Parker

Five Tips for a Green Home

Prudential Peak Real Estate 

Eco-friendly. Carbon footprint. Global warming. Energy-efficient. These catch phrases have become part of our lexicon as we’ve become more aware of our impact on the environment and our role in protecting it. As a homeowner, there are some simple, inexpensive steps you can take to make your home energy-efficient. Get started on the road to being “green” with these five tips: 

Change Your Light Bulbs

By replacing just five incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs, you can save $100 per year on electric bills while using up to 75 percent less energy and removing greenhouse gases from the environment.

Buy ENERGY STAR® Appliances

ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances, such as refrigerators, washers and air conditioners, meet a higher level of energy efficiency set by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy than standard models. According to ENERGY STAR, if just one in 10 homes used ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances, the impact could be compared to planting 1.7 million new acres of trees. And, switching to these appliances is not only good for the environment, but easy on your pocketbook. Although these appliances may costs more, you can reduce your energy bill by $80 per year. 

Seal Up

Cracks and air leaks represent cash seeping from your doors and windows. Get rid of air leaks in doors, windows and other areas by caulking gaps and cracks. This will help decrease your heating and air conditioning bill. But make sure you use silicone sealants. Acrylic caulk tends to shrink, while silicone sealants are waterproof and won’t shrink or crack, creating less waste. 

Use Less Water

Did you know that roughly 60 percent of a home’s water consumption takes place in the bathroom, according to the California Urban Water Conservation Council? The largest culprit is the toilet, which accounts for 27 percent of your household supply every year. By installing low-flow toilets, showerheads and faucets, you can save thousands of gallons of water each year. In addition, replace leaky fixtures. That slow-dripping faucet can waste as much as 2,400 gallons of water per year. 

Adjust the Thermostat

When adjusting your home’s thermostat, the rule of thumb should be: turn up the dial in the summer and down in the winter. Lowering the temperature by just one degree will reduce your electrical costs. And if you use a programmable thermostat, you can program your air-conditioning and heating systems to reduce output while no one is at home or at night while you sleep. Ceiling fans are also helpful in circulating the air to keep the room cool in the summer and warm in the winter. 

Going green doesn’t have to be overwhelming or costly. By making just a few small changes within your home, you can help decrease energy consumption and help make the world a “greener” place.

I have been following a discussion on Linked In titled “Linked In or Active Rain, which one is better?”

Just when I think I have it all figured out, a woman posted an article on that discussion that was great, but has left me even more confused!   http://tinyurl.com/Tools-To-Mng-Social-Networking

My head spins out of control when I look at all of my options!   I think blogging and social networking can really be a great tool, but does this keep us all from getting back to the basics?

I know it is a generational thing…and as I mentioned in an earlier post  I’m  just a middle aged broker in Parker, Colorado.  I just want to be hip!”

I know my business comes from meeting people face to face and getting involved with my community – but is that all going to change?  Maybe I don’t ever have to leave my office…I can just chat with clients and agents all day via Linked In, Twitter, FB, texting, emailing and the occasional phone call.

I know a sales person calling my office will NEVER get through and if they actually have the nerve to just show up unannounced – they are completely blacklisted unless I already have a relationship with them!

So, really…social networking is a way to be unobtrusive.  We just need to figure out a balance!

Consumers Are Returning to the Real Estate Market with an Age-old Question: Buy or Sell First?  

Residential real estate is gaining stability in concert with the recovering U.S. economy. Consumers, drawn by one of the most attractive buyers’ markets on record marked by historically low interest rates and lower home prices in many areas, are returning to the market to move up, trade down, improve location and otherwise enhance their share of the American Dream.

When it comes to home buying, the ideal situation would be to find a new home, just as you receive an offer on your existing home. You would then be able to close concurrently and move into your new home at the same time as closing on your previous home. This does happen more often than not, but anyone looking to buy a new home needs to consider all the possible scenarios. 

Should you buy or sell first? There are many schools of thought on this subject.  Ultimately, it depends on you and your situation. For instance, can you afford to pay two mortgages in the event your previous home does not sell by the time you move? Would you consider a bridge loan (a short-term, high-interest loan that lets you borrow against the value of your old home to covers the bills until you secure the new, larger loan)? Are you willing to move twice to find the home of your dreams if you sell first and can’t find the dream home fast enough? 

This is where the advice Realtor is invaluable. As licensed Real estate professionals we know the current market conditions. We are trained and experienced in working with home buyers and sellers to determine an ideal time to buy and sell.

It is generally less stressful to sell your home first, because you won’t have to worry about owning two homes at one time. The market will dictate how long it will take for your home to sell, as will the property’s location and the time of year. As a rule of thumb, it is a good idea to put your home of the market as far in advance as possible when purchasing a new one. But, since interest rates are low and confidence is returning to the market, there’s a good change your home will sell faster if priced properly. (Again, you need professional advice here.)

What if your present home sells before you find a new one, putting pressure on you to find the right house more quickly? You may then decide to make an interim move or request to rent back your home for a specified amount of time as you continue to look for your new home. Those may be worthwhile options if you have your heart set on a specific location or type of home or if you are purchasing a home that is under construction.

If you buy a home before selling your present home, you may end up with two mortgages. Under those circumstances, you may be able to apply for a bridge loan to assist you in making two mortgage payments until you sell your first home. As professionals we can assist you in finding a lender. 

So should you buy or sell first? This is a challenging question regardless of real estate cycles, yet your own circumstances and our knowledge as  real estate professionals will help you make the right decision!

By Anne Barrington

Prudential Peak Real Estate,

Owner/Managing Broker

Parker, CO 80134

303-805-1200

Soooo…my commitment to blogging everyday for 3 months has already proved to be difficult! 

Yesterday everything from “actual work,” personal grooming, transferring photos from my phone to my laptop for a another agents listing etc… seemed to consume my day and evening.

BUT I also admit I didn’t make it a priority.  I could have posted…if I wouldn’t have had that 2^nd glass of wine.

I can already hear it…I will get EVERY excuse under the sun from agents as to why they are”too busy to blog” or “who has the time to waste on blogging.”  Everyone is busy, and I honestly get this, but don’t think many agents work the hours that I do. 

BUT I need to practice what I preach.  Being too busy is NOT a reason…it is an excuse for not managing your time.  (So GET OVER IT!) 

Let’s learn to manage our time and add blogging into our daily business plans – or move over because there are agents that would love to have that business!

I hope other agents will use my blog to get info to get out to the public, other agents and just good community information!

Rates for May 13, 2010

Rates are still unchanged. Initial job claims were slightly higher than expected. Conventional 30 year fixed at 4.875% and FHA 30 year fixed at 5%. Oil is at $74.41 down $1.24. Gold is at $1238 which is up .08%. The DOW is at 10862 which is down 34 points.

Mortgage rate information provided by Julie Whalen 720.746.4065

Oil, Gold and DOW numbers provided by Kevin Barrington 

What do you know about the Douglas County’s Home Buyer’s Programs?

*           Down-Payment Assistance

Shared Equity Program-Guidelines

*           Requirements

*           Steps in the Process

*           Foreclosure Mediation Program

*           How to Help Homeowner’s Purchase a Home as a First Time Home

Buyer.

Call me for more info!  303-805-1200!

** BTW…I got wrapped up in our Wednesday family “Pizza & Movie” night  and we watched The Tooth Fairy…and believe it or not, I really enjoyed it!  My brother-in-law had told me how bad it was, so I think I went in with very low expectations, so was pleasantly surprised!

Story #2

A Bad, Bad Kitty in Parker Colorado

I had a listing in my neighborhood a couple of years ago.  The home was beautiful and a very popular model.  It was right at the start of the housing decline – and although we were not hit nearly as hard as the rest of the country, we still and continue to feel  the impact.

I represented the seller in this transaction and everything was pretty typical up through the closing, but when the buyers moved into the home the sh*t hit the fan.  In this case it was cat urine and the source could not be pin pointed!

They ended up tearing out all of the woodwork and carpeting from the main floor study because the cat had apparently done some serious damage in that room.

Even after all of that work, the odor was still unbearable!   They noticed odor got worse when they turned on the powder room fan.  At this point, I was getting calls from the other agent hoping I might be able to shed any light on what had transpired with the cat.

I called the seller several times to ask if they had ever had any issues with the cat urinating in the study or powder room.  They swore up and down that the cat was rarely, if ever even in the house.  And how dare I question them about their cat.   “It was not their fault the new buyers had a particularly sensitive olfactory system!”

Well, at this point, I didn’t believe my seller was being truthful and was also questioning the property disclosure that made no mention of cat issues.   I also felt terrible for the new home owners – who now happened to be my new neighbors!  I wanted to cooperate with them and help them in anyway I could.

(A sellers property disclosure needs to be filled out to the best of the homeowners ability and full disclosure must be made of any known material defects.  The property disclosure is NOT to be filled out by the Agent because the agent has never lived in the home.  I tell my agents to pass the property disclosure to the seller with surgical gloves, tell them to fill it out, and then pick it back up.  Now everything is electronic, but you get the point.)

I knew I personally had no knowledge of any non disclosure issues when I listed the house, so I could not be held responsible, but I felt I had a moral – if not ethical obligation to help the new home owners if I could.

To make a long story short, the new homeowners had an HVAC contractor look at the vents – and you would not believe what they found.

Apparently the cat had been urinating in the vents for long time because there was A LOT OF IT in the ducts.   Even more disturbing was as the contractor was tearing out all of the venting and duct work he kept getting whiffs of a flowery/potpourri aroma along with the cat urine!

When everything had been removed  and brought out into the sunlight, it was quite a site…and clearly not something the cat did all on it’s own.  The urine had crystallized because a liquid of some sort had been poured down the vents in an effort to flush out the cat pee!

The seller would not even take my calls at this point and informed me I would be getting a call from their attorney because I was harassing them!

The new homeowners clearly had a case against the seller I represented, but they would have had to take it to small claims court or mediate in order to get any money or damages awarded to them.  At that point they just wanted to be done with it.  So, the seller got away with this one, but I am confidant “Karma” will get them in the end!

Is there a lesson to be learned from this?  Let me know what you think!

Anne

Are you scared of a little kitty cat? 

I thought this would be a good day to start with some of my most memorable experiences in Real Estate.

I grew up a cat lover…at least I loved MY CAT.  Even though she would pee on my bed ANY chance she got.   As I got older and married a man who is extremely allergic to cats, I realized that I really was NOT a cat lover…I really didn’t even LIKE them.

When I got my Real Estate license, I liked them even less!  A cat makes a home extremely difficult to sell.  I have had people schedule a showing only to cancel it after discovering there is a cat in the home because buyers have such horrible cat allergies.  Even if they aren’t allergic, they can’t bring THEIR cat into a home that had another cat because the cat would spray! 

Cat urine is one of the most distinctive and offensive odors and extremely hard to eliminate.

So I have at LEAST 2 good cat stories…one for today and one for tomorrow! 

Story # 1… Not so nice Kitty…

I was pre-viewing a house for some out of town buyers and the minute I walked in through the front door, I noticed a cat sitting calmly on the stairs.  I paid it no mind and walked right past it into the kitchen.  When I turned around, the cat had followed me into the kitchen and was crouching, staring straight at me growling like a wild animal ready to pounce. 

It startled me so badly that I dropped my keys!  Of course the keys hitting the floor made such a clamor, that the cat went running into another room and hid under the couch.  I really didn’t give it a second thought.  I figured that would be the last I saw of the cat.

I worked my way through the rest of the home and was finishing up in the master bedroom.  I walked out of the bathroom to find the cat crouching inside the room, hackles up, including the tail, hissing /growling blocking my exit to the door.

I froze in complete terror!…all I could think of was how I would get out of that room without that cat using my bare legs as a clawing station!

I frantically looked for a different exit route, but to my extreme dismay found no other way out.  I thought of jumping onto the bed, but figured the cat would jump right up there with me! 

All I had with me was a pen and my single sheet of paper with the MLS info.  …my keys were still on the floor downstairs where I had dropped them!

So, I looked back at the cat that was ready to pounce at any second, nervously eyed the door, and then chanced looking down at my pen.  At that moment I decided it was my only hope.  I could either whip the pen at the cat and chance missing it completely and then REALLY making it mad, or I could throw it away from me and hope the cat would chase the pen.  I opted for the 2^nd choice, throwing my pen under the bed and sure enough, the cat went for it and chased the pen under the bed.  This gave me the window of opportunity I was hoping for and I ran SQUEELING out of the room slamming the door behind me.  I could hear the cat scratching and howling through the door as I went running down the stairs. 

I scooped my keys up off the floor and ran out through the front door slamming it behind me.  As I sat breathlessly hunched over on the front porch,  I realized I had left the face of the lock box and the key to the front door on the kitchen counter! 

There was NO way I was going back inside that house, so I called the listing agent to explain my cat horror story.  She clearly did not understand how terrified I was because she couldn’t stop laughing.  Then she said, “I heard that cat might be sick!”

I  told her I was NOT going back into the house and she might want to get over to the property to secure it.  I also told her they needed to kennel that RABID cat for the protection of small children and future buyers!

Whether or not it was ethical, I crossed that home off of my list…I was sure my buyers had suddenly developed an allergy to cats.  

I was also pretty sure the sellers were going to be pretty irritated when they came home to find my business card, the key to the front door and the lock box on the kitchen counter…and their dead cat laying  under the bed with a pen stuck in its neck! 

The moral of the story?  I don’t know…get some pepper spray?

Happy Mothers Day!  Usually a pretty slow day for Real Estate, unless you have that out of town buyer that MUST be under contract before they leave town.  I have been out showing properties on many a Mothers day, but was spared today.

Instead, I am going to have a massage and facial (thanks to my kind husband and 2 wonderful daughters!) and have family over for a BBQ.

But, I will have that nagging workaholic feeling all day thinking I should be doing something to make the real estate world a better place.

I guess I am going to have to be content today with knowing that I AM making the Real Estate business a better place because I am going to be relaxed and “fresh” for Monday!   Only 83 days to go!

Blogging…such an intimidating idea for those of us that went to college with computer labs!  My generation has been kind of stuck in the middle.  We are young enough to understand the need to embrace technology, but just old enough to have this blogging concept just beyond our basic understanding and a little scary!

I am trying to (no I AM GOING to) set an example for the agents in my Parker Colorado Prudential Real Estate office, so I have committed to blogging everyday for 3 months.  I  will  keep it up until the end of July and  August 1^st, I will be off the hook – or totally hooked!

I will blog about  the current Real Estate Market as I see it, a day in the life of a typical Real Estate Agent/Broker to how hard it has been to blog every day!

I know I wont always have earth shattering information or comments, but as a 42 year old…I am determined to keep up with all those “young whipper snappers” with a blog!

84 days and exactly 12 weeks to go…

Short sales are when the owners of a property agree to accept less than what is owed on a particular property. Many lenders will accept these deals because of their desire to recoup losses from a particular property, and further to unload bad debt. Where real estate property is concerned, there is certainly no shortage of short sales in Parker, CO.

There are tax considerations to make when attempting to make a purchase in the form of a short sale on a real estate property. A CPA would be able to advise the potential buyer of any tax liabilities associated with making a purchase. There are short sales tax ramifications that should be considered in the process. There are many real estate agents that specialize in short sales in Parker, CO and throughout the US. This practice is commonplace because of the current state of the housing market.

There are also legal considerations a person should consider when attempting to acquire a property using a short sale method. A real estate attorney can help the consumer navigate the ins and outs of this process. The real estate agent will also be a helpful resource for a person looking for deals in short sales in Parker, CO.

If looking to purchase real estate property in Parker, CO, a real estate agent will be helpful in guiding a buyer through the process. The real estate professional should be able to help the individual locate a particular property of interest and provide further insight on the status of a particular property.

Many buyers utilize the shorts sales process as a means to save a home from foreclosure. This is often an effective method for those who seek the help of real estate shorts sales professionals in the area. A reputable real estate agent is recommended when a person wants guidance through the process of navigating the world of shorts sales in Parker, CO.

If you are planning a relocation to the Colorado area, you just may find what you have been looking for in Parker.
This is a beautiful place that is located just about twenty miles from Denver. There is a great abundance of mountain views as well as horse farms. This has become a very popular place to reside. It does not matter if you are looking for a home in a rural community or if you are planning to invest in a large ranch, you will be able to find what you are looking for in Parker, CO.

There is an abundance of different houses available on the market. You will find that there are single family homes, condominiums, and entire farms for sale in the Parker area. Prices are very reasonable as well because of the fact that Parker is not considered to be a popular city. You can find a very nice single family home with three to four bedrooms for a price that is in the low one hundred thousands. If you are looking for more property or a farm, there are many of those available for very reasonable prices as well. You will find them starting at around the two hundred thousand mark and going well into a few million dollars.

Regardless of how much money you plan to spend on your new home, or what type of new home it is, you will find that Parker offers a great variety of choices for you and your family.