FasTracks Southwest Corridor in particular. FasTracks is the name for the light rail system in Denver, CO. The Southwest Corridor project team has been working to fine tune the Preferred Alternative for the FasTracks Southwest Corridor Extension. They have worked closely with the City of Littleton, Highlands Metro District, Highlands Ranch Master Association, the Colorado Department of Transportation and Douglas and Arapahoe Counties. They are perfecting the location of the route and the stations, the layouts for the station areas and an environmental evaluation.
Important in the environmental evaluation are such things as land use and zoning considerations, displacement and relocation of existing uses, historic, archaeological considerations, visual and aesthetic considerations, air quality, noise and vibration, natural and biological resources, safety and security, traffic and more.
In January RTD, the head of FasTracks, released the results of an annual public opinion survey which showed 83% of metro area residents and residents of the Southwest Corridor desired that FasTracks be built in it's original time frame and 63% would support a tax increase, if necessary, to get it done by 2017.
The Preferred Alternative plan has the route of the extension running parallel to Santa Fe along the east side and beside the existing tracks. At County Line Road the route becomes an elevated structure that spans County Line Rd, the existing tracks, C470 and the proposed new C470 flyover. The route then continues east along the south side of C470 and ends near Lucent Blvd.
The C470 station will have a park-n-Ride facility with accommodation for about 1000 cars initially. It will be accessed from Plaza Dr. There will also be facilities for bicycles and pedestrians. It will include a kiss-n-Ride drop-off area. An intermediate station is not part of FasTracks plan is being considered at C470 and Santa Fee in the southeast corner. It would probably have a kiss-n-ride area, bus transfer area and about 440 parking spaces.
If you are a resident of the area affected and are interested in hearing more about these plans and want to have some input you'll want to attend the Public Meeting #2 next Thursday, March 19, 2009, 6-8 pm in the City of Littleton Community Room, 2255 W. Berry Ave., Littleton, CO 80165. The project team is very interested in input from area residents and desires their attendance at the meeting to learn more about the planning of this project.
If you cannot attend the meeting you can still go to www.RTD-FasTracks.com for the most recent information and to leave feedback.
Once again this year Prestige Miracles Foundation will be sponsoring the Miles for Miracles 5K Run/Walk at Invesco Field. Runners get to run through the stadium and see themselves on the Jumbotron! Families and teams of 10 or more are encouraged to make this a "must-do" event this spring. Schools are encouraged to participate, both through team entries and through the Miles for Miracles Art Contest for all 3rd graders.
The Run - May 2, 2008
Late Registration: 8:00-8:45 am
Family Fun Run: 9:00 am
5k: 9:05 am
Location: INVESCO Field | 1701 Bryant Street
Miles for Miracles is Prestige Miracles Foundation's longest running tradition. This annual event gathers runners from all over Colorado for a 5k run, family activities for all ages and the opportunity to raise money for a great service. This event not only provides great exposure for Prestige Miracles Foundation's sponsors but what a great way to keep in shape.
Go to Prestige Miracles Foundation for more information on the foundation, grantees, other events and more.
http://www.prestigemiraclesfoundation.com/
Here are just two of the many grantees:
William is a four-year-old boy with autism. He has multiple speech and developmental classes as well as therapy each week to assist with his condition. However, as one of four children under the age of five, the costs of these treatments are a significant burden to his family. The Prestige Miracles Foundation provided $2,000 to assist in the cost of this very important therapy.
Lori is a loving mother and gymnastic coach who has influenced the lives of hundreds of young children over the past 23 years. At the age of eleven Lori learned she suffered from juvenile diabetes. Over the past 30 years, this disease has caused a progressive deterioration in her overall health, including digestive disorders and vision complications. Her condition has steadily worsened and her physicians have determined that she needs both a pancreas and kidney transplant to survive. Medical insurance will not cover all of her needs including deductibles, co-payments, medications, travel and relocation housing. The Prestige Miracles Foundation agreed to provide a $4,000 grant to assist with these needs.
Trends in sold data, inventory data and under contract data for the Denver market for the last 6 years helps us to predict what 2009 will bring to Denver's housing market.
February sales have had a decline from 2006 to today. 2005 and 2006 were when the aggressive lending practices were plentiful and this helped to push the numbers of sold homes up to the high numbers you see in the chart. Denver, however, did no experience such inflationary housing sales numbers as other markets in the country. That is why surveys, like Standard and Poors/Case-Shiller Report, indicate Denver will be one of the leading metropolitan areas in the U.S. in housing for 2009 and 2010. The Denver real estate trends are as positive as any market reported in terms of stability and growth in real estate in these national surveys. The trends of lower inventory and higher buyer confidence indicates a trend that the sold data will start to tick up this spring and summer.
The next trend to consider is where do the inventory numbers stand as of March, 2009. In March of 2009, there are 15,861 single family homes on the market and 5023 condo or attached homes on the market for a total of 20,884. One year ago the total inventory for both single family and attached homes stood at 25,416. So over one year the inventory dropped 20.54% and that inventory has trended lower the last 5 years. March inventory of homes in Denver is the lowest in 6 years.
The lower current supply of homes coupled with the overall increased demand for homes due to the new jobs coming to Denver, low interest rates and the new $8,000 tax credit will cause people to move faster to buy so they get what they want before someone else does, thus, causing prices to increase somewhat. Add to that the fact that real estate in Denver has out performed other products during the slowest months of Nov., Dec. and Jan. and you can see why we look for Denver real estate sales to really start to pick up. My company, Prestige, has seen a really large number of showings in the last month which also indicates this brighter future for Denver real estate.
The number of homes under contract stands at 5907 up from 5559 in March of 2008 or a 6.26% increase in the number of buyers putting homes under contract in 2009. Comparing this trend to the sales trend we see that many of those contracts are not being consummated in a sale. There are 2 reasons for this. First, many of those contracts were for bank owned properties. It is quite common for these not to close because of the length of time required and because of the problems often found upon inspection of these homes. Second, lending guidelines are tighter now and many loans just don't get approved. The large number of homes under contract in 2005, 6989, shows the period of time when fraudulent and mismanaged lender practices created more buyers than really should have been buying. With that being said, there were still a large number of those contracts that were cancelled because buyers could not get the financing they thought they could. The numbers for 2006 are more inline with other years. This didn't just happened in Denver, but nationwide lending practices caused homes sales to skyrocket and allowed the supply and demand to be artificially changed. The difference Denver experienced in 2004 to 2006 was that the average price of a home in Denver did not increase as rapidly as other markets around the U.S. giving Denver a different trend analysis than what is currently being pictured, portrayed or reported from the national media on housing. Finally, the trends indicate some very different predictions for the future based upon the price range you are trying to measure. Homes in the zero to $250,000 price range currently represent 41.72% of the total inventory available in Denver, but over the last 12 months made up 65.43% of homes sold. This means we currently have a 3.85 months supply of homes. This trend of monthly supply has decreased over the last 26 months in this price point indicating the trend should be to have an increase in price at the starter home prices. We are now seeing multiple offers on well priced starter homes, giving the owners of these properties more money than in the past. The one thing that is keeping the average price in starter homes from increasing more is that there are still quite a few short sales and foreclosures which also have numerous offers, but their selling price tends to stay very low because these buyers are looking for bargains. We still believe that because of the low inventory and the influx of new buyers we are seeing, prices are headed up in this price range and in 3 to 6 months, the houses priced $100,000 more will start to move faster and every 3 to 6 months that will happen in the houses priced in the next $100,000 higher and so on. As this happens, each of these price ranges will see appreciation in pricing. Conversly the upper price points of $1 million to $1.5 million, for example, shows an nventory of 739 current single family and attached homes and the number of properties sold the last 12 months is 315 single family condo's sold or a 28.15 month supply. With high loan balance financing being more available in the coming year, which has not been available for more than a year now, the upper end inventory from $750,000 and above offers the best discounts in the Denver market place in terms of price, but the opportunity will only exist at these higher inventory levels. Once the levels become more modest, the opportunities will disappear making today a perfect time to sell your existing home if you are priced below $400,000 and get a discount at an upper end priced home above $750,000. What should buyers do today? What should sellers do today? Need some help? Give me a call at 303-268-4240.
It's been a really dry year so far here in Highlands Ranch, CO and especially warm, not that I am complaining. I think we broke records for high temperatures twice this week. However, we are not at all short on upcoming activities and the nice weather will make some of them much more enjoyable.
Saturday night, the 7th, is Martini Appreciation Night. Professionals will teach you all you ever would want to know about martinis and how to make them. This takes place at the Eastridge Recreation Center from 5:30 to 6:30 pm and 7:00 to 8:00 pm. You'll need to get your ticket real soon because they sell out! They are $17 for members and $20 for guests. Whole Foods Market will supply the appetizers.
You certainly will want to be at the Highlands Ranch Mansion on Friday, March 13 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm which will be transformed into the Lilly Rose Saloon and Dance Hall for a new Murder Mystery. While enjoying appetizers and drinks from the cash bar you can wander through the mansion and talk with characters like Molly Brown, Soapy Smith and Ol' Geezer the miner to get clues on who committed the crime. Tickets are $35 for members and $40 for guests. Hurry, they go fast!
Four Saturdays, March 21st and 28th and April 4th and 18th, fly fishing for 11-14 year olds comes to Highlands Ranch Recreation Center at Eastridge. Kids will learn about Fly Fishing tackle, rigging, knots and casting. Equipment will be available for the class which is from 8:00 to 10:00 am. Then on Saturday, April 25th they get to practice at Lake Lehou from 8:00 am to noon. Tickets are $25 for members and $30 for guests.
Saturday, March 21st is the day of the St. Patty's Day 5K Run and Walk at Town Center. This is just one of the Highlands Ranch Run Series which you can find more about at www.highlandsranchrunseries.com. Afterwards is the St. Patty's Day Festival at Town Center.
March 28th brings my favorite, the Spring Bazaar! Great handmade items are plentiful. You will usually see jewelry, baskets, decorative pottery, wall hangings and rugs, dolls, stuffed toys, handmade toys, floral, photography, scrap book materials, clothing, deco for outdoors and even commercial items! It starts at 9:00 am and ends at 5 pm. It is held at Eastridge Recreation Center and its FREE!
Also on March 28th the Back Country Trails re-open. They are closed in the winter in order not to disturb the elk, deer and other wildlife that inhabit the area. There are over 5 miles of natural surface trails. They are favorite spots for walking, biking and wildlife watching.
I know that March is our biggest snow month, but I hope the snow only will come on days other than the ones when we have the fly fishing, the St. Patty's Day Run and Festival, the Spring Bazaar or the when the trails open. What do you think? Will that happen?
For more information on any of the above activities or to register, visit any of the recreation centers or go to www.hrcaonline.org.
There are a lot of opinions about the future of the Denver economy. Many are rather positive and some are much more negative. Who do you believe?
No one has a crystal ball. Most of the predictions for 2008 turned out partly wrong because no one could predict the gas price hikes to $4 a gallon or the crisis in the lending and banking industry because of foreclosures.
I attended a luncheon for realtors yesterday where Patricia Silverstein of Development Research Partners, Inc. shared some of her company's predictions for 2009 based upon their extensive research. Because of their extensive research and years of experience in watching and analyzing the trends, I tend to put quite a bit of faith in what they say.
I'll share a little of what Patricia had to say. She told us that Colorado is outperforming the U.S. in many areas. Unemployment is lower, the median home price is higher, retail sales are more stable, home prices are more stable, total personal income is growing faster and per capita income is higher.
Development Research predicts home sales in metro Denver will increase slightly in 2009, but new home sales will decrease even more. Foreclosures will continue to decrease as they did in 2008 and the median home price will increase slightly. Although building permits for single-family homes have decreased considerably every year since 2005, they will level off in 2009, while multi-family home building permits which increased slightly in 2008 will decrease slghtly in 2009 according to Patricia. Multi-family home and single-family home building permits they predict will be almost equal in 2009.
Some more predictions Patricia shared are that retail sales will be flat in metro Denver in 2009. In metro Denver our population change shows that our level of natural increase (births minus deaths) is continuing to increase slightly every year since the mid 90's, but our new migration population has decreased in 2002-2008 and will continue to decrease in 2009 and 2010. The apartment vacancy rate in metro Denver is predicted to rise slightly.
Patricia pointed out the challenges that local and state governments face. Tax revenues from retail sales, fuel sales and auto sales have declined. She reminded us that property taxes this year are based on last year's appraisals. However next years property taxes will be base on this year's appraisals which will be much lower. Therefore, governments can look for a great decrease in property tax revenues next year. Debt financing is much more difficult to obtain and that creates another challenge for governments.
All of this information and more that Patricia shared are indeed a mixed bag. We should not look at our future as very bleak, instead we should make adjustments in our budgets with an outlook for options that help us to re-grow wealth. Her favorite statement of the day seemed to be, "Spend responsibly."
I am a realtor in Highlands Ranch, CO for Prestige Real Estate Group. I am also a mother of three and have 13 wondereful grandchildren. I enjoy decorating, gardening, reading and traveling.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
Powered by the ActiveRain Real Estate Network
© 2009 ActiveRain Corp. All Rights Reserved
