Real Estate Information Archive

In this tough economy, people don't seem to be building so much as they are remodeling their existing homes.  As to be expected, it seems like the mantra as of late is "fix up what I've already got."   As far as new construction goes, Steamboat Springs saw only 1 building permit issued in October this year for the construction of a single-family home.  Permits for alterations and additions however were in double figures.

This time last year, available builders were in short supply.  Construction costs were on the rise as well.  Homeowners seem to be taking advantage of the slowed agenda for these builders, seeing as how 14 households undertook remodels this October.

Another tell-tale sign of slowed construction is that of inspections.  October's 467 inspections performed is down by more than 100 from the 592 inspections in October of last year.

Prudential Real Estate Ranked Highest for Seller Satisfaction in J.D. Power and Associates' 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study^SM, Prudential (DBA) Announces

(Steamboat Springs, CO) - Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial, Inc. [NYSE: PRU] company, and Prudential (DBA) announced that Prudential Real Estate ranks "Highest Satisfaction for Home Sellers Among National Full Service Real Estate Firms" in J.D. Power and Associates' 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study^SM.

The inaugural study measures customer satisfaction of home buyers and sellers with major national real estate companies. Overall satisfaction is determined by examining four factors for the home selling experience: agent (43%); marketing (38%); office (12%); and services (7%).

Among home sellers, Prudential Real Estate achieved a score of 793 on a 1,000-point scale - and Prudential Real Estate received particularly high ratings from customers in the marketing and office factors.

"We are very proud of this distinction, as it underscores the quality of our affiliates and their hard-working sales professionals, said Laurie Keenan, president of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. "Our sales professionals are local experts, and sellers appreciate their ability to market and price homes right -- along with providing exceptional, attentive service."

The team at Prudential (DBA) works hard to not only meet, but exceed the expectations of its clients - sellers and buyers, explained (Name), broker/owner, Prudential (DBA). "In the current challenging market, our clients want all the expertise and market knowledge we can offer - and by leveraging Prudential's brand strength, its wide array of product and service offerings and its strong Internet marketing programs, we can provide sellers with the increased exposure they need."

The J.D. Power and Associates study finds that despite the popularity of home buying and selling resources on the Internet, the real estate sales professional remains key to customer satisfaction with real estate companies. A large proportion of both home buyers and sellers rely on the Internet to facilitate the buying or selling process, with 68 percent of buyers saying that they used Internet tools to help them in the purchase process and 61 percent of sellers reporting that they used a website listing to market their home. In addition, among sellers, online methods are the most important aspect of marketing.

However, the sales professional carries the greatest importance among the factors that comprise overall satisfaction among both home buyers and sellers.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, although the Internet provides home buyers and sellers with the ability to perform some essential tasks - such as listing a home for sale or researching a neighborhood in which to purchase a home - it still does not replace the importance of a good sales professional. Particularly in an uncertain real estate market, professional advice from sales professionals can be especially valuable to buyers and sellers. The knowledge and expertise provided by experienced sales professionals is an important benefit of using a full-service real estate company.

The study also finds that the average time a respondent's home remained on the market was slightly more than six months, although home sellers represented by the top-ranking real estate companies report that their homes were on the market for slightly less time - approximately five and a half months, on average.

Satisfaction averages 794 among those customers whose homes sold within five months or less, but declines considerably to an average of 730 among customers whose homes took seven months or longer to sell, the study showed. A real estate company that provides sales professionals who are skilled at determining the appropriate market value and listing price for homes, and who can effectively market properties, can help minimize the time that clients' homes remain on the market - which can save the seller money, inconvenience and anxiety.

Nearly one-half of respondents in the study (46%) reported using recommendations from family or friends to find their real estate sales professional. Approximately 28 percent used the Internet, 23 percent used a sales professional they had used previously and 11 percent used a printed real estate guide.

The study also reports that home buyers were shown an average of 13 homes before they made a purchase. Home sellers reported that, on average, their home was shown 11 times, and about five open houses were conducted before a sale occurred.

The 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study includes 3,670 evaluations from 3,205 respondents who bought or sold a home between April 2007 and June 2008.

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, training and customer satisfaction. The company's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on cell phone ratings, car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance and more, visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Inc. is Prudential's integrated real estate brokerage franchise and relocation services business. Prudential Real Estate franchises are independently owned and operated. Companies are selected based upon outstanding performance records, high levels of customer service and shared business values with those of Prudential. Prudential Real Estate provides franchises with business strategies using Operation Reviews as well as numerous benefits, including access to Prudential Real Estate's Online Seller Advantage^SM program designed to provide real-time information to sellers with the touch of a keystroke. Prudential Real Estate is one of the largest real estate brokerage franchise networks in North America, with nearly 2,100 franchise offices and approximately 64,000 sales professionals in the franchise Network as of June 30, 2008.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $638 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2008, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company's well-known Rockâ symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit http://www.news.prudential.com/.

Back in 1914, you could make it here by train. Today, you make it here by lunch! The Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation's winter nonstop flight program will offer record nonstop air capacity from nine major airports on six key U.S. carriers - American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Northwest and United Airlines, direct into Steamboat/Hayden Airport for the 2008/2009 season.

New for this winter, Frontier will start serving Ski Town, U.S.A.^® with three daily nonstop flights on its new Q400 aircraft from Denver. In addition, United Express has upgraded its nonstop Denver service to all jets, including the Canadair regional jet CRJ-700, which has 78% more capacity than the Dash-8.

This, coupled with the expansion and improvements at the Steamboat/Hayden Airport, makes Steamboat the most conveniently accessed resort in the Colorado Rocky Mountain offering nonstop from nine major airports including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Newark, New York-LaGuardia and Salt Lake City as well as one-stop connecting service from more than 200 other domestic and international cities.

It all depends on where you are right now in real estate, and whether you recognize the signs of the cycle bottoming out in some of the once-most distressed local markets.

Though the latest monthly sales numbers for existing homes were down slightly nationwide -- 3.1 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis -- sales in some of the hardest-hit local markets are really taking off, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors.

Florida, once the east coast epicenter of boom and bust, is roaring back with big sales gains.

Overall sales of single family homes in Florida jumped by 15 percent for the latest month -- up 5 percent for condos -- compared with year-earlier levels.

In Palm Beach County, sales were up by 37 percent. In Ft. Myers by 44 percent, Miami 23 percent, and 35 percent in Charlotte County.

Some scattered, smaller markets saw sales explode by as much as 70 percent, according to a report in the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

In some of California's most challenging markets, sales are also way up -- and apparently heading higher. In Orange County -- south of Los Angeles and close to ground-zero of the housing bust on the west coast -- sales rose by 66.6 percent last month compared with the year before. And they were up by 62 percent year over year the month before.

This is the fourth straight month of significant sales increases for Orange County -- a sure sign that something important is underway there.

And let's be frank about what's really going on.

It's the same dynamic as in Florida: Prices have dropped sharply, bank foreclosures and short sales are dominating activity --- and now houses are far more affordable than they were three and four year before.

In Orange County median prices were down by 27 percent year over year last month. In Florida, prices are also depressed -- 24 percent lower than the year before. In Miami, the median is off by 30 percent.

Meanwhile the essential ingredient to turning low prices into rising sales -- affordable mortgage money -- continues to be a bright spot. Interest rates for 30 year fixed loans are hovering just above 6 percent, and are in the upper five percent range for 15 year loans.

As we've said before here at Realty Times, the stock market may be doing wild and crazy things on any given day.

But month after month, there are tangible indications that the housing cycle is beginning to come around.

You just have to be open to seeing them.

Welcome to the new face of SteamboatRealtor.com!

In response to the overwhelming feedback we've gotten over the years as to what our clients want most from the website, we've answered.  We hope you'll find this new tool useful and share this with anyone you know that's interested in Steamboat Springs Real Estate.  With the new site comes some cool new features:

• Easy access to search ALL of the area's listings!
• Sort by price, location, bedrooms, bathrooms and a TON of other criteria
• You can now share listings with your friends and family!
• Sign up for a free evaluation of your home's current value
• Register to receive daily email with new listings that match your needs
• Updated BLOG!  Get the timely low-down on local market information
• Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter filled with current market trends
• and LOTS MORE!!!

Take some time to explore and share your thoughts.  We'd love to know what more we can do to better serve you in your search for Steamboat Springs area real estate. 

Happy Surfing!

Looking over the year-to-date sales numbers for Routt County, ending 10/31/08, the following is what we know.

Total dollar volume sold for the year stands at $647,000,900.  That ranks at 49% pacing as compared to the record year of 2007.  Comparing year-over-year numbers with 2006, we're pacing at 73% of sales.

There were 68 transactions completed in October this year versus 196 in 2007 and 266 transactions in 2006.  Actual number of closings has slowed dramatically from what we've come accustomed to in Octobers of yore.

Of the total transactions in October, 37 of them consisted of "Residential Improved Units" which includes any residence that an owner buys outright (ie. not a "fractional" or "timeshare" unit) that's not land or commercial.  Of these 37 transactions, 21% (8 units) closed at $1,000,000+ accounting for 55% of total volume.  These statistics demonstrate that the high-end market is still doing relatively well.

Pricing property at an attractive level is more important now than ever.  Getting prospective buyers interested in making an offer becomes difficult in this type of market, but not impossible.  Adding incentives such as paying closing costs, covering a month or two of the buyer's mortgage and other creative deals are ideas you should ask your realtor about.  If you're a seller, these types of unique add-ons will go a long way in getting your property sold.

The deal is that you need to book your stay through the Steamboat Central Reservations office.

I just read some interesting stats from the Rocky Mountain Realtor Association.  Thought I'd include the 3^rd Quarter sales stats chart here.

Overall in 3Q, there were 2,107 total listings in Steamboat Springs.  This includes homes, condos, land and commercial.  In the same period of time we saw 638 closings, so a little under a third of the total.

The average sales price of a single family home is still holding strong in our community, at $996,816 in the 3^rd Quarter.  The average price of a condominium was just over $462,000.

Total sales volume in the Steamboat market for this quarter was $371,638,905 which is well below 3Q in 2007 (a record breaking year, I'll add) but only about 15-20% off from 2006.

The amount of inventory we see on the market right now is more than the current demand which makes this somewhat of a buyer's market.  However, with winter comes more visitors to our community and an influx of new interest.  The deals we're seeing close as of late however are averaging about 10-20% below asking price. 

Now more than ever it's imperative to competitively price your property if you want to attract buyers and sell your property.

So, big announcement... The Boyd Team has started our very own Facebook Fan Page! (cue the cheers, marching band and parade)

That's right, in an effort to bring those interested in Steamboat Springs real estate closer together, we've started a page that will hopefully serve as a useful forum in the months and years to come.  Please visit and become a "fan" by CLICKING HERE. 

As the saying goes, "if you build it they will come."  Well, it's here and now we just need YOU to tell us what you think.  This is an open forum for opinions, happenings, local or industry news and any other fun and friendly tidbits you can think of.  After all, though we are in the real estate business, this site doesn't have to be all work and no play.

So take a look and offer suggestions on what can make this a well-rounded and useful online community.  It's a work in progress so don't be dismayed if what you're looking for isn't there yet.

WELCOME FUTURE FANS... we look forward to mingling with you in cyberspace!

Recent news reported that in the aftermath of near-death to Fannie and Freddy, there are still a plethora of conforming loan products available.  A potential home buyer is still going to have to demonstrate a solid income history and good credit score (perhaps more now than ever) but mortgages are still available.

This is important news as we move into the upcoming ski season in Steamboat.  With the snow comes an onslaught of potential buyers to our valley and there have to be lender options if these investors will translate into sales.  What’s not to love about Steamboat in the wintertime?  I’m working very hard to make sure my listings are primed and ready to show once the planes start touching down, in an effort to capitalize on primary and secondary home purchases.

The caveat with this however is that rates are fluctuating more now than we’ve seen in the past.  Mike Larson, vice president of Mountain Valley Bank (a local lender) reports that rates on comparable loans may fluctuate as many as 3 times a day.  Now prospective buyers who are “shopping” for rates need not only compare rates of different lenders, but compare the time of day the quotes were received.  With a fluctuating scale such as the one we’re seeing now, this is the only way to insure an “apples to apples” comparison.

Keep in mind that non-conforming and jumbo mortgages are still going to be tricky.  Considering that many transactions in our area fall outside of a conforming “primary residence” type loan package, we’re still bracing for slower times ahead.  But the mere fact that loans are becoming more available and credit is beginning to loosen once again, there seems to be a shimmer of hope of good things to come.