A most unusual month...

It's only January 3rd and buyers are ready to buy. Between blizzards one of my first-time buyers bought a great home they'd had their eye on for some time. It's in a great neighborhood, and has a great start on remodeling. It's close to our new light rail, Whole Foods, and all the amenities of urban living. The sellers had been at it since July and had come down from their original listing price 4.2%. By the time we made our offer we were able to come down another 5.5% which the sellers accepted. I wish there were ten more just like it in the neighborhood. Several of my clients are looking in the same price range and are willing to do a little work to bring their chosen home up to speed.

I have a number of clients right now who are looking for bargains, and we're finding them. But we've also found that if the house hasn't been listed more than a month, the sellers aren't yet willing to let their house go for what it's worth. They still seem to live in the go-go years of the 90's when prices went up every 24 hours. So we give them time to come to their senses, and then we can make a second offer very close to our original one. You'd think in a buyer's market like ours, especially during the holidays, sellers would be more reasonable about lowering the price to its current market value!

A big part of negotiation is knowing when to hold them and when to fold. Sometimes we've walked away after the original offer, other times we'll stick around to negotiate, all depending on what the client wants to do (with my expert advice, of course). The only one we inadvertently let get away was due more to a complex situation than any neglect on our part.

It's a great time to buy in Denver. You will almost always save yourself a significant amount of money. And if you plan to stay in your house for the next 5+ years, it will likely appreciate and bring you a handsome reward. As they say, buy low sell high. The same is true in real estate. And we're in a period in Denver where low is a big factor.