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Nationally recognized, and highly acclaimed AgentGenius.com has, in the past, delivered some of the best Real Estate related content on the net.  The site is continuing to evolve, and has recently released what they term “Agent Genius Sphere.”  The thought is to syndicate thought leaders in the real estate world into one easy to navigate location.  Here is how Agent Genius describes the Sphere:

What IS The Sphere?

The Sphere is our list of the most progressive leaders in Real Estate today, syndicated here for consumers who want down to the wire information- the latest from around the globe and yes, even local information.

Showing Off - Most SPHERE’D

We’re featuring the hottest, most progressive sites around, so you’ll know quality when you see the Most Sphere’d badge (seen below) around the web!

AG has decided to include our blog in the mix, and I’m sure you’ll agree this is a serious lack of judgement a brilliant move!  We are now proudly featuring the badge in our sidebar.

Thanks AG, we hope to live up to the hype!

photo credit: joshua m. neff

I blame the housing downturn on Election Year politics. OK, I’ve said it! I think the housing “crisis” has less to do with economic factors and more to do with the psychologic state of our great nation.

I concede that the sub-prime mortgage mess was a house of cards that eventually was bound to fall. The housing downturn, unfortunately was the wind that knocked it over.

Now, to the reason we have been ever so slow in the recovery process.

The only thing the main stream media loves more than natural disasters, is politics! Bad news and controversy sell papers and gain viewers. The primary theme for the past 18 months have been War, (Read George W. is worthy of treason for not getting us the hell out of the Middle East) and the downturn of the economy due to failed policies of this President!

Well, it seems the road to recession is paved with good economic news, that main stream media buries in their coverage. The biggest TRUE economic problem we have is the price of oil and gasoline. Most other factors are positive. In fact, the GDP rose an unexpected .9% in the first quarter of 2008.

Prices in the real estate markets are adjusting, or have adjusted, and the only thing preventing a full scale housing recovery is the perception that our economy sucks! A perception that has been coddled by the major media outlets.

Prediction: Once the 2008 Presidential Election is over, the housing market will start to run wild and the big sale on real estate will be over! Whoever wins the election will take credit for the recovery and we will be back to business as usual.

At least until 2012, and the next Presidential Election.

You heard it here first. What do you think?

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have just settled a drawn out and expensive legal battle.  The result isn’t what’s news worthy.  The reason being is that is was pretty much a big waste of money.

The lawsuit brought by the DOJ was initially done so to force the NAR to allow greater access of listing content on the internet.  They somehow thought the NAR was limiting competition by withholding listing data from “Online” brokers.  Well as things have it, competition and technology kind of worked out the problems before the court system and the litigators could get their arms around this baby.

The bottom line is what was being fought for by the DOJ would have been accomplished without the pricey litigation.  Their premise of needing more competition in Real Estate is faulty.  It is certainly one of the more competitive industries, trust me I know!

On the other side, the NAR, of which I’m a member, isn’t always the most forward thinking, and should probably be monitored a bit.  They have in the past tried to keep information under lock and key (ie MLS systems) but now that information is widely available to the everyone.  The reason isn’t because of forced litigation, but rather the members of the NAR have demanded it for the benefit of their clients.  The market place is a very efficient in the real estate world!   

Anyway, the lawsuit is over, the attorney fees have stopped (I hope) and I’ll continue with business as usual.

Here are some great comments about this issue if you would like to read some other points of view.  Make sure and read the comments as that is where the real value lies.   http://agentgenius.com/?p=2005

Today from the Rocky Mountain News

Denver home prices fell 5.5 percent over the 12-month period that ended in February, which is less than half the 12.7 percent drop from 20 cities in the much-watched S&P/Case-Shiller National U.S. Home Price Index. View article…

Once again, as we’ve commented here many times, we may not be the ugliest kid at the party!

Men dressed as pigs frolicked outside the annual meeting of Richmond American Homes in Denver this morning, drawing attention to the role they say corporate home builders played in creating the mortgage and foreclosure crises. View article…

This one cracks me up! Let’s dress up as pigs, and frolick outside a builder’s place of business! This will teach them to sell homes to people who don’t take any personal responsibility for their finances.

The number of U.S. homes heading toward foreclosure more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier. View article…

I think this means the flood waters of foreclosure are cresting. Now let’s start getting back to figuring out who is going to scoop up these great deals!

What are your thoughts on these articles?

CBS reported today that the real estate market may be improving.  Check out this video!

As they mention in the video, Real Estate is a Local commodity and you need to have a LOCAL professional on your side.  For any information on Denver Real Estate, contact us!

Strong Headline!  The Rocky Mountain News published this article, and I needed to comment.

The Colorado State legislature passed a law that went into effect January 1st, 2008, requiring Mortgage Brokers to become licensed by the State.  While most states have required the licensure of Mortgage Brokers for some time, Colorado was a bit behind the curve. 

Since the requirement went into effect (less than 90 days ago) there have been 73 people denied a license, or disciplined by the Colorado Division of Real Estate.  Offenses like Criminally Negligent Homicide, Lewd & Lascivious Acts in the presence of a Child, and Burglary are some of the reasons why licenses were denied. 

Just think only a year ago, these characters could have been giving you a “Good Faith Estimate”  Yikes!

While the Real Estate brokerage industry has been under the watchful eye of the State for decades, I’m glad the Mortgage Broker industry is finally regulated a bit also! 

This is great news for consumers, and a big “Atta Boy” goes out to the State of Colorado for protecting the public.  My only question is, What took so long? 

Contact the Get Home Denver Team to be hooked up with one of our Reputable Mortgage Professionals!

Just when I think the Media is too out of touch to save, they surprise me.

A Time Magazine article by Dan Kadlec, in the Right on Your Money section tells us that the sky is not falling!  Wow, how about that, a guy who gets it. 

His premise is when prices are falling few people have the discipline to use that money to buy other assets, and those who pull the trigger now, will benefit in the long run.  He cites a great example of a very likely scenario;

“Consider a typical home that sells for $218,900. You put down 20% and get a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at today’s rate of 5.5%. Monthly principal and interest come to $994.31. Let’s say that 12 months from now the same house goes for 10% less, or $197,010. But by then the recession is history and the Fed is jacking up rates to stem inflation. If mortgage costs rise a point, to 6.5%, your monthly payment would be $994.94 and you’d have saved nothing. Meanwhile, home prices might steady and sellers might become less willing to negotiate. And you have spent a year living someplace you’d rather not be!”

This articulates the point we’ve been driving here, THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!  Check out the full article here.

To further the argument,  on March 6th, the Rocky Mountain News published an article by John Rebchook regarding the state of the local market.  Home sales are up 4% for the month of February and 4.9% year to date.  Check out the full article here.

The bottom line is:  What are you waiting for?  This is the perfect storm for buying right! 

Well more news coming out today that suggests the Denver Real Estate market is Half Full, rather than Half Empty!  As a follow-up to the an earlier post, ConocoPhillips purchase of the large tract of land between Denver and Boulder will have HUGE economic benefits. 

An article today in the Rocky Mountain News estimates the impact.

“Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said when he spoke to a Conoco person Wednesday, he was told it was premature to give a size to the work force.”We’re still scoping the project, but you can do the math” to get an estimate of how many people could work there, based on the size, Clark was told.

And the math easily supports well in excess of 10,000 on the site, Clark said.

“This would dwarf any economic development deal in the history of the state.”

He said 10,000 jobs there would create another 18,000 jobs for an economic impact of $1.7 billion a year.”

The biggest development deal in the history of the state!  Love it when the news keeps getting better.  Now I’d like to see the media start talking about how this will positively effect the housing market.  If you are a homebuyer or investor, and are trying to time the market bottom, you may not want to wait any longer! 

Until then, I will continue to blog about it!

So the Government and the Mortgage industry are close to figuring out the Foreclosure debacle.    The proposal now will give an extra 30 days to try and figure it out. 

In Colorado, that means that you can miss a couple payments, and then by law, the lender (through the public trustee) gives you a Notice of Election and Demand.  Then you have 110-125 days to cure the default.  

What are these extra 30 days going to do?  I guess if you are in the middle of it, right now, and you have done nothing to remedy the situation, then the 30 days breathing room might be great.  My guess is it means the person going into foreclosure will just get to live rent free for another 30 days!

The more pragmatic solution, would be for these mortgage companies to handle this mess on their own.  Hell, they created it!  If I were the CEO of one of the big guys, I would hire enough people and empower them to make wise (more…)

Check out our new page title News & Rates.  Here we will have all current News and Interest Rate Feeds.  We will feature both local and national stories relating to Real Estate and Mortgages!