Tag: Denver Metro Association of Realtors

Experts Differ on What 2023 Will Bring in Terms of the Real Estate and Mortgage Markets

Real estate and mortgage professionals are coming to grips with how the market changed in 2022, but they’re holding back on predictions for the market in 2023.

On the national level, Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, predicts home prices will remain stable and the sales of existing homes will decline by 6.8%. He identified ten markets that will outperform other metro areas, and all ten of them are in the southeast.

“Half of the country may experience small price gains, while the other half may see slight price declines,” Yun said.

Here in the Denver market, the Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR) issues a monthly market trends report. In its latest report, it pointed out that while there is a steady month-over-month decline in the average sold price, the year-over-year sold prices remain higher.

“Without a doubt, the Denver Metro housing market is changing, but the question on everyone’s mind is how long this change will last and what to expect next year,” commented Libby Levinson-Katz, Chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee and a metro Denver Realtor®. “Most of the answers are tied directly to when we will see relief from increasing mortgage rates that have more than doubled since January… While we expect to see the Denver real estate market continue to change through 2023 due to interest rates and inventory woes, it has continued to show strength and stability.” 

As I highlighted above, a lot depends on the direction of mortgage rates, and predictions of where rates are headed are few and varied, because there are so many factors.

For example, will the Federal Reserve’s increases in the Fed Funds rate continue, and for how long? Will it cause a recession? Will unemployment increase and inflation abate?  What’s the future of the war in Ukraine and its impact on the US and world economy? What will energy cost in 2023?

Personally, I have no predictions to offer. What I know for sure is that people will still want to sell, and there will always be buyers ready to buy. We continue to see new listings come on the market. As always, some listings will be priced wisely and will sell quickly, but most will be overpriced and will sit on the market, slowly reducing their prices until they sell, expire, or are withdrawn from the MLS.

There may even be bidding wars on homes that are priced right. For example, I just sold a home in Applewood which we priced at $895,000 and sold to one of three bidders within a week for over $900,000. But we’re not perfect. Other listings have languished on the market and only sold once we reduced the price sufficiently to attract a buyer.

DMAR’s Metro Area Statistics Cover 11 Counties

What do the rural cities and towns of Kiowa, Agate, Simla, Fairplay, Georgetown, Empire, Black Hawk, Rollinsville, Nederland, Allenspark, Lyons, Longmont, and Bennett have in common?  They’re all included in the Denver metro area statistics compiled monthly by the Denver Metro Association of Realtors for its market trends report. Here is a map of the 11 counties included in that report.

REcolorado, the Denver MLS, allows infinite flexibility in drawing the boundaries when searching for listings or doing statistical analysis, so my preference is always to draw a radius of 20 miles from downtown Denver when compiling metro statistics.

Below is this month’s infographic from DMAR showing the November month-over-month statistics for their 11-county “metro area.”

Under all five elements of the infographic I have inserted the same November statistics for the 20-mile radius of downtown Denver that I prefer to use.

The variations this month are not as great as I have seen in some months.

DMAR Creates a Smartphone App for Realtors & Homeowners  

    The Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR) just released a new app called the DMAR Home Kit. Download it free from the App Store or on Google Play..

    We downloaded it, and you’ll find it useful, especially for finding vendors in multiple trades, plus discounts from some of them. Since Golden Real Estate’s own service provider app vendor went out of business, I find this a good substitute.

    You can search for vendors by key word. For example, I entered “fireplace,” “sewer” and “mortgage” and found vendors that I would recommend myself. What each vendor has in common is that they are dues-paying affiliate members of the Realtor association, which is a good measure of business ethics and responsibility. They won’t disappoint you because they want to maintain a good reputation among Realtor members. There were no vendors under “heat pump” or “electrician,” but maybe the existence of this app will encourage one or more of them to become affiliate members of DMAR.  I recommend it!

     The app also provides access to the association’s statistical reports. You can search statistics by individual city or county. Download and play with it!

DMAR Reports Average Home Price Rose by $100K in Last 12 Months

The Denver Metro Real Estate Market Trends Report, released on February 3rd by the Denver Metro Association of Realtors, reveals that detached single-family homes in the metro area set yet another record for average price, exceeding $629,000 in January. Attached single family homes (condos & townhomes) rose by less than half that amount, as shown in the above chart. Download the full report here.

Happy Thanksgiving! What We at Golden Real Estate Are Grateful for

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I’ve long known the value of practicing gratitude, and Thanksgiving reminds each of us to reflect on our blessings, both individually and as members of our larger communities.

And since these columns are published on Thursdays, it has become a tradition for me to pause on this particular Thursday  to write about my sincere gratitude as an individual, as a husband and step-father, as a Realtor, and as an American.

So, first of all, I’m grateful for having this platform to share with fellow real estate professionals and the general public what I know (and continue to learn) about real estate. Yes, I pay for it, but I have been rewarded greatly for the effort, both in terms of financial gain from the business it generates for me and my broker associates, and by the satisfaction it gives me from indulging in my first and favorite profession, journalism.

To be political for just a moment — and it’s sad to think this is political — I’m grateful for the mainstream media which has weathered four years of assault without forsaking journalistic standards. A free press is essential to our democracy, speaking truth to power unflinchingly.

Naturally, all of us at Golden Real Estate are grateful for those buyers and sellers who have entrusted us with their real estate needs. We know that the sale or purchase of a home is often our clients’ biggest single financial transaction, and we don’t take that responsibility lightly.

Real estate is an interesting profession. For most of us, it was not our first profession. In my case, I didn’t even think of becoming a real estate agent until my 50s. When I earned my license, I discovered several interesting facts about the profession, including that the median age of licensees was my age at the time, 54.

I also learned that it takes several years to become successful in real estate and that the average real estate agent has only two or three closings a year, not enough to make a good living. The majority of new agents give up in their first or second year, having wasted money they could ill afford to lose on software, signs, advertising, licensing and association fees, errors and omissions insurance and more.

I’m grateful when I have the opportunity to educate prospective agents about the difficulty of breaking into this profession and can save them the heartbreak of a lost year or two. But I’m also grateful when I am able to help our own broker associates succeed through the leads this column, our website, and our social media attract for us. As broker/owner, I also serve as a mentor and advisor to them, which I find quite satisfying.

I’m grateful for our MLS (Multiple Listing Service), REcolorado, which has made terrific strides toward being one of the best MLSs in the nation. I’m privileged to represent the Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR) on the Rules & Regulations Committee, providing me with insights I’m then able to share in this space.

DMAR, too, has made great strides under its long-time executive director, Ann Turner. I’m grateful to her and the many Realtors who volunteer on DMAR committees, contributing to the high ethics and professionalism of our industry.

Not all real estate agents are members of the Realtor association, but they all benefit from the work that these associations do. We can all be grateful for the work of the National Association of Realtors, to which all the local Realtor associations belong. From its Washington, DC, office, it lobbies Congress to protect property rights and to fend off legislation that is harmful to our profession and in turn to all property owners.