FEEDING FRENZY

Don't believe the entry level of the market is tight?  Then try this...

I just ran a search of everything in Arvada priced between $100k and $170k that went under contract during the month of May.  There were 13 total homes that fit this profile, and they went under contract in an average of 9.6 days!

The reason you see Metrolist statistics quoting overall "days on market" at 109 is because that useless number includes short sales (many of which sit for months because most buyers don't enjoy torture) and because higher end homes are taking months, not weeks to sell. 

But for the entry level, demand is intense.

There is no "single" housing market in Denver - there are at least three distinct markets.  The entry level, the mid-level and the high end all hold very different realities for buyers and sellers.  If your agent can't tell you the difference, then you're not working with someone who understands what's happening on the ground. 

I recently picked up a client who had been working with another agent for nearly six months, looking for an entry level home below $150,000.  After dozens of showings and at least three failed offers, I told her there was another way.  "It's time," I said, "to stop looking at this as a marathon and start thinking of it as a sprint."

And by that, I meant it was time to quit lollygagging around looking at homes on Sunday afternoons and start treating it like a job, which means scanning the MLS for new listings several times a day, looking at houses after work and, if need be, writing contracts late at night.

The result - she went under contract on a beautiful home within two weeks, less than 24 hours after it hit the market.  She saw it first, wrote the contract quickly, and closed on it today.

That's how you make things happen in 2011.