Metro Brokers 2011 Board Of Directors

       Candidate - Video Profiles

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          Joe Bennell           VIDEO PROFILE

          Joe Bingham                VIDEO PROFILE

          John Braswell       VIDEO PROFILE

          Ty Dokken             VIDEO PROFILE

          Darrell  Evangelista VIDEO PROFILE

          Dirk Freeman           VIDEO PROFILE

          Hossein Tolooee    VIDEO PROFILE

Posted in Board Of Directors, Industry Leadership, Announcements

Home prices in the metro Denver area are on the rise.  The Denver Business Journal reports that prices have risen from 1.2% to 6% in April, in year over year comparisons.

"That does not surprise me," said Sunny Banka of Metro Brokers Sunny Homes in the Denver Tech Center. "It should show the market is going up because of the low inventory and I believe we have a lot more buyers in the market."

Home prices in Denver are higher than the national average- which showed a year-over-year price decline of 0.8 percent, excluding distressed sales (short sales and "real estate owned" transactions). With those distressed sales, the national HPI fell even farther - 2 percent from February 2011, stated the article.

A renewed interest in the market has begun in Denver.  Banka believes that home prices in Denver have already hit bottom and will continue to climb and with the recent slight increase in interest rates, buyers see a window of opportunity closing.

Read the full story at The Denver Business Journal.

Read: The Market Won't Get Any Better Than This! It's Time to Buy!

Posted in Press Room, Buyer Resources

It's a challenge to sell a vacant home.  When the home is empty of furniture, the buyers tend to focus on flaws such as carpet wear, nail holes and gaps in the moldings, instead of how the space flows. And this can drive the price down.

"Home owners don't realize how much harder a vacant home is to sell. In today's market, you have to win the beauty contest," says Thomas Scott, VP of Marketing at Showhomes, a home staging company. "Vacant houses simply underperform staged homes and the increased sales price provides an excellent return on what staging costs. Choosing to stage your home should be an easy decision in today's market."

If you have to move out of your house before it sells, use these tips from BankRate.com to help you keep it secure:

Insurance:  Make sure your insurance covers your empty home.  "Both your insurance company and your lender need to know if you move out, particularly because they will want to know you have taken some precautions to protect the property from damage," says Veronica Gonzales, a REALTOR® in Albuquerque. 

Make the home look occupied:  Just like when you leave on vacation, set up a few timer lights and have someone check on the home frequently to make sure the doors are locked and there are no flyers sitting at the front door.  "You can even set an alarm as a deterrent, which works even if you don't have it monitored because the sound will go off whenever a door or window is opened." suggests Gonzales.

If you have window blinds, turn them upward so people can't see in and notice that the property is empty, but it still lets in light for prospective buyers.

Keep up with the yard and have someone inspect the house regularly for any damage, such as frozen pipes.  "Use a programmable thermostat to keep the house relatively cool in summer and warm enough in winter," says Linda Zenker, an agent in Virginia. "Make sure you change the battery before you move out and change the batteries in the smoke detector. A beeping battery signals that the house has been neglected."

"You should also occasionally run the water in the faucets, run the dishwasher and flush the toilets to make sure everything is working and to eliminate sour smells from unused systems." adds Zenker. 

Stage Your Home:  The best way to sell your home is to stage it.  "Without people, even the best home quickly looks and smells vacant. Dust settles, leaves scatter, and stale smell spreads. These cues often shorten the showing time, leading to fewer sales." says an article on Showhomes.com.

"In many locations, organizations such as Showhomes and Homes in Transition place temporary tenants in your home along with their furniture in order to give a home a lived-in look." says the article. "The tenants maintain the home and are required to make it available to buyers and real estate agents at all times. Depending on the company and individual arrangements, hosting a short-term tenant could be free for the homeowner or require a small fee." 

"I recommend Homes In Transition for every vacant listing I get." says REALTOR® Hector Pimentel in Albuquerque.  

A few other staging tips and tricks from real estate agents include:

-Putting up a shower curtain and placing towels in the bathroom.
-A bowl of fake fruit and a wine bottle in the kitchen.
-Setting the table, add a few plants and maybe an outdoor table and chairs.
-Placing an area rug in a large room helps to define the living space.

"I'll sometimes leave a few books or toys in a small bedroom so that the kids can play while the parents look around," says CJ Wright, a REALTOR® in Florida. "I also put a wicker chair with a throw and a book in the family room or sitting room, or movies and a chair in the media room."

Even a few pieces of furniture can sometimes be more appealing than a cluttered home.  Buying a home is an emotional experience, says Showhome.com, "Emotion influences what people buy and how much they will pay. Vacant houses are devoid of life, and the chance to make an emotional connection is lost."

Read more "Tips for Selling a Vacant Home"

Find a Metro Brokers REALTOR® to help you sell your home.

photo credit: Marcus Spaapen

Posted in Seller Resources, Headlines

"It's Time to Buy" say all the local real estate experts.   If you've been waiting for the right opportunity, it's time to get in the game says Stacy Johnson of Money Talks News.

"I've wanted to buy my first home for a while, but when my landlord told me that my rent was going up to $900 a month, I got serious about it." writes Angela Colley on Money Talks News.  "So I researched the estimated value of the house I rent now ($160,000) on my local property appraiser website and figured out what my total monthly payment would be ($817). In other words, I could pay my mortgage, property taxes, and homeowners insurance for $83 less than what I pay in rent each month."

Okay, so you agree it's time to buy now.  How do you begin?  Colley lists the steps to take to buy your first home:

1.       Make Sure You are Ready, says Colley.  This might sound simple but it's always good to look before you leap.

• Is your job secure?
• Are you planning on staying put?
• Is there a situation in your life that makes this a good time to buy or change houses? For instance, new marriage, starting a family.

2.       Know what you can afford.  Ending up "house poor" is how this whole crisis began.,  Be realistic about what you can comfortably afford and stick with your budget.

"Your housing payment - including the mortgage, real estate taxes, and homeowners insurance - shouldn't exceed 28 percent of your monthly gross income. To determine the most you can afford each month, multiply your annual take-home pay by 0.28 and divide that number by 12." says Colley.

3.       Fix Your Credit:  Lenders have tougher requirements than ever.  Your credit score needs to be above 700 to qualify for an FHA loan and higher than that for more conventional loans.

"Order free copies of your credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com, then check out 3 Tips to Raise Your Credit Score - Fast for ideas on boosting your score before you apply for a mortgage. You should check your credit at least 6 months - preferably a year - before home shopping so you'll have time to improve it before applying for a loan." writes Colley.

4.       Down Payment:  Most lenders require 20 percent down.  "The bigger the down payment, the better." Advises Colley, especially in today's tough competitive market.  In a recent market analysis, research shows that the best loan rates came with an average down payment of 28 percent, according to USA Today.

5.       Get Pre-Approved:  Once you have checked (and fixed) your credit score and you have the money for a down payment, apply for a mortgage.  Getting pre-approved for the mortgage before looking for a home means that you can make an offer quickly and it might mean getting accepted over other bids. 

6.       Build a Good Team, says Colley.  Find a great REALTOR® who is familiar with the areas you are interested in and find a good lender.

7.       Know your local real estate market: Make sure you and your REALTOR® are familiar with everything that is going on in your local housing market.

Read:  Tips for First Time Home Buyers

Posted in Marketing, Ownership, Real Estate Market Conditions

You've heard the news about those lucky people who suddenly find out that their name was on a list somewhere of unclaimed money.  Could you be one of the lucky ones?

Money Talks News, Peggy Schwartz, decided to see if she was on such a list. "I knew I'd never find my name on any list of unclaimed property," she said, "because I keep such a close tab on all my money. But it couldn't hurt to look."

So she checked out National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, a government site which lists all the unclaimed property in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. "To my surprise," she writes, "I did find my name!"

And it's not a scam as long as you are dealing with a government agency.  "The IRS won't contact anyone about an unclaimed refund over the phone or email, for instance." writes Brandon Ballenger of Money Talks News. "So if you've ever lost a financial document - in the mail, moving, or otherwise - you might be in for a surprise."

Begin with the state you live in and then check all the states you or your immediate family has lived in.  "MissingMoney.com lets you search several states at once," says Ballenger.  "But not all states participate, so you'll have to check them individually."  This site is cooperation between most states and even provinces in Canada

"State agencies are currently holding more than $32 billion in unclaimed property," Money Talks News reported four months ago in Finding Unclaimed Cash.

"The most common types of abandoned property are utility deposits, credit balances, inactive checking and savings accounts, uncashed dividends, payroll or cashier's checks, and life insurance policy proceeds. "writes Scwartz.  "When making a claim, make sure the website ends in a ".gov" - you don't need a website that offers to find your missing money for a fee."

Schwartz was one of the lucky ones.  She found three claims for her and one of her children to the tune of $358.  Not bad for a little online research.

To see if you are one of the lucky ones, go to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.

Read about other ways the Government Can Make You Richer.    

Posted in Technology And You