Durango Real Estate Thoughts & Information by Robin Rasmussen

A Buyers Paradise!

The market is cyclical and right now the market is also cynical. Why not wait for the market to hit “bottom” before you buy? Like in any market the bottom is never as easy to find as you might think. We have a Buyers paradise right now there are more homes on the market in our area than ever. Foreclosures are currently up from last year’s number of foreclosures (So far this year 84 when compared with all of '07 at 74). Any one can really see the market and have their pick of what is the best fit for them. And consider this article of the shortage of rentals in the Durango Herald: http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/printable_article_generation.asp?article_path=/news/08/news080719_1.htm How many people in the “hot market” just settled for something because they were afraid that they were going to lose it? Now the process is more relaxing and if you are looking to buy a home to live in for the long term versus a short term flip. The market will ..(read more)

A Community Supported Agriculture Jackpot

We have been around on the CSA (community supported agriculture) scene for a few years with no luck. We really do like to support local farmers. It is important for so many reasons, but I like to focus on the selfish reasons for a moment and just admit that we enjoy the local farmer’s food because it just tastes better when the vegetables are fresh. This year we have finally found a CSA that is worth it. For so many years we put up with the meager selection of vegetables in order to support the farmers and we would always hang onto the idea that we might one day get something extraordinary…and usually it just ended up being an extra order of spinach or zucchini. This year however; we signed up with Chimney Rock Farms and they have put together an impressive selection with great quality produce. I get excited for every Wednesday’s pick up. They do trades with regional farmers to increase their selection and they also throw in fruit into the box. ..(read more)

summer...don't leave yet!

Where does the summer go...we took a longer than expected vacation to the Northwest this summer. We decided to drive due to the need for all of the baby gear that comes along with where ever we go (like a traveling circus). We thought that we would save money by driving. If gas was the only consideration we would have come out ahead, but looking back on our receipts…we missed our budget by a long way. If we were going to do that drive again with a baby I think that we would just get a tour bus and go on “baby tour”. We could sweep around the country making all of the family stops along the way and just plan for a long time on the road. Maybe we could charge an appearance fee to pay the way. Now its labor day weekend. We have the two toned down motorcycle rallies going on this year. It seems that the drunken testosterone fest known as the Iron Horse Motorcycle Rally (which ran for 9 years) is gone. The current versions are the Ignacio Bike Week and the ..(read more)

rise of seller financing?

Revival of the owner carry or seller financing is definitely in our future. Owner carry loans were virtually non existent during the credit friendly years when you could get a first, second and third loan with adjustable rates on one or all of the above (and why not make a no-doc loan on top of all that) and a home would appreciate over night. If there were ever any financial problems, the house could be sold for a profit. Sure these weird loans were the minority of loans (at least in our area), but all the same the impact of these lending practices have been felt through out the nation. Credit scoring is tighter these days and higher credit is necessary to qualify for “penalty free” loans your credit has to be up to at least 720. Bankruptcies and tight credit are things that are here for awhile. We have come across many people that are coming in from out of the area that have either been foreclosed on or have had their credit battered by a pre-foreclosure ..(read more)

hitting that target price

Pricing listing these days can be very tricky. The old guidelines have changed to some extent. It was easier in the "old" market when homes were appreciating rapidly. You would look at the most recent comps of other sold properties; take that information and try and interpret value from there. If you were wrong and priced too high, in some cases, the market might catch up. If you were right and priced closer to the best price, it would be under contract in a matter of weeks with a happy Seller and a happy Buyer. I used to be about pushing the price up to stay ahead. These days values are holding strong in our market, but when pricing you have to stand out in the crowd of rising inventory. The market is currently very sensitive to price and if you're too high your listing will hear crickets from day one. It's tough because we have a smaller pool of buyers out there in the hunt and rising inventory....so how do you know what ..(read more)

a brand new real estate market

Well even in this new real estate market I put blogging on the back burner. I know I shouldn't. This is the time that people have the most questions and have to stop and think about their choices a little more carefully. I saw the other day for the first time the stock market drop significantly and the interest rates rise. So, borrowed money is now more expensive and hard dollars are worth less...not good. So, when will the fed say the "R" word? All of that aside, the Durango real estate market has remained resilient. It has definately been more of a Sellers market for the past couple of months with more listings than Durango has ever seen at one time. Although foreclosures are higher, their aren't that many fire sales happening. We are buffered by many of the homes having a big chunk of equity, a steady stream of people looking for opportunities in our area, and the lack of wholesale builders in our market driving down prices unloading product. As long as the US ..(read more)

Wilderness city

We'll there are surprises around every corner when your in the wilderness. Surprises like bears, elk, turkey, or even just a simple wild flower. You don't really expect to find surprises in your yard. Every now and again you will here a story in Durango about a mountain lion sighting in someone’s yard or the more common (sad sight) of a garbage bear on the hunt for irresponsible home owners' garbage cans...I digress. Today after work I thought what a great time to get in some quick yard work. I was out trimming off some dead branches from an oak tree when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. 2 feet from my face was a crazy looking bug eyed, big eared...what looked like to me a baby Lemur monkey (?)...we had a stare down briefly and I ran to Google to try and figure out what I saw. Turns out it was not a Lemur (surprise), but was a Ringtailed cat. I have never heard of these critters, but I guess that these nocturnal cats are ..(read more)

First day for the Farmer's market

A suprisingly busy first day for the Farmer's market this year at the First National Bank of Durango's parking lot (May 19th). Their were even some tasty greens on the tables. Our two newfoundlands had a great time along with us as we enjoyed walking around and looking at all of the (mostly edible) goodies.

Planting Aspens?

Aspens...where do I start... If you plant aspens in your yard, be prepared for a bit of education and a bit of heart ache as well. You would think thatt these trees are hearty alpine tree ready for anything that nature throws its way. The opposite is true...at least in my yard. Ever spring I dig up the dead aspens, cut down the dying/diseased ones and hope that the healthy ones don't blow over (due to their shallow roots). We had Greg at the la plata county extension office (an excellent free resourse) come over last year to help us figure out what was killing all of our aspens...our tree were covered with borers, caterpillars, cancers and fungus. We managed to clean up most of it and have stayed on top of the rest. If it weren't for the root suckers, I don't think that these fragile trees could exist anywhere!

Bayfield Sewer

Well, it has been a long saga after Bayfield realized that their building was out-pacing their ability to effectively treat the sewer water. Bayfield imposed a building moratorium and it looked like that builder would not be able to pick up their hammers again until 2008. Now, with a patch work plan in place to reduce high volume sewer contributors and fast track an expansion effort, the town of Bayfield is back in business...Many of the Bayfield constuction projects will be caught in the cold with build times around 6-8months.

Eco-Broker

We have both been busy this year wrapping up another great year in Real Estate and getting ready for next year which we hope will be a much "greener" year. By "green" I mean more knowlegable about highly efficient homes and programs that support that technology! We are both working on our Eco-Broker designation which will mean that we will have much more knowlege about high effieciency features in homes, green mortgage programs (I'll save that for another blog entry), Colorado state rebate programs and much much more. It is a wonderful time in Real Estate becasue we have the technology for MONEY SAVING green products and we are getting the knowlege to better serve our clients. To learn more about the Eco-Broker program that we are going through go to: https://www.ecobroker.com/

New regulations for Colorado mortgage brokers

Many people have learned their lessons with to-good-to-be-true loans that are out there and if they haven’t learned yet…they will. Lenders have recently been put under the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies and on or after January 1, 2007, all mortgage brokers conducting business in this state must be registered with the Division of Real Estate pursuant to HB06-1161. This is a necessary step in protecting people’s largest investment and makes mortgage brokers in the state of Colorado accountable for their actions.

weekend of sports

What a great weekend for sports in Durango! The Fort Lewis men's soccer team is advancing to play for the Division II national championship. Right after the men's soccer team won the state championships for men’s elite cyclocross kicked off. It was a great race...not a huge number of racers in the elite field, but what a great line up of racers with legends like: Todd Wells (national cyclocross champ), Ned Overend, Travis Brown and a stacked field of up and coming talent. Matt Shriver pulled off an amazing victory after Todd Wells smashed his front chainring and had to switch out bikes. Todd was coming back with fury, but just ran out of time. Still, Matt was just an amazing powerhouse to hold off the field.

Cyclocross

What an amazing place we live at here in Durango. It is so easy to get outside and enjoy life here. It is no secret among elite athletes that Durango is a great place to be. Last night I went to the Abbey theatre for a fundraiser for the Developmental Junior cycling team to watch a cyclocross movie. For those who may be asking...what is cyclocross?, well it is essentially racing a modified road bike on a circuit in the worst possible conditions for an hour. It is a tough race with many accelerations, running and leaping over barriers. While I was sitting there watching the movie, I forget sometimes how amazing many of our local athletes are. While watching the movie they kept showing clips of Todd Wells and Travis Brown. The audience was also filled with amazing talent from collegiate champions, professional riders (who actually get paid to ride!), to the really enthusiastic junior riders. I just have to sit back sometimes and put everything into perspective. We are living ..(read more)

Pre-qualify vs. Pre-approval

Yes, market seems to be adjusting, but not all of the lessons of the hot market should be lost. Start looking at property once you are prepared and aware of your financial profile and purchasing power. It is still important to go to a lender and find out what kind of payment you’re looking at. This should be a free no obligation service. You can go 2 different ways Pre-qualification will get you some numbers to work with and a letter to present with an offer to buy a house. It is quick and requires little work on your part. Pre-Approval is a step above that and mean that you already have all you information together for a loan and have a number that you can work with for a purchase price. With Pre-approval you have put much lender work behind you and are ready to take the next step with fewer question marks.