I showed a house in Colorado Springs to some clients yesterday that was priced at the same level it was sold for, brand new, in 2002. Coupled with interest rates quotes that started at 3% for a 5 year conventional ARM, it struck me how much of a bargain homes are right now. In 2002, a $300,000 mortgage at 6% would have been a bargain (the average was 6.5%), with a PI payment of $1,798.65. With 8 years of landscaping, decorating (and yes, some wear and tear), the 3% rate would be only $1264.81. The same house!
In 2005 we bought a rental property with a 5 year ARM at 5.875%. If someone qualified for a $500,000 property with a $400,000 loan in 2005, their payment would have been $2366.15. In todays market, the same mortgage would be 3% or $1686.42. Or, keeping the payment about the same, they could buy a house for $650,000. Which in 2005 might have been closer to $800,000 or a $1 million!
While not every price range has been affected the same way with price drops, the drop in interest rates makes every house a bargain right now. Now if we could just come up with some more jobs for people so they can qualify 
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Both the number of sales, and prices for homes in Colorado Springs, increased in April. Sales were up 4.8% over 2011, and the median price was up 4.1%. The number of homes for sale was down 26.3%, helping prices stabilize. Interest rates remain in the 4% range, making home buying a bargain almost regardless of the price. The percentage of homes disclosed as distressed continued to drop, at 15.3% it is at one of the lowest points since mid 2007. When we moved here with our kids 21 years ago, one of the big attractions for us was that Colorado Springs is still a place where the wild things roam. I haven’t seen a bear in a while (though I have seen them, and one was just relocated from Cottonwood Creek last week!), but we regularly see deer, foxes, and beautiful birds such as the mountain bluebird. When venturing out a little further we’ve seen mountain goats and big horn sheep too. I’ve seen photos from people who have seen mountain lions and bobcats too, thought I personally have not had that privilege. Yesterday I was leaving the house to take a walk when my son came home, and mentioned a mother fox and a baby were out playing just around the corner from our house. I changed my route slightly, and ended up with this great 2 minute video of a mother fox and 5 babies playing.
I met the father of one of my clients this week. He is retired, from a profession that is a little notorious for not providing well for retirees. He shared a story with me that he said I could repeat, so here goes. At age 50, he woke up one night with the realization he had no retirement set aside. It was so frightening, he immediately set out to do something about it. He found an old fixer upper house that he thought he could handle, and scraped together the funds to buy it. He then did all the work himself to put it in good shape. Today, the house is paid for, and is still generating monthly income for he and his wife. The first house went so well, he bought a 2nd, and with some good negotiating, he was able to not only buy a bank owned home that had been on the market forever, but also got them to help him with some of the out of pocket costs of fixing it up, such as getting a furnace and air conditioning (the home is in the south). While this house isn’t paid for, he has lots of equity in it, and it is generating nice income for them. He was so grateful he had done something when he did. He now thinks in terms of helping his kids and grandkids through financial challenges they are facing, knowing he has provided for he and his wife. The strategy he used was the concept of ‘fix and hold’. Not ‘fix and flip’. Buying homes that are undervalued because they need work, turning them into nice homes, and renting them to people who need a place to live, and getting them paid off in the process. Sounds like a plan to me! While he did this in another state, this strategy can work in the Colorado Springs real estate market. Our high population of active duty military makes for a very active rental market (lots of demand). While we don’t have tons of homes sitting around waiting to be fixed up, there are enough of them to make it worth the effort. Funds for investors to do the fixups are not as available as we’d like, but resourceful investors are finding ways to get it done. And with interest rates so low, the loan servicing costs are amazing for the long haul. And with prices so low, the odds of experiencing appreciation in the future are high, hopefully allowing you ride off in the sunset with some money in your pocket. Prices for Colorado Springs real estate increased by 2.7% on average, and the median (1/2 below, 1/2 above) actually jumped 5% over March of 2011. Sales were down 6.8%, but the inventory of unsold homes was down 26.9%, causing some upward price pressure on the remaining homes for sale. “Based on information from the Pikes Peak REALTOR Services Corp. (“RSC”), for the period 1/1/05 through 3/31/12 . RSC does not guarantee or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by RSC may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.” Copyright © 2012 REALTOR® Services Corp. Questions about this data analysis should be directed to Rick Van Wieren, RE/MAX Properties, Inc, 1740 Chapel Hills Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80920 ph 719-590-4768 or email rick@ricksellscolorado.com Yesterday I was showing property out in Black Forest (northeast of Colorado Springs), and just HAD to write this blog. When we show real estate in Colorado Springs, the normal procedure is to call the listing office, request the showing, and then the listing office contacts the homeowner. After receiving permission, we go ahead with the showing. The buyers in this case were a little unsure of the location of the home, and just to be safe, I left a little early. There was no sign as it turned out, and I missed the driveway myself. In driving along the very long private drive, there were scary looking signs all along the way saying keep out, criminal trespassers will be prosecuted, etc. When I reached the house, it looked like people were home, as the garage was wide open, everything you could imagine was strewn over the driveway, and a large dog was running loose. My clients were not comfortable with dogs, so I called the listing office, and after using the automatic (press 2 to set a showing, etc) phone system, eventually was connected to the out of area showing service that handled showings for that office. The person on phone contacted the occupants. This time, they told me the people were not home, and had specifically asked for no showings this week, wanted 24 hour notice, left the house a mess, and would not remove the dog regardless, but I was still ok to show. I called my clients, and they decided not to bother, so I called back to cancel, and after 10 more minutes on the phone, eventually cancelled the showing and moved on to a house the buyers loved and wrote a contract on.
Single family homes in Colorado Springs sold at a healthy clip in February, up 14.7% from 2011 at 514 homes sold. The inventory of unsold homes dropped to a 10 year low of 3,174 homes, down 26.4%. Prices remained soft, with the average down 9.8% at $212,551. The median (1/2 above, 1/2 below) fell 7.2% to $176,750, and 90% of the homes sold were under $345,000, reflecting continued demand for entry level homes, and weakness at the high end. Yesterday I visited a new development about to have their grand opening party, Promontory Point. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they’ve already sold 22 homes while trying to get the model park together. This is the first major new project to open in the Monument / North Colorado Springs area in a while, and while it is not the only place to get a new home built in northern El Paso County, it is one of the nicest, with fantastic views, a choice of floor plans from both Classic Homes and Vantage Homes, great D38 schools, and prices in the mid $300′s to mid $400′s. Minutes from I25 access and the Jackson Creek shopping centers, this development looks like a winner. Home sales in Colorado Springs ticked up again in January, by 3% over January of 2011. The inventory of unsold homes also shrunk, to only 3,156 homes, a 10 year low. The bad news was that prices also shrunk, with the average down 2.9% from 2011 and the median down 4.3%. The lower prices are likely affected by the mix of distressed properties, 23.8% of total sales. January prices are usually the lowest of the year, because they reflect contracts from December that often include homes that are distressed and are being cleared off the books by motivated asset managers at the banks. When newcomers ask me about renting a house in Colorado Springs, it makes me smile a little inside, because once more begins the age old question of rent vs buy. Don’t get me wrong, renting is the best answer for some people based on factors that go way beyond just the financial issues. Some people CAN’T buy right now because of credit, debt or job factors, and some people SHOULDN’T buy because of their job situation, etc. But for those that can, here are some hard facts.
There are lots more reasons for buying Colorado Springs real estate vs renting a home, but you can see it’s good sound business.
With a new year comes new hope. Sometimes that hope is even based on fact, which is the case for the Colorado Springs real estate market. Those facts are:
It’s not all good news. Prices fell in December (the average was down 9.6%, the median 6.8%). There is still uncertainty in the world economy. International developments could put our troops back in harms way, or escalate the number required where they currently are deployed.
But for now, there is hope for the Colorado Springs real estate market. Probably even more than for the Denver Broncos to advance in the playoffs
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