PROVEN RESULTS - The Colorado Real Estate Blog by Dale Becker, Compass
PROVEN RESULTS is a real estate blog dedicated to clearing away the smoke and providing an accurate and thought-provoking look at Colorado's residential real estate market. Dale Becker is a licensed real estate broker in Colorado.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
GOING IN CIRCLES
Sunday, April 28, 2024
INVENTORY IS RISING QUICKLY... AND SO ARE INTEREST RATES
This year, we began January with just over 4,000 active listings on the market in the metro area. As of today, we are up to over 6,500 active listings, and that number will continue climbing all the way until the end of August.
It's hard for me to see how prices hold up in the second half of the year with rates north of 7.5%.
And what drives showings is pricing, condition and marketing.
Thursday, February 8, 2024
AVOIDING THE MUSHY MIDDLE
Monday, January 29, 2024
LIVING WITH THE MARKET WE ACTUALLY HAVE
Thursday, January 18, 2024
THE WAITING ROOM
Friday, December 15, 2023
TAKING CARE OF YOUR HOME IN ALL FOUR SEASONS - WINTER EDITION
The holiday season. Pretty lights, family gatherings and presents under the tree. But also one of the deadliest times of the year in terms of house fires.
Just because the nights are long, the days are short and the temperatures are colder doesn't mean your home maintenance responsibilities have gone away.
Let's talk about how to keep your home safe during the holidays and all year round.
- Winter is humidifier season in Colorado. If your furnace has a humidifier, turn it on and let is keep your house (and tree) from drying out. A 30%-35% humidity setting is appropriate for the dry winter months.
Friday, September 15, 2023
TAKING CARE OF YOUR HOME IN ALL FOUR SEASONS - FALL EDITION
Monday, June 19, 2023
TAKING CARE OF YOUR HOME IN ALL FOUR SEASONS - SUMMER EDITION
Thursday, February 16, 2023
TAKING CARE OF YOUR HOME IN ALL FOUR SEASONS - SPRING EDITION
When you purchased (or built) your home, you likely performed a home inspection.
Sunday, March 27, 2022
THE STRESS TEST FOR HOUSING IS HERE
The Fed decided the best way to save the economy in 2020 was to fire up the printing presses, jack up asset values and encourage people to pull massive amounts of money out of their personal ATM's (i.e. "homes") to try and keep the economy afloat.
It was a defensible strategy, initially. But for 24 months, come on.
The Fed kept rates low so the federal government could continue borrowing without limit or reason. Stimulus checks did a great job... stimulating inflation. The American Rescue Plan "rescued" every government program, interest group and bureaucracy in the country.
State pension plans were bailed out, state Legislatures are swimming in unspent cash and student loan payments have been paused for two years. Another $17 billion in student loans has already been forgiven, with more to come. Mortgages were moved into forbearance, eviction moratoriums kept renters in place and the printing presses just kept running.
While the Fed kept stockpiling those 3% mortgages.
I have said we have compressed 8 to 10 years of traditional home price appreciation into 24 months. Now that rates are recalibrating toward reality, it's entirely reasonable to expect home prices to flatten and underperform, perhaps for years.
Another recession is unavoidable, which will likely result in the printing presses being turned on again in a few months.
The net effect of higher rates is going to be fewer buyers. But it's also going to mean fewer sellers, since virtually everyone refinanced into a 3% mortgage and the pain of letting go of that loan for a 5% mortgage on a replacement property is just too severe.
Fewer buyers, fewer sellers. And that means fewer agents and brokers. By orders of magnitude.
I've said for a while that the next market shift would be an extinction level event for half of the agents and brokerages in our industry.
Brace for impact, because that day has arrived.