Colorado House Finders

The National Association of Realtors has reported results from a 2007 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, conducted in March 2008. They found that sales of second homes, including vacation and investment home sales, still accounted for 33 percent of all existing and new home sales for 2007, down from 36 percent of transaction sin 2006. The combined total of such home sales did decline with the overall market in 2007.  In terms of type of Vacation home purchased, 59 percent were detached single-family homes, 29 percent condos, 7 percent townhouses or row houses, and 5 percent other.  In 2006, single family homes accounted for 67 percent of vacation-home sales, while condos were 21 percent. 

The typical vacation-home buyer in 2007 was 46 years old, had a median household income of $99,100, and purchased a property that was a median of 287 miles from their primary residence. In listing the reasons for purchasing a vacation home, 84 percent of buyers wanted to use the home for vacation or as a family retreat; 30 percent as a primary residence in the future; 26 percent to diversify investments; 25 percent to rent to others; 16 percent for tax benefits; 14 percent for use by a family member, friend or relative; and 6 percent because they had extra money to spend. 

Sixty-five percent of vacation home buyers purchased existing homes, while the remainder purchased new homes. Last year, 24 percent of vacation homes were purchased in the West. Vacation-home buyers plan to keep their property for a median of 10 years; 38 percent plan to keep their vacation home for 11 years or more.   

NAR’s 2007 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, conducted in March 2008, includes answers from 1,965 usable responses.  The survey controlled for age and income, based on information from the larger 2007 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, to limit any biases in the characteristics of respondents. The Colorado House Finders’ Real Estate Consulting team is experienced, professional real estate agents with certifications in Real Estate, Lending and Appraising, who specialize in Denver Colorado real estate.  For access to Denver MLS listings , contact Colorado House Finders or www.ColoradoHouseFinders.com.

If you’re like most people, you are paying to heat the water for your home 24 hours a day, every day. The average homeowner pays to keep hot water hot even when they don’t need it. Traditional water heaters make for standby energy losses that cost you money. We do not leave our homes heated while vacationing. We only heat our homes when there is a demand for heat. Wouldn’t it be great if you could pay to heat water only when you need it? There is a way. Tankless water heaters provide continuous hot water, heating water only as you need it, thus providing greater efficiency and energy savings. An average, traditional 50-gallon water heater can supply about three to four back-to-back showers. With a tankless, you can enjoy endless back to back showers! Also referred to as instantaneous or demand water heaters, they provide hot water on demand for as long as you need it, but only as long as you need it.  

On Demand water heaters are 50% more efficient and give you a typical cost savings of 30 to 45% over the old style water heater. They provide endless hot water to multiple outlets at the same time without fluctuations in temperature, and they shut off automatically when the faucets are turned off.  Your family stands to gain additional protection, as well. As opposed to standard gas water heaters, tankless water heaters have sealed combustion which means no open flame or flue gas. Flue gas cannot enter your home. In addition precise water temperature control helps prevent the risk of scalding, especially important when you have young children in your home. 

The compact, wall-mounted units can be installed internally, externally or recessed, thus providing a significant space savings over a 40-gallon traditional water heater that requires approximately 16 square feet of space. Because of smaller size, they can be placed in close proximity to the kitchen or master bath, reducing wait time and energy consumption while waiting for hot water at the source.  With a life expectancy of 25 years (and easily replaceable parts that extend the life by many more years), as compared to 10 years for standard hot water tanks, tankless water heaters reduce landfill waste. Additionally, they provide lower emission of CO₂ gases into the atmosphere, adding to their green characteristics. 

Proper installation and maintenance of your demand water heater can optimize its energy efficiency.  Whether space, energy savings, or the need for multiple showers is your issue, a call to an AUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDER/INSTALLER is your key to success. Without quality installation, even the best equipment can fail to give you its best performance. Proper installation ensures you get all the capability possible from your instantaneous water heater.  The Colorado House Finders’ Real Estate Consulting team is experienced, professional real estate agents with certifications in Real Estate, Lending and Appraising, who specialize in Denver Colorado real estate.  For access to Denver MLS listings , contact Colorado House Finders or www.ColoradoHouseFinders.com.

By now, staging a home for sale has become a common practice by sellers and their real estate agents. And like many things in preparing a home to sell, you can either choose to do it yourself or hire one of the many professional stagers around. There are advantages to both. The obvious benefit to staging your home yourself is the cost savings. If you are really on a budget, you might want to do a few Internet searches for staging tips and put your head together with your agent to come up with a house that presents itself well and that potential buyers can imagine living in themselves. 

This brings us to our first tip. All that wonderful memorabilia, photos and items that truly express your personality – take them down. Try to use more generic furniture, art and only a few accent pieces. That leads us to the next tip. Less is more. We live in a time where we have a lot of stuff, and most homeowners really like their own stuff. But, for a buyer to truly get a feel for the home and be able to, once again, imagine his or her own things in that house, you must create visual space.  

While painting, cleaning carpets and assuring that your home has the scent of a warm and inviting place are no-brainers, they bear mentioning. These are the basics to making sure your home shows off in the best possible way. Antique white shades for the walls works marvelously. Lighting should be bright and well-balanced, and left illuminated when you know you have a showing. Clean out closets, garages and other storage areas to increase the sense of available space for the buyer.  A great thing to do is leave the scent of baking bread wafting through your home on the days when there’s a showing. For the bread, don’t think you have to make your grandmother’s bread from scratch. Get a conveniently packaged, unbaked loaf or rolls at the grocery store. Just pop them in the oven and the smell will be intoxicating! 

A professionally trained stager will come in and help you move beyond these basics. In that process, they take out everything from the room and start all over. Large pieces of furniture come in first, then smaller pieces, lighting and, finally, artwork. There is an art to it and, if your budget can handle it, this kind of service can end save you valuable time and help you get closer to your asking price.   IRIS (Interior Redesign Industry Specialist) is a nonprofit organization with high and comprehensive training standards in the industry. Look for a stager who has trained with an IRIS approved instructor to make sure you’re getting the best possible service. The Colorado House Finders’ Real Estate Consulting team is experienced, professional real estate agents with certifications in Real Estate, Lending and Appraising, who specialize in Denver Colorado real estate.  For access to Denver MLS listings , contact Colorado House Finders or www.ColoradoHouseFinders.com.

Along I-25 south of Denver from Belleview Avenue to Lincoln Avenue in the area known as the Denver Tech Center, higher density, transit-oriented development has taken place over the past several years. Pushing this development was “T-Rex”, the $1.67 billion transportation expansion project whose goal was to “transform the way people in the Denver metro area commute within the area of the I-25 and I-225 intersection”. This area was, at the time, estimated to be the 14^th busiest intersection in the entire United States. 

By many measures, the T-Rex project was successful. The interstates widen to seven lanes in many spots, and 40 miles of light-rail track were laid. The T-Rex project finished 3.2% under its $1.67B budget and 22 months ahead of schedule in 2006.  

There are several mixed-use “mini-cities” or “villages” now popping up in this corridor within a half-mile walking distance of the light-rail stations. They combine several uses on one site in a coordinated way, and retail, office and residential developments are usually a part of it. 

The magazine Colorado Biz reported that during his promotion to urge voters to pass the 2004 FasTracks Initiative, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper urged voters to envision the region transformed into a network of “villages” connected by mass transit, with each village having places to live, work, shop and play. Walking would be a key activity and strolling to a coffee shop, corner store or hopping the train to get to work would be the way of life.

One of the most successful mixed use neighborhoods the City-Center Englewood, built between 2000 and 2002 on 55 acres that had previously been the Cinderalla City shopping mall.  This is truly a TOD – transit-oriented development, the term for mixed-use developments with a transit anchor.

The Belmar area in Lakewood, CO, a five million square foot mixed use, new urban center for this Denver suburb, was one of the first mixed-use developments in the Denver area. Though it is not currently connected with light rail, the area successfully mixes retail, offices, residential and entertainment venues. Getting around without having to jump in the car is key to the lifestyle in this area.  

The Colorado House Finders’ Real Estate Consulting team is experienced, professional real estate agents with certifications in Real Estate, Lending and Appraising, who specialize in Denver Colorado real estate.  For access to Denver MLS listings , contact Colorado House Finders or www.ColoradoHouseFinders.com.