About Pueblo County, CO

Can you believe all of this snow and winter weather we've been having? A little early for me! However, the snow should be gone to celebrate Halloween on Saturday.

Halloween Bash: The Pueblo West Parks and Recreation Department will hold a Halloween Bash at Lovell Park on Oct. 31 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. on ball field No. 1 and is free to all who attend.

Participants will receive a treat when they arrive and are invited to participate in carnival games, cake walks and a costume contest, which will begin at 3 p.m.

In case of inclement weather, the Halloween Bash will be moved inside to Pueblo West Middle School and will be held from 5-7 p.m.

Deb

This week was the Colorado Association of Realtor's annual convention at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The convention is always a great time to meet realtors from across the state, attend continuing education classes, and view what's new at the vendor displays. It was a little disappointing that so few people attended the convention - out of about 24,000 Colorado realtors, less than 1000 attended the convention. A sign of the bad economic times I guess. One interesting thing I did learn at the convention was something that is happening in our own backyard!

I met Larry Belkin, President of Encore Communities USA. His company is developing a master planned community near the Walking Stick Vista Golf Club and Colorado State University-Pueblo. Walking Stick Vista will be a community of Tuscan Villas and Luxury Homes in a "relaxed environment" that will be closer to the amenities that Pueblo has to offer. Larry told me that they plan to have a new exit off of I-25 that will lead to the community and he says that he hopes to have some model homes completed by the end of the year. Larry also said that they will target Pueblo West homeowners who may be ready to give up their 1-acre lots for a home closer to town. You can view what's being planned at: http://www.walkingstickvista.com/. I can't wait to see what they have planned - sounds great!

Deb

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Here are the Pueblo West real estate statistics for 3rd Quarter 2009, 7/1/2009-9/30/2009

Of the 141 Single Family Sold, 2 were condo/townhomes.

Residential homes sold 3^rd quarter by price

14 < $100K
44 between $100-150K
46 between $150-200K
23 between $200-250K
14 over $250K

Residential homes sold 3rd quarter by Pueblo West MLS location [To describe the Multiple List Service area breakdown, Pueblo West Acreage includes those lots on one acre(+) on the south side of Highway 50, not including the Golf Course area (which are usually smaller lot sizes), Liberty Point (the areas adjacent to Pueblo Lake boundaries) or Pueblo West East (generally areas east of the first McCulloch with smaller lot sizes). There are two designated manufactured home park areas which are on smaller lots, one on the north side and one on the south side of Highway 50.]:

35 - Pueblo West Acreage
28 - PuebloWest East
22 - Pueblo West Golf Course
4 - Pueblo West Liberty Point
11 - Pueblo West Manufactured Homes
41 - Pueblo West N of Highway 50

Generally speaking, residential sales are up but inventory is down. I attribute the increased residential sales to first-time-homebuyers making a purchase to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit which currently expires November 30. Residential sales are still below last years sales levels.

Vacant lots sold 3rd quarter by Pueblo West MLS location:

3 - Pueblo West Acreage
4 - Pueblo West East
1 - Pueblo West Golf Course
4 - Pueblo West Liberty Point
7 - Pueblo West N of Highway 50

Vacant lot sales remain steady but at lower levels. There's just not that much building going on. Many of our local builders have closed their sales offices and ceased building spec homes. The number of homes in the year's Parade of Homes was much lower than previous years. However the number of vacant lots on the market has gone up. Vacant lot sellers have told me that they want to sell their lots since they don't plan on developing the lots or moving to Colorado and they are hoping to sell in order to get some cash. Most of the lot sellers I've talked to live in our country's mid section (Ohio, Michigan, Illinois) where marketing efforts were concentrated when Robert McCulloch first developed Pueblo West. If you live in Pueblo West or are a local builder and if you are interested in a particular lot because it is adjacent to your property or you want to build, give me a call. I've talked to many lot owners who want to sell but have decided not to place their lot on the market at this time.

Deb