Why do I need a good REALTOR?!??! - Denver, Highlands Ranch, anywhere!

In my real estate experience, I see so many things that go on that show me WHY everyone should have an agent that they know is working hard for THEM!!

- As far as listings go, hire an agent that is going to tell you the truth about your home!! If you want to really sell your home, do the research, price it fairly and wait for your results. If you have a good agent that can help you price you home at market value, prepare the home for showings and represent YOUR best interest - YOU WILL SELL YOUR HOME!!!

- When looking at NEW BUILDS, bring your agent! No offense to builders at all, but whenever I walk into a new construction sales office and see people without representation of their own, I cringe. Why not have someone that is there is explain every aspect of the contract to you and keep all of YOUR interests in the forefront? The best part about it is that it is FREE for you to have a buyer's agent.

- When getting sign calls off of my current listings, I always tend to get folks that call that don't have an agent and just want to get information about particular homes from the listing agents. When I ask them if they are working with an agent, they generally say, "No, we are just making some calls." I try to tell those folks how much easier their lives will be if they establish a relationship with their own buyer's agent! When you have a good agent working for YOU, they bring all the listings to your fingertips to review. You'll have a resource for getting all of your questions answered and you'll feel much better going out into the market place!

The situations above are just the tip of the iceberg as far as what all your experience when working with a good REALTOR!!

Happy Home Shopping!

NAR: Record share of first-time buyers

NAR: Record share of first-time buyers - First-time homebuyers accounted for half of all home sales from July 2009 through June 2010, according to a National Association of Realtors survey of buyers and sellers. That's the highest share of first-time-buyer purchases in the history of the survey, which dates back to 1981. First-time buyers responding to the survey made up 47% of sales in 2009. The vast majority of first-timers - 93% - participating in the survey, and almost three-quarters of all buyers - 71% - responding to the survey participated in a federal homebuyer tax credit program. Read full article:
http://www.inman.com/news/2010/11/8/nar-record-share-first-time-buyers

5 Steps to Remodel your BackCountry Home

Looking to do some remodeling?!? Check out the article below that gives you some good tips to remodel.

5 Steps to Remodeling Done Right
http://www.realtor.org/rmodaily.nsf/pages/News2010102505

BackCountry Phase 2 Custom Homes are here!!!

BackCountry (in Highlands Ranch, CO) is ready to unveil its second phase of building for custom homes by Shea Homes.

Not only does BackCountry’s newest park, Solstice Park, feature an amazing lawn area, but the climbing boulders, picnic areas and even shade pavilion ensure it’ll be a community hot spot! At the grand opening celebration, families enjoyed games of laser tag, rollin’ around in the human hamster ball, ice cream delights... and more. Even the baby frog had a jumpin’ good time!

Check out the article below to see more information on Phase 2 building at BackCountry.
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=125232

To search for homes in BackCountry or Highlands Ranch, go to my WEBSITE.

As always, for questions as assistance regarding any real estate need, call me at (720) 988-5952 or email me at bhengst1@gmail.com.

Tips to Determine How Much Mortgage You Can Afford

By knowing how much mortgage you can handle, you can ensure that home ownership will fit in your budget.

Here are six surefire ways you can get your finances in order before you buy a home.
Homeownership should make you feel safe and secure, and that includes financially. Be sure you can afford your home by calculating how much of a mortgage you can safely fit into your budget.

Instead of just taking out the biggest mortgage a lender qualifies you to borrow, consider how much you want to pay each month for housing based on your financial and personal goals.

Think ahead to major life events and consider how those might influence your budget. Do you want to return to school for an advanced degree? Will a new child add day care to your monthly expenses? Does a relative plan to eventually live with you and contribute to the mortgage?

Still not sure how much you can afford? You can use the same formulas that most lenders use, or try another of these traditional methods for estimating the amount of mortgage you can afford.

1. The general rule of mortgage affordability
As a rule of thumb, you can typically afford a home priced two to three times your gross income. If you earn $100,000, you can typically afford a home between $200,000 and $300,000.

To understand how that rule applies to your particular financial situation, prepare a family budget and list all the costs of homeownership, like property taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, and community association fees, if applicable, as well as costs specific to your family, such as day care costs.

2. Factor in your downpayment
How much money do you have for a downpayment? The higher your downpayment, the lower your monthly payments will be. If you put down at least 20% of the home’s cost, you may not have to get private mortgage insurance, which costs hundreds each month. That leaves more money for your mortgage payment.

The lower your downpayment, the higher the loan amount you’ll need to qualify for and the higher your monthly mortgage payment.

3. Consider your overall debt
Lenders generally follow the 28/41 rule. Your monthly mortgage payments covering your home loan principal, interest, taxes, and insurance shouldn’t total more than 28% of your gross annual income. Your overall monthly payments for your mortgage plus all your other bills, like car loans, utilities, and credit cards, shouldn’t exceed 41% of your gross annual income.

Here’s how that works. If your gross annual income is $100,000, multiply by 28% and then divide by 12 months to arrive at a monthly mortgage payment of $2,333 or less. Next, check the total of all your monthly bills including your potential mortgage and make sure they don’t top 41%, or $3,416 in our example.

4. Use your rent as a mortgage guide
The tax benefits of homeownership generally allow you to afford a mortgage payment—including taxes and insurance—of about one-third more than your current rent payment without changing your lifestyle. So you can multiply your current rent by 1.33 to arrive at a rough estimate of a mortgage payment.

Here’s an example. If you currently pay $1,500 per month in rent, you should be able to comfortably afford a $2,000 monthly mortgage payment after factoring in the tax benefits of homeownership.

However, if you’re struggling to keep up with your rent, consider what amount would be comfortable and use that for the calcuation instead.

Also consider whether or not you’ll itemize your deductions. If you take the standard deduction, you can’t also deduct mortgage interest payments. Talking to a tax adviser, or using a tax software program to do a “what if” tax return, can help you see your tax situation more clearly.


Read more: http://buyandsell.houselogic.com/articles/4-tips-determine-how-much-mortgage-you-can-afford/#ixzz0xiPN3OnP

Mortgage rates are at all time LOWS for Highlands Ranch/BackCountry buyers.

Mortgage loan rates fall to new low - Mortgage rates again fell to a modern-day low this week, as investors favored American bonds over those of other, riskier, countries. This meant that there was more money to lend to Americans, making money less cheap for homeowners to borrow. The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 6 basis points this week, to 4.75%, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. Read full article:
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/mortgage-loan-rates-fall-to-new-low.aspx

Moving into a luxury home in Denver or Highlands Ranch?

Denver-area sales of homes priced at $1 million or more jumped 61.8% last month from a year earlier. Fifty-five homes priced at $1 million or more sold in May in the metro area. The median price of the luxury homes that sold in May was $1.28 million. "The increase in million-dollar sales in the Denver area is an encouraging sign that the mid- and upper-end of the local housing market continues to recover from last year’s sharp downturn," Chris Mygatt, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Colorado, said in a statement. Read full article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/06/14/daily6.html?s=industry&i=resi_real_estate