Arvada, CO

Starting at 10 am and up until 4 pm today Arvada residents can take your used turkey-frying oil to two locations in Arvada for recycling.

Indiana Service Center: 6701 Indiana St
Wadsworth City Shops: 6161 Olde Wadsworth Blvd

City staff will be there to help you empty your containers of used vegetable oil / grease into barrels provided by Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises. Please take your empty containers with you after they are emptied. The event closes promptly at 4:00 at both locations.

Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises refines the oil into biofuels and agricultural products.

Thank you for recycling your vegetable oil!

Read more about life in Arvada, Colorado. And here's a little intro to Olde Town Arvada.

I write about real estate and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the 'flavor' of our community, in case they're new or moving to Denver area.

I am a residential real estate agent, and would love to assist you if you're considering buying a home or selling a home in the northwestern Denver suburbs.

Find homes for sale in Arvada and nearby communities.

Check out my website.

So you’re ready to buy a house. You’ve gotten your finances together, your lease is about to expire or your current house is on the market, you’ve researched neighborhoods and looked at a multitude of houses online.

All you have left is the fun part – going to look at houses and picking one. Easy, right?

Sometimes, it is just that easy.

If you’ve got a small geographical area chosen, and know what features are ‘must-haves’, and there are plenty of houses to choose from – but not too many – you could easily pick a house to write an offer on the first day out.

But one annoying thing that can happen is having too many houses to choose from. That’s annoying because you might feel like you have to see every single one, or you’ll miss out on something. So, you find one you really like, but you decide to see a few more, then when you’ve seen them all and you’re ready to write an offer on that first one, it’s gone!

This annoyance is compounded by not narrowing down the area you want to search in, or not being certain what kind of home you’re looking for.

Also, if you allow yourself to be put off by things that can easily be fixed, you’ll never be happy with any home you see. I once had a lady look at one house that she said had ‘too much grass’, then the very next one had ‘not enough grass’. Sheesh!!

If you’ve decided that your entire future happiness and the well-being of your family depends on you finding just the right house, and any mistake means the end of life as you know it, you will not be able to make a choice. It’s called ‘analysis paralysis’.

The keys to solving this annoyance are prioritization and compromise. Seriously consider all the options and make a list of the most important to the least important. Highlight the items that are ‘must have’, as opposed to those you could live without.

Then, work with an agent who will take you to see only the homes that have all your most important features. If you cannot find a home that has all your must-haves, you need to sit down and talk with your agent, to figure out which things you could compromise on. If your agent has been paying attention to you, listening and watching as you view homes, she'll be able to help you work out the knotty parts.

In other words, start out with as narrow a focus as possible, then broaden the search from there.

For most people, the #1 spot is usually filled by price, location, size, or a combination of those. A large family may be limited by price, but must have a home that’s comfortable for everyone. So they may have to ‘give’ on the location.

And I really hate to bring up the other main annoyance in finding your new home, but I must because it happens so often. That’s working with an agent who doesn’t have time to show you houses, or who expects you to do their work for them and find the house yourself.Then, call them when you're ready to write an offer.

There’s not a lot I can say about this matter, because I don’t want to get myself in trouble. But you might be happiest working with an agent who isn’t trying to be the most-mega-top-producer-money-making-machine, but who instead limits the number of clients they take at any one time, so they can give great service to each one. Which is what all homebuyers and home sellers deserve, after all.

(This is the third post in a series. See the first post.)

I write about real estate and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the 'flavor' of our community, in case they're new or moving to Denver area.

I am a residential real estate agent, and would love to assist you if you're considering buying a home or selling a home in the northwestern Denver suburbs.

Find homes for sale in Arvada and nearby communities.

Check out my website.

Joetta’s Neighborhood Newsletter

Hello, Friends & Neighbors!

Now we approach the holiday season, some with anticipation and some with trepidation. My hope for each of you is that, regardless of circumstances you find yourself in that may not be all you desire, you find the joy of true Thanksgiving. Every year, I find myself simplifying a little more, and enjoying a lot more. May you be blessed in all your comings and goings!

Input from Readers

Here’s a cute tip from Amanda: According to the American Baby magazine, November 2009. (americanbaby.com) The U.S. Post Office can help you with your child's "letter to Santa". They say, "Write a letter as if you were Santa Claus. Put it in a stamped envelope addressed to your child. Mail that by December 15th in a stamped, larger envelope to North Pole Holiday Cancellation, Postmaster, 4141 Postmark Dr. Anchorage, AK 99530-9998. Your letter will arrive with a 'North Pole' postmark!"

Susan sent me a great money-saving tip for groceries: The Friday Store, which sells ‘discount’ groceries, is located at 5635 Newland Way in
 Arvada. Discount grocery stores sell products that big stores like Safeway and King Soopers have salvaged, such as dented cans or slightly expired items. People say they save 40-50%. Besides food, you can get health and beauty items and pet supplies, although I take it you never know quite what you’ll find. Their number is
303-422-8562, and they’re open 
Friday and Saturday - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Here’s an important safety tip from Angel: Census workers will be out knocking on doors, they will have a badge, handheld device, Census Bureau canvas bag, and a confidentiality notice. Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information or donations to anyone claiming to be with the U.S. Census. REMEMBER, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ASK, YOU REALLY ONLY NEED TO TELL THEM HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVE AT YOUR ADDRESS. While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, YOU DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION.

Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail, or in person at home. However, the Census Bureau will not contact you by Email, so be on the lookout for Email scams impersonating the Census. Never click on a link or open any attachments in an Email that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Michelle says have your insurance policies re-quoted, even if you’re not switching companies. If you go on year after year, unquestionably paying higher premiums, you’ll end up paying hundreds more than you would do with a new policy with identical coverage. She ended up saving $600 per year on cars and another $700 on homeowners.

She added, “We have passed this information on to our neighbors and friends and heard other positive stories. One neighbor said they were able to reduce their costs by over $3,000 a year! Note I am not sharing the name of who I have my insurance with, as that didn't seem to matter, almost all insurance companies will have a reduction if you re-quote!”

I get Senator Evie Hudak’s newsletter, and she had some interesting info for all Coloradans in there, so here with her permission is an excerpt:

“The Governor and the Legislature do not have many places to make cuts from, because 97% of the state budget (General Fund) is devoted to just 5 areas:

1. 43% for K-12 Education – which is required to increase annually and cannot be reduced because of Amendment 23.

2. 21% for Health Care Policy and Financing – which covers Medicaid and other federally mandated health care entitlement programs, increasing because of the bad economy.

3. 14% for Corrections, Public Safety, and Judicial – which are the components of our state justice and prison system.

4. 9% for Human Services – which covers the most vulnerable populations, including the disabled, mentally ill, and children who are the victims of abuse or neglect.

5. 8.8% for Higher Education - which includes our state universities, state colleges, and community colleges and is the most flexible area of the budget; most of its funding has been preserved with stimulus money.”

Best Tip of The Month –

From Susan: Two free things recommended by computer geeks (to download and use regularly):

* ccleaner (stands for "crap cleaner") http://www.ccleaner.com

easy to use, cleans up all sorts of stuff that slows down your computer

* SUPERAntiSpyware -- spyware remover (I still use Spybot but this one catches more) http://www.superantispyware.com/

Goings-on in Arvada –

Do you deep-fry your turkey? What the heck do you do with all that leftover oil? Well, this year you can take it to a vegetable oil drop-off event at either 6161 Olde Wadsworth Blvd or 6701 Indiana Street on the Saturday after Thanksgiving between 10 am and 4 pm. City employees will be there to help. Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises will refine the oil into biofuels and agricultural products.

Enjoy horse drawn carriage rides through historic Olde Town Arvada Friday nights Nov. 27 through December 18. $10 per ride, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. And of course, get some shopping done while you’re in town!

Tree lighting in Olde Town Square (57^th & Olde Wadsworth) on Monday, December 7 beginning at 6:00 pm. Visit Santa, free horse-drawn carriage rides, enjoy hot chocolate, listen to carolers. This is Lagniappe, a gift from Olde Town merchants.

Local Real Estate News

Are we in a buyer’s market or a seller’s market? How would you know?

The answer to that question lies in a statistic called the ‘Absorption Rate’. Absorption Rate (AR) is found by dividing the number of homes sold the past year by 12, which gives the average number that have sold each month. Compare that to the number of homes currently on the market. Then, assuming no new homes come on the market, you could figure the number of months it would take for the current inventory to be sold off.

There’s some disagreement as to exactly how many months of AR constitutes a buyer’s market vs a seller’s market, and some other factors come into play also. But the point I want to make clear, is that it’s a different answer based on the city you’re curious about, and even the price range.

So, if you get your real estate news from the television or internet, and you assume it applies to your particular situation, you could be way off.

For instance, there are currently 505 homes for sale in Arvada, and 1,255 have sold in the past year. That’s 105.5 per month. So Arvada has about a 5-month absorption rate, a buyer’s market. (There’s more homes on the market than can sell quickly, so they’re hard to sell, and buyers are in high demand.) Still, that’s a lot better than the 12-month absorption rate Arvada had not long ago.

However, if you’re interested in the price range below $150,000, the absorption rate is only 1 month, a definite seller’s market (sellers don’t have to ‘bend over backwards’ to please a buyer, because they know if this one walks, they can get another one in a matter of days).

The price range from $150-200,000 has an AR of 2.3-months, somewhere between a buyer’s and seller’s market. The prettiest or best-priced homes will sell quickly, the rest will sell, but not so fast.

Westminster has about a 4-month AR overall, .6 month in the $0-150,000 range, a 1.7-month AR in the $150-200,000 range.

Anybody currently trying to buy in those price ranges knows, if you find a nice house in a great location, you better write an offer immediately!

But let’s shift gears to the $301-350,000 price range. Arvada – 4.9-month AR; Westminster - 4.9-month AR; Broomfield is better off in this price range with a 1.8-month AR. Sellers in this price range had better take features, condition, location into consideration and price it right, or their house will just sell the others.

The real trouble comes in the over-$350,000 range. Arvada – a 12-month AR; Westminster – 10.4-month AR; Broomfield – 7-month AR.

I’ve provided the details for the three cities I mentioned below. If you want the stats for any other areas, just ask.

See my new post, An Expose on Totally Annoying Things That Happen While Buying a House. http://activerain.com/blogsview/1345710/an-expose-on-the-totally-annoying-stuff-that-happens-while-buying-a-house

And just for fun, here’s a link to a humorous post written by another agent, about what it’s like for buyers when the homeowner decides to show them around. http://activerain.com/blogsview/1346471/the-crazy-lady-who-wouldn-t-leave-vancouver-wa-real-estate

City Price Range # For Sale # Sold Past 12 Months

Arvada $0 – 150,000 13 157

$151 – 200,000 69 350

$201 – 250,000 121 329

$251 – 300,000 87 169

$301 – 350,000 33 81

$350+ 182 180

Westminster $0 – 150,000 45 319

$151 – 200,000 80 336

201 – 250,000 69 274

251 – 300,000 55 116

301 – 350,000 34 84

$350,000+ 161 186

Broomfield $0 – 150,000 2 42

151 – 200,000 31 142

201 – 250,000 53 197

$251 – 300,000 60 167

301 – 350,000 19 124

$350,000+ 229 391

See all the homes available for sale here: http://www.homesbetweendenverandboulder.com/

If you have input for this newsletter, or a response to anything I’ve written, I’d love to hear from you.

Joetta Fort~ Metro Brokers ~ 720-353-8031 ~ Joetta.fort@gmail.com

My website: www.DreamHouseHunting.com

So you want to buy a house in the beautiful Denver area, but you’re nervous because you’ve heard horror stories about what can go wrong. I’m here to tell you, while there truly is a lot that can go wrong, these problems can almost always be addressed and solved.

As long as home owners want to sell a house, and home buyers want to buy a house (and not TOO MUCH changes in the political realm), things can be worked out.

There’s a lot of annoying things that can happen in the loan process. It’s important to remember that your lender wants you to get a loan, and in fact will not get paid if you aren’t successful. In other words – don’t forget that you’re on the same side!

First, your lender will give you a list of things to do and not to do in the interim before closing, such as, “Don’t buy a car, don’t change jobs”. They may also get very nosey about things like, “Where did this big cash deposit come from?” and ask you to prove your answer. And if your credit score needs a bump up, the lender may say pay off some debts, or contact the credit reporting bureaus to get some things cleaned up.

It’s totally annoying to do what you’re told, but please – in the interest of getting into that new home - Do as they ask. Don’t get creative, don’t get advice from a TV personality or your best friend’s cousin. Some of these tasks will be real, time-consuming work. But they won’t assign anything that’s impossible, just keep pushing and you’ll get through it.

If you chose a good lender, and did all they asked, they most likely will have all they need a few days before closing on your new home. You can relax and start packing. If you chose a not-so-good lender, they will still be working on your package the day you’re supposed to close, and there’s not many things more annoying than that.

Sometimes, even a good lender has trouble getting a difficult loan finalized. But a good lender would have explained what might go wrong and how they’ll try to fix it. And even though not getting the loan would be much worse than annoying, at least you should end up knowing the lender did all they possibly could.

And the best lenders would stick with you, and help you change the situation, so you can get the loan next time.

If you need to find a lender, I can give you names and numbers of a couple of good ones. I don’t receive any kind of financial payback for dong so, just the satisfaction of knowing they’ll do the best job for you.

Here’s some blog posts written by actual lenders, that will help you understand more about getting a loan to buy a house.

What's the Safer Loan?

What is Mortgage APR, Can You Explain It?

Rates, apr, points, fees, gfe's - How the Playing Field is Still Crooked

Why Loan Officers Kill Deals, Cost You Time and Money, and Anger Customers

 (This is the second post in a series. See the first post.)

I write posts on real estate issues and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the 'flavor' of our community, in case they're new or moving to Denver area.

I am a residential real estate agent, and would love to assist you if you're considering buying a home or selling a home in the northwestern Denver suburbs.

Find homes for sale in Arvada and nearby communities.

Check out my website.

 

Recently, a home buyer told me, “I don’t like all these surprises!”  We were in the middle of a short sale transaction, and there were a few surprises but no more than usual. It all seemed pretty normal to me.

Then I remembered, nothing about buying a house is ‘normal’ to most home buyers.  Pretty much everything is either a mystery or a surprise unless I tell them what to expect.

I was pretty sure I HAD explained everything, but obviously it didn’t all ‘stick’.

There’s so many things that can happen, and so many twists and turns (especially with the distressed sales so common today), that when I try to tell my clients everything they need to know, their eyes glaze over and they don’t remember half of it.

So – I’m developing a series of blog posts that will address all the issues I can think of, from the perspective of both home buyers and home sellers, especially those between Denver and Boulder. Many of these issues apply nation-wide, but most are local. So if you, dear reader, are buying or selling a house in another area, please do find a reliable, patient real estate agent you can call your own. If you need help finding one, I belong to an organization of well over 100,000 real estate agents all over the country, and I can give you the inside scoop on a couple in your area.

And if you’re a client of mine during the time period that I’m working on these posts, you just might recognize part of your story used for illustration. So I’ll thank you in advance for all the wonderful subject matter you give me each and every day in the wonderful world of real estate!

I’ll add links to this post as new ones are developed, and I'll do a separate 'starter post' for home sellers, so please come back often.

1.  Getting your loanClick here to read it.

2.  Finding the house

3.  Offer, Counteroffer

4.  Inspection & Negotiation

5.  Appraisal

6.  Closing

7. Moving

8.  The Special Fun of ‘Distressed Sales’

9.  REALTOR Speak

I write posts on real estate issues and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the 'flavor' of our community, in case they're new or moving to Denver area.

I am a residential real estate agent, and would love to assist you if you're considering buying a home or selling a home in the northwestern Denver suburbs.

Find homes for sale in Arvada and nearby communities.

Check out my website.