Category Archives: Colorado Springs Real Estate

Football Friday: Almost Year-End Addition

Posted on December 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Peter King of SI picked the Chargers versus the Falcons for the Super Bowl. I have the Steelers versus the Saints. I like it when I am doing better then Mr. King.

I also had the Broncos at 8-8 and out of the playoffs. There is a very good chance that could be dead-on right at 5:30 on Sunday night.

Look, when it comes to football, I had some wretched picks this year. I had the Chargers at 13-3. I had the 49ers at 2-14. I had the Colts at 8-8 and division champions. I had the Vikes winning 7 due to improved quarterback play from McNabb (what was I thinking) and the Pack in the playoffs but only winning 10 because they looked “rusty” in the preseason (and then started 13-0). I had the Chiefs at 3-13 and the Bengals at 1-15. If the latter wins Sunday, they’re “in the tournament” as Buddy Ryan likes to call it. But I did have some pretty good picks:

I had the Raiders at 7-9 and out of the playoff, which San Diego can insure with a win Sunday. I might have picked the NFC North big guns perfectly, predicting Baltimore would sweep Pittsburgh and win their division at 12-4 and the Steelers would finish 2nd at 11-5 (they’ll probably finish 12-4). I picked the Cowboys to win the NFC East, picked the Redskins perfectly, picked the Eagles as out of the playoffs, I might have nailed the Lions record at 10-6 (although I said out of the playoffs), I picked the Top Two seeds in the NFC South in order with the Saints division winners over the Falcons (Bucs and Panthers, different story). I picked the AFC East correctly in order with New England as the number one overall seed in the AFC and the NY Jets as a wild card (the latter is possible, and if it happens, I picked Miami perfectly in last place at 5-11).

As TMQ says, “all predictions right, or no money back.” My last Football post two weeks ago was about the huge tilt between Denver and New England, where I predicted either a close Denver win or a New England blow out. Nice safe pick that, I was 50% dead-on! I also said that the keys to the Broncos winning were good pressure from the defensive front, excellent special teams play continuing and a 100 yard rushing game from Willis McGahee and that the outcome was not all on Tebow. Largely because the Broncos did none of those things, they lost.

Reader Stu Kilzer likes the Allstate Mayhem ads..

The Broncos  defensive tackles were playing well until New England and have been savaged the last two weeks. I went so far as to single out Lonnie Paxton before that game for his steady play at long snapper and he went out and muffed his first snap of the game costing the Donks their first extra point (blowing an extra point in the NFL is like not scoring a goal with a 5-3 in the NHL. Name the last time you remember a team blowing an extra point early in a game and still winning?). Willis started out great before reinjuring his hammy. The Broncos had almost 170 yards of rushing in the first quarter alone and had a 9 point lead, but had to abandon the run when disaster after disaster befell them.

…but would like to see Pro Bowl Starter Von Miller starring in them. I 2nd this motion

The Broncos defense has not been the same since Von Miller got his hand surgically repaired. Von has one sack in the last four weeks and only Dumervil and Bailey have had decent games since they lost the huge play of “Mayhem”.  With Mayhem in the line-up but saddled with the big cast, the Broncos have been minus 8 in turnover differential the last two games, and have forced exactly zero turnovers. Good teams like the Steelers can be a minus in turnover differential and still win, and the Saints were minus 2 Monday Night in their shredding of the record books and Falcons. But an average team defined by being young and scrappy cannot afford offensive turnovers, and must shorten the field for the inexperienced offense by creating defensive turnovers. I have said many times that the term “playmaker” is over used when describing offensive players, as defensive playmakers really reset the tempo of a game. If the Raiders get into the playoffs by beating San Diego and the Broncos lose, they should send a fruit basket to Norv Turner’s boys for messing with Mayhem’s thumb. For those wondering, the pins are supposed to be in for a total of eight to ten weeks, which means mid February, which further means that a Broncos Super Bowl run is all the more unlikely.

As a Bronco fan since the days of Red Miller and fullback Dave Preston (#46, think he retired in 1981), December has been an especially cruel month in Colorado the last half decade, and this year looks much like the 2008 and 2009 collapses where Denver lost their last three and four in a row to miss the playoffs, despite controlling their own destiny.

Here is why that won’t happen, and Denver will get a tilt with the Terrible Towels next weekend at home (@wilsoncj14, I’m sorry, but the Ravens will come into sold out Cincy and leave victorious Sunday. ‘Tis true).

1.) Captain Neck Beard and The Two-Way Street. Much has been made of Kyle Orton’s knowledge of the Broncos playbook and tendencies. All media attention has been casting Kyle Orton as a Jason Bourne-type super-hero with superior knowledge of the inner workings of the Denver playbook. Did all that media forget that the Broncos defense lined up against him every day for 2.5 years and never had the pleasure of live fire drills? Kyle Orton is a brilliant practice quarterback and plays well when he has the lead. Kyle Orton like a well-defined pocket and takes what Trent Dilfer likes to call “good sacks” and makes “smart throwaways” to “preserve field position and get his team a field goal.” Kyle Orton and Trent Dilfer are actually one and the same person I think, except Trent was lucky to spend a season or two with the most voracious defense since the ’85 Bears when he won a Super Bowl with the 2000 Ravens. It was hard to play from behind with that defense. Neckbeard never enjoyed such luxury. Without good tight ends in KC right now, or good third down tailbacks as check downs, the way you get after Orton is to release the wolves. Dennis Allen comes from New Orleans and the Gregg Williams school of mad dog blitzes. Ryan Fitzpatrick had more weapons at his disposal last week then Orton will enjoy this week. After Dwayne Bowe and Jonathan Baldwin, Orton has few choices. Orton has been great between the 20′s in KC just as he was in Denver (599 yards passing in two weeks, or two months worth of Tebow-yardage), but his team has settled for six red zone field goals. Last week he threw two red zone picks. Just as Orton knows the Broncos playbook, the Bronco defense knows his hot buttons. He is immobile. He likes check downs. He has great difficulty converting 3rd and long. The Bronco defense never had the chance to lay the wood to Orton in practice, and I have to imagine Dennis Allen is salivating at the chance to send five and six constantly given Orton’s limited offensive arsenal.

Wait, was this the Broncos quarterback Christmas Eve?

2.) Tebow was due for a wretched game. Tebow’s best game of the year so far was actually New England, when he had high command of the offense and passed with great effectiveness. He was tomahawked on his fumble and contributed to the second quarter deluge, but played well throughout the game. Last week, he was wretched. He was worse than he was against Detroit. Some of that was play-calling, as the Broncos got away from running the ball in the 2nd quarter when they didn’t have to. A lot of that was Tim airmailing balls all over the place. The game plan in both the Detroit and Buffalo games called for a lot of pocket passing and put the offense on Tebow’s shoulders. Denver chose not to patiently wear out the opposition. Tebow is not yet, and may never be, a pocket passer. He looked a lot like Jake Plummer early in his career. The entire Tebow train is officially derailed, just like it was after Detroit and going into Oakland. The time has come when conventional wisdom says “I told you so” and that’s exactly the time when Tebow and the Broncos show up and find a way to win.

3.) Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins. Much has been made of the Broncos young safeties and their long-in-the-tooth veterans in their secondary. Raheem Moore has had a lousy rookie year, Chris Harris has been inconsistent, David Bruton is average. But there are two wily vets in Bailey and Dawkins that I think will turn the game. Bailey is one of the smartest defensive football players in the game, and is the best tackling shutdown corner in decades. Dawkins is hurt, but there is no way he will miss this game. Bailey almost left Denver in the offseason because the McDaniels era chapped him so badly, and John Elway’s first order of business was getting Champ back. Elway is given very little credit for that move. The man who was leading the cheers from the sideline during Tebow’s first big comeback in Miami was none other than Champ. And if you ask Tebow which guy he looks up to the most on the Broncos, it is Dawkins. Champ has a couple more great years left in the tank, but if the Broncos lose, this is probably Dawkins last game. One of these two, or both, will likely address the Broncos Saturday night. In a game where emotional edges are hard to manufacture, I like that one a lot.  The Chiefs by contract have an interim coach, an interim quarterback, three Pro Bowl players on IR, and a penchant for getting blown out.

I can see the Broncos losing a heart-breaker. Bronco fans have come to expect little of this team, and so it wouldn’t surprise me at all. But I think the Broncos win, and by more than two scores, 23-14.

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Rules of the Game

Posted on December 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Up late working tonight on the refined “system without systems” of 2012. Here is a new page to our Home-Selling System, titled “Rules of the Game”.

Both of us are parents of elementary school-age children. You know what board game we hate? Candyland. What does Candyland teach you? Draw the card and move your piece where it says to move it. Don’t ask questions. Don’t think. Just move your piece to pink or orange or green. Real life isn’t like Candyland.

Fortunately (or unfortunately!) for us, in each of our families, our kids are a little like us. They don’t like Candyland, either. They like games like Checkers and Sorry. Sorry is especially rough because it’s so not fair. You march your little pawn 3/4 of the way around the board and little Charlotte or Jeremiah draws a Sorry card and “Sorry, I’m swapping pawns with you!” and there they go from start to the end of the board. And they laugh, maniacally. Because they’ve just crushed us. They exploited a rule of the game to their advantage, and it thrills them.

Sound familiar? Sound a little like real estate? We don’t think $200,000 or $500,000 or a million is trivial and we don’t play games with our clients money. But we do think that real estate can be understood best if we engage our minds in a playful way. Every game has rules. Every game has standards that all players must abide by in order to be successful. Here are some of the rules of the game that we see to be true year in and year out.

  • LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
  • MONEY IS MADE ON THE BUY
  • SELLERS SET ASKING PRICES; BUYERS DETERMINE MARKET VALUE
  • BUYERS BUY VALUE
  • THOSE WITH POWER HAVE FEW NEEDS. THOSE WITH NEEDS
  • HAVE LITTLE POWER
  • THE HARDEST THING TO GAIN IS TRUST; THE EASIEST THING TO LOSE IS TRUST

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Football Sunday

Posted on December 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Nothing drives me as nuts as conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom takes many forms, including prevailing storylines that occupy everyones’ collective attention. A good analyst spots trends before they unfold, and much of what passes as sports analysis (or political analysis or financial analysis) is one talking head responding to another talking head. There is precious little imagination.

Relevant to the entire Rockies is the biggest Bronco game in six years. The last game that ever really mattered was the Broncos tilt with the Steelers in January 2006. My twins weren’t even born when that happened. That game followed the last truly big win in Bronco history, Tom Brady’s first ever playoff loss.

Strategy trumps tactics every time. With that in mind, here are three keys to the Broncs tilt with the Pats, and none of them directly involve the play of either Tom Brady or Tim Tebow. Of course, these keys don’t apply to how the Pats will win, this will either be a Pats blow out or a late game nail-biter when you know what can happen.

Key One: the Broncos Defensive Tackles. The only way you can plan to beat the Patriots is to beat Tom Brady. The only way to really fluster Brady is to get pressure on him, and there is no way you can consistently blitz six and leave only five in coverage on a guy that throws as accurately as Brady. Brady is not mobile and uses his huge size to see down the field from the middle of the pocket. That means that the play up the gut on the defensive side of the ball is enormously important. Marcus Thomas and Broderick Bunkley have been largely ignored on defense with the playmaking all round them from Von Miller, Elvis Dumervil, DJ Williams, Champ Bailey and even Robert Ayers on occasion. These guys have been great, but it is because the middle has held on the defensive front line. With the Broncos likely spending most of the game in nickel or dime packages, and with the small and fleet Wesley Woodyard on the field, Thomas and Bunckley getting sustained pressure will enable the playmakers to make plays.

Key Two: Willis McGahee. McGahee’s ride in the Rejuvenator has been enjoyable to watch and if anyone on the Broncos offense delivers a trip to Honolulu, it is Willis. If Willis goes for 100, it will be very hard for the Patriots to win. Quite simply, Willis runs hard, punishes defenses and keeps the ball away from the other team’s offense. Tebow gets a ton of well-deserved credit for his running and for making defenses honor eleven-not ten-runners. But the play of McGahee is critical to the Broncos fortunes. If Willis is shut down, it will be very hard for Denver to have any chance.

Key Three: Colquitt/Prater/Paxton. Lonnie Paxton was the first free agent signed by Josh McDaniels. Why spend $2 million on a long snapper? Well, he snaps pretty darn well and the team making the fewest mistakes often wins. More important, great special teams play turns games. The Broncos don’t turn the ball over and therefore, Prater is very accurate from beyond 50 and usually finds the deep end zone on knockoffs, and Colquitt has been All Pro. If Tom Brady is given a short field, ever, put six on the board for New England. But if he has to drive a long field time and time again, he will have t consistently beat the Broncos secondary and be subject to their pass rush.

All three of these keys have to fall in the Broncos hands to have a chance. If they don’t happen, Tebow has no chance, and their playoff chances could well be dashed.

Benjamin Day
719-331-9170
Benjamin@BenjaminDay.com
Www.BenjaminDay.com

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Social Media only works when you’re happy

Posted on November 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

Interesting.

I’ve blogged less since I came to Selley Group in November, 2010.

But look at my metrics since I joined.

I don’t get big blog traffic and I don’t want it. I want to talk to a small, but appreciative audience whenever I can. I believe in organizing a tribe. It’s a tiny little memento, but I had 2x as many blog visitors yesterday as I have had on any single day. But my voice is trending. If you’re looking for a single thought to organize what it is that I do, it is this: Build a Permission Asset.

Apparently, The Permission Asset “is happening” but it is also still under construction. I like the metaphor of “never complete.”

 

 

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Market Statistics for November, 2011 (or 2001?), Colorado Springs

Posted on November 9, 2011 | Leave a comment
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Juicy, Meaty, Relevant, Insightful and Not Afraid to Tell You So Market Data.

What would be stranger, a real estate market recovery or the Broncos winning the AFC West? Both would be pretty weird, right? As of November 8, 2011, all the data is in place for a real estate market recovery locally. That does not mean a market recovery is about to happen. It doesn’t even mean it should happen. It just means that it can. The only way it will happen is if consumers allow it, and by consumers, I mean both buyers and sellers. The market has 4.00% interest rates. There last time there were so few homes for sale in November it was 2001… as in ten years ago. So throw out “lots of inventory to choose from” because it is not true. There is tight inventory. There is only 5.22 months of inventory several months after peak season.

The last time the market was this good in Movember, was BEFORE Jake Plummer. But I couldn't bear the thought of putting a picture of Brian Griese up here.

Prices are down on average 4.5% for the year, yet there is only a 4 month supply of housing for properties under $275,000 where 78% of the transactions have occurred over the last 90 days. In other words: the real estate side of the ledger is really tight. And yet: an opportunity is only an opportunity if there is risk. Want a real thrill? I mean a real thrill? Jump out of an airplane. The speed. The rush of the air. The adrenaline. The catch: you have to jump out of an airplane. But boy… what an opportunity. The focus of the Stat Pack this month is to dial in on the personal rationalizations, dreams and hopes of people making elective home-buying and home-selling decisions. The seeds of 2012 market activity are sewn now, like tulip and crocus bulbs underneath the winter mulch. The eureka moments of “I don’t  need all this space”, “honey, did you see their master bedroom?”, “We need more space with twins coming”, “this commute has gone on long enough” tend to happen now, during the coming holiday season when individuals gather at other houses and formative real estate decisions germinate. As consumers begin to form their opinions and thoughts, they should do so with accurate information, but also, personal reflection and introspection. What are you trying to accomplish with your home sale? What’s your why? Why do you say you need more space? You said you wanted a nice master bathroom, but then you moved onto a benefit of “light and airy”… what will the benefit of this next purchase look like? Where will you be in life in two years? Ten? Do you want to be tied down to one place for at least a half decade? How much work around the place will your lifestyle allow? How many weekends are you willing to donate, vacation time and favors cashed in? How secure is your job? How much of your life is really under your control? The data says do it. Now what does your gut say?

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Our First Year at Selley Group: Pikes Peak Urban Living @ 1

Posted on November 1, 2011 | 2 Comments

This time last year, we were buying new signs, sending proofs to Santa Fe for new business cards, and in my case, cleaning out an office that had way too much stuff in it until 11:30 at night. The first “day in the office” was November 2nd, but Hannah Parsons and Benjamin Day joined the tribe at Selley Group one year ago today on November 1st, 2010.

I could have Photoshopped a candle onto the tree...

Both of us have experienced our best year ever. Hannah is closing five sides in six days right now. She has already had her best year ever, and I’m having my most profitable. But the signature of our first year together, which started with a lot of audacious, “we’ll do this better and that better” sorts of strategic planning is this: being.

Good writing isn’t supposed to use the passive voice in American English. You’re not supposed to get introspective and Shakespearean with your “to be’s and not to be’s”. The Bard was a deep thinker and what was going on beneath the surface – be it torment or motivation – was as important as what was going on above the surface. But American English doesn’t like the “passive” inner voice. It likes action verbs. It likes moving forward. The most American of presidents was Teddy Roosevelt, and he embodied everything American by constantly rushing forward in a whir. He was the Rough-Rider who took San Juan Hill for crying out loud.

Constantly rushing forward in a whir is tempting. Real Estate succumbs to 24/7 action-verb life pretty easily. On the surface, our production numbers this year are tangible metrics for what we’ve accomplished. They don’t even begin to tell the story however. The story starts in the passive voice of being.

This year has been a journey for both Hannah and I. Real Estate as an industry is in tumult. The failings of our industry caused the Great Recession and the continued sputtering in this enormous sector are continuing the malaise. We are surrounded constantly by the grouchy, the upside-down, the burned-out, the flighty and the burned. Real Estate for decades has embodied the American Dream for both practitioners and owners: start your own small business and be self-directed; enjoy the fruits, benefits and pride of home-ownership. Today, it embodies American Angst: live in fear of your business failing, act out of lack of trust, scheme, plot and scratch to keep your head above water; make all your decisions out of a spreadsheet, and allow the mistakes of the past to carry-over into the present and future where they are destined to reappear. We have begun year six of a less-than-thriving industry. The number of agents practicing in our business is down 40% from October 2007.

The origins of our partnership came from the problems of going 24/7 into American Angst, and the hope for something a bit better and more humane. There should be a little happiness in your work. You should have peers and allies. There should be a thoughtful perspective to share the results of a well test. There should be an empathetic listener when buyers’ choose to default. There should be a way to have a life for four or seven or fourteen days at a time without cell coverage. There should be a way to be a spouse and a parent without worrying about a transaction. There should be a way to not have to bring home the weight of so many burdens, every evening, every day.

Pikes Peak Urban Living is a joint marketing venture. Sometimes we share clients where I will do a listing and Hannah the buy side, and presently, behind the scenes, we are creating a fantastic, online, client-resource as a shared project. But what we’ve accomplished in our first year is a little more balance, a little more space, a little more focus, a little more perspective, and a little more presence. The culture of our business does not typically brag about increasing  value per hour or being able to stay at home with a sick child or carving pumpkins on the front lawn on a 65 degree Sunday afternoon, but that’s what we wanted to be about when we started this 365 days ago, and that’s what we are becoming.

And there is that passive verb, yet again. It’s a journey. It’s not defined by actions and activities and  metrics achieved and other metrics unfulfilled; instead, it is defined by Hannah being able and wanting to rush out  to cover an appraisal appointment for me last Friday night when an appraiser scheduled an appraisal on a vacant house on 2 hours notice (instead of the usual 1-2 days) and I had Trunk or Treating with the kids and Amy was in Virginia. Or me covering for Hannah tonight at an appointment with an architect because she’s supposed to be at a closing that got delayed, and Bob can be home at that hour to be home with sick kids.

If this sounds to you like it’s all about us, well you bet it is. And if you’re wondering how this benefits you, ask yourself this: do you want an agent that’s tired, burned-out, making short-cuts in life and has no money in their bank account and therefore cannot give you advice without personal sacrifice or compromise? Or do you want someone that has an ally, a larger perspective and is making sustainable business decisions with constant accountability?

After one year, we can’t say at all “Mission Accomplished.” We’re on a journey. We’re trying to live a better story. We’re embracing the “be”. We can say we have cut superfluous chatter, reduced distractions, given it our all, and been happier with our business than we have in years.

Thanks for journeying with us as we embark on year two.

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How to HUD: Part II. Tips and Suggestions from a local program facilitator

Posted on October 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

This is essentially a guest post as it is entirely a re-print (with permission) of an email Re/Max Properties Clement Team just sent out. I’m not sure how many agents actually received this, but the quality of the email is very, very high.

HUD deals are tough. They no longer pay up to a 5% commission, and they’re still based on net to HUD (price less commission less closing cost concessions) so I have the feeling fewer agents are working them. They also require a $100 key chain of keys once you’re under contract and have more expensive inspections (no utilities on, need air-pressure tests, etc.). The bottomline however is that they remain one of the very best deals out there, especially for owner-occupants. I just closed one earlier this month and am showing another today to an investor. Like any good deal, they take time, patience, and a sense of humor.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF THE CLEMENT TEAM, RE/MAX PROPERTIES COLORADO SPRINGS on October 28, 2011

RE/MAX Properties, Inc
Helpful HUD Information

1. Buyer Education
2. $100 FHA Down Payment Program
3. Common Contract Errors
4. Helpful Closing Hints
5. Contract Extensions

Greetings!
The following contains some helpful information when your buyer is considering the purchase of a HUD owned property.

Buyer Education

Meet with your buyer and EDUCATE him on the bidding process, requirements, expenses, etc. before submitting a bid

All HUD homes are sold AS-IS. Under no circumstances can any repairs be made prior to closing.
Bids are reviewed nightly and ranked by a computer (bids must be in by 11:00 pm MT to be counted for that day). This includes weekends, even though the bids are not reviewed on the weekend, Fridays bids will be reviewed first, if there is not an acceptable bid, then Saturday bids will be opened, etc.
The highest net to HUD wins
After a bid is acknowledged the fully executed contract and all addenda, pre-qual, EM check, etc. must be sent overnight to arrive within 2 business days to the Asset Manager.
All documents must be original signatures in blue ink
Please plan accordingly if your buyer is going out of town
Investors CANNOT get earnest their money refunded – Advise preliminary inspections prior to submitting a bid
A $150 fee must be submitted to the Field Services Office for permission to activate the utilities during the winterization period
If the utilities have been off for an extended period, a contractor may have to pull a permit and have the system (gas and/or electric) inspected prior to activation. The permits cost about $54 plus the amount the contractor charges. Don’t forget that some utility companies charge an account activation fee (CSU charges $30 to activate).
A typical home inspection costs $300-$350 and if there is an issue, the report is needed as substantiation to get the earnest money refunded for owner occupant buyers.
The plumbing can always be pressure checked if permission is not obtained to activate the water in the home. Cost is about $150-$200 to test.
HUD does not provided Title Insurance – this is a buyer expense that can be included in the closing costs (line 5 of the purchase agreement)
Appraisal fee – The FHA appraisal that was performed prior to listing is available to the successful bidder

$100 FHA Down Payment Program

1. Are all properties eligible for this incentive?
A. No, only properties advertised to the general public that are eligible for FHA financing including the 203K loan program with owner occupant buyers quailfy. Properties advertised through HUD’s Good Neighbor Next Door programs are NOT eligible for this incentive.
2. Is the $100 down payment incentive available to investor buyers?
A. No. the $100 down payment option is available for owner occupant buyers only.
3. Is the $100 down payment incentive available to nonprofits?
A. No. Nonprofit organizations have established discounts that are already in place. This incentive is not available for use by nonprofits.
4. Does the type of financing impact whether or not my buyer(s) can take advantage of the $100 down payment incentive?
A. Yes. The $100 down payment incentive is available only to owner occupant buyers using FHA financing to purchase their home.
5. My buyers were awarded a bid on an eligible property and started out using conventional financing. They would now like to switch over to FHA financing. Can they take advantage of the $100 down payment incentive?
A. Yes. So long as the property meets the eligibility requirements for the incentive, buyers can change financing and still take advantage of the $100 down payment incentive.
6. If my buyer uses 203(k) financing to purchase a home, can they take advantage of the $100 down payment incentive?
A. Yes. Please be aware that the 203(k) program may be used only on properties listed Uninsurable (UI). However, FHA also offers a financing option designated “Streamline 203(k)”. Streamline. 203(k) financing can be used on properties listed Insured (IN) or Insured with Escrow (IE).
7. Will the use of the $100 down payment incentive impact the net sales price?
A. No. Using the $100 down payment incentive has no bearing on the calculation of the net sales price.
8. My buyers won the bid but bid more than the appraised value to ensure that they would win. Can they still buy the home for $100 down?
A. No. FHA guidelines require that the buyers still have to bring in the “overbid amount” in the form of cash as part of the down payment. Obtaining a second appraisal to justify the overbid to receive the $100 down payment incentive is NOT allowed.
9. How long will this incentive program last?
A. At this time, HUD has indicated the program will be in effect through October of 2012.

Common Contract Errors

1. Buyer forgets to initial Line 12.

2. Name on contract does not match the name on the bid.

3. Financing type on the contract needs to be the same as when the bid was placed.

4. On the Lead Based Paint Addendum the Broker MUST initial where required. DO NOT USE CHECKMARKS.

5. Lender Letter does not indicate all the required items: loan type, loan amount, sales price, credit verified and name, title, contact information and signature of loan officer.

6. Money orders or other certified funds for earnest money MUST be made payable to HUD or Buyers name.

7. Dollar amounts on lines 5, 6a, 6b, & 7 do not match the bid.
8. Buyer or Broker signs in HUD’s space.
9. Authorization letter not included for agent to sign on behalf of broker
10. Not following all instructions on the correction email. Second revisions are coming in with NEW errors because they did not compare to original contract.

Helpful Closing Hints

Make sure the lender is only sending FINAL figures to American Title – any changes to the numbers means the clock starts over
Allow 8 business days for closing after Final figures are sent to American Title
American Title prepares HUD-1 for lender and realtor approval (2-3 business days)
Approved HUD-1 is mailed out to seller, HUD who has 3 business days to review and approve the closing package, sign and return it by mail. (4 days)
Closing package must be received 1 day prior to closing
Total of 8 business days
Any changes to HUD-1 will restart the entire process
Be aware of the contract expiration date! EXPIRED CONTRACTS CAN NOT BE REINSTATED OR CLOSED.
Request for an extension must be submitted as outlined below no less than 1 day prior to contract expiration. If you do not have a closing scheduled and it is 8 days or less to the contract expiration date, go ahead and file for the extension!

Contract Extensions

To request an extension request the following must be delivered to American Title:
Extensions are purchased in blocks of 15 calendar days.
A complete extension request form signed by the buyer.
You must use the correct form for the Asset Manager to whom the file is assigned. Incorrect forms will not be accepted.
Check the extension fees scheduled for the correct amount required.
Matt Martin assets – the fee is a flat $375.00 regardless of purchase price.
Pemco and Hometelos assets – fees as follows:
i.     $25,000.00 or less the fee is $150.00
ii.     $25,000.01 to $50,000.00 the fee is $225.00
iii.     $50,000.01 and over the fee is $375.00
All extension fee checks must be made payable to HUD (certified funds only). No personal checks or cash will be accepted. Wires are acceptable.
Extension requests must be submitted to American Title, preferably five business days prior to expiration date of the contract, but no less than 1 day prior to expiration
The buyer is only charged for the days that are actually used, any unused days will be refunded to the buyer

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Pikes Peak Urban Living at ONE: How Aeschylus birthed The Stat Pack

Posted on October 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Imagine 32,  19 and 20 year olds learning (in some cases literally) at the feet of two professors who are married to each other in a class that covers everything in Western culture from The Bacchanalia to Freudian libido. It’s a large, sunny family room of a Victorian, mining-era home with wing chairs, chaise lounges, dreadlocked freshmen in thermarest loungers, towering first-line hockey players and a half dozen people who easily could have gone to Williams or Yale but thought the winters in New England would suck and therefore, came west to be intellectually fabulous and a mere two hour drive from Breck in their late model 4Runner. Everyone in the room is smarter than you. In the classroom are several future attorneys, surgeons, human rights activists, an individual that to this day is one of the brilliant political puppeteers in all of Colorado and yours truly. It’s the 1994 edition of Colorado College’s Greek History and Philosophy.

To keep it simple, here’s a Wikipedia synopsis of Aeschylus’ amazing Orestia, specifically Agamemnon.

The play Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων, Agamemnōn) details the homecoming of Agamemnon, King of Argos, from the Trojan War. Waiting at home for him is his wife, Clytemnestra, who has been planning his murder, partly as revenge for the sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia, and partly because in the ten years of Agamemnon’s absence Clytemnestra has entered into an adulterous relationship with Aegisthus, Agamemnon’s cousin and the sole survivor of a dispossessed branch of the family, who is determined to regain the throne he believes should rightfully belong to him.

You wonder why the Greeks are rioting. They used to be great.  Clytemnestra is a 2600 year-old example that life is not resolved in a P&L. Agamemnon just won the flipping Trojan War people… he’s the conquering hero of the age. Clytemnestra, if motivated by a profit-motivation, is in the proverbial catbird seat. Her man is home, and her man owes. Instead, cause does not equal a neat and tidy effect, and she murders him. You really have to read Aeschylus (preferably out-loud with others, make some spanikopita, get some grape leaves and wine, it’s fun) to get the full effect of this early heroine of feminism’s motivation. Let’s just say it is timeless because life doesn’t work in mechanical input-equals-output ways. It is timeless because it is eerily true in a way that surprises us with it’s unpredictable familiarity. To accelerate the gamut of emotions, it’s something like this: “Wait… she did what? That way? Wow. Yeah. I could see that. Wow.”

Fast forward two decades and Aeschylus is as relevant as he was 2600 years ago. My advisor at CC said “there is truth, and then there is the meta-truth”. She was talking about the dot and the dot and the dot that people see as life’s datapoints… and then the artistry that was woven between those dots. To use math language, what if the dot and the dot and the dot that we see from a distance on one plain as a triangle are actually being influenced by poles on two additional planes… how will we know to even look for those poles? Well, immersion in the Classics (and Philosophy, and Political Theory and Ancient Language and all four major epochs of western history) has a way of getting one’s brain past simple face value. We read the Orestia in a night, then read large chunks in the round with assigned parts, and debated and tore it apart for three hours straight with two phenomenal teachers who usually didn’t agree with each other. Sure, knowing the facts and details is important for the bucket list of education; but knowing why it all worked the way it did, and how other examples can later unfold, that’s something else entirely different and far more potent.

People who buy their residence based on Excel are usually the same ones selling a year later. They came to a vital decision in what academia calls STEM-thinking (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). STEM-thinking allows you to see  clearly all the objective pieces (the dots), even all the objective pieces interacting on the board. But it doesn’t tell you how they might interact on the board, why they interact, why things are not always mechanical or systematic… and it also doesn’t tell you to look for outside influences that can break down the relational structures. Mechanical STEM-thinking hates things like “personality”.

And if this all sounds like high-minded, ivory-tower horse pucky, well, it is horse pucky, but it ain’t ivory tower. A social psychology professor friend (CC ’97, represent!) posted this great article from The Economist today on Facebook, the need for more anthropologists on Wall Street. The Economist, an international standard-bearer of rational, empirical thought, is puffing up a colleague over at The Financial Times, another standard-bearer of the left-brain P&L crowd. And one of the sharpest tacks out there is a Cambridge educated Ph.D in… anthropology. Gillian Tett predicted a credit-default-fueled implosion in 2005, largely because she understood inter-personal relationships. To quote: “But the other thing is, if you come from an anthropology background, you also try and put finance in a cultural context. Bankers like to imagine that money and the profit motive is as universal as gravity. They think it’s basically a given and they think it’s completely apersonal. And it’s not. What they do in finance is all about culture and interaction.” This line of thought sees financial crises before they happen. It explains why banks, who are in the money of usury, are not lending money to suitable borrowers (inventing metrics for trust and relationships). It explains the political ramifications and vendettas of our present day.

What Hannah and I do in real estate, finance, economics, is far more about culture and interaction then it is about a gravitational attraction to profit. Today I got to speak to someone that was looking for 500 acres to lease for wild horse habitat. There is, let’s see, exactly no money to be made in this project if I’m thinking like a banker. Like, um, nothing. And since most 500 acre land owners in eastern Colorado subscribe to the theory of highest and best use (see Banning-Lewis Ranch and it’s dangerous infatuation with gas leases of late) putting a very small number of horses that need huge range on an oversized property is what economists call “a sunk cost”. How do Hannah and I see that? First, educate on the prevailing winds of sunk cost, but then flush out the angle of what the opportunity cost looks like: Good will. Story-telling. Common hearts. Who are the players. How do we get Catamount Institute involved? Who in CC’s Environmental Science Department might be a catalyst? Can we get media, the visuals are superb, but media will likely have to pay for a night’s lodging with the day long drive to Montana so we really need to craft a home run here to get them on-board… etc.  What will Hannah and/or I make on this? Are you serious? Anything? Probably nothing. In the short-term.

Will we learn something? In the short and long-term, we will.

We don’t have it nailed. Goodness no, we don’t. That’s why we don’t do this blog for SEO. We do it for a finite audience that wants something different, who doesn’t trust easy answers and wants to make lasting decisions of value.

The Stat Pack is well into it’s sixth year, bigger, fuller, richer with more data than ever. About 85% of the Stat Pack is data and charts. What we do differently is that 15% of subjective. It allows us to craft lessons and strategies that are not as universal as gravity and are completely personal.

 

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Posted in Colorado Springs Real Estate, Market Data, Real Estate

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Resource Email (October 2011 Update)

Posted on October 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

<UPDATED OCTOBER 11, 2011> Hannah and I combined are going to end up around $16 to $18 million in sales this year… without an assistant. The shared web of resources we have cultivated (not to mention the peer support through one of the craziest years of our lives) has made this possible. Because we have consistently refined our system, we felt it necessary to update this post from February.

And yes… it grew by 600 words. Hee hee.

Part of utilizing 19 years of combined experience is a depth of allies. Hannah and I use several of the same people for several of the same functions, but have each introduced the other to new resources that deepen our clients’ experience. From REALTOR.com to Harris Interactive to REAL Trends, studies typically report that 90% of all consumers who buy a home start their home-buying experience online; with our client base being slightly younger than average, we know our numbers are 95% to 99%. So one of the things we do as a way of introduction is introduce our new people to resources that are online, and our resources that are local, so they can begin their process from a position of strategic strength.

I’m cheating of course, and creating a blog post out of a sent email. It’s been a couple years, and Rob, I’m sure you’re thrilled to see that I’m back at it; but here goes: The Resource Email BlogPost. Bookmark for your next friend that you refer our way. :)

This resource email is a bit of a boilerplate and isn’t terribly personal. But a bit of our story and why these resources are important to us is reflected in the email.

www.BenjaminDay.com or www.HannahParsons.com.

BenjaminDay.com

Content-wise, everything is up and ready on our sites. These sites host a lot of information that you can use before, during and after a transaction. There is an IDX-search site, a term that means that you can search the live MLS. Our monthly market report, the Stat Pack is archived here (and found quickly at www.cosrealestate.com). Additionally, the 2011 Annual Report and Forecast is here. I can provide you with a hard copy if you would like one. Our buying process is summarized here and our recommended vendors can be found here. The underpinnings of our business approach are to educate our clients with measurable, objective data when they enter the market (buyers and sellers, both). We believe that it is important that our clients have as deep an education as they can handle in how the market works because the market rules how the game is played. Other companies flatter us with their imitation of the Stat Pack (one company uses the same name), but this is the original report, originating in April 2006 (ironically, the month the market tipped). We are also the only real estate organization that has produced annual reports for each of the last four years, and have projected the single-family sales numbers with 95% accuracy each of the last three years. This is a bit geeky, but it’s also user-friendly. It has charts, it has graphs, it has numbers, it has analysis, it has bottomline answers, it has national perspective, local perspective and micro-market perspective. It’s eight pages of goodness and we want you to at least skim through it. Please. Pretty please.

REALTOR.com: the behemoth of real estate, this is supposed to be current within 15 minutes of MLS listing and is the best place to see photos of properties. I say supposed to be because that is not our experience. We find it up to five days out of date. It is not the best place to get great mapping information or anything that is more personal, or connecting. But it is a good place to see photos and which homes stand out. Remember, REALTOR.com is not an even playing field, even though the name sort of implies that it is all REALTORS collaboratively working together to disseminate listings: I personally pay for premium positioning and add features for my listings. Just because a property is not displayed well (even over a million with only 16 photos and no additional text descriptions, a common occurrence), this should not be a reflection of the property. If you see something here that you want more information about, cross check it at www.PikesPeakUrbanLiving.com or simply text or email us.

<UPDATED!> Yahoo and Zillow.com merged this past March, and now they are the number one site for search. Yahoo is great for syndication purposes (putting real estate on many different web channels) and is outstanding for REALTORS to market their services. Zillow is where our consumers are increasingly spending a lot of their time.

Zillow.com: has become the go-to site for most of our clients, young and old. We are rare in the industry in that we’re big fans. It now showcases most of the listings for sale, and is data-rich. Zillow zestimates are heavily subjective, and that is why most agents pan the site critically. The truth is, we have seen firsthand that Zestimates can be very accurate in any part of town. It also more often than not is a good projector of final selling price. Saying that, it is far less accurate when there is greater price elasticity in a neighborhood (something Hannah and I are big fans of as a concept, it’s where you make your money in any investment, especially real estate). Example: one 3000 square foot home could cost 25% more (or less) than another 3000 square foot home in the same or similar area. That’s pretty elastic. Or, one 3000 square foot home could cost 8% more (or less) than another 3000 square foot home in the same area. That is not very elastic. Most of the nicer neighborhoods built in the 1970′s through 2000 on the westside fall are elastic to heavily elastic, and then there is our historic downtown and The Broadmoor. Zillow is only as good as the data input, and it occasionally misreads the assessor’s site in terms of square footage or floorplan, which is the primary and most critical factor in determining price.

Not everyone uses Trulia.com but we like it for demographic information and trend-spotting. It is best known as a site where there can be all sorts of Q&A between prospective homeowners, lenders, REALTORS, and people who are bored and like to get 100 email alerts a day to answer questions about high-tension powerlines in Dubuque. It’s also a great site to mine for ethics violations, but that’s a REALTOR joke. Moving on: this is a very interactive site, and that’s their niche. The problem for consumers with highly interactive real estate websites is that other agents use these as lead generators, and truthfully, agents love to respond with general, non-specific information about all sorts of things they don’t know much about. So it’s not at all uncommon to ask a question about Colorado Springs and have some one from Laguna Beach answer it. Trulia is a true social site because it is about starting conversations, and if you wanted to ask subjective questions about a neighborhood, this is a good place to do it, because fair-housing should be followed and it’s free. I should note that Zillow has a similar Q&A feature, but you’re less likely to get consumer feedback, and very likely to get broker feedback.

www.pprbd.org:  showcases permit history for the county. This is a great place to see if that roof was really replaced after that hailstorm, or if the homeowner replaced that water heater with a buddy and a six-pack or if they hired a licensed trade. No one is really sure where the gap is, but it appears that online permit history is sketchy 1997 to 2002 on this site. You just don’t see a lot of permits for those years. I still advocate using it.

www.springsgov.com: is technically, the most accurate demographic site, crime site, interactive site. The city provides a lot of information for public perusal. You can link to Trails and Open Space and almost every other entity in the city from here.

http://land.elpasoco.com: is the assessor site and the mapping on it is superb. I use this all the time. Not much in our city government works as well as this site. It’s a very good place for instance to go and pull a plat map on a property and see if that advertisement for open space is actually city-owned open space, or something Jeanine Richardson bought and intended to develop into office condos. How you would do this is input the address you’re looking for, when it pops up select the map, and then simply click on any of the surrounding parcels to find out who owns it. Probably way too much information for buyers just looking online right now, but hopefully it comes with the peace of mind that we will be able to drill down onto some of the specific use issues quickly when you’re looking at property here.

Wanna look for foreclosures? Like the assessor’s site, our trustee’s site is impressive. Call it a nice consumer-centric response to a whiny populace, but in a city where people are constantly appealing their low tax valuations (Assessor) and where we were in the national vanguard of major foreclosures (leading the nation in ’87 & ’88, Top Ten counties nationwide in 2007 and early 2008, that would be the Trustee’s job), the county got smart and made a slick site. You can find ANY foreclosure action on a property in the calendar year on this site. You can search by name, zip code, street, neighborhood, and go back in time with date ranges. It’s great. If you’re a buyer and you’re worried about foreclosures in the townhome complex you like… pay this site a visit.

While we are talking foreclosures, let’s cut to the chase on where to find those suckers. Yeah, that’s right, we said suckers.

Our favorite is www.Homepath.com. That’s because we like getting paid for our work, and these are Fannie Mae foreclosures. Fannie Mae prices their properties right, they’re usually not criminal in their condition, they winterize them before stuff explodes, they pay to de-winterize when you inspect them, and they don’t blink at closing costs. Conventional buyers can buy them with as little as 3% down (inflated rate, but not much) and no mortgage insurance. We almost like www.HomeSteps.com as much, this is the sister quasi-government entity, Freddie Mac’s way of wholesaling properties. Freddie Mac offers some weird two-year home warranty and usually takes more steps to improve property condition before reselling. They don’t price them as well and they’re laborious as all get out in getting deals closed. In both cases, they offer programs in the initial offering for primary resident purchasers only. Investors can come in after 15 days usually. After about 30 days and no contract, Homepath especially will make an aggressive price cut.

Way down the list of foreclosure sites is www.HUDHomestore.com. You can read more about Ben’s personal sentiments of HUD properties in this post which is one of my five most popular posts all time. The new site is a lot better, but HUD homes are a bit more of an adventure and they’re a lot more expensive to inspect for buyers. They also lack the cool $100 down program these days. They still do offer Good-Neighbor Next Door programs for primary resident Teachers and First-Responders.

VA, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and small, local or Colorado bank-owned properties? These list in the MLS. That’s where a custom automated search from us to you is likely necessary. All our clients, once seasoned online, get custom searches, as many as they need (one client this year had 16 different automated searches going on at once).

www.spotcrime.com and www.familywatchdog.us are two “popular” sites for researching crime statistics and other nasty information about areas. Like anything, these sites are only as good as their data, and we don’t endorse either site or any crime-related research site and recommend you use as you choose. We cannot and will not advise you on whether or not a neighborhood is safe. Please keep this in mind about any site that has the intention of showing crime information: it is a lens into the past, not an oracle of the future. As the stock guys say, past performance is no guarantee of future returns. It is very important
that you clearly communicate your impressions of neighborhoods to us as we
cannot enforce our own subjectivities on your lifestyle.

If you would like to see a copy of the Colorado Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate, a Residential Listing Contract for a Residential Property or Brokerage Relationship (Buyer), we would be happy to send you one via E-Contracts along with the Definitions of Real Estate Relationships. E-contracts is a life-saver for agents, but is usually seen at first as a nuisance by buyers and sellers because the signatures are so shaky-looking. But they usually end up being a great time reducer and have become the standard in our community among agents. We usually like to meet and strategize for 30 to 60 minutes with buyers before showing properties, then show a sample of properties that represent the width and breadth of opportunities for the customers. If this process goes well, at that point we ask for a Buyer Agency contract. This contract is a two-way street and we are a good bit more selective in who we work with; we are talented at what we do, and we offer several very unique services that most brokers do not. We are
strategic negotiators, effective communicators and our personal name and
brokerage have high credibility with real estate peers. Correspondingly, we work with clients that want those skills and reputation working for them, and are willing to work within some of the “constraints” that system provides in order to
reap the privileges and benefits it produces.

Lenders: Colorado went from the least regulated state in the nation for
lending to one of the most severely regulated in 2009. We were in “the
vanguard” of criminal lending activity and the number of licensed lenders
has been sliced in half by these regulations. Correspondingly, it is
critical that a buyer have an ally in the lending process.

We have a number one… and a number one… and a number one. You’re in
great hands with one of these three:
Jim Harmelink
ERA Mortgage
(719) 535-7405
jim.harmelink@mortgagefamily.com
http://jimharmelink.eramortgage.com

Tim Duvall
Academy Mortgage
tim.duvall@academy.cc
http://academymortgage.com/TimDuvall/

Marcy Langlois
Residential Mortgage of Colorado
719.265.5147
mlanglois@rmcolo.com
www.applywithmarcylanglois.com

We encourage you to contact AT LEAST TWO LENDERS EARLY IN YOUR HOME-BUYING PROCESS and do not be afraid to let them know you are shopping around. Each of our recommended lenders have attributes and skills that are unique and we want you to find a good fit. Every one of these lenders has pulled deals out of the fire that should have died and got them to the closing table. Quiz these individuals with your personal questions, your strengths and weaknesses and see what loan they recommend for you. We believe in helping clients make sustainable financial decisions, so do not worry about being over-qualified with any of these lenders; they respect the way we do business and are long-term minded, not transaction-minded. If it’s a toss up and you’re looking for the best loan, it is a good idea to request the same size loan at the same rate on the same day among lenders. Analyze the Good Faith Estimate that they will provide you with the same day, and compare the APR. Mortgage rates are volatile and you need to find out how and when you can lock your loan with each lender. Please allow 15 to 20 minutes per phone conversation when obtaining pre-approval. Hannah and I require Pre-approval in order to look at home (the only exception are cash buyers); it is completely in your best interest to look only at homes you can afford and be able to pull the trigger on an offer that represents you as a solid and straight-forward buyer if you find the right home. Pre-approval dramatically benefits your negotiating position; it requires a credit check and analysis of your assets and income verification. The better picture you present to a seller, the
better you are. If you are a VA customer, it’s a good idea to ask what fees are charged to sellers that are buyer non-allowables. This essentially is a cost of doing business, and it’s good to know as you have to make that request in the initial contract. Each of these individuals are EXTREMELY well-regarded locally. The value to you is that in this day and age no one in the real estate industry likes uncertainty. If a listing agent can tell their seller “this is a lender of strong regard and reputation” that buys you a couple thousand dollars in negotiating. Local agents are generally less enthusiastic about offers from several lenders not mentioned here, and they may convey that to their seller when presenting an offer. By the way, you should know that Hannah and I both authorize these lenders to be “jerks” in the pre-approval stage with the sheer number of questions they ask you. What that means: it is your responsibility to give them everything they ask for, and if you don’t have 100% certainty in an answer, please tell them that. This is not something you can skate through. If it can go wrong, it will. It is much better to get it all out on the table immediately and at the very beginning so you don’t end up finding out three days before closing that your loan is denied, you’ve lost your earnest money, you’ve moved out of your rental and you might have taxes on that fat check Mom and Dad gave you to buy your home. Seriously: please cooperate. Getting a loan stinks with any lender. These three really have your best interests at heart, so no matter how invasive it feels, it’s kind of like a surgery: everyone has a scalpel. Go with the person most skilled in using it who makes the smallest scar. We think we have three that fit that description.

A last note on lenders, many buyers have concerns about having multiple
credit inquiries. This is understandable. The reality is that you are allowed
multiple credit inquiries without it substantially impacting your credit (a dozen points or so) because your multiple inquiries are for the same purpose: primary residence home financing. It’s not a good idea to get a new American Express or check out car financing at the same time, as those are multiple inquiries for different intentions.

Inspectors:
Colorado does not license or certify home inspectors in anyway shape or form. It’s terrible. It’s stupid. Apparently there are more pressing legislative matters as there is no timeline for this to happen.

Since the state doesn’t regulate inspector actions, real estate brokers have the responsibility of policing inspectors and promoting the best.

Lance Heyward
A Precise Home Inspection
(719) 272-0100

Mark McCafferty
Criterium-McCafferty Engineering
(719) 685-2285

Dan Parillo
Housemaster Home Inspector
(719) 799-6409

We also regularly recommend a structural engineer. This is the guy who can tell you if the building is falling down, or in one case “no Ben, this is actually built like a parking garage. This thing is safe in an earthquake. Be afraid of the asbestos in the ceiling, instead.” He’s also a home inspector listed above, Mark McCafferty. Criterium-McCafferty is a trusted name in the engineering world, and if something looks like a big problem, or you have a little problem that will lead to a big problem (a sump pump that chronically won’t work), Mark’s your guy.

After all this information, you will notice that there is something
surprisingly missing: schools. If ever there was a place that sending
information online was suspect or lead to inaccurate information or quite
simply, problems, it’s online. Put simply, both Hannah and I are parents and
pretty involved with our kids’ education. The variety of things that are
important to parents are so wildly subjective and the information that is
promulgated online is intended to be as neutral and objective as possible,
that it becomes very difficult to find exactly what you are looking for. The
last thing we want is to make the process more frustrating. So we recommend
that you actually find out what you can using the sites school districts provide for general information, and then make phone contact with schools directly for more specific information. It never ceases to surprise out of town buyers how open and friendly and accessible the administrations are for many of the schools in the Pikes Peak Region. School choice deadlines are looming, so it’s a good idea to research that process (it is standardized and not subjective) at both school district websites.

Colorado Springs District 11 (central city, largest school district):
http://www.d11.org
Cheyenne Mountain D12 (southwest city, small and generally elite):
http://www.cmsd.k12.co.us/
Academy D20 (second largest, northern city):
http://www.asd20.org
Falcon D49 (eastern city):
http://www.d49.org
Harrison D2 (southern city near Ft. Carson and Peterson AFB):
http://www.harrison.k12.co.us/
Widefield D3 (southern city, near Ft. Carson): http://www.wsd3.org
Fountain/Ft. Carson D8 (on post): http://www.ffc8.org
Lewis-Palmer D38 (Monument, northern county): http://lewispalmer.org/
Manitou Springs D14 (Manitou and Ute Pass, tiny): http://www.mssd14.org/
Woodland Park DRE2 (Rural, west of COS): http://www.wpsdk12.org/

Our business. Hannah Parsons and I teamed up in
November, 2010 under the name Pikes Peak Urban Living. Combined, we have 19 years of experience in helping customers achieve financial stability through
sound real estate decisions. I have been in the real estate business for 12 years after spending three years in the fly-tackle industry helping a company build it’s brand entirely around best-in-industry customer service. Hannah’s prior career was in financial services and when she says that she likes Profit and Loss Statements and Spreadsheets, that’s her MBA speaking. We do not work the entire city, but together specialize and share resources, marketing collateral, vendors, processes and time to optimize our own business practices and personal well-being. Put it this way, there are a lot of burned-out real estate agents going around being all things to all people. Our structure is designed to keep us fresh,
rejuvenated and smarter than our competition. We both are married with
elementary school-age children. I live in D20 and Hannah’s
kids are in D11. We encourage one another and our families share time
together. In business, we look at significantly more property firsthand than
our peers. We construct detailed market reports to help individuals see
clearly what is going on in the market. We take more educational
opportunities than are required to deepen our knowledge. We ask lots of
questions. We are bloggers and social media pioneers that operate in a
transparent, consumer-centric way. We are active participants on multiple
boards and organizations in our community. The majority of our clients
recommend us to a friend or peer within 12 months, something we deeply
appreciate, but also something that is consistent with the framework of our
business: we show our appreciation for our clients by working hard in a
uniquely advantageous way for them, and many of them feel obliged to share
that story with those they trust. This is not an instruction  to start recommending us to your friends and family. But we don’t mind when you do, and that’s the gold-standard in our business: are we worth referring? Honestly, we better be. You deserve that care. That referrability is earned.

We are instructing you to have lots of questions and high expectations. And hopefully after reading a 4000 word blog post, you’ll see that we operate in a strategic fashion rather than a reactionary fashion. We have plans, systems and processes to enhance the home-buying experience with the intention of maximizing the benefit for our clients. That might limit certain hours that we see properties, or it might force us to substantiate plans with specific, actionable data. Our job is to make this process as smooth and as easy as possible, to mitigate risk and maximize opportunity.

Hannah’s contact is (719) 338-2755, hannah@hannahparsons.com. Ben’s is (719) 331-9170, benjamin@benjaminday.com. Each of us have our specialties and there might be questions better suited for a male agent, others for a female agent. You have access to us both. And feel free to text us.

A quick blurb about Selley Group: Hannah and I are enthusiastic to be at this
high-powered boutique brokerage. Cherise Selley is our broker. Cherise has as great a reputation as you can find in the city and happens to be a superb agent and a top producer. The three rarely mix in our culture, and that’s a big reason we are where we are. Cherise and her husband Gordon are internet pioneers in real estate and represent the new generation of consumer-centric business. There are only five licensed agents at the company, but all produce multiples more per year than the average agent, and all of us conduct ourselves with professionalism and respect for our peers. If for any reason you need to contact Cherise or Selley Group, the number is (719) 598-5101.

All our best to you, and we look forward to starting the journey together!

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Posted in Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs Real Estate, Relocation, Resources

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The Redfin Agent Scouting Report

Posted on September 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

"Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword" indeed...

Sometimes, someone else’s blogpost is so much more salient than anything I can write.

Other times, you have to head off the train. The Redfin Agent Scouting Report is such a train, and some agents will hate/be terrified/jump out of the way of this train.

In a nutshell, the Agent Scouting Report extracts MLS data on agents and maps it. Think about that for a second. Just like Congressman have to disclose who gives campaign donations, just like Fantasty Football uses Moneyball-style Sabermetrics, just like publicly-traded companies have to disclose their financial reporting, a private company (Redfin) extracts MLS information (constructed for and by local dues-paying members) on those practicing it and displays it in a mapped format showing who sold how much and where.

Glenn Kelman said (in)famously in the 60 Minutes piece 4.5 years ago “I work in the most screwed up industry in America”, and most of institutional real estate is going to hate Redfin all the more. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the Agent Scouting Report, but some of that has to do with my entrepreneurial-side saying, “Why didn’t I think of that first?”, and the other part is “I really don’t care.” I would have no fear that this information will show my occasional sales in BRI, N/E and TRI (I use the passive “would” because Redfin presently serves the Denver Metro Area, but not Colorado Springs, and I doubt they’ll enter our market anytime soon for economy-of-scale reasons) and I would like the fact that it shows how much I sell in N/W, and it actually really pleases me when it shows which listings I had that didn’t sell (strangely… they were overpriced!). I don’t think this information in the public’s hands would have any negative impact on my business model and can see how it would have a positive impact. But I’m practical like that, and I don’t get bent on polemics behind MLS data being used in ways that don’t support the monster-brokerage business model of 1999.

The major reason why The Agent Scouting Report won’t effect us much (for good or for bad) is that Pikes Peak Urban Living uses a word-of-mouth business model, not a production-centric business model. The Agent Scouting Report is another one of those attempts to distill everything down to a quantifiable, economic datapoint, and funny, I’ve never had a buyer buy a property due to overwhelming, quantifiable, economic datapoints, and thank goodness, I can’t think of a single client that worked with me for overwhelming, quantifiable, datapoint reasons. Hannah likely seconds this. The people who end up talking to Hannah and I end up talking to us because there is something “other” about us that they want access to. It could be that we don’t pretend to be smart about areas where we know nothing (um, Falcon. Park County. Southeast Colorado Springs. Broadmoor Resort Community). It could be that we use a defined system that sellers and buyers both readily understand carries a benefit for them (The Home-Selling Catalyst with pre-sale inspections, professional staging, professional photography, custom sites, social media distribution, use of Postlets and Zillow; Our Home-Buying System which calculates probability of sale, previews properties and leans on the knowledge of The Stat Pack to help facilitate a smart buy of a perfect property). It could be that we are accountable, honest, accessible, and like our employing broker Cherise Selley, tenacious on behalf of our people.

Hannah and I are both having our best ever financial years, with Hannah already at her highest-ever sales volume, and I’m on pace to have my 2nd highest year ever in terms of sales volume and units (better than 2005). Yesterday’s closing put me ahead of last year’s units. I have four more under contract and I’m working ten buyers that want to close in 2011. So the Redfin Agent Scouting Report is fine by us. Here is something else that’s fine by us: the “Why” behind why Glenn Kelman decided this was in Redfin’s best interests (from The Redfin blog, but courtesy of the brilliant lads at 1000WattConsulting):

In some cases, what you’ll see is that an agent at another brokerage is a better fit for that neighborhood, an inevitability that has been a source of great controversy within Redfin. Why would we ever help anyone realize that a Coldwell Banker agent is her best choice?

But once you ask that question, you’ve already framed the debate in terms of short-term consequences rather than long-term principles. It leads you down a path where every market analysis concludes that it’s a good time to buy, and every review of a Redfin agent is five-stars.

The world doesn’t need more brokers like that. It needs a broker who will just tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We’ll win more clients that way than we’ll lose — and we’ll win everyone’s trust.

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