After pouring over figures, rates, and numbers; the Northern Colorado Business Report concludes that 2010 home sales in the region remained “mostly flat”.
Whether anyone needed them to tell us the whole story of the housing sector in 2010 is a different story.
Mostly everyone “on the ground” could have told you the exact same thing conclusively, months ago, without even looking at a graph. But, then again, we do like having numbers to “back us up”.
Dunn & Company has been fielding the calls and can tell you exactly what happened in 2010. Nearly everyone thought the tax-credit would be extended into perpetuity, and therefore waited until the deadline and tried to act quickly on the home they’ve “had their eye on”. Many times throwing caution to the wind and allowing the seller’s representative “represent the transaction” for them.
But when the resulting rush collided with the national and State foreclosure moratoriums, it created more demand than supply; investors with relationships to real estate consultants and licensed brokers connected locally were way ahead of the curve, and “gobbled up” the remaining cheap assets. Leaving many homebuyers, especially first-timers, feeling “left out” when the tax credit truly did expire. Most of them retreated from the market entirely and moved to rentals. Rentals already having been flipped by investors.
But even their own graphs point to a much more dire picture. But they just simply gloss over some of the obvious hard-truths, 2010 taken by itself has shown staggering losses when compared with 2005 numbers (20-36% declines from 2005 according to the Northern Colorado Business Report).
And admittedly, the “tax-credit rush” at the beginning of the year, created an obvious bubble that is only recently showing signs of recovery.
"I think the first part of 2010 our market was kind of distorted because of the (federal first-time homebuyer) tax credit," said Sharon Taylor, president of the Greeley Area Realtors Association. "Reality started to set in about July."
Only now are those very same investors taking advantage of cheap, but rising, loans with near historic low interest rates, but most, if not all have relationships with a trusted licensed real estate broker to represent their best interest in any transaction. Certainly not throwing caution to the wind. And certainly not relying on free, publicly available data to make their decisions. But rather concise honest imperial market data directly from a licensed professional with a fiduciary responsibility to them alone.
Adjunct Professor of Law Joseph R. Dancy recently said, "The outlook for investors in 2011 is as positive as we have seen in years.”
And a big reason that will hold true is that investors see the value of relationships that have been solidified with real estate agents that have “got back to the roots” of putting service first by emphasizing education, at the same time using the latest networking tools wisely to increase communication and accountablity.
So, it’s time to find your representative when the time comes to “make a move”, don’t get “left out” again. Get help from someone that has been there and done that.
Get the kind of service, market expertise, and honest representation you can by giving Dunn & Company a shout, especially if you want to learn more about specific opportunities with HUD properties.
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