big stores like Safeway and King Soopers have salvaged, such as dented cans or slightly expired items. People say they save 40-50%. Besides food, you can get health and beauty items and pet supplies, although I take it you never know quite what you’ll find. Their number is
303-422-8562, and they’re open 
Friday and Saturday - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Here’s an important safety tip from Angel:  Census workers will be out knocking on doors, they will have a badge, handheld device, Census Bureau canvas bag, and a confidentiality notice.  Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information or donations to anyone claiming to be with the U.S. Census.  REMEMBER, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ASK, YOU REALLY ONLY NEED TO TELL THEM HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVE AT YOUR  ADDRESS.  While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range,  YOU DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION. 

Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail, or in person at home. However, the Census Bureau will not contact you by Email, so be on the lookout for Email scams impersonating the Census. Never click on a link or open any attachments in an Email that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau.  

Michelle says have your insurance policies re-quoted, even if you’re not switching companies. If you go on year after year, unquestionably paying higher premiums, you’ll end up paying hundreds more than you would do with a new policy with identical coverage.  She ended up saving $600 per year on cars and another $700 on homeowners.

She added, “We have passed this information on to our neighbors and friends and heard other positive stories. One neighbor said they were able to reduce their costs by over $3,000 a year! Note I am not sharing the name of who I have my insurance with, as that didn't seem to matter, almost all insurance companies will have a reduction if you re-quote!”

I get Senator Evie Hudak’s newsletter, and she had some interesting info for all Coloradans in there, so here with her permission is an excerpt:

“The Governor and the Legislature do not have many places to make cuts from, because 97% of the state budget (General Fund) is devoted to just 5 areas: 

 1.      43% for K-12 Education – which is required to increase annually and cannot be reduced because of Amendment 23.

 2.    21% for Health Care Policy and Financing – which covers Medicaid and other federally mandated health care entitlement programs, increasing because of the bad economy.

 3.    14% for Corrections, Public Safety, and Judicial – which are the components of our state justice and prison system.

 4.    9% for Human Services – which covers the most vulnerable populations, including the disabled, mentally ill, and children who are the victims of abuse or neglect.

 5.      8.8% for Higher Education - which includes our state universities, state colleges, and community colleges and is the most flexible area of the budget; most of its funding has been preserved with stimulus money.”

Best Tip of The Month –

From Susan:  Two free things recommended by computer geeks (to download and use regularly):

 *  ccleaner (stands for "crap cleaner")     http://www.ccleaner.com

easy to use, cleans up all sorts of stuff that slows down your computer

*   SUPERAntiSpyware -- spyware remover (I still use Spybot but this one catches more)     http://www.superantispyware.com/

Goings-on in Arvada –

           Do you deep-fry your turkey?  What the heck do you do with all that leftover oil?  Well, this year you can take it to a vegetable oil drop-off event at either 6161 Olde Wadsworth Blvd or 6701 Indiana Street on the Saturday after Thanksgiving between 10 am and 4 pm. City employees will be there to help. Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises will refine the oil into biofuels and agricultural products.

            Enjoy horse drawn carriage rides through historic Olde Town Arvada Friday nights Nov. 27 through December 18. $10 per ride, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. And of course, get some shopping done while you’re in town!

            Tree lighting in Olde Town Square (57^th & Olde Wadsworth) on Monday, December 7 beginning at 6:00 pm. Visit Santa, free horse-drawn carriage rides, enjoy hot chocolate, listen to carolers. This is Lagniappe, a gift from Olde Town merchants.

Local Real Estate News

Are we in a buyer’s market or a seller’s market?  How would you know?

The answer to that question lies in a statistic called the ‘Absorption Rate’. Absorption Rate (AR) is found by dividing the number of homes sold the past year by 12, which gives the average number that have sold each month.  Compare that to the number of homes currently on the market. Then, assuming no new homes come on the market, you could figure the number of months it would take for the current inventory to be sold off. 

There’s some disagreement as to exactly how many months of AR constitutes a buyer’s market vs a seller’s market, and some other factors come into play also. But the point I want to make clear, is that it’s a different answer based on the city you’re curious about, and even the price range.

So, if you get your real estate news from the television or internet, and you assume it applies to your particular situation, you could be way off.

For instance, there are currently 505 homes for sale in Arvada, and 1,255 have sold in the past year. That’s 105.5 per month. So Arvada has about a 5-month absorption rate, a buyer’s market. (There’s more homes on the market than can sell quickly, so they’re hard to sell, and buyers are in high demand.)  Still, that’s a lot better than the 12-month absorption rate Arvada had not long ago.

However, if you’re interested in the price range below $150,000, the absorption rate is only 1 month, a definite seller’s market (sellers don’t have to ‘bend over backwards’ to please a buyer, because they know if this one walks, they can get another one in a matter of days).

The price range from $150-200,000 has an AR of 2.3-months, somewhere between a buyer’s and seller’s market. The prettiest or best-priced homes will sell quickly, the rest will sell, but not so fast. 

Westminster has about a 4-month AR overall, .6 month in the $0-150,000 range, a 1.7-month AR in the $150-200,000 range.

Anybody currently trying to buy in those price ranges knows, if you find a nice house in a great location, you better write an offer immediately!

But let’s shift gears to the $301-350,000 price range. Arvada – 4.9-month AR; Westminster - 4.9-month AR; Broomfield is better off in this price range with a 1.8-month AR.  Sellers in this price range had better take features, condition, location into consideration and price it right, or their house will just sell the others.

The real trouble comes in the over-$350,000 range.  Arvada – a 12-month AR; Westminster – 10.4-month AR; Broomfield – 7-month AR.

I’ve provided the details for the three cities I mentioned below. If you want the stats for any other areas, just ask.

See my new post, An Expose on Totally Annoying Things That Happen While Buying a House.  

And just for fun, here’s a link to a humorous post written by another agent, about what it’s like for buyers when the homeowner decides to show them around.  http://activerain.com/blogsview/1346471/the-crazy-lady-who-wouldn-t-leave-vancouver-wa-real-estate

City                        Price Range                        # For Sale                        # Sold Past 12 Months

Arvada            $0 – 150,000                                    13                                    157

                        $151 – 200,000                               69                                    350

                        $201 – 250,000                             121                                    329

                        $251 – 300,000                               87                                    169

                        $301 – 350,000                               33                                    81

                        $350+                                            182                                    180

Westminster   $0 – 150,000                                    45                                    319

                        $151 – 200,000                               80                                    336

                        201 – 250,000                                 69                                    274

                        251 – 300,000                                 55                                    116

                        301 – 350,000                                34                                    84

                        $350,000+                                    161                                    186

Broomfield        $0 – 150,000                                   2                                      42

                        151 – 200,000                                31                                    142

                        201 – 250,000                                53                                    197

                        $251 – 300,000                              60                                    167

                        301 – 350,000                                19                                    124

                        $350,000+                                    229                                    391

Copyright © 2011 Joetta Fort

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I am a residential real estate agent, happily helping folks buy a house or sell a house in the beautiful and friendly suburbs northwest of Denver. Learn how to buy a house in Colorado.

Read more about Arvada’s other neighborhoods, shops, and things to do, and here's a little intro to Olde Town Arvada.

Or check out my gardening blog, packed with info for high plains gardens: Beauty of Gardening.

Check out my website.

Find all the homes available in Arvada, Westminster, Broomfield, North Denver, Thornton, Lafayette, Louisville, Wheat Ridge and Golden.

I write posts on real estate issues and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the ‘flavor’ of our community, in case they’re new or moving to the Denver area.